New boots damaged by overheating the shell while trying to punch toe

I just purchased a new pair of Dynafit Zzeus AT boots. The boots fit good except they are very snug around the fore foot. The shop guys told me  that it would be easy to punch out the toe area because they are made of PU.   When I was told they would need the boots for a week, to punch the toes out I was surprised, but said OK. I had been thinking they would do it while I was there so I could point out the exact spot where they were tight etc..

I returned a week later only to be told that they were "having problems",and that I should come back in a few days. I thought.....oh crap they're gonna destroy my new boots!  When I picked them up I saw that the right boot had been heated to the point where the shell material had blistered,  the shell is grossly over punched in one or two spots ,and the shell appears to sort of be sagging slightly to one side at the toe area. Also the front buckle attachment point is loose, like the rivet hole was stretched while hot.

I am wishing I had just taken the boots to a good boot fitter, but now, I don't know if the boots are ruined or not. Is it not a problem for the material to be gotten that hot? Am I just being anal? The boots do fit better, but they still need work, but I'm not going to let these guys touch them again.

What should I do? Is it ridiculous to ask for a new pair of boots? I did get these on sale for a very good price. Maybe I should just take them to a good boot fitter ,and get his opinion?

Thanks for any advice.

Thanks for the replies. I will try to take them to a boot fitter today.

I guess I didn't realize how much they had been distorted while I was still in the store. I was  trying them on and didn't have time to look at them closely until I got them home later that evening.

It's pretty dissapointing to buy a nice, well made pair of boots only to have them mangled but the fitting process!

Thanks for all the replies, and ecouragement!

I contacted the local boot fitter this morning, and told him about the damage. I asked if I could bring them to him for a quick look, and to tell me if I should return the boots to the store. He said to come in tomorrow morning, and he will check them out. He said that it isn't a problem for the surface of the shell material to be blistered as long as it doesn't go through? That may be, but it still doesn't seem right to heat them that much?

Anyway, Hopefully he can make them fit, and fix any damage done. I hate to seem like a jerk and ask a ski shop for a refund, if it is really just a cosmetic problem. It just bugs me to spend hard earned money on new gear and then see it look like it's been through a fire. I also would hate to ask for a new pair of boots from these guys because who knows how long it would take to get a pair? I left my Scarpa Hurricanes there to replace a cuff hinge , and after a month with no results I just brought them home. Also, I didn't mention that I bought a pair of new skis and skins at the same time. When I dropped off my Dynafit bindings to be mounted and  asked when I could pick them up, I was told he needed them for a week! (same time I brought the boots in  to be punched). I couldn't believe they required a week to mount a pair of bindings, but didn't complain. When I returned to pick up the skis and boots on the appointed day, I was told they weren't ready!! That was when they told me they were having problems with the boots too. Does that seem  ridiculous?

I don't feel comfortable giving out the name of the shop, I guess because I know people make mistakes, and they deserve a chance to make it right if it comes to that.

Sorry for venting like this, but maybe I'll feel better if other folks tell me I'm not crazy to expect better service than this?

Oh yeah, I'll try to post some pics in the morning.

Hi, OK here is the update. First I didn't buy these boots on-line, I bought them from a local specialty (highly regarded I thought) ski shop. These are the guys that messed up the fitting process.

I took the boots to Jim Mates in Seattle (Custom Boot Service). I can't say enough good things about his ability to fit boots. First, he said the tight fit in the forefoot wasn't caused by the shell, but rather mostly just the liner, which he fixed about 95%. He didn't seem too concerned about the blistering of the shell surface, and said it was OK, and that he would work on them a little more to rectify the fact that the boot was pressed out in a place where it didn't need to be, and was not pressed where it probably should have been, next to my right little toe, which is still a little tight.

I can't stress enough the importance of getting a GOOD boot fitter to work on your boot fit. Jim was able to work wonders with my stance, and working on the volume issues I have, etc.. I wish I had just bought the boots and taken them to him in the first place.

All these years I have been skiing in boots that didn't fit right, I was buying boots that didn't crush my fore foot, and then after they packed out they would be loose around the ankle, soooo now I think these will really work good for me. I can live with the cosmetic flaws. I did get the boots for almost half price, so I don't want to deal with trying to get a replacement shell, or any of that.

I'll try to post some pics later.

