Hey everyone! My apologies for not updating sooner, but I'm happy to let you know my True skates adventure has finally come to a close!
After sending in photos of a plethora of issues to go along with the wrong size holders, they immediately sent me a prepaid label to send them back. It was the first time I've ever dealt with basically overnight international shipping, but holy cow they weren't messing around! They asked me to document everything I saw wrong and wanted fixed and they'd have none other than the mythical Rob sign off on them before they were allowed to be headed back out the door. Needless to say, they killed it.
Every. Single. Nitpicky. Thing. These things look great, and fit even better. They now have the tan clarino pro liner that feels incredible, the ankle is nice and tight and my heel is basically vacuumed in place. Nothing extra taped in the toebox, as there's literally no room for it. They then basically sent them back on the same rocket ship they went to Winnipeg on. I actually missed the first delivery attempt because it was less than 20 hours after I received shipment notification.
Here's my final assessment:
Do they have room to grow? You bet.
Are there flaws? Of course, it's a handmade skate.
Was I probably a giant pain in their ass? Absolutely. But for a grand, I think you get the right to be a little.
Would I do it all over again? WITHOUT HESITATION. The area manager of Pure Hockey offered to let me walk away from True and move to CCM or Bauer customs, but it honestly never even entered my mind. Never would I imagine CCM or Bauer would pay attention to this level of detail to make the consumer happy. Regardless of how big of a pain I was, they were always courteous, understanding, and most importantly, willing to make absolutely everything right for me. That can't have a price placed on it.
The skates are an absolute pleasure to be on as well. I won't say they make you a better skater, but they certainly make it so much easier to focus on technique and less on what your foot is doing as it rattles around inside a boot.
Oh yeah, they also threw in another pair of holders and steel for all the trouble, just in case down the road I need them. The new boxes are much sturdier too!
And there it is. The adventure comes to a close, and I couldn't be happier...not could my weird wide-forefoot-with-super-narrow-heeled feet.