My four year old son wore their trainers for a total of FOUR DAYS before they were completely ruined, with actual holes forming at the toe! The very first day he came home with the fronts scuffed down... See more
While we don't verify specific claims because reviewers' opinions are their own, we may label reviews as "Verified" when we can confirm a business interaction took place. Read more
To protect platform integrity, every review on our platform—verified or not—is screened by our 24/7 automated software. This technology is designed to identify and remove content that breaches our guidelines, including reviews that are not based on a genuine experience. We recognise we may not catch everything, and you can flag anything you think we may have missed. Read more
See what reviewers are saying
The sole on our pair of “Sketch” school shoes physically detached within 5 months. When I contacted Start-Rite, they used surface scuffs as the excuse for why the sole came off, stating that “scuffs... See more
My son has extra wide feet (H width) and Startrite is the only place I've found quality shoes that fit him comfortably. I always have to order online so I've had to return shoes on occasion where I've... See more
Have purchased 2 pairs of the start rite mud busters as gifts. The wellies are lovely & excellent quality, the only downfall is they arrived badly packaged, in a plastic bag, so they were slightly ou... See more
Company details
Written by the company
Start-Rite Shoes are dedicated to creating quality, durable, stylish kids shoes and boots at affordable prices - Fitted footwear for children of all ages
Contact info
Peachman Way, Broadland Business Park, NR7 0WF, Norwich, United Kingdom
- 0344 561 7263
- customer.services@startriteshoes.com
- www.startriteshoes.com
Hasn’t replied to negative reviews
How this company uses Trustpilot
See how their reviews and ratings are sourced, scored, and moderated.
Always have great service
Always have great service, feel like the selection is rather lacking of choice these days though
Would give zero stars if I could
Would give zero stars if I could. Shocking
Customer service. Lady on the phone abrupt and unprofessional. Been buying my son start rite trainers since walking from John Lewis and never had a problem. Due to lack of stock had to order direct from start rite. My little boy has worn them once and the leather has started to crumble away and creases cracking all at the front, the stitching doesn’t look very neat and is fraying away! Look really scruffy like he’s had them months not a week. I assumed as this was the first pair we had received that didn’t seem the quality they should I emailed start rite to request a return and refund. As they don’t do exchanges I went ahead and re ordered a new pair thinking they would happily return the damaged pair to cover the cost of the new Ones. Wow was I wrong!! Email ignored! I rang and was greeted with they have seen my email and photos
But she personally doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with the trainers so won’t refund the cost! We only had them
Less than a week.She refused to do anything for me stating they don’t usually get complaints about trainers ( I think start rite need to review there online reviews! ) she spoke over me the entire time, I said trainers were poor quality and doesn’t reflect the price paid or reflected any of the same pairs we had previously bought from John Lewis! She said you can’t have a refund as she personally thinks it’s wear and tear! ( after wearing them
Once inside for 2 hours!!) I explained I had reordered a new pair as was fully expecting to send these back and she said oh nothing she can do about that even though I was out of pocket for 2 pairs at £68 and my son had no trainers to wear! Asked for a manager or supervisor and she stated they don’t have one or a complaints procedure or manager! Apparently they are a small company with only a couple of members of staff! She then refused to cancel my new order as I didn’t want to spend anymore money with them! Reading online reviews wish I had seen these first as looks like this is what they do. Once you get your order doesn’t matter the state or if it’s damaged you are stuck with it and blamed for any damage! The new pair arrived yesterday with a squashed box and one shoe out of the packaging in the delivery bag! Start rite need to train there small team on customer service and I have never known a company to run without any kind of structure in team management! Should have stuck with John Lewis as this problem would have been resolved instantly! Avoid buying online from
This company! Needless to say I’m still not happy and will be taking this futher! Shocking!
Shocking Customer Service
I would give it zero stars if possible.
