Do y’all remember the yard dragon?

[Terabith]

I ordered the yard dragon.  This is the dragon I ordered:  https://freshyness.com/product/rhaegal-the-blue-dragon/

It says metallic in the description.  I assumed that meant it was made out of metal.  
 

This is the dragon that arrived as an Inflatable with a very slow hand pump.  
 

I am so sad.  And Obama is terrified of it.  

[alisoncooks]

That's.....not even close. Not even an "E" for effort. 

[sangtarah]

That is so disappointing. Can you return it? The dragon picture on the link is definitely metal! 

[matrips]

That’s not the dragon on the website at all.  They were definitely metal- you could tell by the bends and angles- inflatables would have looked rounder and smoother.  They did a lousy swap on you.

[Terabith]

6 minutes ago, sangtarah said:

That is so disappointing. Can you return it? The dragon picture on the link is definitely metal! 

So, their website says there is an iron clad return, money back guarantee.  However, I cannot find anywhere on their website how to return it.  I've sent an email, but I have yet to get a reply.  

[Carol in Cal.]

That is a rip off.

[Lady Marmalade]

Oh Em Gee.

What a disappointment! I hope someone responds to your e-mail.  That is so dishonest, there is no way that is garden art. 

[mathnerd]

It is a ripoff and I hope that you can return it. Why would the thing they sent you cost so much? They are cheating ...

[alisoncooks]

I notice the site accepts PayPal. If you did that, you should easily be able to get your money back that way. 

[Drama Llama]

Wow, what a disappointment.  I hope it is resolved soon. 

[hjffkj]

they knew exactly what they were doing.  Time to go directly to Paypal if that is how you paid.  Show them the site and a picture of what they sent you.  They will force the return. unless you paid with friends and family

[Spryte]

That’s just crummy.  

[JumpyTheFrog]

Dispute it with the credit card company if necessary. What they sent you isn't even close to what was in the photo.

[Garga]

I had to stop ordering from companies like this. I was burned 3 different times before I learned my lesson. I’m so sorry. It’s so disappointing. 😞

[WildflowerMom]

definitely dispute it!

 

[Ausmumof3]

That’s a scam!  I guess if you can’t return it your all set for Halloween this year.

[Farrar]

Oh no! That's so annoying!

[Terabith]

I will try disputing it with my credit card.  I didn't use pay pal, unfortunately.  All of the emails I've sent have come back as undeliverable.  

Honestly, I'm torn between being disappointed because it was SOOOOO cool, and being kind of amused at it.  I'm kinda tempted to see what it looks like once it's all blown up.  Maybe it'll be awesome.  I mean, certainly wouldn't have spent a hundred bucks on it, but we were kind of skeptical from the get go and felt like we were taking a risk.  

[Wishes]

There’s no way that company is from Canada. The “reviews” and the company information sound like someone ran them through an English translation app. It reminded me of some of the awkwardly translated to English signs in China.

from the site:

I was very happy to find this garden decoration and purchased it on my child’s 5th birthday. She has been asking questions about buying birthday gifts. I found that it has functions other than decoration. For example, children will dress him up and share them with classmates. Many classmates come to our house to see him. Children spend less time playing games and children will chat and discuss with us more. When my child said, I thank you for choosing this gift, he told me not to stay at home alone while working. 

Asking questions about buying birthday gifts? Classes are running over to dress up the dragon? My child told me not to stay alone at home working? What!?

Sorry Terabith. That’s disappointing. Dragon would have been cool.

Edited March 28, 2021 by Wishes

[Ditto]

Add me to the group saying to dispute it with your credit card company.   They should be very responsive as long as you have pictures/description of what you ordered and what you actually received.   What a giant pile of disappointment.

[Lady Marmalade]

5 hours ago, Wishes said:

There’s no way that company is from Canada. The “reviews” and the company information sound like someone ran them through an English translation app. It reminded me of some of the awkwardly translated to English signs in China.

from the site:

I was very happy to find this garden decoration and purchased it on my child’s 5th birthday. She has been asking questions about buying birthday gifts. I found that it has functions other than decoration. For example, children will dress him up and share them with classmates. Many classmates come to our house to see him. Children spend less time playing games and children will chat and discuss with us more. When my child said, I thank you for choosing this gift, he told me not to stay at home alone while working. 

Asking questions about buying birthday gifts? Classes are running over to dress up the dragon? My child told me not to stay alone at home working? What!?

Sorry Terabith. That’s disappointing. Dragon would have been cool.

