Online order not received

born_again

cheesecake28 said:

born_again said:

cheesecake28 said:

Not sure if i should be worried, but I ordered some gloves from The cosy bear company online. 
Ordered it through their website, paid with Gpay. They've taken payment a week ago.
I had one message a week ago to say the order is 'on it's way'. But it's not arrived. 
I've now seen a couple of comments on their social media saying it's a scam? (but could be just annoyed customer)
They replied to my comment on their facebook , asking what my order number is. I told them i've sent them an email with the order number. So now waiting for a response.
Not even sure if they are based in uk?
I'm not sure what to think now??
Any advice please?

Here at The Cosy Bear Company we are a small upcycling business who had some success helping our grandma with her blood circulation and arthritis. This is how our journey started.

Aside from the address above, shipping policy is clear they are not UK, price in $
No T/C opps.

Although... 
FREE UK SHIPPING ON ORDERS OVER £59 - Handmade in the UK
Sourced, Manufactures & Shipped from UK
100% Cashmere & 100% Bamboo Products - Proudly British Made

Ah & a Shopify site..
Domain name last updated April 25

 Shopify site and domain name...what do you mean? 

Shopify, seem to host a lot of sites that in many cases are Chinese based & not selling good quality goods. Especially at times like black friday, christmas etc.

Domain name is why was it changed?
Only company of this name on companies house were dissolved in 2024.

Did you find this company on Social Media?

cheesecake28

born_again said:

cheesecake28 said:

born_again said:

cheesecake28 said:

Not sure if i should be worried, but I ordered some gloves from The cosy bear company online. 
Ordered it through their website, paid with Gpay. They've taken payment a week ago.
I had one message a week ago to say the order is 'on it's way'. But it's not arrived. 
I've now seen a couple of comments on their social media saying it's a scam? (but could be just annoyed customer)
They replied to my comment on their facebook , asking what my order number is. I told them i've sent them an email with the order number. So now waiting for a response.
Not even sure if they are based in uk?
I'm not sure what to think now??
Any advice please?

Here at The Cosy Bear Company we are a small upcycling business who had some success helping our grandma with her blood circulation and arthritis. This is how our journey started.

Aside from the address above, shipping policy is clear they are not UK, price in $
No T/C opps.

Although... 
FREE UK SHIPPING ON ORDERS OVER £59 - Handmade in the UK
Sourced, Manufactures & Shipped from UK
100% Cashmere & 100% Bamboo Products - Proudly British Made

Ah & a Shopify site..
Domain name last updated April 25

 Shopify site and domain name...what do you mean? 

Shopify, seem to host a lot of sites that in many cases are Chinese based & not selling good quality goods. Especially at times like black friday, christmas etc.

Domain name is why was it changed?
Only company of this name on companies house were dissolved in 2024.

Did you find this company on Social Media?

Yes, i saw an ad on facebook . Then went to its website to order . 
I've googled cosy bear limited ...a place has come up in Edinburgh but i think its a different company as it says real estate .

visidigi

Social Media ads are more than ever likely to be fake or phishing - the problem with shopify is that it makes it real easy to setup, process and accept orders - that what its designed to do.

So these sites are simple to setup, replicate and if they're shut down simple to set up again. The domain itself it hidden behind a proxy service too so you can't see who actually registered it, although it is using a UK provided namesserver (which in itself is slightly unusual as there's cheaper options out there). 

Chances are high now you have ordered from a Chinese shipper, the item will take a few weeks to a month to turn up and likely be very poor quality. They will then offer you some money off to keep it or say you have to chip it back to china to get a refund.

At that point, speak to your bank first - and yes, that's right they ask you to wait a while to see what does, if anything turn up.

You've got plenty of time to make the claim anyway, so the only thing waiting for it does is, unfortunately annoying as it is, making sure you have or have not been scammed here.

Let us know what you find out/see/get etc on this so the warning can be seen by others.

FYI this is the company status that was dissolved : https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/14560903

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

visidigi said:

Social Media ads are more than ever likely to be fake or phishing 

To be fair social media advertising is worth around 230 billion dollars globally and whilst a lot of dodgy sites do indeed use it and it is wise to be aware of the good summary above in the thread to look out for, plenty of ads on social media will be legit, many run by massive brands and many run by smaller businesses trying to get away from ever increasing cut taken by the big marketplaces and attracting younger customers who are more likely to be on social media.  

visidigi

I hear you, but to that point, like Martin L says, don't click social media ads, when you see a social media add manually google the site yourself as there is very little being done to stop social media spreading problems.

That doesn't help here mind, as this one seems to be a very clever lift and shift of an establish business fronting a shoddy product now coming from China (the other give away is why would you ship in bamboo to the UK to make gloves).

cheesecake28

visidigi said:

Social Media ads are more than ever likely to be fake or phishing - the problem with shopify is that it makes it real easy to setup, process and accept orders - that what its designed to do.

So these sites are simple to setup, replicate and if they're shut down simple to set up again. The domain itself it hidden behind a proxy service too so you can't see who actually registered it, although it is using a UK provided namesserver (which in itself is slightly unusual as there's cheaper options out there). 