My granddaughter just started wearing the leather shoes as they were too small to begin with. Straightaway the gold rubbed off from the Velcro straps onto one’s fingers when putting them on or taking the shoes off. Needless to say they scuffed extremely quickly and now the shoes look so scruffy they are unwearable after only 3 weeks.
Customer services are extremely unhelpful and insist that shoes should be complained about with 14 days of purchase.
They simply do not want to know these shoes are not fit for purpose - shocking attitude.
I will not buy any Startrite shoes again and take my custom elsewhere.
I urge anyone to do the same after my experience.
Awful customer service
Awful customer service . Paid for express delivery didn’t get it only to be fobbed off with ordered after 4 pm so lose a day . Been shopping startrite for my children now they are all grown up I’m now buying for their children will be using Clark’s from now on .
Ordered a shoe gauge 24th Nov and…
Ordered a shoe gauge 24th Nov and haven't received it on 13th Dec despite chasing up customer service. Had to claim a refund via PayPal.
Love them
My little one has had 5 different pairs of shoes/boots from start right and we loved them all they fit well, comfortable, last well as are sturdy , plus they all look adorable on. I will not shop for shoes anywhere else now and would highly recommend them.
Dreadful customer service
Dreadful customer service. Lady on the phone was completely uninterested. Needed shoes for daughter urgently. Don’t buy. A word of advice for management your staff need to go on training courses. I have bought shoes from you previously will not be doing again.
Appalling customer service
Appalling customer service
I ordered shoes and 10 days after I get a message that my delievery will be late. No info on delivery, no reply to my 3 wmails.
I ordered few times from them, luckily no issues. But this time I realised that they have no customer service, no staff to deal with issues.
It’s better to order through JoJo Maman website, you can even get better prive there.
This will be my last order with them, they should be ashamed for using our money and not deliver the service. No reply, no apologies. Stay away
Exceptional Customer Service so felt the need to leave a review on…
Felt the need to leave a review on Start Rite. There was a mix up with my order and I was sent the correct box with wrong shoes inside. Called them up & their customer service agent was fantastic! So polite & helpful. She apologised profusely and said keep the wrong ones & find a use for them and I will arrange next day delivery to you for the pair you ordered. Cannot ask for much more than that. Exceptional Customer Service in correcting a very easy mistake.
Bad quality school shoes which they will not take responsibility for
I have previously bought 3 pairs of shoes from them and was very happy so when it came to choosing my daughter’s school shoes it was a no brainer. After her first week the leather on the toes was peeling off. This is not normal wear and tear as that happens over time and my daughter generally looks after her shoes and possessions. I contacted them and sent them pictures and they sent me an insulting email to buy their shoe polish to polish the ‘abrasions on the toes’. I would be polishing the fabric underneath that is how scuffed they are! They are taking no responsibility for this and saying the shoe is not faulty. This should not happen to good quality shoes which they say have been tried and tested. From now on I will just buy cheap supermarket school shoes and replace them instead of investing in what I thought was a good quality pair that would last at least the year or until she grew out of them. I will not be purchasing anything from this company again.
Refused to accept return or replacement
Refused to accept returns or replacement for faulty Velcro on one of their brand new toddler shoes. The Velcro kept coming off after a few minutes and posed a tripping risk. They kept asking for photos and I explained 5 times that stickiness cannot be captured on a photo and they'd have to inspect the shoes themselves. They refused to replace, refund or even inspect the shoes.
I escalated the case to PayPal who gave me my money back.
However, their disregard and disdain towards consumers and consumer law is truly shocking. I am going ahead with reporting them to the CMA.
Scamers do not use
Scamers do not use. If you subscribe they will pass your email to scammers and your inbox will flooded with scam emails. I have never shared email I subscribed with and starting from the same day I subscribed I have been receiving scam.
Shoes are terrible quality
Awful company to deal
Awful company to deal. They sent faulty kids shoes that made my daughter’s feet bloody and refused to accept the responsibility for it.
