Knitted cardigan scam leaves woman 'gobsmacked'

The advert, left, showed a knitted cardigan but the items received were just printed sweatshirt material

A woman says she was "gobsmacked" after ordering two knitted cardigans and receiving items that did not look like their online advert.

Elfie Waren from Berwick-upon-Tweed paid £62 for two "fluffy" cardigans with a “beautiful floral pattern” from what she believed was a London-based shop.

However, instead of the knitwear she expected, two polyester sweatshirts with printed photos of the knitted cardigans arrived.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours programme, Ms Waren said her eye had been caught by the cardigans when she was scrolling through her social media.

"I don’t normally buy any clothes online so it was most unlike me to actually think something was pretty enough to order," she said.

"The cardigan looked really brightly coloured, it had a sort of beautiful floral pattern in various colours."

Elfie Waren said she does not normally buy clothes online

The garment appeared to have been knitted, Ms Warren said – describing it as "kind of fluffy" on the photo – so she placed an order for two.

The website, called Milena-London.com, was offering what it said was a 50% sale.

"I opened the package and discovered what was inside were sweater cardigans made of some kind of polyester material - definitely not knitted," she said.

"It was actually a printed picture of knitting on a polyester fabric."

The pattern was not very good, fading at the edge and not continuing to the bottom of the garment, she added.

"I was gobsmacked," Ms Waren said. "I tried one of the cardigans on and thought 'that looks horrible – no-one’s ever going to believe that looks like a knitted garment'."

Elfie Waren said the pattern on the sweatshirts looked nothing like knitting

Dropshipping is a legitimate business model where sellers list products on a website without actually holding the stock and, when they receive an order, they buy the product from a third party seller, who ships it straight to the customer.

But, in some cases, the model can be exploited by scammers.

Rather than not sending anything at all, they send items in the hope it will prevent people complaining to their bank and the police.

There can be a vast difference in quality and value between the item advertised and the one that eventually ends up with the customer.

Reviews warning

The website for Milena-London.com was registered in May and appears to have been taken down. BBC emails to the site went unanswered.

But the same cardigan has been advertised on dozens of very similar sites, all apparently at heavily reduced prices.

On these sites there are what claim to be hundreds of positive reviews, alongside the Trustpilot logo.

But on the review company's own site, where comments about these websites are overwhelmingly negative, Trustpilot carries warnings that its brand is being used in a misleading way.

Ms Waren returned her items to the Chinese address the site gave her – paying another £21 in postage. The package has been stuck in Chinese customs for six weeks.

After contacting You and Yours, she has received a full refund from PayPal, which she used to make the purchase, under its "buyer protection policy".