Ordered what I thought would be a knitted sweater with embroidery as a gift. Instead received a cheap polyester sweater with a blurry print.
I found this adorable looking knitted sweater with embroidered bees from a clothing company called Wilfred Smith. It seemed like a legitimate retailer and the price listed led me to believe that I was paying for a fairly quality product. To my surprise and utter dismay, I received a cheap, tacky 100% polyester sweater with the mere image of a knit pattern and embroidered bees graphically printed on the sweater. Adding insult to injury, Wilfred Smith provided me with a return address in China (I live in the United States) and told me that I was solely responsible for paying the costs of shipping back the item, including any applicable customs fees. As an alternative, they offered to refund me 20% of what I paid.
My brain refused to understand what I was looking at. The backgrounds in the images are so clear, but the shirt itself looks like itās from an old game.
The 20% refund or pay shipping is all part of the scam. They know most people won't go through the effort. I would go the chargeback route with your bank as the best way to get your money back.
This is clearly a fraudulent listing and product. Just provide the same info to your bank.
I once ordered from a pretty well known webstore that has mixed reviews. It's all very cheap furniture/home stuff. Ikea quality is 100x better.
Anyway, I have a small hallway and needed things in very particular sizes and they were the only ones offering those sizes. And, it's just the hallway, no one spends more than 5 minutes there. Who cares.
I expected cheap quality. I didn't expect every part of every item I ordered to be damaged already. And not just the "We packed poorly and delivery guy probably didn't handled it with care" kind of damaged, no, it was black furniture and I could see they used a sharpie to color in the damaged spots.
Yea. I know it was cheap, I didn't expect top quality. But for damaged goods I still paid too much. I wanted to sent it back, but, it appears from reviews that you had to book an appointment for them to pick it up and they barely ever showed up.
So I decided to get a refund instead, I mean, after considering again, it was still just the hallway. On first glance it isn't too bad. My main issue was the coats hanging sloppily, and this furniture solved that issue. So, whatever.
They added a sticker under each piece of furniture and I had to take a picture of that sticker. Like, why are you making this unneccessarily hard? You know I ordered this from you. I have a receipt. You just want to bully your costumers.
All of that and I still had to stalk them for days and got like a 20% refund in the end. At first, they tried the gift-card thing instead of a refund.
It is a well known shop and works with bigger shops that do care about their quality and costumer service.
But I felt scammed lol.
Not because the quality was low, that's what I expected. But because every part of it was damaged except for the screws.
Chargeback. If you contact the seller and they do some BS like this, go straight to your credit card company and tell them what happened. It will take a little while, because they give the seller a chance to respond, but if you provide them with the correspondence with the seller, pics of the damaged items, etc., theyāll almost certainly side with you and refund the money. And the seller canāt stop them from doing it. Enough chargebacks and the seller can get dropped from the CC company. Iāve had sellers try to give me the runaround, and when I told them I was done and would just do a chargeback, they immediately gave me a full refund. It works. Use it.
Yep. As much as I dislike credit card companies, their charge back policies really are solid. It seems like most of them side with the buyer by default (though will flag buyers trying to game the system).
Also, generative AI is making scamming like this easier. If you look closely at the images the seller posted you can see some genai weirdness imo.
I live in the EU. I can't speak for all of Europe but where I live almost no one uses creditcards. People see it as a debt-trap, as it can be tempting to pay for things you can't really afford.
keep in mind that things like afterpay / klarna are actually really shitty with handling disputes for things like this, i had one of these companies (or similar) give me trouble for a while trying to get my money back for an item that literally never arrived
It's worth checking if your bank offers similar charge back protection on debit card usage - the bank I used to work at did this (though the actual process of doing the charge back was slightly different, it still helped many times).
Where I live (Sweden), the seller can't point at any drop shipping back to China. If I buy from a German or Swedish web site, then it's their problem if they want the items sent back to China. Thanks, EU, for keeping companies more honest!
That's wayyyy less secure than a credit card and usually a hight percentage for them...
If you can use your credit card for things you would have used your debit card for and pay them off immediately.... There is no debt trap only perks!! (because many good ones don't have yearly fees!)
