Do you live in Australia? Are you planning to buy those fanciful dresses, blouses or shoes on Ashwoodmelbourne.com? Beware! It’s not a legit online store. The 50% winter sale discount offered is a bait to lure buyers to an online shopping scam.
Examining the website we spotted the following red flags;
- Recently created – Who.is (a website checker tool) show ashwoodmelbourne.com was launched on 10th June 2024 by an anonymous person who kept his information redacted for privacy.
- No Business Address – Though Ashwood Melbourne social media Ads targets Australian residents, there’s no physical address listed on the website.
- Fake Five Star Ratings – The website boasts of 1024 five star ratings, but these ratings and reviews aren’t available anywhere online or offline.
Is Ashwood Melbourne a Scam Clothing Store?
Ashwood Melbourne clothing store has the signs of an online shopping scam. Though the online store portrays itself as an Australian company, it’s actually a China based store and thats where the products are shipped from.
Ashwoodmelbourne.com uses huge discounts and limited sale timer to bait people into placing an order on the site. The store passes off products of other designers as theirs and makes a cheap imitation when customers place an order.
What Happens When You Shop From AshwoodMelbourne.com?
There are complaints on Facebook from customers who shopped from this store. The experience shared is that of ‘What I ordered Vs What I Got’. The products received were below par, of poor quality, wrong sizing, and different design.
The return policy is also not favourable; unsatisfied customers are asked to (Option 1) pay shipping cost back to China which is almost 40% of the purchase price. Or (Option 2) keep the items and receive a refund of 10% of the purchase price.
Shoppers beware. I ordered shoes from this company a few weeks ago. I followed the sizing instructions. When the shoes arrived, they were 2cm too small and poor quality. The packaging included no receipt nor return instructions, nor the company’s name. I received no email with payment confirmation.
Eventually I found the payment in a PayPal statement and was able to trace it back to Ashwood Melbourne. On the website, I found an email address so I wrote and asked how to return the shoes.
I live in Melbourne so I offered to bring the shoes to them and asked for an address. This has been ignored (clearly they are not based in Melbourne, despite the name).
on Facebook.com
What To Do If You Fell For The Ashwood Melbourne Scam
Cancel your credit card
Immediately call your financial provider and cancel your credit card. By so doing, the credit card details you used for your transaction would become null and void.
Request for a new card
After the old credit card has been cancelled, ask for a new card, it doesn’t cost much to get one.Your credit card issuer will issue you a new one with different numbers.
Report the Fraud To Relevant Authorities
Report the scam to relevant authorities and organizations. This includes:
- Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3): If you are in the United States, you can file a complaint with the IC3 at https://www.ic3.gov/.
- Your Local Consumer Protection Agency: Contact your local consumer protection agency or the equivalent regulatory body in your country.
- Better Business Bureau (BBB): File a complaint with the BBB if the online store is based in the United States.
How To Protect Yourself From Online Shopping Scams
- Check how long the website has been functioning – The domain age of a website tells a lot about a store’s legitimacy or transparency. Websites below 6 months old are often considered unsafe. You can find out a website’s age by checking on Who.is ( a free domain checker tool)
- When using retail websites, find out exactly who you are dealing with. Research the retailer address by copying and pasting it on your browser. Does it really exist? is the retailer registered in the address or is the address that of a family home?
- When making online payments, use secure payment service. Look for a URL starting with “https” and a closed padlock symbol, or a payment provider such as PayPal. If the padlock symbol doesn’t appear near the website’s URL, then it means your personal and financial information is at risk at the store.
- Avoid Too Good to be true Discounts – any product sold at very cheap prices compared to other online stores should be treated with caution. Low prices are baits scammers use to lure unsuspecting victims
- Check for reviews Online – Are there reviews or posts about the online store online? By searching for reviews online you could also come across warning posts or complaints.
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maria
I bought a jacket from there for $100. it was really poor quality. I asked for a refund and they offered me a 15% refund to just keep it.
Waiting to see how they wish to proceed now, im guessing it will require postage back to wherever it came from.
DONT BUY FROM THEM. total crap
I also got sent the wrong size, after no replies several times I went through PayPal and got a response. I could send back my outfit to an address in London at a cost 1/2 the price of the dress as apparently they don’t pay postage which also is apparently reported in their return policy which I could not find. I have escalated to PayPal as I don’t want other people being ripped off, rant over
I bought 2 jackets from them in July 2024, and paid through PayPal. When they arrived the quality was really poor, material advertised as suede and leather was just poly and or plastic and the sizing was way too their chart. I accepted their return option, posted them back to China, and am now going through the refund excuses from a person named Ann Heaward. After 2 weeks of excuses I have raised a case with PayPal and waiting on a resolution
Update to my earlier post. Well success at last.after several weeks of delaying tactics from them, I have how received refunds through PayPal. Just don’t buy the rubbish the advertise.