Club Shop / Fanatics

[AsTallAsLions]

Still calamitous to deal with.

I'd assumed they had surplus of the Villa 3rd kit after announcing a sale on it. I got an e-mail this day last week saying it had been slashed to a very attractive price, am sure many of you got this too. Was having a tough day so thought I'd treat myself, went on the website and bought one straight away.

2 days ago went on to check the status of my order expecting that there might be delays and it was marked as Awaiting Refund. I hadn't had any further comms from Fanatics about it so I sent off a quick mail.

"The Aston Villa Third Shirt 2019-20 has been incredibly popular and demand has exceeded all expectations. Because of this, we are really sorry to tell you that it's now out of stock. We have been doing everything we can to obtain more stock but unfortunately we have been unsuccessful. On this occasion we have had to cancel and refund your order ..."

Frankly bizarre. If it's been that popular why do a sale at 70% off? Surely you only do that when there's a big surplus. And since I jumped on and bought one immediately after getting the e-mail, I can't believe enough people had got in there already and bought up every last shirt.

Also really poor to cancel orders without issuing any communication; I had to discover this and follow up on it myself. The charge was processed immediately on my card last week, but I've yet to actually receive any refund.

Anybody else have this experience?

[GordonCowansisthegreatest]

Interest free loan! Ingenious;)

[themossman]

I ordered a couple of second kits. Just had tracking reference and it is out for delivery to an address I haven't been at for 15 years, despite ordering merch to my new address in beween. Can't contact Hermes, directed to the villa number which has me on hold for 20 mins then cuts me off. What a fucking piss poor shower of c***s. Terrible experience.

[Dave P]

Not wishing to stick up for them, but weren't Fanatics only involved in making Luke designed kits last season?  This year is all about Kappa isn't it?

[AsTallAsLions]

Fanatics run the shop and fulfill the orders, as well as handling the customer service aspect of the business. My reply from them has a disclaimer at the bottom that starts with "This email has been sent on behalf of Aston Villa Direct by Fanatics (International) Limited [...]"

I can only hope the club is saving a small fortune by outsourcing all of this stuff, because otherwise it's really not worth it. Poor stuff.

[London Villan]

Wasn’t it part of Dr Tone’s subcontract everything strategy?

[curiousorange]

When my shirts came, they were in Fanatics packaging.

[themossman]

Well, I had to drive to my old address and read in the car for 2 hours to intercept my parcel. The Hermes guy thought it was hilarious. Phone lines clogged, promised emails and calls back that never happened. Won’t be ordering online from the club shop again until they change that arrangement, absolute nightmare from start to finish.

[AsTallAsLions]

Agree.

[themossman]

Lol I had an email today! My parcel was signed for by ‘someone’.

They have forwarded an email from Hermes and... that’s it. No apology, no suggestions on what’s next, that’s them done. Bloody lucky it’s me that stole my own parcel as otherwise I’d be saying bye to the price of two shirts for fuck all.

Incompetence bordering on negligent. No way my card details are going near them again.

[PeterWithesShin]

Might be an idea to email Lee Preece and explain what happened, he's usually someone that will make sure any feedback, positive or contructive negative, reaches the places it should.