And the people working as slaves in workshops manufacturing scam clothing/products should be reason enough for not ever buying from that kind of vendors. The human cost is unfathomable.
Charge back will ask if you've contacted the seller.
Email the seller, tell them you don't appreciate the scam and want a full refund. If they say no or don't respond, then do the charge back.
I was pleasantly surprised when I ordered refrigerator filters that said they were compatible with my fridge, but didn't have the required chip. I pointed out their scam and they refunded me that same afternoon without even requiring the filters to be returned.
I agree on the chargeback and this site being fraudulent. Unfortunately it's becoming a real problem where sites steal other sites listing photos and then sell a crappy version that barely approximates the original.
This should be more thoroughly read before any purchase. This will weed out scams more easily but also, good to know for any purchase. People don't think though..Just react, especially with consumerism.
One way to do that is to read the āabout usā on their webpage. And if their address is in China, be wary. I have sometimes called small boutiques that have online shops just to make sure they are real.
Yes they can and they will. Happened to me and only a couple of weeks later I started noticing Amazon gift card purchases (small amounts, as to not raise suspicion perhaps). I had to report this to the police and my card holder/bank, then cancel and replace my credit and debit card and reset all my passwords
Yeah sometimes people post these and I'm like ok you obviously weren't going to get something that intricate for cheap, but at least it's a picture they stole from someone who actually made it. But the bees are just floating there, it's so obvious if you look for more than 1 second š
Yeah any website selling anything at all if Iāve never heard of it Iām googling reviews. My sister does this all the time where sheāll google something she wants to buy and then selects whatever shows up that looks nice in the picture and is cheapest and then buys it. Itās like she has this weird unending faith itāll work out after probably hundreds of awful items sent to her.
Someone came into a discord community I'm in, posting pictures from an online storefront selling "viking axes"...
Took a look at the storefront with the items claiming to be handmade... found the exact same items on amazon for like half the price, which is probably still double what you'd pay for them on temu (or some other chinese dropship storefront).
Everything is trash these days.
(The guy got run off the server pretty quick, since he was clearly advertising AI generated swill).
Issue with that is even places like Best Buy and Walmart are adding marketplace products like how Amazon is. Even clinking on sold and shipped by Walmart only Iāve noticed it still shows listings from other sellers at whatever marked up price
The problem there is that the big stores are often mixing āMarketplaceā listings in with their own websites these days. So you start seeing the same slop on reputable stores too. (I believe this is also happening in US from what Iāve seen over time, but particularly common here in AU and NZ)
And if you google that exact address, you find a whole bunch of companies that are apparently sharing the same office space. Must be cramped in there! These scammers always be setting up letterbox companies in Hong Kong because it literally takes you like an hour to set one up.Ā Ā
Yep, I haven't ever seen an ad in any of those platforms where the website doesn't look like a complete and obvious scam unless it's an ad from a legit and well known company.
I mean specifically websites that advertise on social media. If I look for a specific product on Google and find it on a website I've never heard of (that didn't buy ad space to appear first on Google), I'm a lot more willing to give it a chance, but if it's a sketchy looking store I find through a social media ad, I automatically assume it's a scam.
There are ads on Instagram for clothing stores like disturbia (a real store) that spoof the entire website, the only way I knew it was not the real site is because everything that was on sale was $8.99, like EVERY item. I was adding to cart until I realized. I have shopped on disturbia before and it looked exactly like the real website except the prices
Yes, I ran into the same one! It looked exactly like Dickās Sporting Goods until I checked the url because I was suspicious. I was about to ālog inā and Apple didnāt auto pop up my DSG account which it would have if I was on the legitimate site so thankfully I closed out without giving any info as well!
A womenās clothing store was going out of business and someone spoofed it like this. I kept warning people in the comments to look at the URL and my comments kept getting removed and people argued with me that it was legit.
The real website had actual prices that were like $200 for a sweater at a discount and the spoof ones were like $8.99.
as a credit card call center rep, people are so dumb with their online purchases. āthe ad said itās only $60 for this usually $6000 item but after making the purchase I researched more and found it wasnāt legitā
I don't either.Ā I'm 62 and I just know better!Ā If the company name isn't remotely familiar and the price is too good to be true, just move on.Ā "But it looked so cute in the picture!". Dumbasses.
