A friend of mine bought some shoes here in Australia a few weeks ago, within a day they had fallen apart. On closer inspection it looked like the uppers and soles of the shoes were made of cardboard. He took them back for a refund, but the girl in the shop was totally confused.
“How very strange, we have never had problems like this with these shoes before. I’ve been selling these for over a year, no one has ever complained. I even have a pair myself. You must have been unlucky; maybe you got a rogue pair of shoes. I can give you a refund if you wish, but if you like the shoes, why not let me exchange them?” she said.
So he did.
24 hours later the replacement shoes fell apart and, on closer inspection, it looked like the uppers and soles of the shoes were made of cardboard.
I think it is fair to say these shoes were shonky.
Shonky
Adjective
shonky (comparative shonkier, superlative shonkiest)
(Australian, New Zealand, UK, informal) Of poor or dubious quality, shoddy, unreliable.
Source: Wiktionary
Surely we need some kind of protection from buying these shonky goods and surely we already have. In the UK you have Which? magazine and here in Australia we have Choice. And this week Choice announced their shonky awards for 2012.
The Choice Shonky Awards 2012
- Find out about Australia’s shonkiest washing machine
- Hear about the shonkiest travel group
- Discover the skinny on shonky homoeopathic pills for kids
- Australia’s two shonkiest overchargers are revealed
- The problem with a world-famous shonky chocolate bar explained
- See the $99 nano-shonkey tablet device service that doesn’t work
- And finally, find out about the shonky mould remover that doesn’t remove mould
Yes, these were the finalists in the Choice Shonky Awards that took place this week, and you can find out exactly what these goods were in this Choice video. Pay attention now, you’ll need to select a winner after watching this…
So who won? What was Australia’s shonkiest product of 2012?
Well, you’ve seen all the finalists, see if you can guess who the winner is. When you have made your mind up, click on this link to find out…
Hi, this problems were in Europe as well, these shoes are perfectly OK, they are just meant for dead into coffin for funeral – not for normal use.
Maybe the shoes should have a label on them to explain that then, something simple like “Dead Man’s Shoes”?