Anyone else feeling totally ripped off by a Black Friday 'bargain'?

[Pliudev]

I probably am being U because if I'd read the small print this might never have happened. I splashed out on buying a suede jacket for my DS as his only present. It cost well over £100 but was reduced by £18 for B F. It arrived today. I was horrified to find a plastic bag, 12" x14" on my doorstep and the jacket stuffed inside. The suede is stiff and smelly and the jacket isn't the shape it appeared on the website. It came from Pakistan, though that isn't a problem, but it was unexpected as no mention of it was made in their website which says it's a UK family firm. Anyway, I've opened a dispute on PayPal but the company said they won't refund because it was 'in the sale' and offered me £20 as a goodwill gesture. I'm pretty hard up this year and this has sickened me. I feel so foolish.

Which? (the consumer magazine) did a report on black Friday discounting, and generally BF isn't the cheapest price of the year:
https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/black-friday/article/black-friday-deals-how-to-check-if-a-black-friday-deal-is-real-aKtJD2L0zJEt
It shows what a rip off it is.

@Pliudev I had a similar experience. The seller knew they had to refund me, unfortunately the item had been shipped from China, and I was expected to return the item to China, which would have cost a fortune. In the end I managed to get my money back from my bank by proving that the item was not as described (it was substantially different in brand, colour, etc). You have various protections if you used a credit card or debit card (or PayPal, obviously). I hope your seller is in the uk and that will make for a quick and cheap return

I am really pleased with my bf deal.
I have had my eye on a lego model but it was £390, ridiculous I know but I've been wanting it for a year. Anyway I checked Argos and it was £260. So having recently retired I treated myself for working for 50 years and never putting me first.

I’ve learnt my lesson over the years and only get BF deals on things I’ve had my eye on for a while so I know if they are a decent actually discounted price. This year I got some Lego sets for DCs Christmas gifts, a steam mop, some facial oils, and a carpet cleaning machine for big discounts.

FFS. It's on their home page at the top! Plus they always used to refund price differences if discounts took place within a couple of weeks of the original sale.

@Gabitule the returning to china was never your responsibility , the seller was taking the piss, knowing you wouldn't post due to the cost . Glad you got sorted

This is more the site you should be showing them, better still the law itself but this might be clearer:

Online, mail and phone order sales
Online, mail and telephone order customers have the right to cancel their order for a limited time even if the goods are not faulty. Sales of this kind are known as ‘distance selling’.

You must offer a refund to customers if they’ve told you within 14 days of receiving their goods that they want to cancel. They have another 14 days to return the goods once they’ve told you.

You must refund the customer within 14 days of receiving the goods back. They do not have to provide a reason.

https://www.gov.uk/accepting-returns-and-giving-refunds#:~:text=Online%2C%20mail%20and%20telephone%20order,that%20they%20want%20to%20cancel.

Just closing a cruise deal and it's a corker imo.

But I agree @Pliudev Black Friday etc is a big disappointment, just like most sales are. The best bargain I found was packet noodles for 9p a packet at Aldi 🤩

Honestly I think you've been scammed rather than falling for a black Friday deal.

Check the website- I bet it doesn't come up on Google. Then Google the company name and trust pilot- you'll see the real reviews for the 'company'.

I also bet that they have nothing but 5 star reviews and lots of positive comments on social media (there's loads of fake websites on facebook). Oh, and it's always a company based in the UK, top quality etc, website looks legit.

I fell for a similar scam, they send you a cheap item to say you recieved the item and make it harder to raise a dispute!

I fell for something similar, ordered a lovely thick memory foam play rug, got a hairband from China! Since then, I've noticed so many fake websites on Facebook, all with amazing reviews!

Thanks

I did see the Philips toothbrushes on sale as well, but the Oral B ones were recommended by colleagues and my dentist

I know! But one told me it didn’t apply to online sales and the other said it only applied to outside company price matching. I tell you, I am earning that £10 the hard way by reinforcing John Lewis staff customer service training!

