Oops I did it again!

If they advertise the selves as a small uk company there’s every chance that they are buying in from China.
MrP buys from small uk companies by these are specialist engineering companies.
Even then you can’t be 100% certain as there are thousands of Chinese companies registered in the uk.

Yes, everything DOES come from China nowadays.

Way back, when I was a kiddie, everything had "Empire Made" stamped on it.

I also fell for a kaftan which looked attractive and was supposed to be reduced to half price.
Then I got an email which indicated it was from Amsterdam.
Then I next one said China and my heart sank.
I did write it off but unexpectedly it arrived about two weeks ago. It was in a plastic bag , creased up and certainly not worth what I paid but now it has dropped out a bit and when it has an iron run over I shall wear it in the garden on hot nihjyt.
Ihope I have learned my lesson.
Incidentally there was no delivery note in the parcel or suggestion for returning it, just nothing at all.

If venturing away from my usual sites I always check reviews and do a little research.
They’re so crafty.

Well worth looking the company up on Trustpilot. The reviews stopped me from buying some lovely dresses from a supposedly London company, which turned out to be in China.
I did fall foul of a similar offer a while ago, they would only accept returns to China which cost a lot. I never did get my money back.

If I am buying electrical, I make sure it doesn't come from China because two items in the past were dangerous so they ended up in the bin.

I now don't drive, so I rely a lot on online.

You could ask ‘chat’ to check for you.

Usedtobeblond
There are no delivery notes now. All info is in the barcode on your parcel.
If you go onto the site you ordered from and bring up your orders you will see the option to return and the reason why.

PiscesLady

Well worth looking the company up on Trustpilot. The reviews stopped me from buying some lovely dresses from a supposedly London company, which turned out to be in China.
I did fall foul of a similar offer a while ago, they would only accept returns to China which cost a lot. I never did get my money back.

Don’t put all your faith in trust pilot.
Of course you can check a product on there but you will get a far broader range of comments if you put this in your search bar.
Like this.
Temu + comments.

The bad reviews on a lot of these UK sites are amazing I looked one up the other day as it looked and sounded lovely every review was 1 point I think they had one 2 points because they d got their money back
Always look them up before purchasing and don’t buy of Temu if you have any care about human rights
Most Chinese stores are bad but Temu is another level

When you watch Dragons Den on the Telly if someone goes on with something they have invented or designed Touker Suleyman always says I can get that made cheaper in China or India. I honestly don't think anything is 100% manufacturer in the UK anymore elements of it will be imported from one of these countries.

Join Buy British Made on Facebook, you can search the site for any product you’re looking for, and to qualify goods have to be manufactured in the UK. It was recommended to me by somebody on Gransnet, and I now use it frequently, as I’m another who tries to buy British made goods when I can. Actually, a lot more than you would think is still made in the UK if you search it out.

I was hosting a very nice Chinese girl last year. She was keen to buy a souvenir of Scotland.
Everything she picked up was made in PRC (peoples republic of china) we were laughing about it.

Eventually I found a scarf handwoven in Islay, in a charity shop. I made her buy it!

There are companies dealing only with items Made in Britain but you pay a premium.

Casdon

Join Buy British Made on Facebook, you can search the site for any product you’re looking for, and to qualify goods have to be manufactured in the UK. It was recommended to me by somebody on Gransnet, and I now use it frequently, as I’m another who tries to buy British made goods when I can. Actually, a lot more than you would think is still made in the UK if you search it out.

The last washing machine we bought was made in the uk.

The company I bought from was ellegems.
If only I had read the reviews first….
Of course some are full of praise but I suspect AI in view of the spelling and grammar.

Grammaretto
When I lived in Beijing 30 years ago there were shops underneath Tiananmen Square, I came across China clogs and windmill and on the base was written Made in Holland

That's so funny mokryna. 😅

Usedtobeblonde

The company I bought from was ellegems.
If only I had read the reviews first….
Of course some are full of praise but I suspect AI in view of the spelling and grammar.

One site you can use to check out companies is Scam Interceptors.
They check out everything. They don’t just look at reviews, they dig deep. An example being they checked out how many people had looked at the site: it was a low amount considering they advertised themselves as a multi national company.

I too always look unfamiliar companies up on Trustpilot before using.
Also a lot of companies advertising on Facebook etc are to be avoided.

I must stop this as I feel myself going down the rabbit hole that I went down years ago campaigning on FB to get these sites banned. There was a ban, but it was me and the other complainers 😂
I’m just back from my last dive down the rabbit hole.
I have to laugh. ellegems are using photos from other scam sites. Hilarious 😂

I'm not saying that the company is a scam. Just that the item when it arrives will probably not be of the quality I was expecting and that the cost and difficulty of returning it to China for refund means that most people will not bother so the company knows they are in a win win situation. If people want to take a chance on the big companies like Temu they know they are dealing with a chinese firm it's the dishonesty of the English sounding name etc that I find to be deliberately misleading.

I am constantly getting emails from them now, all in (double) Dutch.

Usedtobeblonde

I am constantly getting emails from them now, all in (double) Dutch.

You can set up a link for these emails to go automatically to junk.
If you use gmail it can go to trash.

I never buy from a site that pops up on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc without checking out it's Trust pilot reviews. Invariably there are negative responses describing poor quality, zero customer service, inaccurate descriptions etc etc. Forewarned is forearmed!