Hoka - Reviews and experiences

Halfway through packing my bag for a weekend hike, I saw a delivery note saying the boots were left on my porch. I don’t have a porch, so that set off alarm bells — and yep, nothing arrived. Chased it up; Hoka didn’t reply for three days and when they did, they pushed me onto DPD and vague 'third parties' and even mentioned signing legal docs. That was frustrating, really poor support. I’m actually grateful I kept notes and knew a bit about consumer rights, otherwise it might have dragged on even longer. In the end I got a refund after a stubborn back-and-forth, so not a complete disaster. Still, I can’t say anything about the boot's quality because I never wore them; I bought them for hikes and daily dog walks. If you need a straightforward delivery, maybe avoid buying direct from them.

HOKA reps put me on hold forever trying to escalate, then told me to deal with UPS, UPS opened a claim, couldn’t find the package and says they paid HOKA because HOKA created the label. So between us we paid $130 and UPS supposedly sent HOKA another $100, and still no shoes. I was promised an escalation and a reply in a few days twice, which never showed up, and when I called back later there didn’t seem to be any record. My wife almost re-bought them at full price — they wouldn’t honour the original sale — I pushed back, and after I left a review they finally refunded us, saying the size we wanted was out. Annoying. That said, from past HOKA pairs I’ve loved their plush cushioning and springy feel — light on the foot, great for longer runs, broken-in comfort fast — so I’m still a fan of the product itself. My advice: if you buy, keep tight records, demand escalation IDs, and don’t let them ghost you on timelines. It wasn’t perfect, but the shoes (if they ever show up) are what I wanted.

send receipt, send photos, send more photos (I must’ve looked like a shoe paparazzo). At first it felt like talking to a wall — slow replies, form answers, not very reassuring. I got skeptical, annoyed, the whole "spend money and toss it" feeling. But I kept at it, escalated politely, and someone finally actually listened. They arranged a replacement (and paid return shipping), which I didn’t expect after the runaround. So, mixed bag: delivery was great, customer service was clunky at first but eventually helpful. If you buy, take photos right away and keep your proof of purchase — it saved me. All in all I’m less angry than I was, still cautious though.

school runs, a few long walks with the dog, commuting and the usual errands. The delivery itself was fine: arrived on time, no damage to the box, everything as ordered. That part was actually surprisingly smooth. Trouble started when the Gaviota 5 I wore started to delaminate by late January. I filled out a warranty claim because it looked like a clear manufacturing issue and I asked for an exchange. The warranty process asked for a lot of photos (top, side, soles, tags) and I sent everything they wanted. After jumping through all those hoops they issued a refund instead of the exchange I asked for. At that point the old model wasn’t available in my size anymore and the Gaviota 6 was listed $40 higher. I called customer support hoping they’d make a small exception or at least explain, but the rep blamed me for “setting up the return wrong” and said I should’ve done a standard return since I was within a 60-day window. That made no sense to me — shoes were defective, warranty seemed right — and when I asked for a price adjustment so I could buy the new model at my original price they said no, and escalation didn’t help. So: delivery was fine, refund came through (fast, to be fair), but customer service handling and the lack of any reasonable fix left a bad taste. I work in customer service too, so I get policies, but flexibility matters. I still use the replacement pair I bought later, they’re comfortable, but the whole back-and-forth and the tone from support was disappointing. If you value straightforward, helpful customer care more than fast shipping, be aware.