I have had my boots for just over a year and they are falling to pieces. The last straw was when the zip broke. They were sent back to the workshop and i had to really haggle to ensure the repairs were done free up charge - at first I was asked to pay £55, a third of the original price of the boots! The manager tried claiming that zips were 'maintainable parts', but this is no excuse for a product failing within 13 months. If better zips had been put in, then they would not need to be maintained so frequently. Beside the zips, the heels are peeling and there is significant fraying around the zip area. The customer service is polite but poor, the staff seem unaware of customer rights under the 1978 sale of good act.

I have skinny calves and these boots fitted perfectly. Customer service at the store was good and they arrived within 6 weeks as I was told. Unfortunately, one zip broke within the year and I not only paid for special delivery back to the store, I was told due to wear and tear I had to pair for repair and return postage. Now it was only one zip broken, the heels was wearing within a few months, I work full time and cannot wear them to work, did not wear them for a few months over summer and took good care of them considering the price. I always got replies to my emails but they did not give any reasonable explanation for the above. Not worth money when I paid 160 pounds plus another 40 pounds within a year.

My wife checked out serveral customer reviews for Duo boots, some good, some bad. Despite the bad reviews she went ahead and ordered a pair of brown leather boots which she was desperate for as most, if not all, high street stores do not cater for larger calf sizes.

My wife takes a size 4 to 4.5 so she ordered a size 5 to be safe. The shoe length on DUO boots is very generous, something not mentioned on the website, so the fit of the boots was way too large. I posted the boots back, special delivery for £8.65. About a week later we received a replacement pair. We checked over the boots and they seemed fine so she started to wear them. After three outings the sticthing on the back of one of the heels had come loose letting the leather of the heel come apart. After a couple of phone calls we sent the boots back via special delivery for £8.65.

About two weeks later a brand new pair of boots arrived in the post. My wife and checked them over carefully and we found that one section of leather on one boot was not sewn correctly, it was loose and the unsewn leather flap flapped when it should have been joined to the rest of the shoe and tucked under the sole. A phonecall to Duo ensued and we sent the boots back via special delivery for £8.65.

By this time my wife had noticed that every time Duo sent a replacement pair of boots they charged her £5 for P+P. Considereing she hadn't explicitly authorised these payments of £5 I'm surprised they were legally able to do this, unless there is something in some smallprint somewhere. Duo agreed to refund two lots of of £8.65.

A week or two later a replacement pair of boots arrived. My wife was not charged £5 P+P for these this time either, at least I don't think she was. We checked the boots over and they seemed ok in terms of quality and she's been wearing them ever since. She's had them for about a month now and one of the tags on the zips snapped off this morning!!! We're not sending them back this time. I took them into a shoe repair shop, they're ordering in some zip tags and can fix them although I don't know if the fix will last for the lifetime of the boot, I'm just happy it's repairable at a small cost, they can replace the whole zip but that would cost £30.

Overall it's been quite a stressful ordeal for my wife. I don't think we'll go back to Duo again. There are other companies out there that provide similar products, maybe we will try one of those next time.