You take your chances when you shop online – we’d all willingly concede that. So, as annoying as it is when your purchase disappoints, some of the online shopping fail stories that emerge can fill an otherwise ordinary day with much mirth.
Today was brightened considerably by the tale of Napier woman Michaela Smith, who received a dress several sizes too small from the well-known online shopping site Ali Express.
Despite checking, double checking and then checking her measurements one more time before ordering, Michaela still received a dress that seemed made to fit a child.
“I really didn’t care if it didn’t fit because it only cost me 27 bucks,” she told the NZ Herald, “but it just turned out to be a complete rip-off.”
Michaela has put her dress on TradeMe and caught the imagination of the public, with bidding so far at more than six times the original price she paid.
We put a call-out for more online shopping fail stories and spent the afternoon in fits of laughter – here they are:
I’m a Barbie girl
“My mum bought some gym pants from Ali Express – only when the “exercise leggings” arrived they were for A DOLL and only fit in the palm of her hand!
She re-checked the original listing and they had definitely phrased it as if they were for humans (nowhere did it say dolls pants) but they’d only cost her $5 so she didn’t bother following up as it was really funny in the end.”
Twice for the price
My dad ordered three suits from Topman when he got his last promotion.
He got distracted halfway through placing the order and went back to the site later and redid the order, not realising the items were still in his cart from the first time.
So he instead paid for and received six suits and had to pay extra duty tax to import them into the country. Half of them ended up being too small as well.
It played out over weeks and with every development he just got more and more irate. It was great.
Dirty trick
My father was frustrated at the cost of Land Rover parts in New Zealand and thought he’d found the deal of the century when he saw some new mudflaps for sale on Ebay.
Turns out there was a reason why they were so cheap. They were for a model toy car.
The counter argument
I ordered a pair of shoes from a site I hadn’t used before, and when they arrived they were completely different to what I’d ordered. I contacted them and sent photos showing them their error and they replied ‘but they’re really nice shoes’. Like I should keep them anyway.
The annoying thing is I did because I never got round to sending them back. That was three years ago and I haven’t worn them once.
Silk, not silk
I bought a dress on TradeMe. The description said it was silk. When it arrived, it was not silk.
I asked to return the dress because it didn’t fit the specifications.
The seller declined.
Her excuse? Retailers lie all the time – as in, they falsely advertise their goods – so what was the problem?
I reported her and gave the dress away.
Unauthorised entry
I bought a dress from Ezibuy once that couldn’t physically be put on. No fastening, no opening of any kind, and no stretch in the fabric to pull it over your head or anything.
I returned it by post and got a refund.
Do you have an online shopping fail tale? We’d love to hear it. Email us at [email protected]
