£5 Comic Relief Red Reading Footy shirt

[John Smith]

Well I would've thought all my years on here would have earned an element of trust from fellow nobbers.

I think that might have disappeared when you started the profiteering tbh

Well that seems harsh given I’m raising money for charity. I’ll bet Sir Lenny Henry wouldn’t share that view.

Besides I made sure I took a mixture of shirts and I’ve not even kept one for myself.

I think that speaks volumes.

What's the point of you 'taking' them then?

[RoyalBlue]

Didn't get one, tried for two minutes; realised I wasn't entitled to anything and left to continue my day. *shrug*

Shock RoyalBlue and Maff are leading the charge of faux outrage. It's ironic that most the people agreeing with you are fcking idiots, I wonder why?

More intelligent debate Try looking in a mirror. BTW not sure your use of 'ironic' is correct. You might say it was apt or no surprise.

Nothing to do with entitlement - just frustration at being buggered around yet again by incompetent fools at the club. No wonder the commercial side of things apparently is in such a mess.

And BTW, I wasn't trying to buy the shirt for myself. Nor was I looking to sell it on.

[Old Man Andrews]

Are you crying?

[RoyalBlue]

Ah so the user managed to get the reaction he wanted and ended the listing. Probably not ever having a shirt themselves due to it being an RFC picture...?

Exactly this - there are some gullible clowns about.

Does anyone know whether customers bought more than say 4 shirts at a time? Not hearsay etc - but has it actually happened?

He might have ordered 20 shirts online and therefore isn't able to photograph them and is using the stock photo instead?

I confess - some of the wind ups are more easily spotted than others.

However, there was a limit to the number you could buy online from one account - if you actually managed to buy online.

[RoyalBlue]

Are you crying?

Yeah, with laughter at your wit - put it together with another on here and...............

[CavershamRoyal]

Another great initiative messed up by piss poor application.

Got the 2 shirts in basket and to check out only for the payment system to fail (rejected card).

By the time got I got back to try again (having tried three cards) - sold out!

Also women's shirts didn't appear till later but size 12 immediately sold out.

Yep tried to buy one and payment just kept failing. I eventually got an 'Order Placed' message on the sixth go, but no email confirmation and no idea if it actually went through properly or not. Seemed to sell out within a minute for some sizes. Really nice idea, but probably ended up frustrating a lot of fans.

That's what happened to me too. I spoke to someone at the club and he told me my order had gone through so fingers crossed for both of us mate!

I can now see it under 'Your Orders' online, but still no confirmation email, so I have no idea what to expect . Oh well, either it happens or it doesn't, bought it as a birthday present for my young brother so I won't directly be missing out

[sandman]

Do the club get kits directly from Puma or is there a middle man? Might see if I can get the manufacturer to make one for me.

[Needle]

No tears in my house but I am pissed off (again) at this club's utter ineptitude.

Because I love my kids and I like to spoil them, and it was my day off today, I bowled up to the stadium at just after half nine. To be honest I had my doubts, and said as much to the other people stood under Eamonn's picture, that there'd be enough to go round. It was something of a relief then, to hear the hi-de-hi bing bong followed by a message reassuring us that there was plenty of stock and that they were letting 20 people in to the store at a time.

We didn't move for quite some time. In fact, I don't think we moved fifty yards all morning. But none of that mattered - they'd looked at the queue (hadn't they?) and made an assessment (hadn't they?). We'd get our shirts.

Word came back that they'd shut the store for 45 minutes for stocktaking. WTF? Why not just keep selling rather than keep us waiting in the cold. But apparently that was about 45 minutes ago and we'd soon be moving.

Not another word from the club until after the "stock is now very limited" tweet which didn't go down well - no queue management at all until they sent some poor sap out for people to shout at. He didn't even work in the shop. Had no idea what sizes they had or how many shirts they had left But it was OK - they were now limiting customers to four per person...

