I had that happen with SPD shoes/cleats. As stated above, I had to use enough pressure to get the cleats to pop out of the cleat anchor plate that is in the sole of SPD shoes. That stripped the threads on the anchor plate. The bolts for the cleats were fine. I called the company I got the shoes from and explained what happened. They sent me a new anchor plate at no cost. I believe that was Performance Bike, but a long time ago.