Innovations Rotating 5 Tier Shoe Rack

Still searching for a more functional shoe rack – This isn't my first shoe rack and this won't be my last one either. Lots of assembly required. Instructions are just diagrams of steps in the assembly. The central post comes in two parts. A doubled sided male threaded shaft joins two metal pipes. It isn't great because the shaft has to be screwed in half way in one pipe and then screwed in the… Read more

second pipe, without winding further into the first pipe. It took three attempts and a rubber band to get it even in both. The weighted base attaches to this post with an allen hex bolt. (the tool is supplied). The post and base attached, looks like a microphone stand. It would be stable enough to hold a microphone, but now we have 5 plastic discs to slide onto the post and then add the weight of 30 pairs of shoes.

The final result for us, is a wobbly tower of shoes. The rotating discs seem like a good feature to choose shoes, but the reality is that rotation loosens the nut on the base and the already wobbly tower becomes unbalanced. We have checked the washers are above and below the weighted base and tightened up the bolt on the base a few times (requiring unhooking all the shoes) and now only rotate the discs clockwise to try to keep it tight on the base. The height of the tower and weight of the shoes on a small circle weighted base just isn't stable enough. We think the minimum width of the base should be as wide as the swivel base of an office chair. Just now, after writing this, it is still wobbly for us, so it might have wound its bolt out again.

UPDATE: We seriously considered packing it up in the original packaging (that would require considerable time and effort) but we would have to pay the return postage. This model of rotating 5 tier shoe rack is free standing because it has a weighted base. That base will make our return postage cost high. The $69 refund will be eaten up by the return postage. We also have to make that trip to the post office.

We checked the internet and found that other versions of this product require an attachment point because they are not free standing, so we modified our free standing shoe rack to stabilise it. The shoe rack now occupies some space in the closet. It replaces the shoe rack that was in the closet, so we didn't gain any storage space but we have a different way of storing the shoes.

Note: our photo shows that we have inserted a rod in the rotating shoe stand post. That rod is screwed into a bracket on the overhead shelf in the closet. The shoe stand won't fall over now.

Final Update: we contacted Innovation customer support, they were very nice and listened to our complaint, they told us that this product is setup in their showroom and people have checked it out and handled the 5 tier shoe rack, without any issue. The product is perfectly stable in their opinion and we must be the problem. They agreed to cover the return shipping cost with a reply paid label and refund the full price or exchange for other products from their catalogue. We have 12 months to return for a refund. We cannot complain about the return and refund policy from this experience.