From Canada?  In my digging around I found a postal address for London, UK and then there was a story in the about us section about building stuff in a garage in Mississippi. 

If you wanted to go to the trouble, I think this is worthy of filing a complaint.  It won't help you recover money, but maybe you could get the site shut down so other people don't get taken advantage of.   I didn't know the Internet Crime Complaint Center was a thing, but apparently it is!

https://www.ic3.gov/

[history-fan]

Wow it’s really not close to what the photos show. I would take screenshots of the images on their website-especially the one with the dragons mouth open, you can see the field between its jaws. The screenshots might help support you if you or your credit card company pursue-and if they change their website pictures you still have record. The website seems to contradict itself in regards to returns and then tries to intimidate with legal contract wording. 
Hope everything works out for you.

[fraidycat]

I agree with taking screenshots and filing complaints with your credit card company and with the internet crimes link. 

[history-fan]

I just wanted to add that I’m so disappointed for you. I thought these looked really cool-I’m still looking at dragon lawn art.  If anyone watched that movie Twister I’ve always thought the lawn sculptures that the aunt had in her yard were awesome.

[Robin M]

I'm so sorry Terabith.  I stumbled across these the other day and was contemplating it.  Complete false advertising as they say the product is  made out of titanium alloy metal.  You should definitely file a complaint and filed a claim with your credit card company.  The website is very deceptive and nowhere on the site does it say the dragons are balloon and need to be inflated.  Their policies do state Full refund within 30 days without reason.  I would look up how to report fraud in England.  Here's some company info I found.  Maybe it will help with your claim.

[Amy in NH]

I got scammed on a beautiful sweater that appeared in a FB ad.  I bought it using Paypal.  What arrived was an ugly, thin, polyester thing with a sweater printed on it!  I contacted the seller, and they offered to give me a refund if I paid return shipping to China, which was more than the "sweater" cost.  I contacted Paypal with the scam details, pictures from the website, pictures of the item, and they refused to credit me unless I was willing to pay for the return shipping - which I was not. 

I had ordered other items from the scammers along with the "sweater", and they had been "backordered" at the time time the "sweater" arrived, so I cancelled them immediately.  I never got a refund on those items.  I contacted Paypal again and spoke with a live person who refunded me for the entire amount including the "sweater", which I threw in the trash.

I still see the same ad from different business names on FB, and report it as a scam every time.

 

That was a really cute dragon in the ad.  I'm sorry that happened to you.  Be persistent with Paypal to get your refund, if that's how you paid.

[Lady Florida.]

Oh what a disappointment. 😞  Definitely dispute it with your CC company.

On 3/27/2021 at 8:19 PM, Terabith said:

 

 And Obama is terrified of it.  

 

 I admit one of my first thoughts when I saw your thread title was "I wonder what Obama thinks of it".

[Wishes]

19 hours ago, Lady Marmalade said:

From Canada?  In my digging around I found a postal address for London, UK and then there was a story in the about us section about building stuff in a garage in Mississippi. 

If you wanted to go to the trouble, I think this is worthy of filing a complaint.  It won't help you recover money, but maybe you could get the site shut down so other people don't get taken advantage of.   I didn't know the Internet Crime Complaint Center was a thing, but apparently it is!

https://www.ic3.gov/

This is from the “About Us” section on the website. I mean, if you’re going to make something up...

Freshyness started as a small business in a garage in Mississauga, Ontario in 1977. In the past 40 years, it has grown into an inter-departmental company you know and trust.

When the owner, Wayne Tucker, started making nursing home decoration/holiday decorations with his father, Freshness quickly developed and established a loyal customer base because it won a good reputation in the outdoor decoration field.

Want to become a one-dimensional company, and hope to provide full-year service to their customers, it is time to expand, so the Flags and Banners department of Freshness was established in 1985.

Despite the introduction of a new department, Freshness customers still had some needs that the company could not meet. They wanted to do more, so in 1990, the Site Furniture department was added. Freshyness initially used steel and wood to make most of the on-site furnishings, but he realized that titanium alloy metal is a better material to use because it is more durable and environmentally friendly. Now, Freshness is proud of the fact that they are the leader in home decoration made of titanium alloy metal in Canada.

Now, including Wayne’s son Adam and Chris, Freshnessness continues to grow and produce quality products that customers can trust. For 40 years, freshness has been very suitable for you, and will continue to maintain this freshness in the coming years.

[Terabith]

Yeah, it's baffling.  

