14 September 2023 , 07:40
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The motto of the official England football merchandise retailer is: “Giving sports fans everything they want.”
Really? Then maybe it could give fans the tops they’ve bought at great expense and still not received.
One angry dad paid £150 for two England Women’s home shirts and £95 for an away shirt, bought from englandstore.com, owned by US company Fanatics Inc.
That was on August 16 and he has still not received them.
“I ordered these shirts for my wife and daughters when England beat Australia in the semi final,” said the chap called Michael – he doesn’t want to be identified because he’s actually embarrassed about paying so much for football tops.
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“I knew they wouldn’t arrive before the final but the site promised they would come by August 23.
“I was happy with that, I was keen for my daughters to celebrate and be proud of the achievement of the England women’s team.”
But the shirts never arrived. Michael said when he eventually got through to a Fanatics “fan assistant”, which I think means someone who works in customer services, he was told there was no knowing when his order might be dispatched.
He asked how many customers were in the same position and was told: “Thousands currently”.
Then on Tuesday he received an email stating that Fanatics was cancelling one of his shirt orders.
“I’m giving up,” he said. “I can’t give one of my children a shirt and not the other.”
He told Fanatics he was going to recover his money through his credit card provider and suddenly the company sprang into action. Within an hour he received an apology call and two emails promising a refund.
He was told that the tops he had paid for were out of stock and as a goodwill gesture they will send shirts for his daughters which will be free but in the wrong large size.
“I guess they will grow into them,” he sighed.
Online review sites are filled with negative feedback, with 91% of comments on Trustpilot giving englandstore.com the lowest one star rating.
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“I ordered before the women’s World Cup and was told two to three working days delivery, little did I know it was two to three months,” reads the latest review.
Other posts from customers tell of poor printing on shirts, bad stitching, being charged postage to return faulty items and the near impossibility of contacting the site’s customer services department.
“Abysmal service for our national teams,” reads a comment on Reviews.io.
Fanatics told me that it apologises for delays in “a small number” of orders, blaming problems at its new UK distribution centre.
“All fans affected by this issue have been contacted via email, updated on the status of their order and provided with a discount voucher for a future purchase,” said a spokesman.
“Fanatics has been working hard to remedy the situation and minimise disruption, but appreciates that any delay to an order is unacceptable and that England fans want their new merchandise as soon as possible.”
The company, which also supplies replica Premiership kits, is run by 51-year-old chief executive Michael Rubin, described on its website as a “noted internet entrepreneur, philanthropist, and social justice advocate”.
He’s also a billionaire. I’d be one too if I could sell football tops for £95 a piece.
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