Temu Shopping

Hi to all members,

I saw that Tom's top tip was about Temu.

I have been a member of Temu for a number of years and although you may be able to pick-up some reasonably priced items, please be aware that there are a large number of the so called 'internet social shopping scammers' now using this site, just like they use facebook market place, to advertise either NON existent products OR TOTALLY FAKE listings and items.

Over the last 3 months of 2023, I ordered numerous items from Temu, a number of them for xmas gifts.

The items that arrived had no bearing to the items ordered, they were incorrectly described and completely the wrong items were delivered.

As an example....

Item 1, described as PHOTOCHROMIC COLOUR CHANGING SUNGLASSES.

Ordered 2 pairs as both my son and I drive larger HGV trucks or coaches, so they are VERY useful.

Items delivered, 2 pairs of VERY cheap plastic sunglasses, that were CLEARLY NOT PHOTOCHROMIC as they were black when taken out of the packaging, where they should have been 'clear' as they had been 'out of ANY direct light source' .

Item 2... electromagnetic solar charged car de-icer.

Ordered 2 items, once again due to early starts were ideal for having none iced up cars.

Items delivered 2 cheaply made plastic interlocking discs. No solar panels and nothing to have any direct affect on frozen vehicles, as demonstrated in the video in the listing. Therefore yet again ANOTHER INTERNET SCAM and an ABSOLUTELY USELESS item.

I am aware that a different version of this is now being advertised, where 2 discs spin on the top of the item. As well as defrosting your car, they ALSO CLAIM that this item CAN AND WILL 'HEAT YOUR HOME FREE OF CHARGE', once again using a demonstration video in the listing.

Once AGAIN a completely bogus item and and false statements.

I know that Temu offer refunds on purchases, but you are ONLY ALLOWED ONE FREE RETURN, and you have to take the return to the collection point, hope that it reaches the returns centre in China in 'as new condition', once they have checked your reason for return and checked the condition of the product, they... 'may issue you either a partial or full refund', they also advise this could take 4-8 weeks from being received at the returns centre, and then upto 4 weeks for the credit to be processed by YOUR original payment SOURCE. Alternatively you can accept a Temu account credit which will be available within 5-10 minutes of accepting the offered refund. This is just a way of KEEPING YOUR MONEY, so that YOU HAVE TO BUY ANOTHER PRODUCT. Temu ACCOUNT CREDITS CAN NOT BE TRANSFERRED TO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT.

In this instance the time scale of the REFUND is the SCAM.

I have emailed Temu, used live chat and spoken to 'customer care' on numerous occasions with regards to this product scam issue, their answer is ALWAYS the same.....'if an item does not meet your requirements, is not as advertised or is damaged on arrival, please complete and submit a return and refund request'.

At NO time have they EVER mentioned that they will look into the false advertising scam or that they will check out the actual products.

This is an almost identical SCAM as the EXISTING SCAM being used on the Facebook market place. Advertising products with drastically reduced prices.

They are offered from new or recently formed sellers/suppliers/outlets, ALL PROMISING INSTANT REFUNDS if you do NOT RECEIVE YOUR ORDER OR ARE NOT COMPLETELY SATISFIED, WITHIN 30 DAYS. They started by using credit or debit cards ONLY, but have NOW added PayPal as a payment option, so that YOU FEEL MORE SECURE, when purchasing, due to the PayPal BUYERS PROTECTION. However, they then use postal or customs delays, lost emails and lack of customer replies to drag out the refund period past the PayPal BUYER PROTECTION END TIME, so you end up with NO PRODUCT AND NO REFUND!!!!

PayPal advise...'we have to allow the appropriate amounts of time for BOTH the BUYER and the SELLER to SUBMIT the requested information, so that we can make a fair and unbiased decision as to whether a refund can be made using the BUYER PROTECTION option'.

The internet MAY be an advancement of technology, however it HAS increased the number of SCAM OPPORTUNITIES IMMENSELY, and due to the current economic situation, they KNOW that the POPULOUS of the PLANET ARE EASY PICKINGS, WHICH MEANS THAT THEY ARE MAKING VAST AMOUNTS OF MONEY BY SCAMMING THOSE THAT ARE MOST VULNERABLE.

I could highlight MANY MORE of these internet SCAMS offering ABSOLUTE BARGAINS for HIGH END PRODUCTS.

Unfortunately I am unable to commit the time, due to other commitments.

I urge ALL of you to be hyper vigilant when coming across these 'bargains', EVEN WHEN SUPPOSEDLY BACKED BY BIG NAMES OR CELEBRITIES.(currys, temu, argos, amazon, etc,etc)

A pallet of goods valued at £1000's for £10, is OBVIOUSLY a SCAM.

A laptop valued at £500 for £2/3,

IS ALSO a SCAM.

Please STAY SAFE WHEN SHOPPING ONLINE.