I contacted backcountry, who passed me off to Salomon. It was tied snugly and the right boot did not experience the same. I could hear and feel it sloshing around, despite never being submerged. It only took a half hour of hiking in wet grass for the left boot to completely saturate inside with water like a sponge.
They were still dry in the vestibule when I put them on in the morning, and the rain had stopped, but the very dense underbrush was wet. The third wear, the boots were bone dry when I went to sleep, and it rained heavily overnight. The first two wears were light day hikes in dry conditions.
I wore this boot 3 times for around 10-15 total miles before waterproofing failure.
