Fake goods

browneyedbazzi

It's impossible to say 100% they're fakes until you see the product, but looking at that website I'd think they are too. Under the distance selling regs you have 7 days from receipt of the product to return it for a full refund - companies who sell fake products often aren't very good about processing refunds on returned goods though!

Your best bet is to contact your card issuer and explain that you've ordered the product but believe it to be fake. Tell them that you contacted the company and asked to cancel the order but they have shipped the item anyway (which I think is correct from your post?). They may do a chargeback straight away or they may ask you to wait for the item to arrive to confirm it is fake before crediting your card. In some cases they'll ask for you to get confirmation from your local Trading Standards team or the trademark holder before they'll refund you.

visidigi

cardinalbiggles wrote: »

So how do you know that they are actually fake or are you just assuming?

Because Mont Blanc pens are only made in one location and the import tax to China to then export from china would be prohibitive to any profit chances.

Then there is the really poor spelling on the index image on this link...
http://www.mont-blancpen.co.uk/products_all.html

Where they quote they are supporting UNICEF in the literacy campaigns...which is ironic as the image has three spelling mistakes on it...

Then there is this in the Information page:

Return and partial refund
Our website cannot give a full refund for non-quality problems such as:
"The product does not look like the ones in your picture."
"The product is not what I did imagine it to be."
"I am not satisfied with this product."


That's clearly not Mont Blanc themselves...very poor fakery.

texranger

report them to http://www.montblanc.com/contact/3468.php so that a DMCA notice can be issued to the datacenter and have the site closed down

browneyedbazzi

visidigi wrote: »

That's clearly not Mont Blanc themselves...very poor fakery.

Indeed...a lot of people are convinced by swish, professional looking websites (thinking a company must be legit and well established to afford/operate such a site) when in fact sites like these are quickly, easily and cheaply set up through standard design templates etc. I could set up an almost identical website (without spelling mistakes) for under £100 in about a day.

texranger

another point their site has no SSL certificate, so any details you give are not secure.
if i was ordering anything that expensive online i would always check their domain with a whois service to find out where the domain is registered and then check to see if the site has a SSL cert so any details given are secure.

i can create a site like their site using trendy flash builder in a matter of hours or even purchase a template for approx. £50

The_Pedant

i would report them to drs@nominet.org.uk as to register a .uk domain you must be in the UK

Have you got a link to details on that requirement?
I had always thought that anyone can register most domains, the only requirement usually is that the contact details are correct. The country you live in is irrelevant.
After all, just look at how many legitimate overseas companies have UK domains (some of which keep cropping up in this very forum).

shaun_from_Africa

Apart from contacting your card issuer to ask them to reclaim the money for you, I would also suggest that you tell them that your card details may have been compromised and ask them to cancel the card and issue you a new one.

As it stands, your info has been given to a Chinese based company who are probably trading illegally by selling counterfeit goods and who may well pass your card details on to other scammers.

texranger

The_Pedant wrote: »

Have you got a link to details on that requirement?
I had always thought that anyone can register most domains, the only requirement usually is that the contact details are correct. The country you live in is irrelevant.
After all, just look at how many legitimate overseas companies have UK domains (some of which keep cropping up in this very forum).

the reason i am aware of this is that as a webhost since 1999 i had a client in france who registered a .uk domain as his business dealt with many UK orders, but Nominet informed my client and me as host that as he was in france he could not register a .uk domain as you had to be UK based to register a .uk domain.

ironically 3 weeks ago i registered a .us domain for a project i was developing that was for the US market, but after registering and paying i was contacted by namecheap to say that i was not allowed this as i was not in the US.

texranger

Just got this back from Mont Blanc

Dear Mr *******,
Thank you for visiting our website and the interest thus expressed in our brand. Thank you for taking the time to contact us with your concerns below. Indeed we are aware of this site and our legal team are investigating it accordingly. They are most certainly not an authorized retail outlet and therefore the goods they will be supplying will most certainly not be genuine.
Thank you
Yours sincerely
***********
MONTBLANC Customer Service
email: service@montblanc.com
internet: https://www.montblanc.com

cardinalbiggles

browneyedbazzi wrote: »

Under the distance selling regs you have 7 days from receipt of the product to return it for a full refund - companies who sell fake products often aren't very good about processing refunds on returned goods though!

ONLY if its a UK company, why do people not get this?