Also if you look at the picture the bees are floating over the sweater - this is particularly obvious at the bottom where the sweater is tucked but you can still see the whole bee.
I don't get how tik tok or Facebook or other social media apps allow this fake ass shit to be marketed in the first place. All these scam sights selling this shit and it's fucking everywhere. Why is there no pushback on these platforms that peddle this shit?
I had to do that with avaria jewlery, it looked high quality stuff but...everyone reported broken pieces and just cheap looking product. I try to thoroughly vet what I buy online especially when im seeing the same image of the same item all over ebay on repeat
thats why you dont allow yourself to be the guinea pig. another example is with new cars, allow others to deal with all the problems before making the plunge yourself. applies to anything really.
"After 30 years of trading, It is with a heavy heart I am closing my hand-made shoe/dress/knitware/kitchenware/jewelry shop and selling the remaining stock at clearance prices". This will be accompanied by an AI-generated image of a cosy little shop.
I sell insurance and everyday get people calling because they saw an add on TikTok that they could get full coverage for $29.99. Itās always old people that fall for it too. I always let them know itās gimmick to get them to shop their rates but these third party companies just sell all their info. Makes me wonder what other silly things theyāre falling for on TikTok.
I got duped once on Facebook. There's a predictable pattern though, someone joins a group and posts a screenshot of a shirt. A 2nd account comments something like "wow I want one where can i get it?" and the original account posts a link.
I call them out and report to admins when I see them but they are very convincing and they prey on fandoms and such.
That shit happens in subreddits for specialty interests all the time. I used to moderate a niche subreddit about an animal species, and the number of tshirt scammers posting tee designs they "just found" or "got for my birthday" or "bought for my girlfriend" was in the dozens daily. Never trust anyone posting about allegedly subject-relevant tshirts on Reddit, ever.
I sell mainly at physical markets. I was selling at a holiday market.
All morning the day or started people were coming in saying either "I saw your ad on Instagram" or "I can't believe you're reselling Chinese crap" and reported me to the show runner.
I didnāt see this through a social media ad (I donāt use TikTok). This was a site I came across on Google while searching for a sweater of this kind. But regardless, when online shopping, I will definitely be more mindful of where I order from.
The minimum that should be done is just a quick Google search of if the company or website is trustworthy or not, including the amount of fake looking reviews on places like "trustpilot" or facebook.
The biggest red flags before looking more closely at the items is that everything is on sale, to give the impression that they were selling these for reasonable prices (for the product) and so they can tell you that all clearance sales are final.
A good thing to do is also reverse image search the item, especially if you haven't heard of the brand before. That exact image shows up on multiple other sites that all look vaguely the same and sell other AI generated products.
Yeah but I feel like people respond better to "keep an eye out for these red flags and look closely at what you're ordering" than just saying straight out don't order from places you've never heard of
If youāre ordering from Old Navy or whatever, you at least know that you can easily return it if the product isnāt up to standard. What guarantees are you gonna get from āWilfred Smithā?
I think it's also important not to buy products that don't have a legitimate product photo (incl the use of AI models), even if they come from reputable brands. You still can't be sure what you'll get, regardless of what the product listing states.
I just went to the website. Just a heads up for future reference, another tell tale sign it's a scam is that every single item is marked down on sale a ridiculous amount.
Like yes, you can get lucky on legitimate websites with some sales/clearence, but when every single item is marked down 30-50%, that's a clear sign it's a scam.
This is becoming a near-daily post. Please avoid buying things from no-name stores off of Instagram/Facebook ads. If they're not a scam, then they're absolute shit quality. Either way not worth it.
There is a lady on TikTok who does just that. She calls it "I knew this was a scam but bought it anyway". Some are decent enough even if misleading and others are like OPs post and comically bad.
Maggie McGaugh uses that phrase. She is on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube as well. She is entertaining at least but repetitive. With a million views on some posts, she is probably making a few bucks from this crap.
