Getting fleeced by a company that poses as UK-based, but isn't.

[TryingToFigureItOut2]

Hi,

I think I am getting fleeced by a clothing company that poses as a high end UK fashion company in London, but which is really not. I wondered if I could tell you, and also ask if anyone has any idea of how to return the clothes?

I bought some shirts from a company called Ashford of London, after a recommendation from the Style and Beauty forum. After I bought them, I realised that the person who recommended them had never actually used the company and had just googled.

This is the company:
https://ashfordclothing.com/

I don't normally spend a lot of money on clothes, but this was to be special, so I was asking for a recommendation of an upmarket brand. I thought this brand would be good because it said it was a London company.

The clothes didn't arrive for two and half weeks, which I thought was odd. The tracker said they came through customs, so they had not come from London at all. When they arrived, they had a Royal Mail 48 label on, which was pretty weird for a three week journey. The clothes seems to have been made in China and possibly posted directly from there. They weren't nicely packed but were jammed tight into a tiny plastic bag.

The clothes didn't look at all like the ones on the website, and weren't suitable. They were meant to be men's shirts, but looked very like ladies shirts (pink and floaty). I started the process to return them.

The weird thing is that when I tried to return them, the company said I had to post them back to the Netherlands at my own expense (not London). They said that I must do the postage in such a way that they had no customs charges to pay to receive them. If they had to pay any customs charges, then they would reject the parcel and refuse to refund.

I sent the parcel by Royal Mail, stating that it was a "Return", so no duties would be due. I said they were from country of origin Netherlands, since I got them from this company which seems to be in the Netherlands. I figured that that would mean they didn't need to pay customs duties since none should be due.

After about a month, I have just heard that the parcel has been rejected because customs charges had been demanded, and they refused to pay them.

This means I will have no refund and will once again will have £350 worth of shirts, that I can't use, and can't send back. It cost me £17 to ship them before, and I'm not sure it's a great idea to spend another £17 to try again.

I wondered if anybody might have any idea of how to send a return parcel to the Netherlands without incurring customs charges? I really would like to return the shirts, as they are no use to me, and cost a lot of money.

Failing that, I wondered if I could just send out a warning not to take Ashford of London too seriously as a UK company who will play fair on returns, because they really seem not to be very helpful.

Thanks!

Yep. Unfortunately we all need to get more cynical.

Sorry to hear of your problems OP, it’s so frustrating.

@Itsforthebest I was going to suggest to the OP to use PayPal if they’re ever dubious in the future because PayPal are pretty good at helping out. Mind you, I guess you won’t touch it if it feels dubious! Not after this experience.

Even on Amazon. It’s pretty shit out there.

Always check their shipping and returns sections on the website. If the estimated shipping time takes more than usual its a red flag. If the returns address is outside the UK, avoid at all costs. They always say to email them for returns information too, which is another red flag. UK sites will have click through instructions on tge site with no need to contact anyone.

I think you have to use common sense when buying from these random unknown websites. The 1.3* reviews on trustpilot and the AI images on the website are a massive giveaway.
Even if someone recommended them I would still do my own research.

Thanks yes I get what you mean. I only went to them because I got a personal recommendation from someone on the style and beauty forum here. It was only after I placed the order that the person pointed out they'd never used the shop and had no knowledge of them. These things happen. Live 'n' learn.

The bank have temporarily refunded the money while they look into it. Nationwide, once again, being very nice.

I had this. Ordered what looked like a chunky cardigan and was sent a thin wrap. By this time the pictures on the website had changed so clearly a scam. I read descriptions really carefully now and am suspicious of anything with Spandex.

It sounds like you ve been scammed. On radio 4/iplayer they have a podcast about this, it's the one about a kitted cardigan which turns out to be shite 😭

LOL. Not literally I hope.

The typos on the home page are a clue - a legitimate UK fashion retailer probably wouldn't be offering "trech" coats!

I love discovering new brands on the Style & Beauty forum, but I always do a lot of research before ordering (or I buy something on Vinted first so I can suss the brand out at a lower price point).

Probably a shill for the scammy company. It can happen on S &B.

There's tons of these companies operating. Amazing pics and reputable looking websites. I usually only buy online from companies I know but I got sucked in by 'Thomwood' earlier this year.

