Bates Has My Back (or, From Defeat to Victory - no pun intended) - Bates Lites High Gloss Oxfords
Great product - Here's the whole story: I owned a pair of Bates Lites High Gloss oxfords for about ten years, which I wore infrequently for formal occasions, averaging perhaps 2-5 times per year. Disappointingly, both heels crumbled to nothing on the final wearing. How physically awkward and, to some degree, embarrassing this was! In all other respects, the shoes seemed fine. The uppers maintained their mirror gloss, the welt construction remained solid, the shoes wore wonderfully, and they they were extremely comfortable. With little hope, I went to the Bates website to determine if I could get some help solving my problem. Imagine my surprise when I saw at the Bates website many comments from customers who had experienced similar or identical problems to mine! And in each case, the Bates customer service folks included a note to the effect of, “We are sorry to learn of your problem. Someone from Bates will be in contact with you soon to see how we can be of assistance.” Although this gave some encouragement, I was not very optimistic when I called Bates on the phone and spoke to a customer service rep to express my own disappointment regarding the shoes’ failure. Again, imagine my surprise – and delight – when the Bates customer service rep immediately offered to make good the failure with a replacement pair of shoes! The dialog continued briefly through e-mail and snail-mail, as more detailed information was provided. Within no more than a couple of weeks, an exact replacement pair of shoes was delivered to my doorstep! Thank you, Bates, for an excellent pair of high-gloss formal wear shoes, and moreover, for your outstanding – even “beyond-the-call-of-duty” – customer service and satisfaction activities. I am most appreciative to you. I will happily continue wearing these Bates shoes on many, many more formal occasions, and will continue to recommend your name and footwear products to my friends.

Product Size Rating: Sized as Expected

How do you most use this product?: Formal Occasions, On-Stage Performances

High gloss Oxford
This is an exceptionally made shoe....I have worn Bates shoes as a part of my U.S.M.C. dress blues, as well as my last pair lasting me ten plus years as a memeber of my Law Enforcement Department Honor Guard. No shoe last forever, but if you want to "step out" with style and pride this is the shoe. Thank You Bates...

Product Size Rating: Sized as Expected

How do you most use this product?: Horor Guard Details

0 of 1 people found this review to be helpful.

Very comfortable, but concerned they'll fall apart after reading other reviews...
I just purchased a pair of Bates Lites and found them very comfortable, as others have reported. I expect to wear them at most a couple times a year and hope they last me many years. However, now that I've read horror story after horror story about the soles suddenly disintegrating after just a couple years of little use, I can't believe Bates continues to make and sell these shoes! Well, forewarned is forearmed, so I will be sure to check them carefully each time before use, though I really wish I had thought to seek out reviews of these shoes beforehand. I appreciate that at least Bates doesn't seem to censor the user reviews on their website. And perhaps in their defense, the enclosed tag does state: "Frequent wear is essential. Storing this footwear for prolonged periods of time without wear will reduce the life of the polyurethane outsole...". Though if you ask me, what this really means is "wear these shoes a lot so they wear out before the soles have a chance to disintegrate on their own!"

Product Size Rating: Sized as Expected

How do you most use this product?: Infrequent formal occasions

1 of 1 people found this review to be helpful.