Agency by William Gibson 
What Mr Barry ordered …. … and what he got
A former police officer from Congleton has warned social media users to be wary of scams, after receiving “cheap, shoddy” clothes bought online that he thought would be good quality.
Rod Barry, (78), who has limited mobility due to terminal lung cancer, said he was using a social media site when he noticed an advert for a “stylish, warm sweater made from quality materials”.
But after the £29.70 item arrived, he felt he had been a victim of fraud.
He said: “It looked really classy, so I ordered one. The price seemed reasonable, because I’d bought a really nice wool jumper from the brand Weird Fish earlier this year for £35 in the sale, so that’s the kind of quality I was looking for.”
The item, which was called “Anthony, Stylish Warm”, is still available on morgan-london.com for £90, discounted to £34.95. The website claims to have a store in London but has no address and no store of that name comes up on Google.
Mr Barry said: “It’s difficult to describe to you just how cheap and shoddy the item is. The photo on Facebook looked like a cable-knit sweater, but this is a print of cable-knit on cheap material.
“I served with the regional crime squad; I can tell you that the item I received versus the one in the photo online, meets the definition of fraud under UK law – there’s no doubt about that.”
After writing to the company to complain, it offered him a 15% discount on the item, or a full refund if he returned it by post to China at his own expense.
The current cost of postage of a small package to China with a weight of up to 250g through Royal Mail, is £11.20.
He said: “I haven’t even looked at what that might cost because I’m not interested in doing that.
“What really gets to me is that Facebook can take money from a company like this that are obviously ripping people off on a daily basis. It is allowing this to happen, and it should be ashamed of itself.” Mr Barry said he had emailed Facebook-owner Mark Zuckerberg directly, as well as his UK counterpart.
He said: “I haven’t had a reply, obviously, and I don’t expect I’ll get one, but the more people who are affected like me speak out, the more likely Facebook is to succumb.” As well as contacting Facebook, Mr Barry said he had emailed the BBC programmes “Rip-Off Britain” and “Morning Live”, and the “Daily Express” newspaper, but had heard nothing back.
He said: “I deliberately haven’t gone to the police. If I was a police officer now investigating this, it would meet the UK legal definition of fraud, no doubt, but the practicalities of reporting it to the police and getting something done about it are slim to nil.
“There is a national fraud agency, and everything is done online. The police are not interested. If I rang my local police station now and said I wanted to make a written statement of complaint, they wouldn’t even talk to me, and the national fraud office has no listing for this type of faud.”
Rubbish
Mr Barry is not alone in feeling the goods from Morgan London are not as good as promised. On TrustPilot, reviews included:
• What utter rubbish. From photograph on advertisement looked like knitwear, but on arrival it was just a polyester shirt;
• Send you a dress that looks nothing like the ad then tell you you have to return it to China … they offered me 5% off to keep it then 20% but it is a shapeless tent;
• Expected a hand knitted cardigan got something utterly hideous that I cannot imagine anyone would ever wear;
• Absolute c**p, sadly mirroring all of the other reviews … coat (jacket) weighed less than a pair of socks with a zip that’s jammed!;
• Chinese scammers that advertise fake pictures of the nice clothes and then send you something that doesn’t have any label, absolutely awful fabrics;
• One of the worst experience of my life in purchasing … all products are shipped from China, there was no reply on my email, there is no phone number to call, I searched reviews history – dreadful;
• Avoid at all costs and be very aware of shopping from ads on Instagram, I have complained to instagram but they ignored the report;
• Bought a zipper cardigan, which arrived after two weeks, not the colour I ordered and the item is really poor quality – it looked like someone has been wearing it in bed for the last six months;
• The word London means nothing … it’s China … cheap, rubbish, scam. I hope this review helps others to void being taken in as I was … avoid like the plague!!!!
• Absolute scam, the retro style jackets you’re seeing at the moment are thin as a wafer and tiny for £39.99.
The “Chronicle” contacted Facebook and Morgan London for comment.
A spokesperson for Cheshire East Council said information about the work done by its trading standards team was available on its website by searching “scams awareness” and that it also contained information on how to report scams.
A council spokesperson said: “Our teams also hold in-person events to warn people of what to look out for, and we regularly post content that raises awareness about the latest scams circulating.”
Have you been a victim of this? Let us know!
(Photos: Rod Barry/morgan-london.com).
