Do you have any consumer rights when ordering personalised goods online?

ajelirfc

I ordered 45 personalised rugby shirts for a kids tour earlier this year. The company concerned agreed to provide them around 20/25th March this year. Obviously the Covid-19 shutdown came into place before they were shipped. I did not receive any communication from them about delay. I contacted them early April asking when I could expect them (manufacturers are exempt from mandatory closedown) but was advised they had closed down. I later found out the company was not only taking and fulfilling orders from their on-line shop, they were continuing to take orders for personalised goods:

"We are operating as normal.

All orders are being taken and processed as normal including printed rugby balls & customised clothing.

 All online orders are being despatched as usual, although there might be slight delays from the couriers"

Seeing this I presumed my order would be arriving any day. I sent them an email only to be informed it would not. Personalised goods were not in production, only orders being taken. I was informed my order would be processed when the shutdown was over. I advised the order was just waiting dispatch only to be told "Yes the shirts needs despatching but those need despatching from the production factory and not from our warehouse (stock items). Production factory cannot be opened."

There's lots more to this. What I would like to know is what consumer rights, if any, do I have? The order is now 5 weeks late, Please do not think I am being inconsiderate regarding peoples health, there is more to this as I mentioned. I just need to know if I can cancel? The company are being extremely rude and unhelpful. The order is for kids who grow rapidly (under 12's) and any more delay will mean a lot of them don't even fit any more!

Thank you for any helpful advise.

George_Michael

You do have consumer rights when ordering personalised items online however, ordering 45 personalised shirts may well class as a business purchase in which case consumer rights wouldn't apply.
In what capacity did you make the purchase?