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General Category => Off the Record => Topic started by: Josquius on October 27, 2011, 01:02:26 AM

Title: The customer is always right in China
Post by: Josquius on October 27, 2011, 01:02:26 AM
QuoteSometimes when you buy a pair of shoes, one of them can feel snug while the other one does not quite fit.
Tom Boddingham certainly knows the feeling.
When the 27-year-old ordered a special monster-design slipper to fit his oversized left foot, he was sent this size 1,450 one – because manufacturers failed to spot a decimal point.

He had requested a 14.5, as well as a smaller size 13 for his right foot. The pair cost £15.50.

However, manufacturers in China misread the measurement and accidentally made the whopping seven foot-long slipper, which was shipped to him along with the correct smaller size.
Now 6ft 7in Mr Boddingham, who wears custom-made shoes because of the different sizes of his feet, will sell it on eBay.

Mistake: Tom ordered his custom-made slipper from the Monster Slippers website
'It was sent directly from Hong Kong and measures 210 x 130 x 65cm – the same length as a grizzly bear or a family car,' said Mr Boddingham, from Ilford, Essex. 'I must be the owner of the biggest slipper in the world.
'I'm going to sell it online, and if I can make a few quid out of it then all the better.'
Online slipper company Monster Slippers – which is based in Dunmow, Essex, and has the motto 'for the animal in you' – apologised to  Mr Boddingham and has not charged him any extra. A spokesman explained the mistake occurred because of a 'translation error'.
'We are making him a replacement slipper of the right dimensions,' he added.

Apparently workers in the slipper factory assumed his giant order was for a shop window display.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2051081/Tom-Boddingham-slipper-Decimal-point-error-sees-size-size-1-450-order-China.html

(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2011%2F10%2F19%2Farticle-0-0E6FDDCD00000578-201_634x403.jpg&hash=97917814b42a68558bb4ea14012c9f2ad04e0c3a)

:lol:

No clue on the truth of this, it seems quite unbelievable- they would charge 15 quid for something so huge? Why, you could dismantle it for parts.
Title: Re: The customer is always right in China
Post by: The Brain on October 27, 2011, 01:05:17 AM
My fursona doesn't have a giant left foot. Not buying it from him.
Title: Re: The customer is always right in China
Post by: Eddie Teach on October 27, 2011, 02:22:12 AM
I suspect the billing and the production/shipping were handled by different people.
Title: Re: The customer is always right in China
Post by: Syt on October 27, 2011, 02:30:26 AM
http://www.geekosystem.com/tag/tom-boddingham/

(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic02.mediaite.com%2Fgeekosystem%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F10%2Fslipper-face-compare.png&hash=bb5128628517fe1d1bbe68b0962665a5c3a91530)

QuoteWhat was at one time a straight-forward, if strange, story of a communications mix-up that resulted in an enormous slipper has suddenly taken a turn into the mysterious. As we, along with several national news outlets reported, a man by the name of Tom Boddingham claimed that he'd ordered a size 14.5 slipper and received a size 1,450 by mistake.

However, a post by the UK Guardian's Polly Curtis casts some doubt on this story. In her research, Curtis found a tweet from @william_summers that highlighted how the Boddingham looked exactly like Monster Slipper web manager Joe Jennings.
Title: Re: The customer is always right in China
Post by: Josquius on October 27, 2011, 04:51:26 AM
Jaha, a cunning advertising ploy.
Well.
Not so cunning. Just stupid press :lol:
Title: Re: The customer is always right in China
Post by: The Brain on October 27, 2011, 04:53:05 AM
Is Dailymail part of "the press" though? :hmm:
Title: Re: The customer is always right in China
Post by: Richard Hakluyt on October 27, 2011, 05:01:57 AM
I think everyone knew it was a stunt right from the start, but it was an amusing stunt so the story ran.