15
Jan
2015
By Calvin at 15:53 GMT, 11 years ago
Recently, Warwickshire Trading Standards sent out a warning to consumers to watch out for bogus shopping websites. The service had received a number of complaints from consumers who purchased expensive electronic products from websites of companies that appeared to be UK based, which were using UK addresses and telephone numbers.
When the goods didn't arrive (costing up to £1,000) further investigations revealed that the websites were only registered in recent months by people possibly living outside the UK and EU, more often in the USA. Some consumers paid for goods using bankers drafts, which gave them no protection if the goods didn’t arrive.
If you’re using a shopping website for the first time, check to see how long the website has been in existence and who registered it. You can do this by copying and pasting the web address into a web address search engine such as Whois or Nominet Also, put the company’s address into Google maps and use Street View. Can you see the business or is it just a residential street? Bear in mind too that UK addresses used on websites may be false.
If you can, always use a credit card to pay for goods over £100. You can claim the money back from the credit card company if the goods don't arrive. Be suspicious of any business that will only accept bankers drafts/bank transfers. And finally, a ‘.co.uk’ address does not mean the company is based in the UK.
Trading Standards operates a website directory of online businesses that only sell genuine goods at Brand-i and more information is available from Warwickshire Trading Standards on their On-line Safety and Bogus Companies Page
TCPW Comment: This is great advice from Warwickshire Trading Standards, which applies to all of us, wherever we might live in the UK. Be careful out there!
Brand-I https://www.brand-i.org/
