Adidas World Cup Shirts Don't fit Advertised Size

dr_p_manning

Hi,

I have an 8 year old son. He is slightly below medium height and normal build for an 8 year old.

For Christmas we have bought him 3 x Adidas World Cup Replica shirts in a size 7-8 years old. 

The shirts are skin tight on him, they simply do not fit. 

The shirts have a players name and number on the back and Adidas policy is to refuse returns or exchanges.

I contacted Adidas on their WhatsApp chat this morning and a very helpful person said they understood my concern and complaint and he had checked with his team and they were willing to make an exception for me and issued a returns label.

Later on the same whatsapp someone else sent me a message they had cancelled this returns label as their T&C's said no to refunds or exchanges.

I don't think these shirts being advertised as fitting 7-8 year olds and not fitting my average sized 8 year old is fair and accurate. The next size up is 9-10.

Do I have a case for the items not being 'as described' and 'not fit for purpose' ?

They are £60 each, so I'm £180 out of pocket and at the moment have no presents for my son from the family.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards 

km1500

Did you buy online? or in a store.

dr_p_manning

km1500 said:

Did you buy online? or in a store.

Online on debit card not credit card

I should add my son was 8 in September so he's only just 8. 

SiliconChip

Can you point to where Adidas say they don't accept returns? That would be completetely illegal, and having done a return with them myself I know that they do accept them. They could be trying to argue that the shirts have been personalised, and if they had your son's name on that could well have been true, but I assume you selected player names and numbers from a list, and that is not personalisation.

DullGreyGuy

Did you buy online or instore?

Are these names/numbers you chose from a drop down menu/catalogue and so are just options or did it have a free text field where you could write whatever you wanted and therefore they are personalised?

The problem is that aged 7-8 doesnt really mean very much, particularly when you are thinking of a global product. If you went into the sizing guide did it give the size in something not subjective like cm? If it did have to measured the garment against the stated cms? Saying something isnt fit for purpose because of a subjective value is a bit of a hard argument. 

Penguin_

SiliconChip said:

Can you point to where Adidas say they don't accept returns? That would be completetely illegal, and having done a return with them myself I know that they do accept them. They could be trying to argue that the shirts have been personalised, and if they had your son's name on that could well have been true, but I assume you selected player names and numbers from a list, and that is not personalisation.

It does say "Please note – no changes can be made to this item once your order is placed, and it may only be returned if it arrives damaged or with defects (this does not apply for VRCT jackets)." on when you add a name to a shirt on the UK site

turnitround

I don't think you can say they 'Dont fit the advertised size', I think you have bought by age not size.
 have just bought 2 of the football shirts from Adidas One was for a 9 year old and one for a 13 year old. The website does have a size guide right underneath where you click on the age box.  My 9 year old needed a shirt from the 10-11years size.

dr_p_manning

SiliconChip said:

Can you point to where Adidas say they don't accept returns? That would be completetely illegal, and having done a return with them myself I know that they do accept them. They could be trying to argue that the shirts have been personalised, and if they had your son's name on that could well have been true, but I assume you selected player names and numbers from a list, and that is not personalisation.

When I go into the returns section it says 'This item cannot be returned or exchanged' 

Yeah all three have famous player names, Messi, Di Maria an De Bruyne 

dr_p_manning

DullGreyGuy said:

Did you buy online or instore?

Are these names/numbers you chose from a drop down menu/catalogue and so are just options or did it have a free text field where you could write whatever you wanted and therefore they are personalised?

The problem is that aged 7-8 doesnt really mean very much, particularly when you are thinking of a global product. If you went into the sizing guide did it give the size in something not subjective like cm? If it did have to measured the garment against the stated cms? Saying something isnt fit for purpose because of a subjective value is a bit of a hard argument. 

You select the name and number of a player from a dropbox down menu !

This is the link -> https://www.adidas.co.uk/argentina-22-home-jersey/HF1488.html?pr=recently_viewed&slot=3

It says;

Please note – no changes can be made to this item once your order is placed, and it may only be returned if it arrives damaged or with defects (this does not apply for VRCT jackets).

tightauldgit

SiliconChip said:

Can you point to where Adidas say they don't accept returns? That would be completetely illegal, and having done a return with them myself I know that they do accept them. They could be trying to argue that the shirts have been personalised, and if they had your son's name on that could well have been true, but I assume you selected player names and numbers from a list, and that is not personalisation.

Generally any customised football shirt is considered non-returnable. It's pretty standard policy at most sports shops regardless of whether its your name or a famous player's name. Whether that would stand up in court or not I do not know but that's the general policy that shops have. It would say as much on the site T&Cs also. 

That being the case I don't really know what the next steps would be. The fact that they got a returns label that was then cancelled does suggest that there is some flexibility in the policy so it might be worth pursuing it further with a more senior person. Especially if they've been told that an exception would be made and then that exception was pulled.

user1977

tightauldgit said:

SiliconChip said:

Can you point to where Adidas say they don't accept returns? That would be completetely illegal, and having done a return with them myself I know that they do accept them. They could be trying to argue that the shirts have been personalised, and if they had your son's name on that could well have been true, but I assume you selected player names and numbers from a list, and that is not personalisation.

Generally any customised football shirt is considered non-returnable.

For a change of mind return, yes, but it still has to conform with what was described. You can't sign away your statutory rights no matter what the site's terms say.

The difficulty is what "age 7-8" actually means and whether the size of the item is "wrong". If there's a size guide on the website, maybe the OP can tell us whether they've measured the shirt against that.