If you've ever been on the sidelines watching children's sports, you know how enthusiastic parents are. One mom even became a soccer coach and ordered an official team jacket only to be left shivering on the sidelines.
Laurie Miller spent four years helping coach her daughter's soccer team. One of the biggest surprises was how cold it can get standing on the sidelines up in the Hayward Hills.
"I'd come home with frozen feet, frozen hands, so each year I've added another layer, a sweatshirt, a jacket, a scarf," says Miller.
Miller wore the official team windbreaker with her name on the front, but it wasn't too warm. So she went to the school sports website O-Line Sports used by her team's booster club. There, she ordered a big knee-length parka with custom embroidery.
"It was going to say Hayward High girls' varsity soccer," says Miller.
She paid $89 for the jacket, then waited and waited.
"The jacket never came. I kept checking and calling and I wasn't getting any response," says Miller.
The winter passed. Miller's daughter graduated high school and Miller continued coaching and watched her son play, but still, no jacket. Finally she canceled the order and demanded her $89 back.
"It wasn't a lot, but to me it was a lot and it's the principle," says Miller.
Months went by without a refund, so Miller went online and found out O-Line Sports has an "F" rating with the Better Business Bureau.
"So I thought, OK...7 On Your Side," said Miller.
We contacted O-Line Sports and it said Miller's order had been delayed because the company was relocating from the Bay Area to Southern California. It said, "the move and setup also caused a delay in issuing a refund."
However, within days, Miller did receive a full refund in the mail.
Miller won't be freezing on the sidelines either. She went to a local thrift store and bought a knee-length parka for $10. The only drawback is it doesn't say Hayward High and apparently once belonged to a guy named Zach.
"But it'll work," says Miller.
O-Line Sports says it has ironed out problems that occurred during the move and it still serves many Bay Area schools.
