To warn you not to use this awful company

[Somnambule]

Shamelessly posting here for traffic. I foolishly bought an outfit from Lune London - not going to share a link as I don't want to boost their algorithm. I should have read the reviews first. They are basically a scam company.
They sent items which were not what I'd ordered, and such appalling quality there's no way anyone in their right mind would have wanted them - like something you'd buy from a cheap costume shop. When I tired to request a refund, there was a lot of back and forth and sending of photos, which they eventually responded with an offer of a partial return (25% plus the rest in vouchers) - but I would have to send the items back at my own expense.

Having read the reviews by this point, I know what was coming - I would be asked to return them to an overseas address which would cost so much as to make the return pointless. I asked them about this and was assured that no, it's a UK address.

After several more emails, with me quoting various bits of consumer law at them, they agreed to a full refund when I returned the products, and said they would send the address in another email... surprise, it's in Canada. I pointed out that I'd been lied to in a previous email and got an "oops, our bad".

At this point I told them to forget it and I'd take it up with trading standards on Monday (today). This morning I got an email offering full refund on the item they admit they never sent - no return needed - and a 75% refund for the other. I accepted this as I've had enough of this now. A couple of hours later I received a 50% refund for item 2, not 75%, and have been told my "request for a refund" for the other item is awaiting approval (never mind the fact that they offered it). I am not holding my breath, but at the same time I'm not going to let them have the last word.

Basically, their entire business model is built on sending shoddy, incorrect products that are not as advertised, and then making it impossible to extract refunds from them. Do not be enticed by the nice photos on their website. I normally have the sense to avoid this sort of nasty fast fashion and I'm embarrassed to have got sucked in. Back to vinted!

Edited for a million typos - I'm on the bus.

OK

Thank you for the warning. So many of these scam companies keep appearing in my FB feed.

I know, same - and I feel like such an idiot for falling for it. Their reviews are all 1* with tons of people having the same experience, so it's my own fault really, but life is busy and I needed an outfit quickly, and just wasn't thinking. Lesson learned.

It's bloody annoying. I hope you managed to get an outfit for yourself elsewhere.

My Mum was telling me about a friend of hers that bought something from a company and she had the same experience as you. The following morning it was mentioned on one the scam warning morning programmes.

I bought a bra and experienced the same, just dropped them off at a charity shop.

Whenever I see an advert on Facebook I always leave and then google reviews for the company severs times I have been tempted but the saw the reviews and didn’t do anything.

Just a point for anyone reading this: always use trust pilot before using a new company and also google is this website a scam and it will bring up results if it is.

I also recommend using paypal to purchase. They helped me get a full refund from a scam chinese company who was using stolen images from people on etsy. I also got my postage price back as well.

Did you not post this word for word last week?

Yikes!
Thanks for the heads up!

Ugh. It's so frustrating. I want to be able to shop at new places and maybe support a smallish business. But there's always the worry of something scammy like this. The website does give the impression that it's a UK business. And a picture of a shop, where they don't have branches.

If unsure if a business is legit I now usually ask ChatGPT. It checks and gives summary of reviews too.

Although tbh, I generally just aim to buy a few decent / fairly expensive items per year - endures good quality, great fit and last years. No headache from shoddy retailers.

You just need to raise a chargeback via your bank the instant they refuse to refund as per your legal rights. Don't put up with this nonsense or waste your time.

I posted about something similar a few weeks ago but I ended up with a very satisfactory resolution thanks to my bank. Here’s the link if anyone else is interested and/or ends up getting scammed by rogues.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5533105-sharing-my-good-news-story?reply=152487524

Always one! No, I have never posted this before.

Thanks - will read this. It hasn't occurred to me to contact the bank as I didn't pay with a credit card, so assumed there was nothing I could do.

Lessons learnt - always check the reviews and always pay with PayPal. Or alternatively, just stop buying shit off the internet. This wasn't actually a FB address though, I do avoid those. It was coming up as a legit website amongst shops like all Saints, Hobbs etc when I was googling a specific item.

Thanks - didn't know I could do this and will contact my bank today

I chargeback regularly (but only when someone is ignoring the law ofc!). Gives me great pleasure frankly as the retailer gets charged an admin fee by the bank. You should try to get a refund first by contacting the company but that's often futile with overseas companies.

I had a similar issue with a company pretending to be UK based, but were actually based in China. I wanted to return the damaged items I received and just gave up in the end. I was either speaking to an AI bot or a wind up merchant. I eventually got a refund by requesting a ‘charge back’ on my credit card, as advised by a nice poster on MN. The item was less than £100 so I couldn’t make a section 75 claim. I always check Trust Pilot now.

People honestly need to get back to shopping in brick and mortar stores. This is the third type of warning I’ve heard this week!

@SomnambuleI admit I felt like a numpty to be conned, but lessons learned all round. But what’s also really annoyed me I have 3 pieces of junk that someone may decide they like when I drop them off at a charity shop, but in all likelihood will end up going into an awful waste dump somewhere in the world. Such a waste of precious resources. I’m not an ‘over shopper’ and usually wear out clothing rather than think of items as disposable fashion.

Threads on this subject are started regularly, OP, and unfortunately the company you’re calling out won’t exist for long - it’ll be a scam based in China with a European (or in your case Canadian) address that is likely nothing more than a rented PO box.

The websites churn very quickly, spamming social media and shopping feeds, making a quick killing, then disappearing. The same companies will pop up again almost instantly with different names and new branding, along with false addresses for non-existent physical shops, some backstory about how long they’ve been in business, and a load of fake glowing reviews.

Beware the ‘business closing’ ads as well - usually with some schmaltzy story of how a long established small business/family concern sadly needs to close its doors, and is therefore selling off all its lovely jewellery or clothing at knockdown prices.

They avoid Trading Standards because they do actually send out the items - it’s just that they’re nothing like the clothes pictured (usually badly made from very cheap fabric and of slightly bizarre size and fit). They never specify fabrics in the listings, and make it appear that returns are UK-based (though it’s never explicitly stated). Virtually everyone tries to return the clothes, only to find they have to go back to China, which will cost almost as much as the value of the items.

Unfortunately it’s not until it happens to you that you become aware of the scam - and then you can see them almost everywhere you look and realise how easy they are to spot. When you know, you know!

As PPs have said, Trustpilot is your friend and one of the few reliable ways of vetting online companies. The only upside is that you’re unlikely to get caught out again.

@EnjoythemoneyJanei completely agree, and using places like Mumsnet helps raise awareness.

I never buy from anyone online without checking trustpilot first .

Similar experience, I never order from companies that pop up on fb now.

Thread on Style and Beauty about spotting these sites (it's not hard if you know what you're looking for).

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/5544308-spotting-scam-websites-before-buying?reply=153032722

Key things : Trustpilot. Reverse image search / Google lens. If you don't know what those things are and how to do them, you better learn.

Trading Standards are not interested as they have no power over these businesses which are all Chinese.