How's your week going?
Well, ours has been just dreadful! The P.A. got scammed by a fake shop in a rather famous University city in the U.K. She bought some items in an 80% off closing-down sale. Turns out it was a scammer shop based in Hong Kong, and when the goods finally arrived, they were just cheap, horrendously crappy knockoffs of the photos on the website. Anyhoo, she opened a dispute with the credit card company, supplied all the evidence, and got her money refunded, but then the cheaters in Hong Kong submitted their terms and conditions from the fake website, and the credit card company took the money back off the P.A. for the fraudulent scammers.
The credit card company were not bothered that the website was fake, with content scraped photos and filled with lies and deception with the intent to scam, defraud and cheat. The terms and conditions at the time of sale were not even present, and there was no transparency at the checkout to say the goods were coming from Asia. There was no indication that anything was untoward at the time of purchase, it was very clever, and very convincing.
And now the P.A. is feeling very annoyed and really hissed off that she's got items worth pennies, which cost a lot more than that. Then, to add insult to injury, the credit card company said that the scammers would refund 100% if the items were shipped back to them within a certain time frame. The shipping cost is over £300, and then there's the chance that they will say they didn't receive the items within the specified timeframe, so they then have the goods and the money.
The moral of the story is: if it looks like a high-end boutique with beautiful photos of lovely, lovely things at up to 80% off in a closing-down sale:- DO NOT GO THERE! LIKE EVER- RUN THE FLUFF AWAY!
Apparently, she's not the only one scammed. There have been thousands of U.K. residents scammed in the run-up to Christmas, yet nothing has been done to stop anybody else from getting caught in the incredibly convincing trap. And the really annoying part is they have closed the original shop and opened another one, with the exact same everything, with just a slight tweak to the shop name, with the same story about a family business closing down after 30 years due to retirement, hence the sale.
In over twenty-five years of online shopping, this is the first time the P.A. has been duped, and if we say she's spitting brimstone right now, that would be a huge understatement.
Anyhoo, nothing to be done about it today; the next step is to contact the U.K. Fraud Squad to see if anything can be done. Wish the P.A. luck in the life-draining situation of trying to claw back her money...
And if mew're wondering about the weather here in Mewton-Clawson, it's fluffing cold this week!
Anyhoo, let's look at what the heathens have been up to this week.
First up in the news
Fudge's Got A New Spot In The Catservatory
Smooch Is In The Crystal Room
Amber's Slow Descent Downstairs
Melvyn's Modelling The Top Bandana Pick
Which one should he model next?
Tell us your top pick for next week in the comments!
That's us done for today. Amber will be back on Friday with another meowvellous book, and if mew missed any other posts, here are the links:
Check out the latest episodes of The Purrminator, as tomorrow we'll be back with Chapter Thirteen in Melvyn's epically epic supurr exciting origin story:
Graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com
Red Hearts with Fringe gets my vote
ReplyDeleteVery sorry to read of the scam.
So infuriating about the scam. It's disgusting what people are allowed to get away with.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the pictures of what you were all up to this week. Ms. Amber may amble down the stairs at her own pace, I think, at her age she has earned the right.
Melvyn, I think you enjoyed that lilac fringe as much as I did!
Stay warm, everyone.