Hi Dave and welcome,
Well you had a better experience than I did a tCotswolds - though I think there is a similar link between our experiences

I bought a pair of walking shoes there and was told by the salesperson that they now do a guaranteed replacement of the shoe if it wears out, I bring in the knackered shoe and they give me a new pair, that's it. I subscribed to their "loyalty card" thingy which I think gave me 2 years on this guarantee.
I checked with the salesperson several times and was assured it was all true "One local walker is on his 3rd pair of free boots", flippin brilliant I thought!

8 months later I returned with the remnants (I am a little hard on them!) of my shoes for a new pair. To be told by the shop manager that such a guarantee does not exist, standard gaurantee only covers faulty workmanship (the usual) and I had simply worn mine out through normal use and would have to buy a new pair at full price.

Was I mis-sold the shoes, absolutely, it sounds to me like some crossed messages have gone out through the stores regards replacement walking boots/shoe - you may have got lucky, I wasn't!

Let's start with the bottom line...

I walked into the Cotswold Outdoor shop in Canterbury today with soggy feet. I left the shop with brand new boots, a pair of £20 walking socks, and a few pounds credited to my debit card - and it cost me absolutely nothing.

I'm still trying to get my head around what happened, and explaining it won't be easy (for you or for me!), but here goes:

This morning, I went for a walk in the pouring rain. After an hour I noticed my feet were getting wet, and after two hours my feet were soaking. After three hours I arrived in Canterbury and the rain had eased considerably. My boots were quite expensive and have a Gore-Tex lining, which I wouldn't expect to let water through (they hadn't up 'till now anyway!), so I decided to pop into Cotswold Outdoor where I bought them. The boots are six months old and have done a great many miles so I was only expecting some advice about re-proofing them (or whatever!). But as soon as the assistant saw my squelching boots he insisted on replacing them there and then with an identical new pair. And because I couldn't be expected to walk home with soggy socks he got me to try on a pair of "The Best Socks There Are". They felt good and, although I'd not usually spend £20 on one pair of socks, I was getting new boots worth over £160 so I was happy to buy them. However, at the till the assistant noticed that I'd used my LDWA card recently which gives me a 15% discount and also that I'd paid full price for my boots (I hadn't been a member of the LDWA at the time), so he said that CO actually owed me around £25 because the 15% discount applied to the replacement boots (which have gone up in price since I bought mine)! So I got the socks for 'free', and money credited to my account - and a brand new pair of boots! Nice one Cotswold Outdoor!

(By the way, I'm a new-ish member and this is my first post. Hi!)

Dave