A bride-to-be who ordered a vintage wedding dress from a Californian website was left devastated when she received a 'cheap knock-off' from China instead.
Last summer, Monisha Rajesh, 34, from London, was browsing the internet for a bikini and soon found herself looking at dresses.
One particular design caught the journalist's eye: a white Fifties' vintage style with navy blue lace detail.
Monisha, who is getting married towards the end of this year, had been looking for a smart outfit to wear at the registry office ceremony that is taking place next month.
The dress cost around £100 but by the time Monisha went to make her purchase, the design had vanished from the site. Several months had passed when an identical dress appeared in an advert on her Facebook page.
Monisha clicked on the advert and was taken to a supposedly American website called SammyDress.com. At a cost of around $20 (£14) the vintage dress was identical to the one she had seen.
However it was a significant price drop and Monisha assumed this was because it was end of stock.
Read more: http://www.queeniewedding.co.uk/chiffon-bridesmaid-dresses-uk
Having frequently bought end-of-season stock from online retailers such as John Lewis and House of Fraser at low prices, I felt confident in my purchase, making sure I could pay via PayPal for added security,' Monisha said.
SammyDress.com even sent Monisha a tracking number and a photograph of her parcel being dispatched.
Five days later, Yodel delivered a package stamped from China and alarm bells started ringing. The website had listed a Californian address.
Sure enough when Monisha ripped open the package, her heart sank.
'Inside was a cheap, grey, shabby-looking dress that looked no better than a child’s Halloween costume.
'The design wasn’t even a convincing copy and all the 'lace' was hanging off in big strips. The stitching could be pulled out by hand,' she said.
Realising that she had been the victim of an online scam, Monisha set about googling 'SammyDress scam'. Within minutes she had discovered hundreds of users who had been conned too.
There was a Facebook page called SammyDress Is a Scam where Monisha contacted customers who had had similar experiences.
It soon became clear that SammyDress rarely responded to complaints or offered returns.
After searching Twitter, Monisha came across a Romania-based dress designer called Chotronette.com who had tweeted images of their original designs alongside the cheap imitations being flogged by SammyDress.com.
Set up in 2009 by friends Silvia Chiteala and Laura Cazacu, Chotronette.com produces luxurious bespoke vintage dresses and now receives up to five emails a day from customers warning them about SammyDress stealing photographs of their designs and claiming to sell them at a discount.
'We first found out about this from our followers who contacted us through our website,' said Cazacu, 'For us it’s very sad because people keep ordering these dresses for proms or weddings and are so disappointed when they arrive.'
After sending an email threatening to expose SammyDress.com as a scam, Monisha received a response through the legal section of the website asking for the details of the item and photographs to prove that it was not the original dress as advertised.
The full amount including the postage fee was credited to her account, something Monisha believes has never happened before.
'We have tried to contact them with no answer so we are surprised that they did get in touch and send your money back,' Cazacu told Monisha on the phone.
The white and blue dress that SammyDress had advertised was in fact a one-off design by Chotronette.com called the 'Tea Party' dress, and had not been on sale since 2014 despite the adverts on Facebook suggesting otherwise.
Even now, SammyDress advertises a white and cream dress called Coconut Flakes with an identical image stolen from Chotronette that it claims to sell for a fraction of the price.
In the days that followed the same taunting advert kept appearing on Monisha’s Facebook wall, so she investigated the site's advertising policy. It stated that it does not allow deceptive, false, or misleading content, including deceptive claims, offers, or business practices.
SammyDress.com was in clear breach of this policy so Monisha reported the site to Facebook, which responded with the following statement.
'Facebook prohibits advertisements that are false or misleading, including deceptive claims, offers, or business practices. We are conducting a thorough review of whether this company has violated our policies, and will prevent them from advertising on Facebook until the conclusion of our investigation.'
A legal section on the company's website promises to respond promptly to notices of alleged Intellectual Property Rights infringement.
It explained: 'The Sammydress Notice and Takedown Policy is designed to protect the respective IPR of third parties as well as our consumers.'
