Villa family - Rebecca Clarke with husband Peter and kids Lucy and Saffron
Villa family - Rebecca Clarke with husband Peter and kids Lucy and Saffron
A 'furious' Aston Villa supporting mum told how Adidas cancelled her Black Friday shirts order - in a 'grinch' move just before Christmas. Rebecca Clarke had purchased two blue-coloured youth third away football shirts for her young daughters through the kit manufacturer's website.
The online order was confirmed at a discounted rate of £15 per Villa top and funds were deposited from her bank account. However, the following day she received a message from Adidas stating the order had been cancelled due to the tops - sizes nine years and 13 years - being "out of stock."
However, the 45-year-old immediately visited the Adidas website which showed the same shirt in stock and listed back at the full retail price of £55 each. She said a number of other Villa fans had also experienced the same issue and voiced their concerns on social media.
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Rebecca says she feels "let down" this has happened and believes Adidas should have honoured the order at the discounted amount. Part of her total £50 order - Aston Villa home men's shorts for her husband - were dispatched at the reduced price of £20.
Adidas apologised and said that a "technical error" had occurred. It has also begun a process of rectifying relevant orders.
Lucy and Saffron with Aston Villa's mascot Hercules The Lion (Image: Rebecca Clarke)
Last night mum-of-two Rebecca told BirminghamLive: "I think it's a real grinch thing to do just before Christmas when families are struggling to pay for presents. Adidas are cancelling orders of shirts bought on their website which were part of a Black Friday deal.
"I had both of my daughters shirts cancelled, with the reason being that they are out of stock. However, I can immediately repurchase them online - but the cost has increased from £15 per shirt to £55 per shirt. I am not alone - the Aston Villa Facebook pages are full of angry and disappointed fans with the same problem.
"I contacted customer services who admitted they can reinstate my order, and that an internal team are looking into it."
After BirminghamLive made an inquiry on Rebecca's behalf, Adidas issued an apology. It said: "We would like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience. Due to to technical issues, your order was unfortunately cancelled.
"We have initiated a full refund of the total order value, which may take up to 14 days to be credited to your account." It also offered a £9 voucher as a gesture of goodwill.
An Adidas spokeswoman told BirminghamLive: "A technical error was made when pricing a small selection of items during the Black Friday period sales effecting a very small number of consumers. Affected pricing has now been corrected and we’ve begun the process of rectifying relevant orders."