A couple were left furious when they forked out more than £130 to pre-order two Newcastle United shirts and never received them.
Season ticket holders Lisa Brodie and her husband John paid £136.50 for a woman's top and a man's top from the NUFC website back on June 8. They expected the black and white home shirts, produced by sportswear brand Castore, to arrive at the beginning of July.
However they did not turn up and the pair, from Preston Grange area of North Shields, have spent the last two weeks repeatedly contacting Castore and getting no response.
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Lisa, 55, said: "I'm frustrated and I'm annoyed. When you pre-order them you expect to receive them straight away. It's just so frustrating knowing I can walk into the store and buy them but I haven't got a spare £136.50.
"It's a real let down because there's such a great atmosphere and a great buzz about the club now. This has put a dampener on the whole thing."
Lisa and John, 62, who works as a piping engineer, have seats in the Leazes Sports Bar at St James' Park. They are looking forward to the new season and had pre-ordered a 2022/23 home shirt each so they could wear them to matches.
Lisa said that she received confirmation of her order which said the expected approximate date for dispatch would be July 4. She said that on June 27 she received another email saying her order was being prepared to be dispatched by June 29.
She said that when their tops failed to arrive on July 4 she waited a few days before initially getting in touch with Castore. She said she then resorted to emailing them on a daily basis after failing to get a response.
Lisa also went into the Newcastle United club shop and they only had the same email address for the company. She said she thought about buying them in the shop instead but she was unable to cancel their order.
She said: "I think the first email I sent was on the 10th July. I then gave it until the 17th July and from then I have been emailing them daily. There's no acknowledgement. There's no email an acknowledgement to say 'we have got your email'. It's a disgrace."
Lisa said she has noticed other people on social media who seem to have had a similar experience with Castore. She said they want to be able to wear their new tops to the friendly games against Atalanta and Athletic Bilbao next weekend.
After Chronicle Live became involved, Lisa received an email back from Castore. She said the company told her they were having a delay in getting the women's shirts but they could send John's shirt out straight away.
Lisa said she asked them to give her a refund for the women's top and send out John's shirt. She said Castore apologised, authorised a refund for her women's shirt and gave her a £25 gift card.
Lisa said the company has now also issued a refund for the male shirt as they cannot guarantee a delivery date. She said: "I will go to the shop to buy one. I will never ever pre-order again!"
Chronicle Live has contacted Castore and Newcastle United for a comment.
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