Preppers Shop UK

[Ozmundo]

My point was more a general reflection on the loss of physical stores for this surplus kit.

I agree you are right to be upset with how the retailer handled your complaint and the description of the original goods. Even second hand items are covered by consumer rights.

The negative reports about the prepper shop should give anyone pause. There almost seems to be a pattern.

 

[TeeDee]

My point was more a general reflection on the loss of physical stores for this surplus kit.

I agree you are right to be upset with how the retailer handled your complaint and the description of the original goods. Even second hand items are covered by consumer rights.

The negative reports about the prepper shop should give anyone pause. There almost seems to be a pattern.

I do agree with you ref lamenting the loss of shops that offer surplus items.

However ever since the same physical shops now seek customers via a digital connection & capture ( internet ) and are now linked both ways ( shop seeking customer , customer seeking shop ) any poor customer service or behaviour is reflected on a far larger stage.

The days of a shop being able to offer poor or unsatisfactory service and just wait until the angry customer goes away I guess is the bargain both sides should responsibly enter into.

They say the " best apology is a changed behaviour "- guess this applies to Prepper shop regarding how it deals with its unhappy customer base.

 

[TLM]

Seems like the soles had the same problem I have seen around here and there. Apparently some PU -polyurethane- materials self destruct after some calendar time. As a first guess they are the cheaper ones. Where is our resident polymer chemist?

 

[Pattree]

Not a polymer chemist but someone who understands glue “stratigraphy”.

I have used both hot melt and reactive isocyanate, urethane glues professionally.

We were able to offer ten year guarantees on the window products that we laminated with a plastic veneer, confident that it would last double that time. Once the nitrogen bonds have linked, the two components are effectively one.

However.

All adhesives are dependent on the substrates to which they are fixed. In the case of the boots, any degradation of the leather? polymer? textile? surface could mean that the fabric separates just above the glue surface. Hot melt may damage leather, chemicals in reactive glues may react with other materials.
I have tried to join unglazed pottery to a metal bracket surfaced with (roughened) pvc paint using Gorilla glue. It fell apart after a couple of weeks and clearly showed all the glue on the bracket and none on the unglazed tea pot..

The glues themselves can fail of course. Wrong temperatures and bad mixes can cause adhesive failure but it tends to happen quickly, inside the factory.

I know nothing about the impact glues often used in shoe making. They have a flexible rubbery finished state. Whether or not this crystallises over time, others might know.

 

[Glow_worm]

@TLM Put simply, solid polyurethane is incredibly durable and long lasting, the polyurethane suspension bushes on my car have done 15 years service and are as new.

Foamed polyurethane used in footwear degrades quickly in a normal environment- the foaming makes it porus and allows light and air in, and there's a huge and surface area ripe for breaking down. As you say, it degrades with time whether the boots are used or not, the downfall of much otherwise good footwear (although some good stuff is designed to be repairable of course).

 

[TLM]

I have met PU soles that have actually started to depolymerize into a kind of goo.

Yes foams are prone to plain old fatigue if not made of proper stuff. Some thermoplastic PUs are really tough, some used in reactive injection molding not so but cheap (and that is all the bean counter wants to hear!). As a first guess the weak ones are of the latter type, no idea if polyol or polyether based.

I have met some polyureas that are really tough and can be molded fast but they are not cheap.