Chances are high now you have ordered from a Chinese shipper, the item will take a few weeks to a month to turn up and likely be very poor quality. They will then offer you some money off to keep it or say you have to chip it back to china to get a refund.

At that point, speak to your bank first - and yes, that's right they ask you to wait a while to see what does, if anything turn up.

You've got plenty of time to make the claim anyway, so the only thing waiting for it does is, unfortunately annoying as it is, making sure you have or have not been scammed here.

Let us know what you find out/see/get etc on this so the warning can be seen by others.

FYI this is the company status that was dissolved : https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/14560903

Thank you so much.
Should i ask them to just cancel the order now , whats the likely thing they'll say?  I'm guessing they won't even reply to that request?
Or should i just wait the 15 days?
I'm pretty convinced its a scam now. 
I will let you know how things go.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

visidigi said:

I hear you, but to that point, like Martin L says, don't click social media ads, when you see a social media add manually google the site yourself as there is very little being done to stop social media spreading problems.

That doesn't help here mind, as this one seems to be a very clever lift and shift of an establish business fronting a shoddy product now coming from China (the other give away is why would you ship in bamboo to the UK to make gloves).

Couple of years ago there was ads for big brands like Marks and Spencer, 90% off and stuff marked down from £100 to a fiver, these were clearly just scams. 

There's a lot of these drop ship from China sites, indeed there's a lot of videos telling you how to do it as a "side hustle", some from credible sources. 

With these even if you Google the site (which is good advice in itself) you can end up at one of these sites, it's spotting the terms and other things that are the give away (surprised they haven't perfected that yet to be honest). 

The main problem is the images and sites are easy to set up looking smart and flashy, you aren't even immune from it on places like Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pipihome-Sculpture-Hand-Carved-Decorative-Decoration/dp/B0FL27GYK2

Picture looks miles better than the product! Sure you can return but do people bother. 

Saw something on Amazon the other day £35, same on eBay £25, probably cheaper still if you go to Temu, it's all the same tat being pushed around and social media has a very big audience. 

OP if you are lucky nothing will arrive in the 14 days given by the bank and you'll be able to do a chargeback for non-receipt. Another part of the problem is shipping from China has gotten quicker so these merchants can beat non-receipt and not as described requires a return. 

If it does arrive and is tat the mark up will be high and as above they'll probably offer something back. 

Best thing you can do when shopping is an image search on Google, most places use the same stock photos so Google will show you the range of prices, at least then allowing you not to pay over the odds for tat  

cheesecake28

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

visidigi said:

I hear you, but to that point, like Martin L says, don't click social media ads, when you see a social media add manually google the site yourself as there is very little being done to stop social media spreading problems.

That doesn't help here mind, as this one seems to be a very clever lift and shift of an establish business fronting a shoddy product now coming from China (the other give away is why would you ship in bamboo to the UK to make gloves).

Couple of years ago there was ads for big brands like Marks and Spencer, 90% off and stuff marked down from £100 to a fiver, these were clearly just scams. 

There's a lot of these drop ship from China sites, indeed there's a lot of videos telling you how to do it as a "side hustle", some from credible sources. 

With these even if you Google the site (which is good advice in itself) you can end up at one of these sites, it's spotting the terms and other things that are the give away (surprised they haven't perfected that yet to be honest). 

The main problem is the images and sites are easy to set up looking smart and flashy, you aren't even immune from it on places like Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pipihome-Sculpture-Hand-Carved-Decorative-Decoration/dp/B0FL27GYK2

Picture looks miles better than the product! Sure you can return but do people bother. 

Saw something on Amazon the other day £35, same on eBay £25, probably cheaper still if you go to Temu, it's all the same tat being pushed around and social media has a very big audience. 

OP if you are lucky nothing will arrive in the 14 days given by the bank and you'll be able to do a chargeback for non-receipt. Another part of the problem is shipping from China has gotten quicker so these merchants can beat non-receipt and not as described requires a return. 

If it does arrive and is tat the mark up will be high and as above they'll probably offer something back. 

Best thing you can do when shopping is an image search on Google, most places use the same stock photos so Google will show you the range of prices, at least then allowing you not to pay over the odds for tat  

Thank you so much for explaining!

hmmmm...ive had a facebook message from them just now saying ' I have personally packed your order , you will get it tomorrow tracked 24'.  So we'll see.
Also, don't know if this is related but just had a phone call , came up saying 'suspected spam' so i didn't answer it .

born_again

Depending on which type of card. 
You have to allow 15 days from date of debit for Visa & 30 days for Mastercard. Once past that timescale you can contact bank for non receipt chargeback.

cheesecake28

  UPDATE***

Good news , My order did arrive! Good quality too. 
Does seem strange though that there is no address on their website , I thought it was law to display an address. 
And some other bits and pieces gave me red flags but I was wrong I guess. They have some reviews saying Scam so that spooked me. 
But im happy with cosy bear company , and I feel a bit silly now. heh.