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?

Here's exactly this dryer from AliExpress for £30.

I think your husband could be right. The site looks fake and very similar to Vortexair, another company doing a similar thing.

The language is wrong -Vortehair brand promise is "make you hair health" and recently launched its new motto: "Vortehair - make you hair health".

There is an obscure section about robots at the end under About Us.

What will life be like in the future as robotics become more commonplace?
What will people want out of our products? Currently robots perform a number of useful functions for humanity. However,Vortehair team have endeavored to break through this stale way of thinking. In a sense their robot does nothing. It wags its tail, it says single words, but mostly it exists just to be by your side. When we proposed this combination of product + service to create a new lifestyle on the crowdfunding site makuake, we hit our required number of backer in just six and a half hours. Here the development team talks about how they created a new paradigm in which people can empathize with and get support from their robots.

I like the way several reviewers of this company have coincidentally loved hoverboards for their children. Fake reviews are so easy to spot these days.

The only combustible part is the battery when charging. It’s been fine so far, doesn’t overheat when charging. Cuts off when fully charged. Even iPhone batteries can combust so I don’t see what the worry is. When you buy any electrical item it might be made in U.K. but you’ve no idea where the parts come from. Perhaps you should worry about all your electrical items

I think this instance is proving why she should.
Because he is.

I actually have this hairdryer!! Funnily enough from my husband I was dubious too but it’s been 2 years and it’s fine! Although it was called something different when I got it but it’s 1000% the same one

I've got one of those Dyson hairdryers they're really not as good as they're made out to be.

But surely you're missing the point. It might be a decent hairdryer but the fact that it's available for £26 means it's a complete rip off at £160…

This. And an electrician who thinks it’s fine buying cheap dodgy Chinese clones is not an electrician I would use.

I love mine. My hair takes ages to dry, but not with Dyson.

If he believed those reviews as research, he's acting like one.

Any update @GreenDuck1

I think YABU for goggling the company and calling him out on this before the present has even arrived. He made a mistake but the intention was good.

When it arrives just send it back. If they won't accept the return, your credit card company will help.

Vortehair brand promise is "make you hair health" and recently launched its new motto: "Vortehair - make you hair health".

Finest Chinglish right there.

If you can't cancel it, then wait until it arrives and request a refund with them paying for the return. If they refuse then argue with them for a while over it so that you have an email trail.

Then put in a claim with your credit card company saying that it is overpriced fake goods and you should get your money back at that point.

I was successful in getting money back for a desk that was not fit for purpose and the company wanted me to ship it back to China. The credit card company refunded me when they saw the company emails that just kept offering me bigger and bigger discounts to keep the item and refusing to pay to ship to China.

And the purpose of this post is???? 🙄

I think your husband has been silly, but with good intentions. I think you are being really unkind to your husband about it though. If id been scammed and my husband had been this annoyed with me, id be so hurt.
If money is tight because of only one income then why cant the other one bring money in?

£160 is a LOT of money for some people. Maybe consider that not everyone is as wealthy as you

I'd not use it unless it is approved to CE or BS standards and rated at the correct supply voltage (230V 50Hz)

A lot of Chinese illegal imports are rated 220V and will after a time overheat, or don't have overheat cutouts, not made from non combustible plastic, fake UK plug without a fuse etc etc..

Look at the rating plate / embossing in the plastic and see what it says.

How is it fake? It's not claiming to be anything but whatever brand they stuck on it. The CC company won't care that it's available for £20 elsewhere. If you buy something for £100 and discover it's on sale in TK Maxx for £20, that's nobody else's problem. Besides, you can't prove it's the same thing in this case anyway.

Oh dear... If this is their mission statement, I think your husband has been had!

Our Mission & Vision
Vortehair brand promise is "make you hair health" and recently launched its new motto: "Vortehair - make you hair health".

Makes no sense at all!

@GreenDuck1 I think your husband’s heart was in the right place. Don’t be hard on him. Remember it is the thought that counts. And he thought he was doing something really nice for you.

FWIW I have had plenty of friends who love shopping online, getting a (to me) too good to be true bargain. That to me looks like it has to be fake, inferior product, scam and they claim vehemently that they are very happy with what they got and the quality of the product. I am (then and to this day) far too distrusting and very risk adverse and would never buy anything that looks like a fake. But, on the other hand, others are not like me and seem to be quite satisfied. So, what would I know? Perhaps, in the whole scheme of things, they are right and I am just a scaredy cat.

Be open minded. Try the hairdryer first before judging. And give us an update on whether or not it was good.

FWIW I clicked on the link you posted and it looked really convincing to me.

It would make me despair OP if my partner did that when we were short of money and our money was shared so in effect I was paying £80 towards something I didn't want or need.
I believe that he thought he was being generous and I believe that he's genuinely hurt by your response, but still.
If he can do this he will almost certainly be managing money badly in other ways which is a bigger concern.

That's about as dodgy as they get. The website was only registered on the 25th September 2024 (see below). No such UK company (the .co.uk at the end of a website doesn't mean it's a UK company).

In the contact part, there is no landline number, no phone number and no address.

I would NOT be using any hairdryer sent by this company, if you actually receive anything.

@GreenDuck1 was it a Virgin money credit or debit card? I ask because I noticed a strange transaction last week on my Virgin app, also marked as pending and when I rang to query it I was told that because it was already authorised there was no way of stopping it. I had to cancel my debit card in case whomever it was tried again! Your best hope that it doesn't arrive and you paid by credit card as you should have some insurance.

Do agree that joint money is a strange concept in this day and age however 🤔 everyone should have their own income, I've worked since my kids were 5 months old to ensure exactly that!