How to check a website's legitimacy

sillygoose

Thekeith1 wrote: »

Re: rugby-lions-tickets.com

Their address is not normal premises, its a 'rent an address' - or even 'rent a desk' virtual office company. Of course plenty of small businesses use these places to give a more credible prestigious address.

But of course some fly by night scammers use them to look good, forward the cheques through and then by the time Watchdog turn up there is just a bemused looking receptionist and no forwarding address.

http://www.hoxtonmix.com/london-virtual-office/purchase-virtual-office-lite/

Martincadz

I have used this site and shortly after making purchase was able to talk to someone on the number provided. I was assured that I would receive my tickets by at the latest 2 weeks before the event and that I would receive an e-mail prior to delivery advising me of tracking details. I have had no further contact and the 2 week window closes on Saturday 08/06/13. Despite numerous attempts to contact the company by phone number provided and e-mail I am unable to gain any response.I would be interested to hear of any other experiences with rugby-lions-tickets, please post.

dodman

I chanced on this website while searching for a quality rose arch for my garden.

http://www.coastandcountrylettings.co.uk/

It had dozens of arches, most at amazing prices. I placed one (£80, down from £250) in my basket and then added another on a whim (£90, down from £360). The cumulative total became £90, as I had automatically benefited from a ‘Lucky choice’ discount. This seemed too good to believe. Not only was I getting quality arches at knock down prices, it was also a case of ‘buy one, get one free’.

I filled in my address details and moved on to make my payment. I was momentarily brought up short by the lack of any PayPal link. Then, during the time it took me to find my card, better sense prevailed. I had noted and ignored the lack of any encryption on the payment page, and also the red ‘not secure’ message on my safari browser, but when I checked the contact information and found the listed phone number was ‘12345789’, and after I had looked through some of the terms and conditions and found some of the English phrasing wildly off, I decided this was probably a bargain not worth having.

I checked but could find nothing about this site anywhere other than that it had been registered in Slovakia in 2018.

I still wonder if it is legitimate; and for the moment I can’t bring myself to buy a garden arch elsewhere at what seem such ridiculously high prices!

Camster

I would avoid using this website. The lack of an address or legitimate phone number are clear red flags.

You should also consider why a legitimate UK website would be registered in Slovakia.

dodman

The more I look at this site the less professional it seems!

There’s an option to change currencies as these goods are allegedly shipped worldwide. The Mexican Peso option charges the same £10 fee for shipping a British made rose arch weighing 40 kilos to South America as within the UK.

NaughtiusMaximus

IMO that website has scam written all over it:

Very amateurish design and layout
Poor use of English throughout
The dodgy international postage as already mentioned
No business address or phone number