Thread: Trading Standards and Fraud - help!

Hi all,
I am in need of a little advice. Back in January I bought two wigs from an American wig buying service. Basically, the company who sell the wigs I wanted don't ship to the UK but this woman Katie Bair's Petting Zoo Wig Design provides a wig buying service and will buy them on your behalf and then send them out to you. She is very highly thought of on another forum I go on so I thought I could trust her.

On her website it says to expect at least two weeks processing time before orders are sent out, that seemed fair enough for me as she has to get them from the original website and that takes time.

I ordered them on the 6th of January and the order tracker is still saying processing which means she may or may not have recieved them from the original sellers but they have definately not been dispatched out to me yet. It has been almost two months with no change and I am pulling my hair out. About a month ago I emailled her to see if she could estimate when she thought they might come out to me - my email was ignored. I started asking questions on the forum who rate her and they said she has some personal stuff going on and that she has a baby(!) however she never thought to mention on the website that it may take longer due to this.

Last week I finally gave up and asked for a refund (it says on her website that you can get a refund any time up 'til the item is dispatched to you). I have received no refund and my email was ignored. Someone on the other forum suggested I go through paypal dispute resolution but paypal say I have left it too late and although they will look to see if she is a fraudulent seller due to other complaints about her they can't promise they will be able to get me my money back. The woman in the call centre suggested I speak to Trading Standards or even the police (!) but I don't know where to start as she is in the US not here.

I just want my money back now, I've had enough. Plus I have found a reputable company that will ship the wigs I want to the UK but can't do it until she refunds me.

Any advice anyone?

Thanks
Emerald

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Ugh I'm so sorry that happened to you. Have you tried calling trading standards in the UK? Even if they can't deal with the problem they might know where to direct you.

Hope you get it sorted! xxx

If you used a credit card to make the paypal payment you should be able to get the money back from the card issuer.

Thatys a rubbish situation love, I hope you get it sorted.
xxxxx

Hi Ladies,
I have now spoken to trading standards and they said that 'cos it's outside of the UK they can't do anything. However someone else suggested I try the Better Business Bureau which is US based. I have now filed a complaint with them. Apparently 70% of all complaints filed with them get resolved to the satisfaction of the person doing the complaining so fingers crossed.
I paid for them with a debit card so I don't think I'm covered but I'm going to go have a look into that just incase.
The most annoying thing is that on this other forum she is really highly thought of and her service is considered to be a good one so I was really confident I wouldn't have any nonsense from her.
Also, using parenthood as a reason for lack of service/response doesn't wash with me. If she needed time out from the business to deal with her baby she should have suspended the service and put a note on her website 'til she was in a position to be back up and running, not keep taking people's money willy nilly!
Harrumph!

you may want to try citizens advice as they may be able to help with the international law stuff

Originally Posted by Andromada

you may want to try citizens advice as they may be able to help with the international law stuff

thats exactly what I thought, citizens advice they are great for most legal stuff....

I feel quite bad as I had some orders for wig styling that I couldnt do and I passed them onto her.... wont be doing that again...

Claire


Annabelles Wigs, Hairpieces, Clip-in Extensions and Accessories, Affordable, high quality, adult, ladies synthetic hair wigs (short long curly blonde brown red costume party), hairpieces, extensions and accessories

I have spoken to Barclays and they refuse to do a chargeback because I did it through Paypal. If I had done it on my card directly they would have been able to do it but of course that website is a Paypal one. Grrr.

Claire - I don't know if she is any more reliable on styling comissions, as I mentioned before a lot of people do speak very highly of her. In a way this makes me feel worse because when I go on the other forum to see if anyone else can advise I feel as though people think I'm slagging off their friend. I'm not trying to slag her off though. I just want my money back.

Hopefully the Better Business Bureau will be able to get hold of her and get the money out of her. Fingers crossed!

Was it debit or credit card?

If it's credit card then I'm pretty sure that if you buy something with it and it doesn't arrive then you can do a chargeback.

Unless things have changed, perhaps they are fobbing you off, I'd look into it a bit more (assuming you haven't already) as it's probably the best and only recourse.

Also a bad name for the lady is not something she will want, not if she is still trading.

Was it a lot of money?

Also, I think Paypal extended the timeframe for claiming to 12 or 16 weeks for international transactions. Did you claim via the paypal site or by ebay?

Just to give everyone an update on this (incase people were feeling interested as to how it all turned out).
The better Business Bureau were unable to get hold of the seller as she has moved house BUT she got in touch with me on Friday! She told me she had just ordered the wigs and if I would only wait a little longer she would send them on. I explained that I had already purchased wigs elsewhere (Annabelle's Wigs) when she went non communicado and that I would like a refund instead. I didn't expect her to be willing to refund me because in her email she said she had just ordered a batch of wigs which included mine but to my surprise and delight she has! I have now got a full refund and I feel happy with the outcome of the situation. To be honest, I don’t think I would order using the service again but I am really relieved to have it resolved in a positive way.

And, on the plus side I got my replacement wigs from Annabelle’s and I absolutely adore them, plus the service is fast and very friendly. So out of a stressful situation something good has come and I will definitely be buying from Annabelle’s again. I have already started work styling my wig – about half way through now – and it’s a slow process but I am so excited about it. I can’t wait to see it finished and I just hope I can do it justice!

Thanks to everyone who offered their thoughts and advice!
X
Emerald

I'm glad to hear things worked out for you in the end lovely but what a drama!! As for Annabelles Wigs, I second the recommendation - they're fab!