Timberland — whose boots are the sole option for many prisoners in US correctional institutions, thanks to sweetheart deals with prison commissaries — has a new set of kafkaesque warranty conditions for prisoners that makes it effectively impossible to get defective footwear repaired, meaning that prisoners could spend decades without suitable footwear.
We asked AnnaMarie whether the prison commissary actually lets inmates exchange boots. Nope, she says: the commissary tells them to mail their boots in, and Timberland says that the company can’t mail anything back directly.
“If a boot is defective and the Timberland Company has a warranty for such defects, AND they have a contract with a captive audience, why are they changing the terms of the warranty in such a way as to make it virtually impossible to use?” AnnaMarie asks. We don’t know.
Timberland Boots Have A Lifetime Warranty, Unless You’re In Prison [Laura Northrup/Consumerist]
(Image: Step on my way, Takeshi, CC-BY)
