ender4 Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 Just a couple of questions about the club shop and top sizes. If a top doesn’t fit and you want to return it, is it easy enough to return for a full refund? What is their sizing like for hoodies and training tops? Would a medium be the same as a medium at normal high street retail shops? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwi1890 Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 1 minute ago, ender4 said: Just a couple of questions about the club shop and top sizes. If a top doesn’t fit and you want to return it, is it easy enough to return for a full refund? What is their sizing like for hoodies and training tops? Would a medium be the same as a medium at normal high street retail shops? I find the hoodies and training tops the same as normal retail shops, but have to buy a size up when buying the kit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
May-Z Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 2 hours ago, ender4 said: Just a couple of questions about the club shop and top sizes. If a top doesn’t fit and you want to return it, is it easy enough to return for a full refund? What is their sizing like for hoodies and training tops? Would a medium be the same as a medium at normal high street retail shops? The online shop is easy enough to use, the sizes will match whatever is at VP in the Villa Store. Be aware that online is very expensive for P&P - they include a handling fee as well. It's about £6 to get it delivered, then the returns cost is another £6, which is a bit hard to take. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 (edited) On the Villa Reddit, someone said they had ordered two items from the online shop that didn't fit, and were forced to return them in separate packages (even though they had come in the same package), having to pay two return fees. Whether this is actually true or not, maybe someone can confirm. If it is, it's bizarre. Edited February 27, 2023 by Tom13 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLVillan Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 46 minutes ago, Tom13 said: On the Villa Reddit, someone said they had ordered two items from the online shop that didn't fit, and were forced to return them in separate packages (even though they had come in the same package), having to pay two return fees. Whether this is actually true or not, maybe someone can confirm. If it is, it's bizarre. That is most definitely a true story, as the same thing happened to my wife when she ordered some stuff for me at Christmas two years ago. The online club shop is beyond a joke when it comes to postage and returns policy. The sizing guidelines they post(ed) are also a complete joke. I used to have every single home shirt (starting in 1981) until the second year of Fanatics becoming the distributor. Haven't bought one in almost ten years now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 2 minutes ago, FLVillan said: That is most definitely a true story, as the same thing happened to my wife when she ordered some stuff for me at Christmas two years ago. The online club shop is beyond a joke when it comes to postage and returns policy. The sizing guidelines they post(ed) are also a complete joke. I used to have every single home shirt (starting in 1981) until the second year of Fanatics becoming the distributor. Haven't bought one in almost ten years now. That's madness then, and unacceptable tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aston_Villan4 Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, FLVillan said: That is most definitely a true story, as the same thing happened to my wife when she ordered some stuff for me at Christmas two years ago. The online club shop is beyond a joke when it comes to postage and returns policy. The sizing guidelines they post(ed) are also a complete joke. I used to have every single home shirt (starting in 1981) until the second year of Fanatics becoming the distributor. Haven't bought one in almost ten years now. Ordered a hoodie from the team site. The size was at least 3 sizes off what it should’ve been, the graphic was poor quality and peeling plus the color was way off from what the online image showed. Ended up returning it but had to pay for the return shipping myself as well and don’t get me started on dealing with customer service trying to get the return squared away. I can’t see myself ever ordering from fanatics again. I’ve found better quality stuff of redbubble and Etsy. Edited February 27, 2023 by Aston_Villan4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 I ordered a hoodie the other day waiting it for ut to come. Gosh i hope the suze fots because sending it back for £6 is absolutely pathetic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rjw63 Posted February 27, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted February 27, 2023 22 minutes ago, Demitri_C said: Gosh i hope the suze fots Yeah me too 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 (edited) I don't think I've come across any other company that sells clothes and doesn't offer free returns. I'm sure there are some out there but they're in the vast minority. Is this Fanatics or the club? Edited February 27, 2023 by Davkaus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 5 hours ago, Aston_Villan4 said: Ordered a hoodie from the team site. The size was at least 3 sizes off what it should’ve been Too big or too small? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 26 minutes ago, Davkaus said: I don't think I've come across any other company that sells clothes and doesn't offer free returns. It's about 50/50 from my experience. Having to send items back separately is just a scam though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 51 minutes ago, Davkaus said: I don't think I've come across any other company that sells clothes and doesn't offer free returns. I'm sure there are some out there but they're in the vast minority. Is this Fanatics or the club? I actually thought it was a law because you haven't physically seen the product before you bought it I've returned things via fanatics a few years back, was a case of log in enter a code and print off a free returns sticker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 (edited) 13 hours ago, ender4 said: Just a couple of questions about the club shop and top sizes. If a top doesn’t fit and you want to return it, is it easy enough to return for a full refund? What is their sizing like for hoodies and training tops? Would a medium be the same as a medium at normal high street retail shops? Yes. I did it last year when they had the deal with the shirt and football. You need to keep your receipt and ideally keep the tags on the shirt as well. That was an exchange, not a refund though. Shouldn't that be part of your statutory rights within 14 days of purchase? And that was at the club shop. Sorry this isn't actually a very useful anecdote. Edited February 27, 2023 by The Fun Factory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junxs Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 What's worse is they don't allow you to return online orders to the club shop. "They are seperate to us" Is it so hard to set this up, even if they are seperate? Just have a drop of area for online returns and run the returns to headquarters, even if its just once a week. Would make the customer experience so much better, I havent ordered online since as its a joke of a service. