To think my mum bought my son a fake football strip? Pic attached

[ShesNotACowShesAFox]

My 7yo son is Ronaldo mad and a AI Nassr kit was on his list to Santa. My mum insisted on buying it as it met her budget. He loved it on Xmas day and was very grateful and I’ve only just washed it yesterday. I washed it at 30 degrees, which is much cooler than I’ve washed his other kits before when he’s played matches. However the blue colouring on the lettering has disappeared completely on the back! Pic attached - AIBU to think she’s bought him a fake kit? He’s always had football kits as presents and this has never happened. I’ve got in touch with her to ask her where it came from to see if I can return it. She said she bought it in a sports shop in France and can’t return it as she bought it in November.

For context, she is SUPER tight. She will come stay with me for a whole week, eating food I’ve paid for (which is fine, she’s a guest) but will then want the 49p for the pint of milk I’ve asked her to get for me when she’s at the shop. She’s very much a penny pincher. For clarity she isn’t poor - she retired at 48 and has been mortgage free since 40 (she’s 65 now).

Even though she knows my strong feelings on counterfeit goods and I didn’t think she’d get her grandson a fake kit but I just have a gut feeling!

I suggest you read a more up to date source and find out the tactics that ended up being at play re these documents

It was £60 and OPs mum said she was fine with that. OP didn’t ‘expect’ anything.

Why are you making shit up? 🤣

I’m wondering if my mum has infiltrated MN 🤣

I think if you'd care to re-read your OP then you'll find that she (apparently) said the gift was "within budget" so perhaps the one she bought was "within her budget" - or did you prepare a fully priced version of your son's gift list for everyone to choose from (back in October/November) ?

And, whilst it's obviously possible that granny tried to save a few quid and bought a cheaper one then it's not the end of the world now is it ?

And the last one who deserves to be "impacted" by this problem is your son - so why not just dig deep into your own purse and replace it with the "genuine article" (and see how it fares in the wash) - who knows, if you mentioned it in passing, your mum might even offer to contribute towards the replacement cost?

I know loads of people who buy fake football shirts. They're very common now but I've never seen any do that.

Ah, OK, I see, so you're perfectly happy to expect her to spend £70+ on a "football top"?

Expect? Per the OP there was a list of potential gifts and the grandmother chose to buy this one, saying she had checked and it was within her budget.

I doubt the list said "fake football shirt", so obviously the kid didn't want a fake one and the relevant price for which she needed to determine affordability was for the actual gift, not a cheap knock-off that hasn't even survived a single wash. If the grandmother couldn't afford this gift then she could have picked a different gift that she could afford from the list. Nobody "expected" her to buy the shirt until she stated she wished to do so.

Her saying she'd buy this present prevented anybody else buying it for him as she had said she was going to do so, then didn't, and tried to pass off a cheap fake as the real thing. That's a horrible thing to do to a child.

I'm 99% sure it's fake. Also, anyone who is not into football would think that real kits are ridiculously expensive, especially for kids who grow out of them within months. So she must have been astounded to find out the real price and looked for a cheaper option.

@ShesNotACowShesAFox call her bluff.

“It’s ok mum they have an international chain and said I can get support through their English speaking team on chat support and I just need a pic of the receipt and we can get a replacement to be same value from a uk shop or be sent a replacement.”

big fuck off cheesey smile

I don’t need to re-read my OP I was part of the conversation 😂 I’m at a loss as to why I have to spell out a perfectly clear situation even more but I’ll break it down for you:
The conversation went like this:

What do kids have on their lists to Santa?

X Y Z

Any of them around the £60 mark? Thats my grandchild budget or thereabouts and I wanna get them something off their list

Yeah football top for DS and headboard for DD

Send me the links and I’ll get them

yeah grand cheers mum

Pray tell what should I have said instead?

If its her budget and its what the child wants I fail to see what the problem would be (other than perhaps you not being a football fan)?

Only on MN would you fond pearl clutching at buying a much loved team or player football top because they will outgrow it. Don't mind paying shedloads for of the moment video games, even mobile phones and electronics replaced regularly and days out etc and other things that end up dusty on shelves. But woe betide a kid will love and cherish and wear a football shirt for days on end until they can physically no longer squeeze in it.

OP, and others who are using horrible language to describe a victim, you have been presented with documents that state he acknowledges that his victim said no.

Why teach your son to look up to that?

No I won’t be teaching my 7yo son about rape. My son is a football fan and sees things through the eyes of a child that he is, and sees a professional player of the sport he loves.

What horrible language have I used?

Again I urge you into looking into the full details of this case.

Someone called her a bunny boiler.

You've said you'll teach your son to be careful of women "like her".

Bowing out, because there's no reasoning with people like you

You've said you'll teach your son to be careful of women "like her".

Um, please apologise for this great big lie.

“Bowing out after I’ve lied about you”. Funny that 🙄 can’t fucking stand people who do this.

@WhereAreTheMarbles well obviously you're in the lucky position of being able to afford to purchase the genuine article from the stadium shop/website. Not everyone has that kind of budget.
We've purchased a replica kit from a reliable source and you'd be hard pushed to tell the difference. It has been washed and is still fine.
The genuine articles are made in the Far East, by people earning a pittance too. No more ethical than buying fakes.

.....perhaps "that"? 🤔

Eh?

A damaged Nottingham Forest kit is still worth 50x some made-up Saudi league nonsense.

COYR!

Because @AvidBee has lied about me which has REALLY pissed me off, I did not say that I would “warn my son about women like this”. @Whoknew24 did. Just to be clear.

Ill wait for an apology from @AvidBee but I suspect she’s too embarrassed to come back

It’s a bit off to tarnish all replica kit sellers as sex traffickers or drug lords. I’m sure that some just want to provide an alternative to the extremely expensive genuine kits sold by the football clubs. Not everyone can afford to buy a football shirt at a club shop. Have you considered just getting the lettering redone? Maybe the shirt is genuine but the lettering was substandard. A lot of replicas are almost indistinguishable from the genuine kits.

Anybody producing counterfeit products is engaging in criminal activity. They hardly need "tarnishing" when by definition what they are doing is illegal.

And because these are illegal businesses they also pay no tax, increasing the tax burden on everybody else; don't comply with employment standards so doubtless treat whomever is producing these fakes appallingly; and don't comply with legal product standards so likely have harmful non-compliant chemicals in the clothing which are a health hazard.

It's a bit disturbing you'd be defending such illegal activity. And yes, there is lots of research and evidence showing that these counterfeit goods "businesses" are usually linked to the funding of the drugs trade and human trafficking/ sexual abuse.

If I can't afford something I save up for it or don't buy it. I don't buy it from an illegal source where it's been counterfeited.

This is no better than the people who buy stolen goods from shoplifters. You can contort reality however you like to try to justify yourself but it doesn't convince anybody. It's not a harmless thing to do, it directly creates and funds harm to other people so if you choose to do that then at least own the decision honestly rather than trying to pretend you don't know the obvious consequences of your choice.

I don't really understand why the drugs trade needs funding by making knock off tops. The drugs trade makes its own money.