[DawnM]

On 3/27/2021 at 10:01 PM, Garga said:

I had to stop ordering from companies like this. I was burned 3 different times before I learned my lesson. I’m so sorry. It’s so disappointing. 😞

Me too.   I ordered a dog ball return/throw and they sent me a cheap tennis ball for $29.   I had to fight Paypal twice to get my money back.   

[Garga]

11 hours ago, Wishes said:

This is from the “About Us” section on the website. I mean, if you’re going to make something up...

Freshyness started as a small business in a garage in Mississauga, Ontario in 1977. In the past 40 years, it has grown into an inter-departmental company you know and trust.

When the owner, Wayne Tucker, started making nursing home decoration/holiday decorations with his father, Freshness quickly developed and established a loyal customer base because it won a good reputation in the outdoor decoration field.

Want to become a one-dimensional company, and hope to provide full-year service to their customers, it is time to expand, so the Flags and Banners department of Freshness was established in 1985.

Despite the introduction of a new department, Freshness customers still had some needs that the company could not meet. They wanted to do more, so in 1990, the Site Furniture department was added. Freshyness initially used steel and wood to make most of the on-site furnishings, but he realized that titanium alloy metal is a better material to use because it is more durable and environmentally friendly. Now, Freshness is proud of the fact that they are the leader in home decoration made of titanium alloy metal in Canada.

Now, including Wayne’s son Adam and Chris, Freshnessness continues to grow and produce quality products that customers can trust. For 40 years, freshness has been very suitable for you, and will continue to maintain this freshness in the coming years.

So is their name Freshyness, Freshness, Freshnessness, or freshness?

I like Freshnessness the best. Let’s go with that one.

[Terabith]

19 minutes ago, DawnM said:

Me too.   I ordered a dog ball return/throw and they sent me a cheap tennis ball for $29.   I had to fight Paypal twice to get my money back.   

I feel slightly less stupid for being scammed now.  

[Garga]

12 minutes ago, Terabith said:

I feel slightly less stupid for being scammed now.  

I ordered a bookcase that was round and would spin for $40-odd. I should have known better—way too good to be true price. A few months later, they sent me a miniature Santa Claus ornament, like something the size of a thumbnail with a little note about “a thank you gift for you while we are still working on your order.” 

I looked it up, and it’s a scam where they send the little doo-dad so it can be marked somewhere that they delivered an item to you so that it’s harder to fight them. They can say, “See, a package was delivered to the customer,” and the customer can’t really prove they didn’t get the bookcase but only got a stupid, plastic thumbnail-sized ornament. 

I also bought a skirt that was supposed to be knee-length and a thick material, but it was a thin, ankle-length weird skirt. And leggings that were supposed to be thick which were also super thin and in colors that didn’t match the website. 

I didn’t bother fighting any of the above and figured the money was spent on education: my education to never buy from wonky websites ever again.

Edited March 29, 2021 by Garga

[Garga]

Oh, one more thing: I bought my dad a coin that had special gears in it to make a little sword on the surface of the coin move. 

But when it was delivered to my dad, it was just a regular coin with a carving of the sword and nothing moved.

So...yeah. You learned in one big purchase. I spent about the same amount of money as you did on a bunch of little purchases, just to learn the same lesson: do not buy from wonky websites!

[elegantlion]

You could make a video. This is Bernadette Banner, who makes historical clothing. She found a picture of a dress she made being sold on Wish. She ordered it, then trashed talked it in this video. 

 

[Not_a_Number]

Aw, Terabith, that's so disappointing!!! I'm sorry you got sent that piece of crap 😞 . The yard dragon looked very cool. 

[Lady Marmalade]

Oh yes, I bought this big wooden marble labyrinth-like puzzle that you would stand on to roll the marble around.  It looked like a lot of fun and super difficult.  Kind of a balance challenge thing with the added complexity of a marble maze.  I thought it would be a fun thing to have around for when my nieces and nephews were here.  I figured even the adults would have fun with it.

I paid $39.95 and it took about two months to get here- I'd completely forgotton about it.  What showed up was this nine inch wooden oval with three little circles routered out of it and two little glass marbles.   An American Girl doll could stand on it, maybe. 😆  Definitely a piece of junk. 

[TheReader]

17 hours ago, Garga said:

So is their name Freshyness, Freshness, Freshnessness, or freshness?

I like Freshnessness the best. Let’s go with that one.

...and in the return policy, they have yet another name: 
https://freshyness.com/return-policy/

Buyer no longer wants the items – this is the most common example which we cannot honor if we want to continue offering great value at INSFUTURE. 

