It was in April when the Humboldt Broncos bus tragedy occurred.
Shortly after, Kelowna resident Bill Henthorn launched a fundraiser, selling shirts online. Four months later, some of those who purchased the shirts are still waiting for their orders.
And some have taken to social media.
In May, one customer wrote: “It’s been over three weeks. Any time frame on my orders?”
In late July, Henthorn posted on his Facebook page that the orders had arrived and that he was picking them up — apologizing for the delay because of health issues.
Global News contacted Henthorn on Wednesday regarding the Broncos shirts and he said they were in his possession.
“I do have those — I’m just not willing — they’re, they’re at my storage facility at my house and when I get home, I plan on to get those all out too. They’re already there,” he said.
Global News: When were the shirts supposed to be delivered?
Henthorn: “There was about a four to eight week wait on those because demand was so much. And even now there’s still quite a demand. And they had issues with the supplier with the shirts. What held it up was actually the design of the jerseys because the jersey supplier didn’t have enough and we had to wait until those jerseys to come through.”
Global News: How much was raised there?
Henthorn: “Eighteen hundred bucks.”
Since that conversation, a new post has gone up on Henthorn’s Facebook page, saying the order has been cancelled.
It says: “Due to the overall length of time for this (in)convenience and stress it’s caused Bill will be issuing refunds to all. He never intended this to take so long. Sorry for all the inconvenience this has caused everyone.”
And it appears that Henthorn has burned his bridge with the Kelowna Rockets.
The team had allowed Henthorn to promote the Broncos shirt campaign on its Facebook page. The Rockets have since removed all those posts, saying there were too many complaints.