Stuarts London

A dispiriting experience for international customers with a store that can do better. I bought a pair of boots offered with free international shipping for a good price from Stuarts. Then the experience went south. Turns out the rubber was loose on the sole of one boot and Stuarts agreed it was a defect after I sent them photos.
First they asked me to ship the defective pair back to them at my own expense, which I found ridiculous, as why should I bear the burden of cost for replacing a defective item, especially as free shipping was part of the original deal? After I firmly pointed this out, Stuarts agreed to reimburse me $ 20 towards the shipping cost and advised me to use my local post office. So I trudged over to the post office and was told it would cost $ 59 to return the boots to the UK from the US.
I advised Stuarts of this and they finally did a decent thing and emailed me a prepaid FedEx return label. So for the 2^nd time I set out to return the defective boots, this time at FedEx, and sent the original pair back using the shipping label. In the meantime the replacement pair arrived and I thought, finally, my saga is over. Until I get an invoice from FedEx for customs charges of $ 25.97 for the replacement pair Stuarts shipped! I called Fedex to ask why and they said Stuarts should have marked them as return item and I had to take it up with them.
I reached out to Stuarts and advised them of these charges, asking why they didn’t inform me in advance that shipping a replacement pair for a defective item would trigger $ 26 in new charges that I would be liable for and why they didn’t mark them as a return item to avoid a fresh round of customs charges. I had already told them I was unwilling to pay additional costs out of pocket to resolve what was their error and they didn’t say anything otherwise.
Stuarts then has the gall to advise me to work with FedEx to resolve this, who already told me that Stuarts had informed them that I would be liable for the customs charges before sending the replacement boots! I reached back out to Stuarts and told them that they knew I would be liable for the charges to receive an exchange pair in advance, didn’t tell me, and were now lying about being unaware these charges would apply.
So their next response was that I should work with my local customs office to resolve the issue. They then sent me a snide follow up email about how I should know that customs charges apply to international shipments and it was clearly part of their policy. I wrote back saying that this is ridiculous since I should not have to pay out of pocket to correct their error! This is the foundation of good customer service.
Basically they didn’t want to lose money to make good on a defective item, so they put me on the hook for the customs fees without telling me upfront. I told them that I’ve now filed a dispute with PayPal and will also inform my credit card company. I’ll also report this to the better business bureau.
Yes, they have good prices, but if you’re an international customer who receives an item with any defects, you’ll quickly realize that those good prices come with a heavy charge.

Having never visited the shop or used the website, I came across Stuarts online whilst looking for a particular parka that wasnt available anywhere in London and I was getting desperate before Xmas, I called the orderline in the afternoon and by the following morning the Parka had arrived exactly as I ordered. Thought I would write this review as the customer service and in particular the person I spoke to (didnt get his name!) were brilliant and reassuring that my goods would arrive on time and they certainly did. Nice one Stuarts! would definitely use again!

WOW, great store, great selection of menwear.
everything from Barbour to Diadora.
I’m not from London, but after walking around london many times (including Carnaby street) I have to say Stuarts is one of the best (top 5 on my list)
Fred Perry
Barbour
Pretty Green, etc
plus the friendly and helpful staff.

Excellent store with loads of retro products, from the 70s, 80s fashion scene.
Friendly staff and found them off there website