Half an hour later they pushed him out the door again. I guess they did some sort of head count cos I could see some arm waving in the distance. I think they 'cut' the queue at that stage and told everyone after the cut (300 at a guess) 'you're unlikely to get served'. That was well received. Still we stood there...

Another half an hour later word comes back that most of the kids sizes, mediums and larges had gone. Then, three hours after I arrived a second bing bong on the PA system - "we're shutting the megastore". Cheers.

I know I should have turned round as soon as I got there but well, you know, it was for the kids.

Ron Gourlay drove away everyone that knew what they were doing. The commercial side of the club is ready for League 1.

[Ascotexgunner]

No tears in my house but I am pissed off (again) at this club's utter ineptitude.

Because I love my kids and I like to spoil them, and it was my day off today, I bowled up to the stadium at just after half nine. To be honest I had my doubts, and said as much to the other people stood under Eamonn's picture, that there'd be enough to go round. It was something of a relief then, to hear the hi-de-hi bing bong followed by a message reassuring us that there was plenty of stock and that they were letting 20 people in to the store at a time.

We didn't move for quite some time. In fact, I don't think we moved fifty yards all morning. But none of that mattered - they'd looked at the queue (hadn't they?) and made an assessment (hadn't they?). We'd get our shirts.

Word came back that they'd shut the store for 45 minutes for stocktaking. WTF? Why not just keep selling rather than keep us waiting in the cold. But apparently that was about 45 minutes ago and we'd soon be moving.

Not another word from the club until after the "stock is now very limited" tweet which didn't go down well - no queue management at all until they sent some poor sap out for people to shout at. He didn't even work in the shop. Had no idea what sizes they had or how many shirts they had left But it was OK - they were now limiting customers to four per person...

Half an hour later they pushed him out the door again. I guess they did some sort of head count cos I could see some arm waving in the distance. I think they 'cut' the queue at that stage and told everyone after the cut (300 at a guess) 'you're unlikely to get served'. That was well received. Still we stood there...

Another half an hour later word comes back that most of the kids sizes, mediums and larges had gone. Then, three hours after I arrived a second bing bong on the PA system - "we're shutting the megastore". Cheers.

I know I should have turned round as soon as I got there but well, you know, it was for the kids.

Ron Gourlay drove away everyone that knew what they were doing. The commercial side of the club is ready for League 1.

You have my deepest sympathies. We really are a shambles commercially.
I read in Get Reading that all the shirts had actually gone in10 minutes...why they made you wait that long to tell you defies belief.

[Nameless]

I would guess if the website had crashed they were trying to work out how many people they had taken money from online so they could ring fence those shirts before releasing the rest to personal callers. Probably waiting for IT to get the info out of the system.
Presumably this was done at short notice and not thought through.
Would have made sense to done it by preorder so they could have manufactured enough shirts for all those who paid upfront and extra for latecomers. Easy to be wise after the event and without being the person having to implement it.

[me]

For me, it just illustrates how overpriced replica kit is if they can flog them for £5. You would imagine that £5 is incredibly close to the cost price, and putting aside some overheads, it shows what a poor deal a normal shirt is. Even when selling them off "half price", the margin is still effing huge.

Yes, good gesture to sell them at cost and encourage a donation, but perhaps the club has inadvertently shown us how much it normally rips us off by.

[Jerry St Clair]

For me, it just illustrates how overpriced replica kit is if they can flog them for £5. You would imagine that £5 is incredibly close to the cost price, and putting aside some overheads, it shows what a poor deal a normal shirt is. Even when selling them off "half price", the margin is still effing huge.

A few years ago my running club bought some decent quality technical running tops for finishers of our annual race including a printed club logo and design on the front. They cost us £2.30 each for a one-off order of 200. I imagine the cost of thousands of replica shirts at scale for a multi-national like Puma is even cheaper. Basically, they're taking the piss.

[Reading4eva]

No tears in my house but I am pissed off (again) at this club's utter ineptitude.