Thanks all the good feedback

Trekchick, The guys at the shop I bought where I bought the boots  did not seem like they were really interested in seeing that I got a good fit in these boots. The only thing they suggested was to try skiing in them when I told them that the fore foot of both feet was unbearably tight. I tried wearing them around the house for a while, but there would have been no sense in trying to ski in them. That's when called and asked them if they could do more work as they had originally suggested that the toes would be "easy to punch out if needed". When I returned to the shop with the boots for more fitting,  they told me they would need them for a week, I was surprised to say the least, but didn't complain. After all these guys are the experts right?  When I returned to pick up the boots and my new skis (which I also purchased at the same time) they told me they weren't ready and were "having problems" with the boot stretch. I figured then that they had no clue what they were doing, and just wished I had taken the boots to an independent fitter in the first place. When I saw how bad they had screwed up the boots, I wanted to just return them, but decided to take them to the fitter to see what he had to say. I just want the boots to fit, and if the blistering of the shell is only cosmetic, then I guess I can live with it, but I think these shop people should just leave the fitting of boots to people who really know what they're doing.

I thought this shop had a good reputation, and they are a specialty shop that should have quality people working there, but my impression is very negative. The skis were not mounted on time when they had them in shop for a week. I left another pair of boots therm for a simple repair for a month, and nothing was done to them. They charged me twice for the sales tax on the purchases I made, and if I had not caught the mistake I would have ended up paying it. They had to refund me for that.Then the deal with the boots... I'm thinking WHAT THE F.......... maybe these guys are smoking something on their way to work in the morning? I feel like I should talk to the owner, but why bother. Like I said in my earlier post, If I ask for another pair of boots, how long will it take to get them? Will there be another pair available? If I ask for a refund, then I'll need to start over again looking for a pair of boots that I want and can afford. I really like the Zzeus boots, and other than the tight fit in the fore foot, I think they will be a good fit for me, because I have skinny ankles (chicken legs) If I can just get these fit issues resolved. As ugly as the boots are now form the overheating, I think they can be salvaged functionally. There may be another issue with these boots that i just found out about. The two middle buckles contact when they are in Maximum forward flex. I need to research out if dynafit is going to do a recall or something?

Trekchick, I guess I could ask for a refund. I paid $450.00 plus tax for these, and the cheapest I've seen them for anywhere else in size 25 is about $600.00, so I would end up paying $150.00 for what is really just a cosmetic upgrade. Plus I already paid Jim Mates some money to do some custom fitting on the liners. They still need more work on the shells I believe, (my toes are still too crushed in these boots to be comfortable skiing in them). Jim didn't seem too concerned about the blistering of the shell material so it is probably not going to affect the way the boots ski.

I guess the thing that really bugged me was that the shop didn't really take any time to try to work with me on the fit issues. When Jim Mates had me try on the liners outside of the shell it was obvious that a lot of the tightness was just in the liner. And why did the shop not try to have me pinpoint the area that needed stretching? They just said to leave them, and they would take care of it. I read on Lou Dawsons site that they need to have the sole blocks set in a pan of water while they are heating the shell so that the soles don't get overheated, which might cause them to have problems with the sole/shell interface.The edges of the sole blocks on the one boot do show signs of overheating, but it doesn't look like it messed up the fit of the sole block to the shell.  I plan to call Salewa/Dynafit to ask them about the issue with the buckles, and I will mention that the shell material was blistered during stretching to see what they say.

As far as mentioning the name of the shop, I'd rather wait to see if there is anything going to be done about this whole issue. I will say that when it comes to boot fitting I don't think there is any shop in Seattle that I've seen (maybe Sturtevants,and even they can't compare to Jim Mates) that can do a really decent job of fitting boots if the boots need more than just a quick heat and go type of thing, I never realized before all this happened just how much science there is in high performance boot fitting. Also, when it comes to spending money at a small shop, just trust your instincts, I knew when I first started interacting with these guys that I would need to spell out exactly what I wanted done, and even then it didn't happen. I told them that I'd had several bad experiences with shop work before including two pairs of skis being mounted with screws bulging out the bases,and one of the shops (Marmot) had given me a new pair of skis, the other store made light of it, and only would repair the damage. The skis I just bought (Voile Insanes) are fairly thin so I expressed concern that this could be a problem, but they said it would be Ok, and in any case if the screws did bulge the base they would not replace the skis. Needless to say I checked the bases carefully when the job was done.

Bottom line is that good service at ski shops is hard to find, and some of this specialized Alpine Touring equipment is only available in certain stores, so I don't know how to avoid having problems?