I realised almost instantly as I googled them to find the link to send to my mum and trust pilot was the first thing that came up - all awful reviews about this exact scam.

I contacted my bank immediately who were super helpful, told me to wait the required stated delivery time and after that they would start a claim.

I was also emailing the company who kept fobbing me off.

After the delivery window was up, the bank contacted the company who refunded me immediately.

Lots of reviews of people following the same process as you and losing money, sadly.

There are so many of these sites. They seem to use Facebook a lot. Very convincing until you check reviews.

I had a similar experience in the summer with'Harrington and Hale' supposedly based in London. In May I ordered some summer slothes in their sale (supposedly). Almost immediately due to a post on mumsnet I realised they were dodgy so cancelled within 20 minutes only to be told goods were on their way. Start of almost 5 month battle to get money back. Everytime I checked with the shipping details they said the order was being shipped from China. I quoted my right to cancel and get a refund only to be told they would get back to me. I also found out their head office is in the Netherlands, presumably to avoid UK consumer rights? Fortunately in the end the shipping sight said the order had lapsed and I contacted my bank to get a charge back. As soon as I did that they refunded the money (almost £200) within 12 hours.

Following the Radio 4 programme warnings already mentioned, I checked if they are still in business but now the website says it is ' Doris-jewelry 'a lifelong craftsperson who is closing down and having a sale complete with soft focus arty photo. So I agree we all need to be careful and check reviews and origin and sales history of websites. You feel like a fool when it happens but they are quite sophisticated in presentation and they take advantage of trust.

Always check, it’s the only place you’ll find genuine information, as these scammy online companies often use falsified or paid-for testimonials on their websites. I’ve even seen pictures of ‘UK flagship stores’ with which don’t exist. There are loads of them.

At best they’re drop-shippers using suppliers in China, but most of them are just fronts for Chinese direct-from-factory operations, hence the massive return shipping costs. They set up an entity in a country where they’re able to register a business at minimal cost and with no physical presence, and then start flogging shite. The clothes look great in the photos, but the sites use small print in their descriptions and terms to get around trading regs, and the stuff is usually poor quality - badly made out of cheap, chemical-smelling fabric and weirdly sized. It’ll cost you as much to send this crap back as to buy it, and even if you do you’ll struggle to get your money refunded because it’ll likely get ‘lost’ in transit and that’s on you.

The ads for ‘long-established’ businesses that are ‘sadly closing down’ and now want to sell off all their stock of lovingly handmade jewellery and designer fashions are all part of the same scammy bollocks. Be careful out there kids.

X-post with @tomorrowalready. I also know all this from bitter experience!

@TryingToFigureItOut2

if they supplied some different
give them a chance them if not action talk to your credit card company.

they must refund you
the credit card company

this rest is not your issue.

if you paid by DD that is silly.

I've had 2 of these re bras. Cheaper obviously. Drives me nuts.

I looked and thought it had been styled using AI

I bought an electronics product from a legit looking company. Said they were EU based. I was pretty comfortable and happy ordering.

I had watched MULTIPLE TikTok and YouTube videos about the product, I thought it looked good.

Product ended up taking 2-3 weeks to arrive, was clearly from China. It looked like a good product so i didn’t think much of it, but in the end it just didn’t work as expected.

they made the returns process so difficult. When i eventually got them to agree to return, they told me to send it to an address in Germany. Paid for return from my own pocket.

A month later it was delivered back to my house, rejected from customs.

i just gave up to be honest… £200 worth of product just sat on the side doing nothing. Massively disappointed

sounds like a similar set up…

Yes it sounds like I was a victim of The Great Knitted Cardigan Scam but this was a year ago, 10 months before the podcast so it's clearly been going on a long time. I just chalked it up to experience.

Yep I got stung too by Ashford and Clarke. Kicking myself as I’m usually so good at researching everything but it was an impulse buy. I’ve requested a charge back but haven’t heard anything yet, it’s been about 2 weeks (HSBC).

It's easy enough to add a fake, or even a real UK address.

This one had a UK address

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/5208200-is-this-website-legit

And Trustpilot is full of fake reviews, but these sites are awash with red flags and Google lens is brilliant for flushing them out.

True but you’d be surprised how many online shops don’t have a phone number or address. Not having those things is an instant red flag. If they do have them, then investigate further.