The customer service assistant asked useless and insulting questions and showed no knowledge of the consumer rights protection. I will never buy their shoes again!
had an amazing experience with…
had an amazing experience with startrite. all the staff were so welcoming and helpful.
Misleading despatched information on their webiste
I placed my order on 31 at 10.42 and accordingly their website my order should have been dispatched on same day (Orders placed before 4pm on a working day should be dispatched on the same day with our nominated courier, Royal Mail). But instead they have dispatched my order today 2 days after I placed it. My child started school and still no shoes. Their delivery information are misleading. I read them on purpose before placing the order as I wanted to be sure they will arrive before first day in school. It is a shame fist time I ordered from this company everything was perfect.
I bought my daughter a pair of size 2.5…
I bought my daughter a pair of size 2.5 shoes on sale (half price compared to high street retailer). They arrived on time (to Scotland) and in box fresh condition. The shoes themselves are superb and have helped my daughter take her first steps. I'll be buying again from startrite when she needs her next pair
Scammers
Scammers, if you don’t chase your returns they keep your money even after returning the products. You have to email few times, prove that you have posted the items back even if you use their returns label. They bluntly blame it on Royal Mail. If you email you don’t get proper replies, Louise Barber was dealing with my issue who clearly didn’t know the process of complaints. When I raised it online, she asked me to phone to raise the complain and when I phoned, I was asked to email if I wanted to make complaint.
Avoid these scammers!
Getting a refund is ridiculously slow …
We love start rite shoes for the girls this time I ordered our little girls size and the style was unusually narrow so I returned them for a refund. It’s been almost 2 weeks now since I returned them so I emailed to enquire about my refund. They said they could see they received the shoes back on the 15th so over a week ago and they advise it takes 14 days from there to get a refund issued ! Why ? They have the shoes back have done for more than a week but still no refund issued ? I returned a pair of Clarks shoes on the same day as these the refund for those was in my account 3 days later it’s really put me off using start rite now as I need a refund so I can go and get her some more shoes.
I love Startrite so do my children
I'm really surprised at bad reviews on here about Startrite as I have had the complete opposite experience.
My children have worn Startrite shoes since first needing shoes. I am lucky I have a local independent shoe shop who stocks Startrite as I often go there to get their feet measured and buy. Having said that the seasonal sales Startrite have on their website are amazing! I often buy a number of shoes in bigger sizes as they are such good value...often 70% off the RRP.
My children both love all the shoes I have bought from Startrite. The leathers are so soft, most shoes are leather lined so amazingly comfortable my children say. In fact once my son was larger than a size 4 (that's the biggest they do in casual shoes) I really struggled to find comfortable, casual shoes he liked. It would be great if they made a few casual shoes in sizes larger than a L4. School shoes are up to a size 11.
All shoes I have purchased have lasted till my children have outgrown. Some shoes I have managed to sell (ebay, fb marketplace) after use due to them being in such good condition still.
Well done Startrite, keep continuing to make amazing quality shoes!
Worst pair of school shoes ever with no rubber sole
Leather shoes with no rubber sole as per description which is very misleading! The sole are of a very poor quality and worn off after 3 months of wear and before my son grown out of it. I took it to Timpson's to see if hey can help but was told it is cheap mass production and unrepairable. Please stay away from Rhino boys school range as the quality is shocking for the price.
The Trustpilot Experience
Anyone can write a Trustpilot review. People who write reviews have ownership to edit or delete them at any time, and they’ll be displayed as long as an account is active.
Companies can ask for reviews via automatic invitations. Labeled Verified, they’re about genuine experiences.
Learn more about other kinds of reviews.
We use dedicated people and clever technology to safeguard our platform. Find out how we combat fake reviews.
Learn about Trustpilot’s review process.
Here are 8 tips for writing great reviews.
Verification can help ensure real people are writing the reviews you read on Trustpilot.
Offering incentives for reviews or asking for them selectively can bias the TrustScore, which goes against our guidelines.