In the
Last summer, Monisha Rajesh, 34, from London, was browsing the internet for a bikini and soon found herself looking at dresses.
One particular design caught the journalist's eye: a white Fifties' vintage style with navy blue lace detail.
Monisha, who is getting married towards the end of this year, had been looking for a smart outfit to wear at the registry office ceremony that is taking place next month.
The dress cost around £100 but by the time Monisha went to make her purchase, the design had vanished from the site. Several months had passed when an identical dress appeared in an advert on her Facebook page.
Monisha clicked on the advert and was taken to a supposedly American website called SammyDress.com. At a cost of around $20 (£14) the vintage dress was identical to the one she had seen.
However it was a significant price drop and Monisha assumed this was because it was end of stock.
Read more: http://www.queeniewedding.co.uk/chiffon-bridesmaid-dresses-uk
Having frequently bought end-of-season stock from online retailers such as John Lewis and House of Fraser at low prices, I felt confident in my purchase, making sure I could pay via PayPal for added security,' Monisha said.
SammyDress.com even sent Monisha a tracking number and a photograph of her parcel being dispatched.
Five days later, Yodel delivered a package stamped from China and alarm bells started ringing. The website had listed a Californian address.
Sure enough when Monisha ripped open the package, her heart sank.
'Inside was a cheap, grey, shabby-looking dress that looked no better than a child’s Halloween costume.
'The design wasn’t even a convincing copy and all the 'lace' was hanging off in big strips. The stitching could be pulled out by hand,' she said.
Realising that she had been the victim of an online scam, Monisha set about googling 'SammyDress scam'. Within minutes she had discovered hundreds of users who had been conned too.
There was a Facebook page called SammyDress Is a Scam where Monisha contacted customers who had had similar experiences.
It soon became clear that SammyDress rarely responded to complaints or offered returns.
After searching Twitter, Monisha came across a Romania-based dress designer called Chotronette.com who had tweeted images of their original designs alongside the cheap imitations being flogged by SammyDress.com.
Set up in 2009 by friends Silvia Chiteala and Laura Cazacu, Chotronette.com produces luxurious bespoke vintage dresses and now receives up to five emails a day from customers warning them about SammyDress stealing photographs of their designs and claiming to sell them at a discount.
'We first found out about this from our followers who contacted us through our website,' said Cazacu, 'For us it’s very sad because people keep ordering these dresses for proms or weddings and are so disappointed when they arrive.'
After sending an email threatening to expose SammyDress.com as a scam, Monisha received a response through the legal section of the website asking for the details of the item and photographs to prove that it was not the original dress as advertised.
The full amount including the postage fee was credited to her account, something Monisha believes has never happened before.
'We have tried to contact them with no answer so we are surprised that they did get in touch and send your money back,' Cazacu told Monisha on the phone.
The white and blue dress that SammyDress had advertised was in fact a one-off design by Chotronette.com called the 'Tea Party' dress, and had not been on sale since 2014 despite the adverts on Facebook suggesting otherwise.
Even now, SammyDress advertises a white and cream dress called Coconut Flakes with an identical image stolen from Chotronette that it claims to sell for a fraction of the price.
In the days that followed the same taunting advert kept appearing on Monisha’s Facebook wall, so she investigated the site's advertising policy. It stated that it does not allow deceptive, false, or misleading content, including deceptive claims, offers, or business practices.
SammyDress.com was in clear breach of this policy so Monisha reported the site to Facebook, which responded with the following statement.
'Facebook prohibits advertisements that are false or misleading, including deceptive claims, offers, or business practices. We are conducting a thorough review of whether this company has violated our policies, and will prevent them from advertising on Facebook until the conclusion of our investigation.'
A legal section on the company's website promises to respond promptly to notices of alleged Intellectual Property Rights infringement.
It explained: 'The Sammydress Notice and Takedown Policy is designed to protect the respective IPR of third parties as well as our consumers.'
In the
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