Shame on me, I never did an update...
After escalating my complaint to corporate several things happened...
1.) the actual owner of the store got involved, he owns more than one shop & was apologetic for our experience
2.) we found out the sales rep did not ship the boots back to red wings but instead had a local cobbler look at them
3.) the owner took the shoes & sent them back to red wings, in Minnesota, where it was discovered there was in fact a defect with the boot and was not the result of my husband
4.) the owner apologized again & gave him a credit to pick another pair of boots
I'm still not giving the store more than 2 stars only because of the great deal of difficulty we had to go through just for this wrong to be made right & because of the crappy sales rep. HOWEVER, the store owner was excellent to work with, was kind & patient, and made it right. I would definitely shop at his other location, but would not go back to this location again.