Have you ever purchased something online that turned out to be junk?

United States
December 16, 2007 6:28pm CST
A long time ago, I saw a really cute toy online. It was one of those little doll house things that little kids love. So, I made the leap and bought it. We waited three weeks for the thing to arrive. And, when it did, the toy was nowhere near what we had expected. It was a real piece of junk. That could explain the price. It was basically card board and fell apart easily. It looked nothing like the item advertised. Maybe they used special lighting to make it look better. What a disappointment. Of course, we returned it. And, wouldn't you know, it was a bigger hassle to get my money back. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever purchased clothes, electronics or toys online and then found that it look nothing like the product advertised? Did you keep it or return it for full refund?
3 people like this
11 responses
@wiccania (3360)
• United States
17 Dec 07
I once bought a Blues Clues notebook online that came with a wipe away crayon. I only spent like $7 on it including shipping but it was disappointing. The product page lead me to believe that the 3 pages would be hard plastic with a special coating on them for the crayon. They were just card stock paper with a piece of coated paper glued to them. Also, the spiral wasn't closed on the ends, so it wound its way out of the notebook. It took my son about 3 minutes to get it apart and he was only 3 years old at the time.
@bowtieguy (5915)
• United States
17 Dec 07
I have purchased a few things online that didn't quite turn out as I hoped they would. I got a few cd's awhile back and two of them had the little booklets missing and one of the cd's was scratched pretty bad and dosen't play very good. I am much more careful now when I buy things online.
1 person likes this
• United States
18 Dec 07
I have seen some CD-Roms on sale at Amazon.com and considered purchasing them. The seller always says they are in pristine condition. But, I am skeptical. Most are used CD-Roms and they are almost always unusable. Best of luck locating better purchases online. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
@Sissygrl (10912)
• Canada
17 Dec 07
I purchased a keyboard that was silent, you could fold it up, and it illuminated pink, and i NEVER recieved it. It was supposed to come from china and never made it. I wish it had, i really wanted it. I actually used the money i got from mylot to buy it! Although i paypal did get my money back, I was really dissapointed that i didn't get the keyboard, and it turned me off of buying things on ebay that's for sure!
1 person likes this
@kellys3ps (3723)
• United States
17 Dec 07
Yes we have, we kept it though, it was not worth the hassle of trying to return it.
1 person likes this
@youless (112123)
• Guangzhou, China
17 Dec 07
Yes, I experience to it. As I like shopping online, so it is hard to avoid to experience it. That's a mini remote control toy car for my son. This toy is very nice because it is really mini. However, the quality isn't so good. So later I bought it in a toy store. It is hard to trust to buy the same thing again via the net.
• United States
18 Dec 07
And, it's always so difficult to explain to the little ones why their new favorite toy is not going to be working properly. My daughter gets attached so easily. She does not understand. Thank you for sharing.
• United States
17 Dec 07
My mother once bought 2 suits for my dad. And the pictures looked nice. When we got he suits they turned out to be stinky and actually had holes in them. They did not refund the money. So my mother ended up paying 100 dollars for 2 used suits that looked like crap.
• United States
18 Dec 07
That's the worst! I am sorry to hear that people are still pulling scams like that. It's a shame, considering that most people just don't have money to waste. And, ever purchase is important, because it's valuable money being spent.
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
17 Dec 07
Actually my husband has. His sister's husband had seen a particular gas scooter on ebay. He told my husband all about it and they decided to buy a couple (one for my husband, the other for his brother-in-law). Well, being the person I am, I was skeptical and didn't want my husband wasting $200 as the scooter sounded to good to be true. When the scooter arrived, it was a lot smaller than his other stand up scooters and it looked very unstable. My husband tried to assure me that it was safe. Some months later he and his BIL went on a ride with their scooters. My husband hit an oil spot or something on the road and ended up sliding on the pavement. When he came home he told me what happened and that he was a little banged up with scrapes, but otherwise he was okay. That is until he took a shower that evening. He was SCREAMING in pain and he realized then how serious his injuries were. And to no surprise he stopped riding this little scooter after this. Obviously we never returned the scooter. And to this day it still sits in the garage. And after my husband's little incident he agreed to never buy something like a scooter online, at least not without investigating about it first.
• China
17 Dec 07
I don't like shopping online, I can't buy things if I can't see the real object and can't feel it.
@hv1peer (113)
• Netherlands
17 Dec 07
I haven't purchased a product online what was a piece of junk
• India
17 Dec 07
Hi friends, I have purchased Apple Iphone from ebay which costed around 25k Indian rupess....and its totally reliable and trustworthy ....after all ebay is recognised and seller is throughly verified before selling his/her products thr ebay ...even payment options are quite secured
• Mexico
17 Dec 07
well, i realy not get something, but i bought it and after 3 months it never arribed, so i ask for a refound and they never give me an answer, so i never buy there again, unafortunaly i dont remember what page is but when i remember i will post it.