Because I love my kids and I like to spoil them, and it was my day off today, I bowled up to the stadium at just after half nine. To be honest I had my doubts, and said as much to the other people stood under Eamonn's picture, that there'd be enough to go round. It was something of a relief then, to hear the hi-de-hi bing bong followed by a message reassuring us that there was plenty of stock and that they were letting 20 people in to the store at a time.

We didn't move for quite some time. In fact, I don't think we moved fifty yards all morning. But none of that mattered - they'd looked at the queue (hadn't they?) and made an assessment (hadn't they?). We'd get our shirts.

Word came back that they'd shut the store for 45 minutes for stocktaking. WTF? Why not just keep selling rather than keep us waiting in the cold. But apparently that was about 45 minutes ago and we'd soon be moving.

Not another word from the club until after the "stock is now very limited" tweet which didn't go down well - no queue management at all until they sent some poor sap out for people to shout at. He didn't even work in the shop. Had no idea what sizes they had or how many shirts they had left But it was OK - they were now limiting customers to four per person...

Half an hour later they pushed him out the door again. I guess they did some sort of head count cos I could see some arm waving in the distance. I think they 'cut' the queue at that stage and told everyone after the cut (300 at a guess) 'you're unlikely to get served'. That was well received. Still we stood there...

Another half an hour later word comes back that most of the kids sizes, mediums and larges had gone. Then, three hours after I arrived a second bing bong on the PA system - "we're shutting the megastore". Cheers.

I know I should have turned round as soon as I got there but well, you know, it was for the kids.

Ron Gourlay drove away everyone that knew what they were doing. The commercial side of the club is ready for League 1.

I was very tempted after finishing work to hop straight onto the motorway and make my way to Reading. I do nightshifts in Bournemouth. Thank God I didn't, I would be mightily pissed off to drive all that way to stand in a queue for 45 minutes.

Absolute shambles, I hope they make more. Hell, charge us £15 a top to ensure only real fans get them.

People only bought them as they were a fiver

[windermereROYAL]

I heard people were buying them in baulk, wonder how many are on ebay this morning? seems no planning at all went into this by the club.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

On line at 9am to buy... Like others selected the the shirt sizes placed in basket and then to check out only for the payment system to fail (rejected card). Continued to try for 20 minutes to no avail.

Why did the club not foresee demand at £5.

What really hacks me off is I that I have bought all the Reading home and Away shirts for over 20 years, now I am missing one, thanks RFC

[Nameless]

On line at 9am to buy... Like others selected the the shirt sizes placed in basket and then to check out only for the payment system to fail (rejected card). Continued to try for 20 minutes to no avail.

Why did the club not foresee demand at £5.

What really hacks me off is I that I have bought all the Reading home and Away shirts for over 20 years, now I am missing one, thanks RFC

This isn’t a home or away shirt though, it’s just a charity shirt but never worn on the pitch.
Have you got all the variants that have actually been worn ( each year’s poppy specials , playoff final specials ?)
Grown up’s getting upset about not owning a charity shirt, needs a bit of perspective doesn’t it ?

[Nameless]

I heard people were buying them in baulk, wonder how many are on ebay this morning? seems no planning at all went into this by the club.

Can't see any on ebay. In fact I can't see any on any of the selling platforms.

But people are adamant they are on sale for £50, despite there being no evidence to back it up.

[Jagermesiter1871]

On line at 9am to buy... Like others selected the the shirt sizes placed in basket and then to check out only for the payment system to fail (rejected card). Continued to try for 20 minutes to no avail.

Why did the club not foresee demand at £5.

What really hacks me off is I that I have bought all the Reading home and Away shirts for over 20 years, now I am missing one, thanks RFC

Do you have keeper shirts as well? I've never bought a keeper shirt.

[URZZZZZZZZ]

I heard none of the management even bothered to be in yesterday.

[Silver Fox]

I heard people were buying them in baulk.

That explains the cue

Tbf I think someone should give the club a break

We’re there any free baize in the car park?