Who doesn’t love shopping?
Add in the convenience that online shopping has brought into the lives of people, with literally everything being just the click of a button away, and it has become the best thing since sliced bread.
From simple everyday items and groceries to luxury items, vehicles and even enormous real estate, there is perhaps nothing you can think of that isn’t available for sale online.
While giant supermarkets have taken their businesses online while still operating their current brick and mortar stores, several other online suppliers have also emerged in the market, trying to benefit from the large customer base.
However, although this proves the success of the online shopping industry, it has often also failed terribly at other times.
Those who have been a victim of misplaced orders, mismatched products, and ambiguity in product descriptions or sometimes even fraudulent suppliers will know the pain of having their money wasted.
Following are some online shopping fails which you must know about.
Misleading pictures
You are on an online store website, and there is an ad of a little boy sleeping peacefully on a cute, dinosaur-shaped pillow. You order the dinosaur-shaped pillow for your own toddler, and he excitedly opens the delivered package. But to your dismay, it’s just a regular pillow cover with a printed picture of the dinosaur and the sleeping boy.
In case you didn’t know, this is what many of the parents who shopped for the product on Amazon experienced. While it was alleged that the misprinting occurred due to an error in the store’s algorithm, similar cases are common elsewhere.
A man saw a picture of ‘before-and-after’ magic cup that is otherwise black but reveals a wintry evening scene when something hot is poured inside it and ordered it for a friend. What is delivered is a cup that has the same ‘before-and-after’ picture printed on it instead of an actual color-changing cup.
Be sure you don’t fall for such scams.
Size matters
What was shown to be a perfect rug that would cover your large living room turns out to be of a size that would fit completely on the palm of your hand. People have had such weird, improperly sized products delivered to them; products that are seemingly fine, except their size!
Pants that are more than the length of your entire body, and dresses that are so oversized they look like rucksacks, and even furniture that can be used only by a Barbie doll, are some hilarious examples of how suppliers can cheat by not mentioning dimensions or how it can be misleading if you don’t check the dimensions.
Unclear instructions
Not being very clear and specific in delivery instructions can create quite the chaos.
For instance, a mother misspelled the word ‘blond’ and instead got a ‘blind’ girl’s figurine atop the cake she ordered online for her daughter’s birthday.
Shopping is great. And online shopping is even better. But if you want to avoid disastrous results, make sure to do a thorough research before you order a product online .