Thursday, October 20, 2011

I only wanted a size 14½! Missed decimal point sees slipper ordered from China returned as size 1,450... big enough for owner to sleep in


Sometimes when you buy a pair of shoes, one of them can feel snug while the other one does not quite fit.
Tom Boddingham certainly knows the feeling.
When the 27-year-old ordered a special monster-design slipper to fit his oversized left foot, he was sent this size 1,450 one – because manufacturers failed to spot a decimal point.

Big slipper-up: Tom's massive size 1,450 slipper is big enough to get into
Big slipper-up: Tom's massive size 1,450 slipper is big enough to get into
He had requested a 14.5, as well as a smaller size 13 for his right foot. The pair cost £15.50.
However, manufacturers in China misread the measurement and accidentally made the whopping seven foot-long slipper, which was shipped to him along with the correct smaller size.
Now 6ft 7in Mr Boddingham, who wears custom-made shoes because of the different sizes of his feet, will sell it on eBay.

Mistake: Tom ordered his custom-made slipper from the Monster Slippers website
Mistake: Tom ordered his custom-made slipper from the Monster Slippers website
‘It was sent directly from Hong Kong and measures 210 x 130 x 65cm – the same length as a grizzly bear or a family car,’ said Mr Boddingham, from Ilford, Essex. ‘I must be the owner of the biggest slipper in the world.
‘I’m going to sell it online, and if I can make a few quid out of it then all the better.’
Online slipper company Monster Slippers – which is based in Dunmow, Essex, and has the motto ‘for the animal in you’ – apologised to  Mr Boddingham and has not charged him any extra. A spokesman explained the mistake occurred because of a ‘translation error’.
‘We are making him a replacement slipper of the right dimensions,’ he added. 
Apparently workers in the slipper factory assumed his giant order was for a shop window display.

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