If you are like most people you are always trying to save money where you can. With the advent of global shopping we now have access directly to stores and factories like never before. The cost of producing items in China and elsewhere means they can sell things at a fraction of what they would cost here, even if those items were actually made over there. Shipping has gotten so good and fast that you can have your stuff in about a week for no more than if it was coming from a store just down the street. This has made it VERY tempting for some to give these incredible bargains a try and see how bad it could be. What’s the worst that could happen, right? I was recently asked to do exactly that, for research. See if you could get a deal or if the whole thing was a waste of time and money. Here is what I’ve found out.
After doing a lot of searching I found one thing very interesting. Apparently everyone in China thinks we are all the same size. As I shopped I kept seeing that clothes that should have been in small, medium or large were always listed as “One Size”. As anyone knows, One Size is never the right size unless you are that perfect person they had in mind when they designed it. How could you sell jeans as One Size? Instant tip off this place was a rip-off! Next site…..
I finally found a site (sammydress.com) that listed actual sizes available. Did some research and found they were a real company, not just a front to steal credit card numbers. I did some shopping and found 4 items to buy. The prices were ASTOUNDING! The most expensive thing was like $9. The cheapest was just $4. The total was about $28 but I found a coupon on Retailmenot.com to save 10% off of that. With shipping, insurance and a tracking code the total was $36 and change. That was cheaper than just one of the items I bought would have been from a store here. I put the order on my PayPal account, thinking it would be safer than giving them a credit card number and off we went. Keep in mind one thing, if you buy something from China your credit card company may block the purchase unless you call them in advance and tell them the who, what and how much. With my purchase complete the only thing left to do was wait. The order was supposed to ship out in 3 to 10 days and shipping was 7 to 10 days. That means I have 10 to 20 days to wait to see if I just wasted my money or not.
The order shipped out in two parts and within 4 day. Not bad so far. Tracking a package from China is not like tracking it from Amazon. If it is sent China Post or something like that you will have to go through one extra step to track it all the way to your door. After the package leaves there you will have to use your postal system and use the tracking number there to see where it is once it arrives in your country. For me that meant checking on USPS to see the first package was in San Francisco 5 days later and on it’s way. The second package is still in transit I guess. 2 days after that the first package was delivered. The second is taking a bit longer. Looking at the items in the first package they looked good. Then I started looking closer…. This was not what I ordered. One item was similar to what I ordered but not exactly it. The other was the wrong size and not by a little. I mean WAY off! The only thing that was correct was the $4 item. Go figure. Quality was not too bad but its not the right stuff so….. money wasted. What am I going to do, send it back? Now what about that second package that seems to be taking its sweet time?
As the days go by I see that China post says the item has left for the US as its last update. That was weeks ago. USPS has no info on the package. I contacted the company about the wrong items and sizes and they said they would not refund me at all. The return policy on their site is apparently not the policy they intend to honor. If I pay to ship the incorrect items back there they will issue me a store credit only up to 20%. Needless to say SAMMYDRESS.COM is a complete ripoff! DO NOT SHOP THERE!
I have tried to contact them everyday days about the wrong items and nothing. This was one if the better companies too! My only option left is to file a complaint with PayPal but we’ll see if that gets me anywhere. I have to imagine the fine print says the protection is not good for purchases from China. Buyer Beware! I still have no idea what happened to the lost package or if I will ever get my money back. What a joke!
So, bottom line is this. While it was just $36, if you get NOTHING from it then you just wasted $36. There is a reason things cost what they do and if you look too hard for a bargain then you are likely to get burned. Judging from a lot of the YouTube videos showing Cheap Dress Hauls you can see the stuff you are likely to get is not as high quality as you may be used to so are you really going to wear your $7 dress that looks like shit out in public? I don’t think so! Save your money and buy something you would actually wear….. that’s my advice.