Bata India — Sandal purchased from Bata India store has non-working elastic belt

Date of purchase: 2nd Sept 2023

I purchased sandals for my wife from Bata showroom. It had elastic belt. While purchasing, we explicitly asked staff what if elastic gets lose. Staff mentioned that there is 90 days warranty.

On the first day o[censored]se, we realized that the elastic belt is already loose. We went to Bata showroom within 30 days of purchase. Showroom refused to do anything and called customer care. Both customer care and showroom now claim that elastic is not covered under warrany.

As per https://www.bata.com/in/bata-exchange-claim.html, claim is admissible for manufacturing defect. In case of footware, damaged upper material qualifies as manufacturing defect.

But now Bata claims that non-working elastic (upper material) is not a manufacturing defect and refuse to repair, replace or refund.

Nowhere on the Bata portal, it mentions that elastic is not covered in the warranty of manufacturing defect. However, their showroom staff blatantly mis-sell the product assuring the warranty for elastic and then enjoy the plausible deniability by claiming they never said so.

My ticket number with Bata - 723116

Their correspondence mentions:
'Our Quality check team has analyzed the images in detail and would like to inform you that the damage you are referring in the product has been classified as a regular wear & tear and cannot be attributed to any quality or manufacturing defect.'

I never sent any images to any Bata quality check team. But they simply claim that they have analyzed images and classified as regular wear and tear.

In addition to this, their official policy (attached screenshot) says 'Claims are entertained within the above period only against manufacturing defects and admissible when shoes have been appropriately used'. So without giving any proof about inappropriate use, they cannot classify non-working elastic upper material has regular wear and tear.

Elastic belt of sandal not working on day 1 should be classified as manufacturing defect and company should provide some kind of resolution.