Just a warning.
I have been totally and utterly scammed after following a link provided by someone posting on a MN thread this morning about Wedding outfits.
I thought I understood all the pointers to potential scamming but was really taken in for a number of reasons.
- I really need an outfit for a Wedding so my guard was down.
- The dress looked attractive and the price was reasonable.
- Delivery was apparently free
- The site indicated that they had a retail shop in an area close to me. Not close enough to drive too, but an area which is known as a really lovely shopping district
- The site contained a very convincing story about how the business had been set up and a plausible argument for the discounts they were offering
- There was only one of these dresses left in my size and the pressure was on to buy.
- I was due out for an appointment so didn’t take the time to check Trustpilot
- Neither stupidly did I see the very small print saying ‘sale’ items could not be returned.
I know, I know, I know, how could I have been so stupid !!
The minute I pressed pay the emails arrived
- I had been charged an extra £4.95 for Insurance
- The order would take 5 - 15 days to be processed, with no information about delivery
I challenged the Insurance charge through their contact form and was basically told ‘tough’
I then replied asking them to cancel the order and am being ignored.
In the hours since I have done some trawling, the very attractive shop front shown on the website, is in real life a Costcutter. The location of their US shop is a Pizza place on a highway. The business does not appear on companies house and their Trustpilot reviews are awful.
My credit card company say they are being inundated by scams like this and that I now need to wait to see what arrives before they can advise whether they will step in.
My only consolation through all this is that I only ordered one dress and that by the time they wrote to me offering an 20% off any additional items I might like to add to the order, I was becoming very suspicious.
So I have been scammed, am feeling stupid and incredibly cross with myself, but I have also learned a very important lesson about who and when I trust in the future when it comes to linked items.