The Cobbler’s Bench

This review is for The Best Fit alteration services. I dropped off a bridesmaid dress in early June for an August 1 wedding. I was promised the dress back by July 24, but also told it would probably be done sooner. On July 23 I had not heard anything, so I called. Marlene told me it was not ready yet, and we agreed I would pick it up on July 28. On July 28 she called me three hours before my appointment to tell me it was not ready. She did not seem to care when I reminded her the wedding was 4 days away, and told me her other projects took more time. I guess those projects were more important. I informed her I would be picking my dress up on the 29^th whether it was ready or not, as I could not wait to decide whether I would be driving in from Preston County every evening depending on when she was ready to finish it. On the 29^th I arrived and found that the dress fit in the bodice area, but was hemmed much too short. When I stepped k to my heels, which were worn at the initial appointment, my entire ankle and shoe were visible. It is supposed to graze the floor, and was pinned that way. Also, the two layers of the dress are uneven. I now need to purchase nude flats by Friday. I had asked Marlene to save the extra fabric, which the bride requested so the florist could use it to wrap our bouquets. She said she forgot but she could run back to get it if I could wait. She presented me with an invoice for $ 150 and offeref no compensation for the lateness or inaccuracy of her work. I will never take any of my clothing to The Best Fot for repairs. Even if the dress had been perfect, I found Marlene to be incredibly unprofessional.

My best advice to anyone looking to have boots repaired is to tell them to go to Tanner’s Alley instead. Do not waste your time with the Cobbler’s Bench.
I dropped off a pair of Frye boots to have a zipper installed on the back of each boot. I have a very high arch and was having difficulty in getting them on and off. I contacted the Cobbler’s Bench and they said that it would not be a problem to put a zipper in these boots. I dropped them off in December 2012.
A few months passed and no one had contacted me with any type of update on them. I contacted the store numerous times and every time, I was told that there was a «zipper issue» or that the owner, Marlene, was running behind on another project. I contacted Marlene on 08/​02/​2013 and was told that they would definitely be finished by 08/​09/​2013. Marlene contacted me and left a voicemail stating that they were still not completed and that they would definitely be done on 08/​12/​2013. I called the store on that day and was told that they would definitely be finished by 08/​13/​2013. I contacted the store this morning (08/​13/​2013), and was told that the owner still hadn’t finished the boots and that I needed to call back later (not that she would call me, but they wanted me to call HER back). I told the owner’s assistant, «Miss Cathy,» that I would just come over and pick them up because after EIGHT months of waiting, I just wanted someone to finish them.
I arrived at the store and when the assistant asked me my name, I told her and she muttered something into the phone and went into a back room. When she came back out, I was horrified to see what she had done to them. In a span of EIGHT months, the owner made a cut to just ONE of the boots (other boot fully intact). The cut that she put in the back of my $ 375 boots was not even in a straight line and was not even centered in the back of the boot.
The assistant then asked me to sign off on an invoice showing that I picked up the boots. I told her that I was not paying them a cent for ruining my boots and her response was «well, no one was asking you for any money!» I told her to tell the owner «thanks» for ruining my boots and that I would have to take them somewhere else to see if they are even fixable. Her response to this was «good luck, there’s no one else in Morgantown that does shoe repair!» My response was «good luck in running this business because you certainly need it,» and then I exited the store.
Much to my surprise, she actually ran through the store to come out and yell at me, telling me that I was being rude to her. I couldn’t believe that I was getting yelled at for getting poor service and a ruined pair of boots. She then said she distinctly remembered when I dropped them off and that I said that I was in no hurry. I may not have been in a hurry to get them done, but I certainly didn’t think that I would have to wait EIGHT months… and they STILL aren’t done.
I drove to Tanner’s Alley immediately to see if there was anything that they could do to save this pair of boots. As soon as I put them on the counter, the salesperson said «what did you do to these boots!!!» She even said that whoever cut them didn’t even use the correct tool to cut them. She then stated that her six year old nephew could have done a better job at cutting them. She said that she knew how expensive these Frye boots were and said that her blood was boiling for me. When I told her how long ago I had dropped them off at the Cobbler’s Bench, she could not believe it.
The moral of the story is DON’T GO TO THIS STORE!

I dropped off a pair of boots to be repaired on May 6, 2010. These were bought in Argentina and not obtainable in the United States. These were my fiancé’s favorite boots. The owner told me she could fix them.
After a couple of months, I started to inquire about the progress of these boots. I hadn’t heard anything from the business so I was getting a little concerned. Eventually, I called. I started calling about once every 6 – 8 weeks to check the status. Each time it was always the same response: «they’ll be ready next week.» Not once did anyone from this business take a proactive approach to communicate with me, their customer, about delays, issues, materials, etc… that were preventing the repair from being completed in a routine, workmanlike manner. I still have no idea what took so long.
Finally, on December 27, 2011, a solid YEAR and a HALF later, the owner conacted me (via her employee because she was too embarassed and/​or scared to tell me personally) that the boots were finished. I went straight in to pick them up. As an aside, I had just called on December 20, 2011, to see if there was any chance to have them by Christmas. They would have been a nice surprise for my fiancé.
The repair was shoddy and just breathtakingly bad. It simply did not reflect the quality of boot that I had dropped off in any way. There was a large patch stitched onto the outside of the left boots’ toe that did no match the leather and was incongruous with the boots’ syle. She glued soles to the bottom of the boots that looked like they belonged on a pair of construction boots and the glue wasn’t even cleaned properly, so there were smudges and smears all around the perimeter of the soles from the dried glue.
They looked TERRIBLE and the owner had the termerity to insist that I pay her full price to get the boots back ($ 112.00) after she (1) made me wait 18 months without ever having the courtesy to call me and inform me about the delay, and (2) completely ruined them.
Just a terrible business owner with awful workmanship and even worse skills with her customer base, one that she is apparently using to drive herself out of business.
Do yourself a favor and go to Tanner’s Alley for a shoe repair.