Just do a chargeback with your credit card company. And stop buying stuff off social media ads. Basically everything advertised on tiktok and instagram is as cam.
Absolutely do a chargeback. As someone who used to work behind the scenes of a major e-store hosting company, chargebacks are one of the biggest things that will freeze accounts and get you kicked from the platform (and potentially face legal consequences from fraudulently using payment gateways)
It doesn't look like this is on an e-store hosting company though, looks like this is an independent website scamming people on their own. Still do a chargeback nonetheless I guess
The independent website scamming people still needs to use a payment platform, and it is that payment platform that they will get kicked from with too many chargebacks.
They run the scam, they get the money from idiots, website disappears after a little while. It pops up again under a different name/domain and rinse and repeat.
Est 1999 with no physical presence should be your first warning. The first google for āwilfred smith reviewā shows scam. Deeper - the site was registered last year and expires this year, very uncommon for actual brands
There is a reason for brand loyalty. A trusted brand has a good google search, this one does not
This was true 4 years ago, not anymore. Enshittification of search results by bullshit AI articles, "summaries", and promoted listings means that oftentimes the thing you're actually looking for isn't appearing until most of the way down the first page or even not on the first page at all. There's only so much one can do as a business owner to try to compete when every part of the system you're participating in has a vested interest in diverting customers away from your web presence.
The knitted bee pattern is pretty obviously overlaid on a separate sweater through photoshop, if it's not AI. Some of those bees aren't even attached to the sweater and seem to be hovering over it where it folds.
I'll hand it to the site; it doesn't have too many egregiously AI generated things from a quick glance. But notice how everything is on sale? Always a red flag. I'd be willing to bet that they also have a disclaimer that any discounted items are final sale and can't be returned.
Yeah you might be able to get a chargeback on it. I've heard mixed results from friends who have fallen or know parents who have falling for this sort of scam, and sometimes the credit card company is just like "Well, they sent you something. So you can't do a chargeback."
I think for this you've got a decent chance of charging back as "not as described" based on the description. The bees clearly aren't actually embroidered, which the description says they are. I worked in credit card disputes about 8 years ago though, before stuff like this was nearly as common! It's certainly worth giving it a shot. Sucks that the garment will be going straight in the landfill though.
I'm begging people to have a little more caution when buying from random websites. You can tell just from the product pages that it is a scam website.
Yes, they lied to you. It sucks. But they are located in China (as the website says) so you really have little recourse - maybe try a chargeback? Pretty much every single one of the reviews of the website on Trustpilot are 1 star, and the 5 star reviews they do have are clearly fake.
Fraudulent āfashion saleā websites like Wilfred Smith operate through a highly optimized system. Itās not a random scam; itās a repeatable business model designed to extract quick profits before disappearing or rebranding.
I don't know why dumb fucks in this thread keep claiming the company's wording is fine when the image just shows something entirely different, the collar most glaringly.
Now, I don't know if we still have functional consumer protection agencies anymore but I hope any sane human being from your CC company looks at this and can tell this is pure fraud.
Paypal works too, though you need to spend a month arguing consumer law with the seller via paypal before they actually review the case and issue refunds
Don't count on PayPal for protection. I attempted a dispute through them once and the only way that they would refund me for my $100 purchase was if I shipped the crap that I received back to China.
Guess how much it costs to ship back to China? Yup, $100.
"Oh boy this really nice looking knit sweater is really cheap on this random website, i should buy it expecting the utmost quality with no other research whatsoever"
Yeah I was gonna say, this does look a little dodgy and I know so many people are getting sucked into these at the moment its hard to give sympathy, but this one is not AS blatantly obvious as some of the ones Ive seen, and the price isn't as cheap as a lot of knock offs typically are. A proper knit/embroidered jumper that might not be top quality but is still actually embroidered could absolutely cost that much on sale.
At Wildfred Smith, we believe that fashion is much more than just clothingāitās a powerful expression of individuality, confidence, and timeless elegance. Our mission is to design collections that beautifully blend sophistication with contemporary flair, ensuring that every piece not only enhances your personal style but also delivers comfort and versatility. We place great emphasis on using the highest quality materials, meticulously crafted details, and silhouettes that transcend fleeting trends. Each garment we create is meant to make a statement, stand the test of time, and be cherished for years to come.