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bielesibub Posted February 27, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted February 27, 2023 2 hours ago, Demitri_C said: Gosh i hope the suze fots 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbie09 Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 My advice would be to avoid ordering anything at all costs. The sizing on most items is way off, some of the products quality leaves a lot to be desired, and to rub salt in the wounds you have to pay to return faulty ill fitting tat. Then there is the long wait to have the refund back in your account. It’s bizarre when the likes of ASOS etc are far more proficient. The club need to look at improving the online shopping experience. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 58 minutes ago, Robbie09 said: My advice would be to avoid ordering anything at all costs. The sizing on most items is way off, some of the products quality leaves a lot to be desired, and to rub salt in the wounds you have to pay to return faulty ill fitting tat. Then there is the long wait to have the refund back in your account. It’s bizarre when the likes of ASOS etc are far more proficient. The club need to look at improving the online shopping experience. One for @OutByEaster? to raise at the next AGM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted February 27, 2023 Moderator Share Posted February 27, 2023 41 minutes ago, Demitri_C said: One for @OutByEaster? to raise at the next AGM The club shop and issues around it have been raised at the FCG meetings on a few occasions. It's very difficult for us as a supporters group to influence anything because of the relationship with Fanatics, in fact, it's probably very difficult for the club to do anything. If you order off Fanatics website, then the club aren't involved - if you order a t-shirt with a picture of Marilyn Monroe on it from Next, then somewhere along the line, Marilyn Monroe's estate got a little money for the use of the image - but if the seam is coming apart, you wouldn't take it up with Marilyn. In so far as I understand it, the relationship between the club and Fanatics online shop isn't much different to that - if you read fans from other organisations that are licensed through Fanatics (the NFL, the NBA), you'll find exactly the same complaints about delivery, about service, about quality and about returns - Fanatics don't have a great reputation - they spend money on licensing, not quality would be my personal observation. The club shop is a bit more complicated, there are loads of grey areas for me on who is responsible for what. For example, it's not clear if the people who work in the club shop are employed by the club, or if they're employed by Fanatics. The product in terms of shirts is definitely a Fanatics product, but stuff like pint glasses, key rings and footballs is a mystery - I don't know if the club buys those or Fanatics do and I don't know how sales numbers affect what Villa receive. I know that the season ticket holder discount went when Fanatics arrived, because Fanatics don't have season ticket holders. And I suspect that your season ticket has as much to do with the Villa club shop as your Boots card. I suspect that Villa take a lump sum from Fanatics at the start of the contract (or an annual payment) that is then topped up every time certain sales numbers are reached and that they then leave Fanatics to get on with it. When you click "Shop" on the Villa website, the site you go to isn't run, managed or looked after by Aston Villa. There's a line at the bottom that says so - it might say Aston Villa at the top, but you're shopping with Fanatics and you're dealing with an office that's in Manchester. https://shop.avfc.co.uk/en/astonvilla-about-us/ch-1421 Quote Villa Store, Official Online Shop at shop.avfc.co.uk is operated under licence by Fanatics. That gives the club a little bit of distance from responsibility for any problems, and indeed that's something that's attractive to clubs, football clubs don't want to run shops, it's not what they're good at, but that unfortunately means that finding people who will accept responsibility for poor service, poor quality goods and so on is difficult. I have a feeling that the Fanatics office in Manchester is pretty happy to be a faceless corporate thing that doesn't have to deal with Villa fans face to face - the anonymity protects them from having to do too much in terms of improving customer care. And that's how it is, the club maximises it's income through payment from Fanatics, who maximise their income by selling us stuff with Villa badges on, and we tend to complain to the club rather than Fanatics about a product they have very little to do with. I don't see the club backing out of the partnership any time soon, the model is clearly a good one for sports clubs, they make the shirts for the NFL and the NBA (even the ones with a Nike badge on), they have NASCAR, MLB, the MLS and Formula 1 - and they are making big inroads in the Premier league with our deal being followed by deals with Manchester United, Chelsea and Everton as well as Bayern and PSG in Europe. It's successful too, we may not necessarily all be happy, but we're buying four and a half times the amount of stuff that we bought before Fanatics came in - they're clearly doing something right in terms of how they're selling stuff to Villa fans - there are lots of happy customers out there. It's a $31billion pound company that's aiming to become a $100 billion company and like most company's like that, they're not particularly bothered what I or a fans group think about them. The aim will always be growth first and customer satisfaction second. Now of course, customer satisfaction should help with growth - but the beauty of sports markets is that loyalty is already built in - we're not going to buy a Wolves shirt because the Fanatics one is a poor fit - so the motivation for the company to put you, the fan, first isn't a big a driver as you'd hope. So, in short, we've raised it at meetings, but I don't think it's going to change; it's the global norm, the club is doing very well out of it, we're buying more stuff than ever and Fanatics founder Michael Rubin gets to live in a $43.5m penthouse. Sizing, quality, delivery and the shopping experience have next to nothing to do with the club. 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbie09 Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 1 hour ago, Demitri_C said: One for @OutByEaster? to raise at the next AGM I’ve raised this with the club, unsurprisingly it’s been ignored and I’ve not had the courtesy of a reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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