Seen On

It was visions of a sweet summer at the beach that led Kerry Stiles to think about feet and a desire for flip flops. 

She entered her neighborhood Wal-Mart outside Ocala and headed to shelves filled with flip flips, sold under the brand Sand-n-Sun.

Stiles, a photographer, chose sandals emboldened with a blue daisy print. The price was less than three dollars, but she says her purchase cost her and others like her, more than money.

"Ultimately, we deserve to know what we were exposed to, every last one of us. We deserve an answer of some sort, don't just ignore us," said Stiles, who claims her feet were somehow severely burned by the sandals she bought and wore for just a few hours. For months, she says she has been asking Wal-Mart for answers.

"Let us know what is in the shoes. Let us know what you found and what you intend to do about it. We have been trying to find that out for months," adds a frustrated Stiles, a former Wal-Mart employee. "I asked them what's in the shoes, and they wouldn't tell me."

But because she posted her feet on the Internet, Stiles says, she now has a network of other consumers who claim their feet were left with what appears to be similar type burns, scarring and infection after they reportedly wore a Sand-n-Sun flip flop manufactured in China. 

Stiles explains, "I woke up one morning and I had three thousand e-mails in my in-box. I have been contacted by no less than 200, no more than 350 people who said [they] had the same thing happen."

After pressing Wal-Mart for answers, Stiles says she got a call.

"They left me a voicemail from claims management and they said the product was made in China, so you have to call China. They wanted me to call China."

She says she tried, but never could get through to the Fuqing, China-based company and neither could the CBS4 I-Team, despite repeated telephone attempts.

When the I-Team contacted Wal-Mart in March, a representative explained that all suspect sandals had been removed and barred from their shelves last August and that an investigation had been launched. Just this week, the I-Team learned that that the barred sandals were the daisy print design which Stiles wore. However, she says, "I have also had e-mails from people saying 'what about the camouflage flip flops I had those,' and 'I had a pair of plain flip flops and they did the same thing.' It's pretty random."
 
She described patterns that sound exactly like the ones the CBS4 I-Team purchased in March 2008.

CBS4 asked Wal-Mart to tell the I-Team which sandals they tested and what they tested for. The I-Team is still awaiting those results.

Meanwhile, the Consumer Product Safety Commission told CBS4 just this week that they conducted an investigation and that, according to a statement provided by Julie Vallese, Director, Information and Public Affairs, "We are aware that Wal-Mart stopped sale of these products in August 2007. After reviewing reported incidents and testing the product, the staff does not believe the level of risk warrants any further action at this time."

"Everybody is scared. We don't know what we have been exposed to. We don't know what's going to happen ten years from now, 20 years from now," said Stiles. 

Statement from Wal-Mart:

"Product safety is a top priority for Wal-Mart. We value the trust our customers place in us when purchasing products from our stores. Of the millions of "Sun and Sand" flip flops sold last year, we received a handful of complaints. In Wal-Mart's response to CBS4, the retailer indicated those customers may have had a sensitivity to the rubber in the original sandals. Even though these represented a small fraction of flip flops sold, Wal-Mart removed this product from sale and placed a block at all registers on August 31, 2007.  Subsequent testing requested by our supplier caused us to believe that some of our customers may have been sensitive to the rubber in the strap.  At Wal-Mart's request, our supplier reformulated the straps of their flip flops for this Spring from rubber to PVC."
- Daphne Moore, Corporate Communications Director for Wal-Mart Stores.