So odd! 

16 hours ago, elegantlion said:

You could make a video. This is Bernadette Banner, who makes historical clothing. She found a picture of a dress she made being sold on Wish. She ordered it, then trashed talked it in this video. 

 

This was my thought -- that actual dragon exists, somewhere. It's not uncommon that these rip-off sites screen grab actual art pieces to use (happens with quilts and things, too). I wonder if there's a way to track down the actual dragon maker, and report it to him/her, and they might have more ability to get the website shut down (at least this one....). 

@Terabith, it's such a disappointment! that is a seriously cool dragon (the original); I hope you're able to get your money back. I'm sorry you fell victim to a scam; we've had some very wonky purchases even through Amazon (third party sellers).

Ordered some "weighted fidget lap pads" for my classroom that are a little smaller, but about half the weight, max, that they were supposed to be. That was a huge bummer.
Then my husband ordered a calendar for his mom for Christmas......when it arrived, it was one of those mini-sized ones. ??? Nowhere did it say it would be. 
Ordered a set of books.....*one* book of the set arrived, and then the seller hassled me over the refund (this was even through a Half Price Books, selling through Amazon, and the listing was very clearly for the full set, but nope, just one of the 4 arrived. Ridiculous). 

Hopefully yours gets sorted. Dang, but it was a cool dragon in the post! 

[TheReader]

Here's the actual vendor of the dragon -- sadly, a company in the UK, so he's not shippable to the US, but dang. 

https://www.oliveandsage.co.uk/search?type=product&q=rhaegal

I did message them with the fraudulent website; maybe you can send them an email with the photo so they can see what's happening....? They may wish to pursue legal action/file a complaint/something or other (surely there's something that can be done, yes...? I have no idea.....) against the website. 

Really stinks that people do this kind of thing. 

 

[Spryte]

We had a similar experience last summer.  Wanted an above ground pool, and none were available anywhere.  Ordered from a sketchy site (Raindorps.  Really.) It didn’t arrive, emails undeliverable, started going round and round with PayPal - that part was more difficult than we expected - and finally, 3 months later the pool arrived.  It was fine.  But what a pain in the neck.

We have a metal yard dragon from an art show.  I can’t recall who made it now, but it’s mostly green.  Well-loved.  It lives outside, and we’ve had it for 20 years at least.  DS wants to mail it to you.  😊

[Terabith]

2 hours ago, TheReader said:

Here's the actual vendor of the dragon -- sadly, a company in the UK, so he's not shippable to the US, but dang. 

https://www.oliveandsage.co.uk/search?type=product&q=rhaegal

I did message them with the fraudulent website; maybe you can send them an email with the photo so they can see what's happening....? They may wish to pursue legal action/file a complaint/something or other (surely there's something that can be done, yes...? I have no idea.....) against the website. 

Really stinks that people do this kind of thing. 

 

I sent them a message and let them know.  Hopefully they can file a cease and desist or something.  

[Terabith]

2 hours ago, Spryte said:

We had a similar experience last summer.  Wanted an above ground pool, and none were available anywhere.  Ordered from a sketchy site (Raindorps.  Really.) It didn’t arrive, emails undeliverable, started going round and round with PayPal - that part was more difficult than we expected - and finally, 3 months later the pool arrived.  It was fine.  But what a pain in the neck.

We have a metal yard dragon from an art show.  I can’t recall who made it now, but it’s mostly green.  Well-loved.  It lives outside, and we’ve had it for 20 years at least.  DS wants to mail it to you.  😊

Your son sounds adorable!  

The inflatable dragon sent instead of the metal dragon might make a good pool toy.  I'm working on finishing blowing it up.  We'll see.  

[Garga]

5 hours ago, Terabith said:

Your son sounds adorable!  

The inflatable dragon sent instead of the metal dragon might make a good pool toy.  I'm working on finishing blowing it up.  We'll see.  

That’s what I told my family!!!

I had told them all about your dragon back when you were ordering it. Then I told them that what actually arrived was a blow up dragon, and I said, “Not those big ones like people put out at Christmas, but basically a...pool toy!” They were all appropriately bummed for you.

 

[Terabith]

1 minute ago, Garga said:

That’s what I told my family!!!

I had told them all about your dragon back when you were ordering it. Then I told them that what actually arrived was a blow up dragon, and I said, “Not those big ones like people put out at Christmas, but basically a...pool toy!” They were all appropriately bummed for you.

 

I mean, it's a cool pool toy.  But not like the cool Christmas ones, no, sadly.