Do not buy from 'Made By Jessica'!

[AgentPidge]

I bought two dresses online (£39 each) from what I thought was a UK-based boutique after a recommendation on a thread on MN. The website shows a pregnant woman, and says that 'Jessica' is closing her boutique due to the imminent arrival of her baby and is selling off stock at half price. The OP said about how much she loved the shop, etc.
Alarm bells should have rung when they ask for £4.99 insurance (to send a parcel from Surrey?). Also because there was no description of the fabric content given, only that it was a 'light and airy summer fabric'. They took a long time to arrive (direct from China?) and came today. The material is almost plastic, and they are a heavy weight, huge, shoddily made, with no labels (fabric content, washing instructions, brand) apart from 'Medium'.
Looking at Trustpilot, lots of people have the same story. They are Hong Kong based. There does not seem to be a UK store. 'Made by Jessica' my arse. They promise easy returns and refunds, but I don't hold out much hope, and it will cost a fortune to send them back to China. But will update.

Almost everything for sale online by 'small businesses' these days is Chinese imports drop shipped by sellers pretending to be artisan or whatever. A dead giveaway is the ones saying they are closing down, it's a tactic. If you are ever unsure, go on temu and search for the item you're looking at and chances are you'll find it for 1/4 of the price. The clothes are usually on Ali express using stolen images and copied patterns.

You've been given a lot of advice about avoiding scams OP but in case no one has mentioned it, I always recommend checking the returns policy when buying online, even from an established brand. You are always taking a risk when buying online. If they exclude return rights completely or for "sale"/"final sale" items, that is illegal. Legally, return rights can only be excluded for a limited number of products (such as perishable or personalised goods).

The other things to watch for is complex processes / approval required for return requests (this is against the law - within 14 days you are entitled to notify them you are returning items, that doesn't need approval) and expensive return shipping fees (not against the law but always check what they are before buying and if the website is unclear, at least check the returns address - if it's outside the UK it's going to be expensive).

I just don't buy from certain websites because of these issues, which I see fairly regularly.

(I'm a consumer protection law specialist)

The Scam secrets programme was suggesting that the main aim of these sales is to get your identity and other information, rather than the actual money from the scam. When you request a refund they may ask for more information about you, so I would be careful about it. It's worth listening to the episodes other people have flagged up.

The other things to watch for is complex processes / approval required for return requests (this is against the law - within 14 days you are entitled to notify them you are returning items, that doesn't need approval) and expensive return shipping fees (not against the law but always check what they are before buying and if the website is unclear, at least check the returns address - if it's outside the UK it's going to be expensive).

Does this apply to companies outside the UK though? If you buy from a business located in Greece, China, Australia is the transaction not regulated by the laws in that particular country? (Not doubting you, just interested) Also these Chinese shitty dropshippers just don't care about being legal or not legal as the Chinese authorities are not interested either.

Yeah so many ‘boutiques’ online and small businesses are just massively priced up clothes from Ali express 😫

We have this in Ireland too. ☹️
Closing down sale and the boutique has an Irish name.
Many people have been caught out.
We have a well known phone in radio show called Liveline here and this scam was featured last year.

Seems to me that Facebook - I don’t know about MN - is awash with too-good-to-be-true offers for clothes etc. purporting to be from U.K. companies, but in reality they’re cheap rubbish from China. Have a look at the BBC podcast - ‘The Knitted Cardigan Scam’ for an example.

If it seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is.

Thank you so much. It clearly says on the page with the dress, "Free 30-day returns". I asked for a refund based on the fact that the dresses are too big. They have asked me for a photo of what arrived, showing the size label, (fair enough) and one of me wearing it, "if possible" showing it's too big. Um, no. But I put it out on the bed and put one of my dresses on top (showing the size) and that theirs is about two inches wider on each side. However, I have also sent a pic of the substandard stitching and gone in hard about misrepresentation, that I believe there is no boutique, etc. Because all I want is my money back rather than them want me to return them for a smaller size. If they don't reply within a week, I'll contact my bank. I'm very grateful for all the advice here.

But.. but... It was founded in London in 2008! There's a London street in the photo! Jessica is going to be so busy with the baby that she won't have time to make the clothes! Jessica's customers are all going to miss her! Free returns!

I wish I'd twigged earlier that there are about 2000 items in 25 sizes.

I had a look at some of the clothes and found them elsewhere, jackets up for fifty quid on Ali express for 12 pound etc 😭

Ha ha, thank you for the warning. I am expecting the worst and she probably will not be able to send it back. And yes, and she saw it on TikTok. Love the Mildred Roper reference