Ours have usb cables to charge. So does our torch.

It might be useful to some https://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/ watches Amazon prices and sends alerts.

Sorry just read back and saw it already mentioned.

People will probably correct me, but I think Camel Camel Camel is great for checking how prices on Amazon have changed over the last year and so whether you are getting a good deal. Fingers crossed this links to a page showing price variations for a popular vacuum cleaner but you can then search for any item.....

https://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/product/B0CFVBTCGR?context=search&active=amazon

Yes John Lewis have got very sneaky recently. Their old price promise meant that if they reduced the price of anything on their website within thirty five days of you having purchased it they would refund the difference. They’ve now reduced that to seven days but have dressed it up as having improved their pricing by claiming to match other places. However, they say they’ll match places like ARGOS but only if the item you want is actually in stock. This means that if ARGOS has run out of the item for example, JL can and will justify selling it at a higher price and therefore ARE knowingly undersold.

I have lost confidence in them to be honest after years of shopping there.

Last year I bought a plug in hob I needed slightly cheaper than usual, and this year I bought a couple of Lego sets and three board games, all of which I had in my basket and all of which were great bargains. I was very nearly sucked into spending more money though, just pulled myself back in time…

I wonder if you've bought from a dodgy company, OP, one of the ones that are constantly advertising on Facebook with .co.uk website addresses, and don't admit they are based in China or Pakistan or wherever. It might be worth looking at Trustpilot for negative reviews. If it is one of those companies, they may just ignore your request to return the item, ask you to return the goods at your own cost, or they may offer a partial refund and let you keep it.
However, I hope that Paypal come good and refund you.

Yes, you are legally allowed to return an online purchase, even one on sale. It’s specifically to protect people from parting with their money in good faith for an item they’ve never seen. It doesn’t apply to shops - that’s up to them if they do and it goes beyond your statutory rights if they do - because you saw the item in person when you decided to buy it. So don’t worry! PayPal will help.

That's not strictly true. If it's in the terms and conditions when you buy that you have to pay return postage, then they are covered. It's how a lot of shady businesses work- hide the fact that its coming from China, knowing its too costly to return.

There's some exceptions, but if you're dealing with a dodgy company, you won't get far with them.

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/a-retailer-is-charging-for-a-return-do-i-have-to-pay-atS1g7a9Phub

Some Amazon sellers have definitely been a bit naughty with pricing.

I bought an office chair for DP a week before BF and it was one of those 'offer of the day/expires in so many minutes' deals. I paid £60 for a chair that showed a price reduction from £85.

That same chair is on as a BF deal for £120 showing a reduction from £150.

I do think Amazon is going downhill a bit as so many sellers are shit on there now.

Black Friday is not what it used to be

@KrisAkabusi , not arguing but if they hide the origin of the delivery it's not the recipients fault . As far as I'm aware . A bride I knew got screwed with a cheap Chinese copy of her dress and she got legal advice etc and was told not her responsibility . (Work based, I can't do details)

Early November, my brother asked me for a suggestion for some jewellery for his new girlfriend - I sent him a link to a nice pair of gold earrings for £100. He told me happily the other day he’d got them ON SALE on Black Friday for the impressive price of £125 down from £150 lol. So yeah pays to plan in advance and also actually read the messages your sister sends when you ask for help ahem

You definitely have my sympathy, but this is one reason I don't usually buy by mail. Especially not clothing. Especially not from a company I've never heard of. Especially not from a foreign county.

Definitely push for a refund.

I doubt it was posted from Pakistan, there’s no way you would have got the parcel in 3 days.

I bought a few things on Black Friday, I don’t feel ripped off with what I did buy - it was a blanket 30% discount code on things I was going to buy anyway and had wanted for years.

however I do feel ripped off with what I bought over the last month or so. I bought an iPad Pro from Apple last month and could have gotten an £80 gift card had I waited.

I got a ring camera from Amazon which dropped to £50 less (practically a 50% discount)