Poor Steve Oleksy. He’s simply got a last name that some folks don’t always put enough effort into getting correct. This time, it was the NHL’s fault. Well, the NHL.com store, to be exact. Twitter user Richard B. (@Capsfan12_90) ordered a jersey of the Caps defenseman for his son for Christmas, only to receive it with Oleksy’s name misspelled. Oleksy himself retweeted this jersey foul, responding, “That’s a 1st.”
Here’s how Richard B. describes what happened:
I am a life long Caps fan having attended my first game in 1984 at the age of seven. I am in the Navy and I’m currently stationed in New Jersey at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst which is what made it necessary to order the Jersey online. About a week ago my wife and I were finishing our Christmas shopping and decided we needed one more item for our son, 13 years old who plays defense for a travel bantam team in the NJYHL. Earlier that week he had made it clear to us that Mike Green was no longer his favorite Capital, Oleksy was a more physical defenseman and that made him my sons new favorite.
That night my wife went on NHL.com and clicked on the shop tab and worked her way to the customizable Capitals jerseys, clicked on the drop down and selected 61 Oleksy. Not being one of the more popular members of the NHL it would require three days to complete the order (put the name and number on the jersey) and we selected two day shipping. We are spending Christmas in northern Pennsylvania with my parents and being so close to the holiday we decided to have the jersey shipped to my parents house. The package arrived on time and my mother let us know as soon as it arrived.
Today when we arrived in PA we unpacked the cars and my wife made her way upstairs to wrap the last present. When she pulled the jersey out of the bag she had to do a double take. My wife of 16 years has become a die hard Caps fan as well, insisting on season tickets the few years we were stationed at Joint Base Andrews. She immediately checked her email to make sure it wasn’t something we had done wrong, even went back to the NHL.com website to make sure the drop down didn’t have his name misspelled, of course it’s not.
She called customer support and spoke to a very nice, apologetic gentleman. He asked if this was a Christmas present but then gave her the bad news that because it was considered a customized item, he would not be able to overnight us a corrected jersey. After conferring with his manager he was able to refund the cost of the jersey, $184.95. Then my wife asked about the total cost which was $197.90 with shipping and he told her they would refund to total cost including shipping and asked that we return the jersey. He then suggested that once we returned home from our trip we reorder the jersey.
So we are left with wrapping a jersey with the wrong name and an explanation for my son on Christmas morning. To sweeten the deal though he will now be able to see that Steve Olesky himself responded to the tweet about his unique jersey that will be returned in the next few days.
As far as the refund, within 10 minutes my wife received an email from PayPal stating that the money would be credited to her account. The customer support person said that it would be credited within two to three days. So now we wait and see if the NHL will give me a Christmas present two days from now.
“@Capsfan12_90: #Jerseyfoul ordered a @StevenOleksy jersey 4my son 4 Christmas from @NHL.com @washcaps http://t.co/tivpSgXWrW” that's a 1st
— Steven Oleksy (@StevenOleksy) December 24, 2013
In related news, some Oleksy jerseys turned out ok.
Best hockey gift: my daughter's first jersey. It's @StevenOleksy. Why? She says he's like her: small and tough. She's 6. #capitalstalk
— Steve Kistulentz (@kistulentz) December 24, 2013
