Annette here hope your all well and getting ready for Christmas. With all the talk in the press about the worry of ordered goods not arriving in time for Christmas, its easy to buy things on impulse. I in fact am guilty of this myself. Just this week I was a statistic of scammers, people who sell you one thing and deliver an inferior item.
I saw this advert showing a fantastic Xmas tree 4 foot tall, snow lined platforms with little snow capped houses, a working train track and the piste de resistance a Santa Climbing a ladder up the side of the tree. It was advertised on facebook, in the corner small lettering saying "Buy now only 6 left" panic sets in and before you know it I had pressed buy.
Now im not kidding this tree looked absolutely fantastic and for £17.99 was a bargain...... or was it? Looking back something Gary always says is, if it looks too good to be true it usually is. Confident he was wrong I sat in anticipation waiting for this tree to arrive. Nights lay in bed imagining the look on the grandchildren's faces when they saw it all set up in all its glory. Spare evenings planning where was the best place to put this "grand" tree? Hallway? Landin? Lounge? Would I be able to assemble it so that it looked as regal as in the photograph? I know I thought ill get my very talented artistic sister to help she's good at things like that!
I needn't have worried myself with all those decisions. Was it already assembled I hear you ask? No I wouldn't be that lucky unfortunately it did need assembling. The day came the delivery man came up the path, handed me this A5 sized envelope, what could it be? What have I ordered? Well all was soon to be revealed, on opening the packet I found a tatty Xmas 8" tree folded in two with a few awful decorations and an ill fitting stand. That's when it dawned on me, this was my "Grand" Christmas tree. I had been conned by this company. Luckily a dispute with PayPal and photographic evidence soon saw a refund coming my way.
Comparing these two photos is quite funny I'm sure you will agree, but in reality there are a lot of people out there being scammed out of their hard earned cash every day and yet these companies continue to trade. My motto from now on is buy local don't get scammed. I'm not saying that every purchase you make will be 100% perfect but by buying local you can go and see an actual person if there are any problems. Our shops, crafters, small businesses are all struggling, so with Christmas coming why not support your local businesses and avoid the situation I found myself in.
Thank you for reading A x
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