Here’s a reminder that if you’re online shopping and find a deal that seems too good to be true, it probably is.
That super-cheap laundry basket is likely teeny-tiny. A designer coat bought for a bargain price will arrive feeling like ‘a piece of paper with sleeves’.
And if you order a huge fluffy rug for £9.99, you will get a ‘hairy piece of paper’.
Learn from the mistake of Charlotte McAteer, 24.
Mum-of-one Charlotte really wanted a huge fluffy rug after seeing the interiors trend pop up all over Instagram, so when she saw a luxurious option sold for just £9.99 on Wish, she snapped it right up.
Photos online had advertised the rug as large enough to walk across – with an adult model’s two legs standing in the middle of the carpet to demonstrate the diameter.
When the rug arrived in a jiffy bag, Charlotte was puzzled by the size of the packaging – then opened it up to find that the ‘rug’ was so tiny it was only just big enough for her baby daughter to stand on.
Charlotte claims the mat is ‘as thin as paper’ and can be folded into the size of a quarter. That luxurious fluffy texture she was after turned out to be ‘hairy’.
Charlotte, from Salisbury, Wilts, said: ‘I opened it up and it is literally the size of a side plate.
‘I follow lots of home accounts on Instagram and have gotten really into decor and things.
‘I saw all these big shaggy rugs for the bedroom and I thought, “oh my god, that would look beautiful in my bedroom” with the size of it and how big, thick and fluffy it was.
‘It was £9.99 with free postage and I thought it would either not arrive because it was from China, or it’s going to come and be amazing.
‘So I ordered it anyway and it came in a little jiffy bag. I couldn’t remember ordering anything that small.
‘It’s got these really thin hairs coming off the bottom. I wouldn’t say it’s fluffy. I took the picture of it under my foot because that’s how they advertised it on the site, but the person had two legs.’
Charlotte snapped photos capturing the rug’s true size and, thankfully, is able to see the funny side of the mishap.
The ‘hairy paper plate’ now sits on her daughter’s bed.
‘I just laughed,’ said Charlotte. ‘I was more like, “really?” rather than being worried that I had wasted money.
‘If I had spent £100 on it I would have been annoyed, but because I only spent £10 on it I think I found the funny side of it.
‘My daughter just played with it. I think she thought it was a toy. She’d only just turned two, so she didn’t really understand what it was.’
Charlotte admits that she was suspicious of the rug after she realised it had no description on the private seller’s listing on the website but decided the price was good enough to take the risk.
But she won’t be ordering things online again after the purchase.
Charlotte said: ‘There was no description about it online. That’s what made me wonder. I thought, it’s only £10 so if you lose £10 it doesn’t really matter.
‘It would have been amazing if a luxurious rug had turned up, so for £10 that would have been [a bargain].
‘I thought it was from China. To be honest, I order lots of little outfits for my daughter on eBay. They’ve all turned up and they’ve all been absolutely brilliant.
‘The quality hasn’t been amazing, but they’ve all looked really nice. Because it was from China, I thought it would be okay but just cheaply made. I didn’t realise the size was going to be a lot different.
‘I’ve never bothered to get a fluffy rug in the end. It’s the first thing I’ve ordered online where this has happened. It’s put me right off.
‘I see these beautiful dresses online but I think it’ll turn up and be for a Barbie doll or something. I haven’t ordered online since, to put it that way. It has put me off.
‘Especially from companies you don’t know. Some pop-up and I google. Ones that I do know I’m not bothered about, but the ones I don’t know I check.’
We’ve approached Wish for comment and will update this article if we hear back.
Have you had a hilarious online shopping fail? Get in touch to share your story by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@metro.co.uk.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/09/mum-orders-bargain-fluffy-rug-online-receives-hairy-paper-plate-instead-12027759/
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