Watchdog: Safe online Christmas shopping

Tony Neate, Managing Director of Get Safe Online says a key tip is to be wary unrealistically low prices. "A lot of people are falling for counterfeit goods. One thing to look out for is if something is very cheap."

Unfortunately, Amanda Sellek from Essex fell for what she thought were some bargain GHD hair straighteners. She found a site selling them for half the price you'd usually pay and was chuffed she'd come across such a good deal. But after Amanda had used them for just a week the straighteners started to go wrong.

"One Saturday morning it burnt my hair which actually stuck to the ceramic plate, it took a chunk of my hair out. There was smoke everywhere."

Amanda certainly wasn't having a Good Hair Day and the reason the staighteners had gone so wrong? They weren't real GHDs but very convincing copies.

"It was a really good fake even down to the hologram. I went back to the website and clicked on 'contact us' and realised straight away that it was a dodgy company because there was no phone number or address, just an email address.

"It's just the fact that they're so dangerous. It could have really burnt my head."

For Tony Neate, this case is frightening and dangerous. "You think you're buying something from a UK store but it could be coming from anywhere in the world. You are not as protected buying goods from overseas as you are buying from the UK, so be careful."

Pat Weaver from Worcester thought she was buying three pairs of trendy Ugg boots online as Christmas presents. The site she found included the word 'sale' in the web address. Prices were in US dollars so she thought the website was based in the US.

"I wanted to save some money. I knew clothes in America were cheaper so that was the site I bought them from."

Just before her boots arrived Pat was upset to come across other customers on a web forum who'd ordered from the same site. These frustrated shoppers had also received fake goods or sometimes nothing at all. But it was too late for Pat who'd already paid. When her boots arrive they were just as she feared – cheap copies.

Tony Neate's advice would be to do a bit of research before you buy. "Search on the internet to find out if anybody else had some stories about that particular website. One of the problems if you're going to shop online is that you don't necessarily know who you're dealing with."

Chris Probert from Cheshire bought a gift for his girlfriend from 'ThePerfumeEmporium.co.uk' website. As a regular internet shopper Chris reckons he's quite web savvy.

ThePerfumeEmporium.co.uk was the top result when he searched for somewhere to buy the gift. He thought that meant they could be trusted; "That's always an indicator to me that if it's top of the list it must be reputable and reliable."

When the perfume didn't arrive Chris returned to the website to see if there was a way of getting hold of them – but again there was only an email address. Although a postal address has since been added to the site.

"I first realised something was wrong perhaps after one or two of the emails came back to me with an excuse about the delay. One of the guys at work suggested having a look on the internet and just seeing what reputation this business has got. So we did a few internet searches and found complaint after complaint after complaint."

To date, Chris still hasn't received the perfume or a refund.

The money isn't the issue, it's the whole principle of the thing - that someone can set themselves up as a business and take your money."

ThePerfumeEmporium.co.uk is not to be confused with websites of similar names.

Top tips for safe internet shopping

(Source Get Safe Online and Consumer Direct)

Response from Chris Collings, owner of The Perfume Emporium:

"I was left in financial difficulty after a large amount of orders were lost. As a result of this I had a large volume of customers to refund but not enough finance available. This left us with around £60,000 worth of refunds to process. Over the last few months I have been refunding customers on a daily basis working through the order in which the transaction took place. At the moment I now have around £24,000 left to refund. I have tried to secure finance through the banks to clear this but unfortunately it is quite difficult due to me being a Sole Proprietor.

"As the company has no funds to refund these straight away, I am refunding customers using the profits that the web site currently makes. I have estimated that all customers should be refunded by the end of January 2010.

"I am aware that doing this breaches several regulations and after a recent meeting with Nottingham City Trading Standards and Nottingham Police I am fully aware of the consequences should this matter not be attended to. I have provided proof to them that refunds are indeed being processed and also that orders from the 29th September 2009 are being completed and delivered as normal."

Joint statement from Nottinghamshire Police and Nottinghamshire Trading Standards:

"Nottinghamshire Police and Trading Standards met with the owner of The Perfume Emporium on Wednesday 25th November after receiving a number of complaints about the company. We advised the owner of the company to address the outstanding customer complaints as a matter of urgency. The company is still trading but we will be monitoring its progress."