Pro Deal Resoles

Update:  Pro Deal came through at 13 weeks but the shoes are perfectly resoled.  Also gave me free rand repair since it took so long.  I'd use them again.

Does anyone have any experience good or bad with Pro Deal Resoles?  I sent 3 pairs of TC's in on May 21st.  I spoke to the owner beforehand and agreed on a price for all 3. I confirmed delivery by the UPS tracking number.  I've never received any responses to my recent inquiries about the ETA.  I've left 2 voicemails and 1 email.  Still no response.  I'm worried at this point.  I hate to make this public but I feel I've given him enough time to respond to me before I took it to MP.

I've been sending shoes to Benet for ten years. He does a good job at a good price within a competitive turnaround time, but communication is not one of his strengths.

If I need the resoles in time for a particular objective, I text him and he usually can make the timeframe work.

As long as you are ok with not getting the same level of customer experience as you would from a bigger shop, I would still recommend ProDeal.

It's a bit of a leap of faith to send your sexy Sicilian sneakers off into the void of apparent radio silence, but I've been doing it for a while, trusting that the shoes will come back within the turnaround time, and I haven't been disappointed.

I even sent him my last pair of lucky Katakii, which are suffused with irreplaceable sentimentality. They came back just as ready to slay thin cracks as the day they were born.

I don't think much has changed since this 14-year-old thread:
https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/106958538/whats-up-with-pro-deal-resoles

Last year I sent a resole question and got an immediate response which seemed like a good sign. The website said 6 week turnaround and I sent 10 pairs in.

No confirmation that he received the shoes. I tried contacting him by email and phone after 12 and 14 weeks and got no response. At 16 weeks I tried again and said I was going to do a chargeback if I didn't hear back (I prepaid and the dispute deadline was coming up). He responded saying they were just shipped.

The resoles were the best I've ever seen with amazing rand repairs. For the price and quality it was great, but the website turnaround is a lie and expect literally zero communication.

Can confirm great quality, poor communication.

He also did a great job resoling my chacos with dot rubber.

Benet does excellent work.

I've had 30+ pairs of shoes resoled by him; zero complaints.

Worst ever at comms. Hands down. He will come through.
I tried every way of trying to get a hold of hime for weeks to pay him for a mess up on my part of how he priced toe caps. He answered finally that he got my shoes, but nothing about how to send him some more money. I think he just called it good for my frustration.

In the end, a good job, for good price on the resole. Will send shoes again.
As I've said before though, the bukkake of glue he does to your rand where it meets the upper is a bit weird when I first got a couple pair back from him.... Its like a pro deal resoles calling card.

Dealt with ProDeal for a while, but switched to Backcounty Cobblers in Lander and never looked back. Jay is good at comms and the resoles are excellent. Also does boots, chacos, crocks, and basically anything you can throw at him. 

The Valley Giants of the resole world. 

Cory Nwrote:

Dealt with ProDeal for a while, but switched to Backcounty Cobblers in Lander and never looked back. Jay is good at comms and the resoles are excellent. Also does boots, chacos, crocks, and basically anything you can throw at him. 

Another shout out for Jay at Backcountry Cobblers in Lander. Great quality, pricing, communication, and timing. He has accommodated my many weird requests over the years.

Sent 6 pairs in, quoted 6 weeks took 12. Good price, sent them there mainly because he carries c4 rubber. 2 of the 6 pairs shipped back with the sole already delaminating from the shoe, other 4 seem fine enough. Not worth the hassle to have him make it right for me, will send them elsewhere in the future and spend a little more 

Same boat. I have 4 pairs with him now and it's been 9 weeks - only communication received was that he got the shoes. I feel like it was better the first time going with him, but maybe I didn't notice since the turnaround was quicker. I guess I will just get them when I get them...

UPDATE: Received my shoes back after ~14 weeks

Have any of you folk heard from Benet? I sent him 4 pair of Katakis in late May and sent payment and haven't heard a thing from him. No response from multiple calls and texts. I would be bummed to loose my Katakis, especially since LA Sportiva quit making them.

Brandon Gottungwrote:

Have any of you folk heard from Benet? I sent him 4 pair of Katakis in late May and sent payment and haven't heard a thing from him. No response from multiple calls and texts. I would be bummed to loose my Katakis, especially since LA Sportiva quit making them.

Yeah probably shouldn't have sent my custom chacos...

Odds are all of you will get your shoes.
Bennet is not the person to go to if you like communication and customer service. And now seemingly turn around times are not that much better than others.

I sent him shoes with payment in January this year. I didn't get any response or indication that he received them, he didn't respond to my inquiries about them at all. Then one day three months later he sent me a message that he was done and was shipping them back to me. The quality was ok, not quite to the level that I had from him in the past (there is a bit of delamination happening pretty quickly).

Basically if you send shoes to him, you have to be fine with getting zero communication and getting your shoes back within an unknown timeframe (possibly 3+ months?). You decide whether that is worth the lower price that he charges. I'm thinking that I'm willing to pay more for the peace of mind of communication with someone else.

I switched to backcountry cobblers in lander and literally never looked back. Higher quality, better turn around, better communication, shoe mods, does boots and anything else as well. I’ve yet to have a resole fail. With prodeal I had toe caps come unglued and a few delaminating soles and got really tired of the lack of communication 

I just had a 12 day turnaround with Crag Cobbler out of the Dallas area for a resole. I mailed them Sept 4 and they arrived back to me today, Sept 16.

Two pair of TC Pros and the shoes look great.

No website but email: cragcobbler@gmail.com

1/2 soles $54/pair
Rand repairs $14/shoe

I've used Bennet for resoles for a long time and always had good experiences and high quality work, including "coupons" for free future resoles when the turn around time didn't meet his own expectations/standards...

on the flip side, I've also used a local resoler in SLC and have had to bring shoes back twice for delaminating the first time out using them as well as having to call to follow up when I hadn't heard anything after double the estimated lead times...

Seems like I had similar experiences to everyone else. Sent in a pair of shoes for a resole and rand repair early May and didnt get them back until August 30th, with radio silence until i got the message that they were being shipped back. Quality seems good, but not sure id want to deal with that combo of long lead times and zero communication again.

rock climbing wrote:

Why send them away when there are 3 resole shops in your area with a faster turnaround time? And you can go complain in person. That alone is worth using them. 

I didn't know there were 3 resole shops on the Western Slope. Any in particular you recommend?

I did just get my shoes back from Benet. He resoled 4 pairs of beloved Katakis and it seems he did a very good job, just like I've gotten from him in years past. The difference this round was a much longer wait - a little over 4 months - and absolutely no communication until he shipped. I'll report back with the quality of the resoles after some use, but based on initial appearance, the resoles are high quality and he made sure to glue down the delaminating rand. Thanks Benet! 

Overall, ProDeal Resoles is a great value if you don't need the shoes returned quickly and are patient to the lack of communication.