Refund from a Facebook purchase

magster59

An ad popped up on Facebook for a very nice swing coat from a firm called Violet Mason and their business name is Alex London. All sounds OK but apparently not. When the order came it was absolutely nothing like the coat that was advertised. The one I received was an awful dark brown colour not a sand colour as in the ad. It also had a hood, no hood in the advert. It was very thin with no lining and bore no resemblance to what was in the photo.Checking on getting a refund it says I have to send it to China at a cost of £25. This is a con. So how do I get my £39.95 back for this bit of tat without paying £25 for the privilege ? Once bitten etc.

TadleyBaggie

How did you pay?

born_again

I'm afraid that even a chargeback for not as describes requires you to send it back. So is it worth it for £14.95 🤷‍♀️
Have you contacted them over this?

Think best thing is you are going to have to write it off 🤦‍♀️

Best advice is never buy anything advertised on social media. Or if you decide to, check the T/C & returns policy, make sure that they have a proper address & phone number. Which is exactly the same advice for any online purchase.

While facebook page is still up. Last post June 24🤷‍♀️ Website has gone.

There were hundreds of  these types of adverts pre Christmas, & not one had a UK address on them. Reported no end as scam, but FB just come back within their advertising guidelines.... 

This one just poped up

https://www.zenk-manchester.com/pages/refund-policy

These Terms of Use and any separate agreements whereby we provide you Services shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Netherlands.

No Manchester in Holland

** ALL RETURNS WILL BE SENT TO OUR CENTRAL WAREHOUSE IN ASIA AT THE CUSTOMER'S EXPENSE.

Delivery typically takes 8–14 working days. 
Occasionally, parcels may face delays at customs.

pinkshoes

magster59 said:

An ad popped up on Facebook for a very nice swing coat from a firm called Violet Mason and their business name is Alex London. All sounds OK but apparently not. When the order came it was absolutely nothing like the coat that was advertised. The one I received was an awful dark brown colour not a sand colour as in the ad. It also had a hood, no hood in the advert. It was very thin with no lining and bore no resemblance to what was in the photo.Checking on getting a refund it says I have to send it to China at a cost of £25. This is a con. So how do I get my £39.95 back for this bit of tat without paying £25 for the privilege ? Once bitten etc.

Essentially you have bought from a Chinese company so now need to deal with Chinese consumer rights and therefore send it back to China.

And don't forget even if you send it back, unless you have full tracking showing it delivered, then you might have wasted another £25.

The best thing you can do is learning a lesson from this. If you buy ANYTHING online, look for a UK landline number and a UK address, and ideally look the UK company up on Company's House to see how long they have been trading. Also google their name with "reviews" after it and look for genuine reviews. 

Anyone can put London in a title. Or have a .co.uk website.

If you leave LOTS of poor reviews for them all over Facebook and online then they might agree to refund you if you stop posting reviews. At least it might stop others making this mistake. 

DullGreyGuy

magster59 said:

An ad popped up on Facebook for a very nice swing coat from a firm called Violet Mason and their business name is Alex London. All sounds OK but apparently not. When the order came it was absolutely nothing like the coat that was advertised. The one I received was an awful dark brown colour not a sand colour as in the ad. It also had a hood, no hood in the advert. It was very thin with no lining and bore no resemblance to what was in the photo.Checking on getting a refund it says I have to send it to China at a cost of £25. This is a con. So how do I get my £39.95 back for this bit of tat without paying £25 for the privilege ? Once bitten etc.

Have you tried contacting them? Most of these offshore operations will often give a discount if you keep insisting you will return it to get you to keep it... some report the partial refund does turn up eventually. 

Unfortunately you need to get better at identifying oversees websites, especially when advertised on Facebook to avoid being caught in the first place. 

TELLIT01

DullGreyGuy said:

 

Unfortunately you need to get better at identifying oversees websites, especially when advertised on Facebook to avoid being caught in the first place. 

In fairness to the OP, I think that advice is relevant to everybody now.  The chances of anybody getting a refund from a company in China is likely to be absolutely minimal.

Ergates

DullGreyGuy said:

magster59 said:

An ad popped up on Facebook for a very nice swing coat from a firm called Violet Mason and their business name is Alex London. All sounds OK but apparently not. When the order came it was absolutely nothing like the coat that was advertised. The one I received was an awful dark brown colour not a sand colour as in the ad. It also had a hood, no hood in the advert. It was very thin with no lining and bore no resemblance to what was in the photo.Checking on getting a refund it says I have to send it to China at a cost of £25. This is a con. So how do I get my £39.95 back for this bit of tat without paying £25 for the privilege ? Once bitten etc.

Have you tried contacting them? Most of these offshore operations will often give a discount if you keep insisting you will return it to get you to keep it... some report the partial refund does turn up eventually. 

Unfortunately you need to get better at identifying oversees websites, especially when advertised on Facebook to avoid being caught in the first place. 

I think it's worth a go.

The chances of getting a full or partial refund are low.  But if if you don't try then it's absolutely 0%.

noitsnotme

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve told my parents to never buy anything through a Facebook ad.  But they still keep doing it and end up receiving some Chinese tat that is nothing like the product advertised.  They never seem to learn and just think “ oh, it will be ok this time”!  The lure of a shiny ad and a cheap price is too strong for some people.

strawb_shortcake

noitsnotme said:

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve told my parents to never buy anything through a Facebook ad.  But they still keep doing it and end up receiving some Chinese tat that is nothing like the product advertised.  They never seem to learn and just think “ oh, it will be ok this time”!  The lure of a shiny ad and a cheap price is too strong for some people.

My Mum is the same, I keep telling her not too! She is getting better after trying to buy a 6ft nativity scene for the garden for £35 and getting a wooly hat 🫣

But she also thinks all the sponsored ads on Google are legitimate sellers and that's still work in progress...

Fortunately she isn't as bad as her friend, who can't spot a scam Facebook post despite having lost huge amounts of money and having her bank accounts hacked on what seems to be a regular basis 

RefluentBeans

strawb_shortcake said:

noitsnotme said:

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve told my parents to never buy anything through a Facebook ad.  But they still keep doing it and end up receiving some Chinese tat that is nothing like the product advertised.  They never seem to learn and just think “ oh, it will be ok this time”!  The lure of a shiny ad and a cheap price is too strong for some people.

My Mum is the same, I keep telling her not too! She is getting better after trying to buy a 6ft nativity scene for the garden for £35 and getting a wooly hat 🫣

But she also thinks all the sponsored ads on Google are legitimate sellers and that's still work in progress...

Fortunately she isn't as bad as her friend, who can't spot a scam Facebook post despite having lost huge amounts of money and having her bank accounts hacked on what seems to be a regular basis 

A solution may be to install an Ad Blocker? Whilst it won’t stop fake listings on marketplace etc it will stop the malicious ads.