Refused exchange of a personalised football shirt

pedgepuk

Hi all,

A friend of the family recently purchased a personalised football shirt for my sons birthday from the Chelsea Megastore website which is actually managed by Kitbag.com.

When he made the purchase he selected "8 Years" out of the "6 Years", "8 Years" and "10 Years" from the available size selection drop down list for the item. When the shirt was received it looked small and we checked the label which stated 7-8 Years. I also measured against another football shirt (8-9 years) my son has and the difference is 7cms more than the new shirt.

CFC Megastore/Kitbag are refusing to exchange the shirt due to it being personalised although I see their website as having some major user experience defects vs other similar websites, i.e. Adidas, UKSoccerShop and Sports Direct.

Kitbag do not have any visible text to distinguish a "Size Guide" like the rest of the compared websites. All they have is a small image to which doesn't indicate it's click-able.

My argument with them is that if they are selling shirts for 7-8 Years, 9-10 Years then they should display this upon selecting the size or is the customer to assume that it's simply for an 8 year old only.

For those people such as my friend who rarely use the web to shop, Kitbag are failing in their duty to provide an easy to use purchasing experience.

Due to the failure of them providing an adequate description of the products actual size, can this be fought based on the Distance Selling Regulations?

I've supplied some images with links below where I compared CFC/Kitbag to the other sites as listed above:

Kitbag/CFC size guide and size selection
https://imageshack.com/i/iqK7G3bwp


Kitbag/CFC vs Sports Direct
https://imageshack.com/i/f0SRmiscp


Adidas + Size Chart
https://imageshack.com/i/ip4Vf82Zp


UKSoccerShop
https://imageshack.com/i/ipOoPk6Kp


Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Peds

bod1467

Selections made from options available on a website is NOT personalisation. I don't know if this changed with the recent Consumer Contract Regulations, but under the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations this fact was clearly identified.

If you think the 7-8 label does not truly reflect a 7-8 sizing then you could pursue this under SOGA.

http://sogahub.tradingstandards.gov.uk/explained

nearlyrich

Maybe the OPs friend had the child's name added? That is what I would regard as personalisation...

bod1467

nearlyrich wrote: »

Maybe the OPs friend had the child's name added? That is what I would regard as personalisation...

I would agree with that. OP needs to confirm.

pedgepuk

Yes, my friend had my sons name printed on the back of the shirt thus they are refusing to exchange.

The fact is they're not displaying the age range for what's being purchased. It would be pretty similar to me wanting to buy socks where their size selection would only display "size 2", "size 6" and "size 12" where in fact sock sizes are 2-5, 6-11 and 12-16.

Not sure if I'm wasting my time pursuing but if anyone has valuable advice then that would great.

mije1983

I don't think comparing them to other retailers sites is worthwhile. Some retailer's sites are just clearer than others but it doesn't make them wrong. Just the same as it's no good comapringthe 7-8 shirt to an 8-9 years shirt, as of course there will be a difference in size. No retailer has a duty to provide an easy shopping experience, although obviously it is in their best interests to do so!

As bod1467 says, if you don't believe the 7-8 shirt is suitable for an average 7-8 year old then you would need to pursue them under SOGA.

Their argument could well be that the size guide is right next to the drop down menu where you select the size, and it is down to the customer to ensure it is suitable.

On a side note, £45 for a kids football shirt! :eek: Or has your friend just seen it £13 cheaper at SD so wants to get it there?!?

Edit:

pedgepuk wrote: »

It would be pretty similar to me wanting to buy socks where their size selection would only display "size 2", "size 6" and "size 12" where in fact sock sizes are 2-5, 6-11 and 12-16.

Would it not be 'size 5', 'size 11', and 'size 16' instead, as the kit was for 7-8 but only gave the option for 8, hence showing the larger end of the size scale?

gik

pedgepuk wrote: »

Yes, my friend had my sons name printed on the back of the shirt thus they are refusing to exchange.

The fact is they're not displaying the age range for what's being purchased. It would be pretty similar to me wanting to buy socks where their size selection would only display "size 2", "size 6" and "size 12" where in fact sock sizes are 2-5, 6-11 and 12-16.

Not sure if I'm wasting my time pursuing but if anyone has valuable advice then that would great.

They do give sizing charts:-


http://www.chelseamegastore.com/stores/chelsea/help/help.aspx?hpg=sizeguide

mije1983

gik wrote: »

They do give sizing charts:-


http://www.chelseamegastore.com/stores/chelsea/help/help.aspx?hpg=sizeguide

OP's argument is that it's not clear enough. If you look at the first pic they provided, next to the age drop down there is a stick man. If you click on that it brings the size chart up.

pedgepuk

mije1983 wrote: »

On a side note, £45 for a kids football shirt! :eek: Or has your friend just seen it £13 cheaper at SD so wants to get it there?!?

Defo not, just an exchange.

I'm web savvy and have shopped online for years, so am aware to check these types of things such as size charts carefully. Unfortunately some of the population are still getting to grips in shopping online and my friend falls into this category.

The stick man next to the size selection doesn't state a "click here" for the size guide nor is there a link or hint to give the user instructions to check the size guide. It's simply an image which to some may indicate that this is the field I select a size from.

All that we're looking to resolve is an exchange for a 8-9 or a 9-10 years size. My son is 8 and one of the smallest in his class, so had I known the shirt would have been 7cms difference in height then I would have told my friend to go for the bigger size.