DH bought me a dodgy hairdryer!! AIBU?

[GreenDuck1]

Money has been really tight the last few
months, with loads of big expenses coming up out of the blue. My birthday is coming up and DH said he knew what he wanted to get me but that it was over £100. I tried to discourage him but he was adamant it was something I really wanted and that he really wanted to get it for me. This morning I looked on the credit card statement and there was a payment for £160 to a company name that I had never heard of. The company on the statement was actually their website. I thought this must be my gift from DH, and didn’t want to ruin the surprise, but alarm bells were ringing that he had bought from some random company, so I googled the company name and trust pilot. Straight away I saw that it’s only got 3 reviews all written in the last 3 days.

At that point, I went onto the company website, and they’re basically flogging fake Dyson hairdryers for £160. There is free worldwide shipping but returns are at your own expense… to the states! There is no part of me that wants this hairdryer and I think it’s one of these insta influencer type scams!

I spoke to my husband and was upset that we now have thrown £160 away on some tat! I do need a new hairdryer, but with money so tight, I’m upset that he didn’t take basic precautions when shopping online!

He is saying I’m really ungrateful. I’ve tried to explain that I’m just disappointed because I actually could have got an amazing hairdryer for much less money and I’m concerned that we’ve basically just thrown £160 away at a time when we really don’t have that kind of money to spare.

DH is now really upset with me.

AIBU?

She didn’t ask for it…did you read the thread or too busy jumping to conclusions?

So if you have no money why was hair-dryer needed?

Oh and YANBU

Your husband is a plonker

Wonderfully helpful to the OP right now!

These exact hair dryers can be found on Alibaba or AliExpress for less than $30.

This Vorte website is even using some of the same images, and are simply trying to dropship products from AliExpress/Alibaba with a HUGE markup.

I'm sure your husband was just trying to be nice, but I would seriously cancel the order and buy a cheaper one elsewhere from a more reputable source.

Don't know maybe it's because her hairdryer no longer works. She wasn't expecting an actual Dyson or this dupe her dh bought. I'm sure she would have been happy with a cheap one as long as it would dry her hair.

That's not the point here. You do you and don't judge others' lifestyle choices.

OP's point, surely?

Do you always treat him like an incompetent child?

The one saving grace here might actually be that your husband bought it on a credit card. Your credit card company should be able to help you if the hairdryer arrives and isn't as described or is faulty. Check out this information from MSE, and also look at the chargeback option: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/section75-protect-your-purchases/

I get it. That money is gone and if you had 160 quid to spend on yourself it wouldn't be on a dodgy hairdryer. However your dh tried to do a nice thing and is now doubly humiliated that he was taken in by the website and that you think less of him. That's why he's upset with you. Wounded pride!

Even the reviews on trustpilot are a bit weird. The English is slightly odd, which makes me think that they are fake.

According to British law you have an unqualified right to a refund, but I don't know how you go about enforcing that on a foreign company.

Did he pay by credit card? Perhaps you can get your money back that way.

For this sort of thing I normally check out the reviews by the New York Times, and it does look like he overpaid. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/the-best-hair-dryer/

I think your DH made a mistake with this, but it was a well-intentioned one. That should be something that can be learnt from.

OK princess, not all of us have the luxury of having "money to call our own"

A lot of the UK will be living hand to mouth with nothing to spare each month.

No point in standing on principle when it's all gone on bills by day 2 is there?

What an incredibly helpful and insightful contribution to the thread. Thank god we now all know how you feel about shared finances.

OP, I think you're just going to have to accept that your husband has been a complete prat with this money, looking at the site I'd wager it's a tiktok scam of some sort and if any hairdryer does actually arrive it'll likely be some plasticy Temu shite. He can try for a refund but I think it's unlikely. I would contact your card company and see if there's any way they can block any future transactions from this company, just in case there was some rolling subscription in the fine print. It happens.

Maybe for your husband's next birthday you can get him a copy of "Shopping Online for Dummies" 😬

This is a forum where people ask for a range of insights to gauge how reasonable other people deem their behaviour. If I’d purchased something for my OH as a gift with my money, I would not appreciate him googling my purchases and getting worked up before it’s even arrived. The shared finances are the problem here. He has not got his own money to make his own mistakes with.

He may have fallen foul of the adverts I've seen on Facebook recently.

One was selling a very expensive Lego set for £80. Interest piqued I clicked the link and you'd have thought I was on the Hamleys website. Logo at the top of the page, etc. Then when you dig into the company notices, etc, you get a different company name and googling that company name came up with the Trust Pilot reviews. Every single one was saying they'd never seen the order they'd placed.

If you're lucky you might get a fake Dyson, but realistically you'll probably never receive anything at all.

It is annoying, definitely. Some of these websites are very convincing now, but he should be learning a valuable lesson here:

If something looks to good to be true, it probably is!

YANBU to be annoyed with him IMO - it should have been obvious!

No princess here. My own circumstances have lead me to ensure I’ll always have some money in my own name just for me, even if it’s all spent on pay day.

Well I need a hairdryer

I would look ridiculous if I left my hair to dry on its own. And it would take about an hour to dry if I used a £12 dryer (wouldn't buy a ridiculously expensive one though)

What's difficult to understand about that?

Not quite the point here though...

Well aren't you fortunate to be in that position??

When I grew up, a disabled sibling meant that my DM couldn't work. My dad's earnings were not great, so we lived hand to mouth each month.

How do you propose my DM should have found some money "to call her own"??

Yeah but she wasn't asking for your opinion on her financial set up with her husband was she? She can't exactly hop in her TARDIS and go back and insist on separate finances now can she? Hence your contribution being about as much use as steel bog roll.

What research?

And if it was a FaceBook ad - there are countless fake sites on there now.

But this thread isn't about you...

Can they if it is a scam site or a dodgy dryer?

My company laptop wont allow me to open this link so suggests it is in deed a dodgy site.

I would get in touch with the credit card company asap.

If he can get his money back and still wants to get you a good hairdryer, I can very much recommend this

sharkclean.co.uk/product/shark-speedstyle-3-in-1-hair-dryer-for-straight-wavy-hair-hd331uk-zidHD331UK