I've been scammed and I don't know what to do next :(

[datcherygrateful]

I purchased two milk maid dresses off tiktop shopify thing (from a company called Lannvie) They had an offer of buy one dress and get a discount on another so I bought two- 1 yellow, and one white and green. When I received an order confirmation the email said 2 red dresses! The purchase was through Monzo.

So I emailed them back and said no that is incorrect please amend. No reply.
The parcel arrived- the front label was all in Chinese. I opened the parcel and there were the 2 red dresses. I looked for a return slip inside, no slip. There was just an email address on the front of the parcel amongst the Chinese address. So I emailed that address and told them I would like a refund and did not get a reply.

Then I searched the company name and emailed them using the email on the site telling them I would like a refund please advise how. No reply.

All of this took place back in March.

Monzo gave me a temporary refund but are claiming it back now as the merchant denied my dispute since I did not return the item according to their policy?
But how do?
There was no slip, no address, no email response from them when I asked how to return the item

What do I do?
I still have the dresses- which I have not and will not wear. I simply wanted to return them from the get go and get my refund :(

Cmon op. You were buying cheap clothes on TikTok , why would you possibly think it was some legit British company. You wanted the dresses and liked the price.

just sell them or give them to charity and take it as paying the stupid tax.

Can you pursue with Monzo? Include any correspondence between you and the company - when you asked for return details and their lack of response? I thought if you could prove you had (unsuccessfully) tried to resolve the issue, then a cashback would be due?

Sadly, there's no consumer protection when dealing with China.

It's all one massive scam and you've been had.

Best thing to do is write it off and then go on trustpilot and write a negative review.

even if they had responded to you they would probably have asked you to pay for return shipping which wipes out a good portion of the costs.

You need to contact TikTok shop support for help

I was scammed buying the same sandals that I had previously purchased and unfortunately left abroad. I found them from what I thought was a high end UK shoe website. I paid about £95. They arrived - from China- cheap rubbish- nothing like the original - must have cost less than a fiver.
I contacted my bank who told me to return with proof of postage. There was a Chinese address on the label. I did this and emailed a complaint to the address on the ‘website’. I actually did get a response to say - do not return. I did also try and report to Trading standards. The website disappeared. It was a very good scam in that the website looked so authentic. I did get a refund from the bank luckily.

Whether you saw it on TikTok etc is irrelevant in terms of the sale. So the company was LannVie? If I've never heard of a company I Google it first and check Trustpilot etc.

I think you need to show your bank you've attempted to return them but might be too late now.

This is exactly what they would have done together with some incomprehensible address (an address that’s used very often but actually doesn’t exist) as a return address. I know this because I was conned - once - and did a bit of investigating.

It’s easy to get conned now via eBay and even Amazon but I double check everything after losing money. I avoid anything (knowingly) from China but I can see that won’t be an option in the not too distant future.

I will be giving them to charity most likely.

I did forward all my correspondence to Monzo but the Merchant declined my claim and they still to this day refuse to send me instructions on how to return the items.

I always check and if the seller is based in China, then avoid. Sorry this happened op.

Unfortunately if it looks too good to be true then it usually is. That website doesn't have any details of where the company is based and screams scam. It does also say they ship from China and the USA (for which, read China I'm sure)

The thing is, you’re right it is very hard to buy clothes (or anything else) that we know for sure has come to us ethically but then there’s blatant unethical buying. We all know cheap shit from Shein or whoever is not very ethical and probably horrible quality. I do buy online but only from shops I know I can easily return and get a refund if necessary (M&S or Next for example). I’m not at all convinced they’re particularly ethical though but even if I made my own clothes I wouldn’t know if the material I bought was even ok. Anyway good luck, I hope you manage to get it sorted.

It's a pain but unfortunately as they're a Chinese company you'd have to try to pursue them through the Chinese legal system. Which I wouldn't recommend.

In the future check the About Us and Contact Us pages on the website you're thinking of buying from. If they don't include an address and phone number, and the only way to contact them is through a web form and/or an email address, then avoid them.

I'd also keep a close eye on your Monzo account to make sure they don't try to charge you again.

This happened to me with a pair of shoes I had no return slip and emails unanswered I left bad reviews everywhere I could for the company and lesson learned !