WELL IT HAPPENED TO ME - I GOT SCAMMED LAST WEEK!

[chief38]

It's not the end of the world, but as careful as I usually am, I got scammed for $70 bucks on GE refrigerator water filters. I should have known better by the lower price than others selling the filters, but when I saw the "American Company" (portrayal - as I now know) was in PA and had a local phone number I felt OK. After ordering them, I was given a tracking number and the service delivering them was unfamiliar to me. Found out are a Chinese shipping Company! The filters that were pictured on the site are marked "Genuine GE filter - made in USA" were being shipped from Shanghai!

As soon as I got the tracking number from China I knew they got me! I refused shipment and had it returned after trying to contact the Company and all I get back from them is a response saying the shipment is on its way and I should receive it soon written in broken English.

I paid for these through Paypal so we shall see if they will help me get my refund. If not, I will call the credit card company and file a fraud charge to reverse the payment. I guess no matter how careful one can be, a scam of one sort or another is in everyone's future. Again, things really looked legit on their site and they use an American name (of course) but I am pissed at myself believing they were the real deal filters - should have known better just by the price itself! Lesson learned and I hope to eventually get my money back. I don't like the feeling of being gotten over on!

This is the first time "they got me". Hope it's the last but I feel like avoiding scams is now a full time job!

 

[Rpg]

Your credit card company is your best bet here. They’ll credit the fraud and you’ll be made whole.

You were smart using your credit card to fund your PayPal payment. PayPal isn’t very helpful in these cases. Had you used a debit card, you’d be out of luck.

 

[CH4]

How do you know they won’t work as stated?

 

[gjgalligan]

I've found a lot of those type of thing are made on the same assembly line, same quality, just a different "brand" name.
Just refusing to accept the package and at least looking at them was a bit rash.

 

[ZGrand]

Seems improbable, but could they have been real GE items, made in the U.S., shipped to a company in Shanghai, and then offered for resale?

 

[cmj8591]

"Made in USA" is a sliding scale these days. It could be that the components came from the US and were assembled in China. Or it could mean something completely different. PayPal is usually pretty accommodating so they should take care of you. I think for 70 bucks and avoiding the aggravation I would have opened the box and given them a try.

 

[jeffrefrig]

My credit and debit cards' companies are pretty good about refunding me for this type of thing if wherever I used it won't give me satisfaction. I believe most will take care of that sort of "mistake" by whoever I order something from.
It seems that with all these online businesses now, selling gizmos for 1/3 the cost of actual brick & mortar stores, may be getting saturated with online orders, might actually make mistakes like that. It's the phone number re-routing from Fling Poo to a "local" area code that seems to be a scammer trick that's been going on lately (last few years). Especially with these extended warranty type calls: it looks local so I might just answer this call. Then you get the foreigner on the other end.
"If they would only use their genius for Good instead of Evil, Robin!"

 

[glenwolde]

In this case, your credit card company will likely be unable to help you. They paid PayPal, not the ScamCO directly. That's why these outfits want you to use PayPal/Venmo/Zelle etc.

There's nobody the CC company can charge back for it.

 

[444 Magnum]

How do you know they won’t work as stated?

I've found a lot of those type of thing are made on the same assembly line, same quality, just a different "brand" name.
Just refusing to accept the package and at least looking at them was a bit rash.

^^^ Lots of things are now counterfeited-- car parts, rifle scopes, Troy Industries A/R sights are a few.

Troy Industries has a warning and tutorial on their website with instructions on how to spot fake Troy Industry battle sights. I ordered several through Walmart.com. When I got them, some were real and some were fakes. I returned them to Walmart and told the girl they were counterfeit.

You definitely don't want counterfeit car parts.

"Too good to be true" usually is. Always pay with a credit card so you have recourse.

 

[chief38]

How do you know they won’t work as stated?

How would I know what’s inside of them and if they are removing what they claim too. For all I know they could be empty of filled with dirt. All I can test is the chlorine level (with a pool test kit) but beyond that would YOU trust a Chinese knock off company to do the right thing?? Not me!! Even the legit stuff they make there is junk most of the time so I have no faith at all in a company that prints “made in USA” and states on the label “genuine GE filter”.

 

[chief38]

I've found a lot of those type of thing are made on the same assembly line, same quality, just a different "brand" name.
Just refusing to accept the package and at least looking at them was a bit rash.

The real ones are made in the USA. If the are made in MN why would they get shipped from Shanghai? Nope-not same assembly line in this case.

It astounds me to see just how many things we use in everyday life that the Chinese counterfeit.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I finally got my money returned for the missing Libertad- Mexican one ounce Silver Coin.
Apparently a USPS person here in town has it.

 

[chief38]

I've found a lot of those type of thing are made on the same assembly line, same quality, just a different "brand" name.
Just refusing to accept the package and at least looking at them was a bit rash.

Again, the real ones are made here. This was made in China by who knows and who knows what they put inside. I know they are fake since the real GE filters (which they were advertised as) are made in MN, not Shanghai!

 

[TIMETRIPPER]

I was scammed last year when I purchased a garden planter advertised on a Wayfair ad on Facebook. Got suspicious when I printed out my order receipt and it was all in Chinese and without any contact information. Payment was by PayPal. We had bought several items from Wayfair previously and so had an account with them. When I looked up my account I found no history of the Facebook purchase. Gave it a day and still no entry. I then called Wayfair and explained my concern. They had no history of the purchase and also told me that they do not advertise on Facebook. At that time they opened a security claim and gave me the claim number.
I then went on Paypal and filed a claim to recover my loss, which was about $85. I gave them all the information I had at the time, including Wayfairs security claim number. Within a few days I was informed that my claim was verified and approved and would receive a refund back to my credit card used on my PayPal account. All went well.
Whenever possible, I use Paypal to make payment for online orders. It is an extra layer of protection from fraud. I should have known in the beginning that the Facebook ad was a scam. The purchase price was too good to be true. But I did have the good sense to print off my order number at the time. That is probably what saved me.
During the entire process of filing my claim I did some internet searches on fraud reimbursements from cc companies and Paypal. While the majority of comments about PP were negative, they also were very scant on actual information on the individual claims. I think that many beleive that simply saying "I've been scammed" is going to get them a refund. The truth of the matter is that in many cases, such a claim is a scam in itself. When you make a claim, give them something to work with: documents, contacts, detailed information and etc. It makes their job easier and will get you better results.

John

 

[Farmer17]

Last year a guy hacked my Facebook account and started contacting all my friends pretending to be me and trying to get them in Bitcoin mining, whatever that is. He showed them pictures of a new Mercedes he bought because he was making so much money and I tried to get into my account but everything was locked up. Many attempts to contact Facebook security went nowhere. I even hired an IT expert and he couldn't fix it and then the guy started trying to open a Cash APP type of account and I had many of my friends contact Facebook and tell them and they simply deleted my account along with many hundreds of pictures I had over a 12 year period. I sure wished I would have saved the pics somewhere else.

 

[swsig]

They may be telling the truth. There could be a town in China named "Usa" that is the source of these "Made in USA" products.

 

[chief38]

I just received my full refund through PayPal. I will now be even more careful when buying online. Unfortunately many items we use are simply not available in local stores. I guess the #1 red flag should be the price. If it’s substantially less expensive for a fair traded item, it will be the deal killer fir me. Thankfully aside from the frustrating experience, all is now good. I have since bought genuine GE filters directly from GE with a 15% discount. Still ridiculously priced but at least I know the water filtration should be what it is supposed to be. I will be installing a whole house water treatment unit in the near future which will pretty much eliminate refrigerator filter replacements.