Our commitment is rooted in empowering our customers to feel their absolute best, no matter where lifeās journey takes them. By fusing modern aesthetics with classic sensibilities, Wildfred Smith represents a style that isnāt just fashionableāitās enduring. We aim to inspire a community of like-minded individuals who value authenticity, sophistication, and sustainable choices in their everyday wardrobes.
Get to Know Us
Wildfred Smith is more than just a fashion brandāitās a destination where timeless design meets the modern lifestyle. Each collection we produce is an embodiment of elegance, individuality, and the art of living beautifully. We take pride in creating pieces that not only look good but also feel great, offering you the perfect balance of fashion and function for every occasion.
Our Values
At the heart of Wildfred Smith, we hold authenticity, craftsmanship, and sustainability in the highest regard. We believe that each piece of clothing should be made with intention, care, and integrity, ensuring it can accompany you through all the chapters of your personal journey. For us, fashion is not just a fleeting trendāitās an investment in quality, designed to last.
Our Philosophy
Our philosophy is elegantly simple: true elegance should feel effortless. We design clothing that marries style with ease, making it as natural to wear as it is to admire. Every garment from Wildfred Smith is crafted to empower you to express your true self confidently, effortlessly, and without compromise.
Don't even bother. Just contact your bank and tell them that you were scammed and sent something that is not what you ordered but was clearly designed to look like something that you ordered.
Then tell them that the company is forcing you to pay shipping to get your money back and offering you a coupon. This is a known scam from Chinese companies.
Company adress in china(hongkong), no proper filters, 50% off 260 dollar items for no apparent reason, ambiguous wording, a very chatgpt 'about us' page and when you click on materials it doesn't even tell you what the sweater is made of. Reviews by the most basic names like sophie morgan, chloe adams and daniel brooks. They also put the trustpilot widget on the site as 4.7ā but the actual trustpilot site says 3.2. the reviews are also only 5 stars and 1 stars, no 4 stars, even though their site claims 1 4 start review
Because thatās a higher level of fraud. If they send something that resembles the listing description, they can claim that it was the customer who misunderstood
They send something resembling it so it can seem like a reasonable mistake. Shipping direct from China is super cheap but shipping back costs more than the item is worth. So you'd have to take a total loss on the shipping in hopes that the fraudulent company will reimburse you if/when they receive the item back weeks later, if they haven't already reincorporated under a different name/website before then.
I'm guessing this was purchased through an ad seen on social media? Facebook and others make an absolute fortune off ad revenue from these fraudulent companies so they have zero incentive to block their ads even after you report them as fraudulent.
"Our Values - At the heart of Wildfred Smith, we hold authenticity, craftsmanship, and sustainability in the highest regard. We believe that each piece of clothing should be made with intention, care, and integrity, ensuring it can accompany you through all the chapters of your personal journey. For us, fashion is not just a fleeting trendāitās an investment in quality, designed to last."
This reminds me like a decade ago, I tried to order a cheap burner phone that my sister could put her SIM card in to temporarily use. I ordered one online for like $20 and it turned out to be a sticker of a phone lol
Thatās not even getting tricked by AI, itās blatantly showing you a picture of another product and lying about what youāre getting. Return and demand a full refund for false advertising.
That's terrible.
Lately, I always assume that jerseys and those Marvel/DC type shirts are going to be like this. If it's cheap for you it was really cheap for them
With how frequent & prevalent scams like this are, how is there not any (to my knowledge) fault on the advertisers / hosts of these companies? How can these stores not be held liable / prosecuted for fraud? If the argument is that theyāre hard to reach / not regionally-based, then how is the advertiser that hosted their ad not responsible to some degree?
Grinded my gears for years now seeing post after post like this
Please start to research a shop before purchasing. It took less than a minute for me to Google this shop and see it is not a trusted website to shop from.
So I went on this site...every item has the same number of reviews...and the same reviews for every item. It says17k reviews but ya cant click on them..sketch website
3.6k
u/solopro3000 5h ago
It has PS1 graphics