A dodgy online discount tech and homeware retailer is failing to fulfil orders or refund people’s money.
Which? has found multiple reports online that Abiluff.com has not been fulfilling orders for expensive branded products it lists on its website at heavily discounted prices.
One customer told us he bought a laptop from the site, but had never received an order confirmation for it and it was never delivered.
He paid via PayPal, which the Abiluff website says is it’s preferred method of payment.
But now he’s in a struggle to claim his money back and believes he’s been the victim of a scam.
We contacted Abiluff.com for comment, but it did not respond.
Signs that Abiluff.com is suspicious
We found enough concerns when looking at the Abiluff.com website to advise consumer to steer clear of it.
- No company number listed It’s the law to display a company number on a business website. On further investigation, Abiluff.com does not appear to be registered with Companies House, suggesting it isn’t a legitimate company.
- No contact number or contact information Only a generic support email address is listed. There’s no guidance on who to call or get in touch with if you have questions or a problem with your order, which is a red flag.
- The company address doesn’t exist The postcode listed on the website has a Swansea area code, but the exact address doesn’t exist.
- Limited range of products on sale The website homepage makes it look like Abiluff.com sells an impressive range of tech and home products. But if you search through the site more closely, it actually has very little listed for sale.
- Poor reviews and complaints online We found negative feedback and complaints left recently on popular review websites and forums.
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They don’t confirm your order, but take your money through PayPal. Their phone number is not recognised, and it has several different email addresses and they don’t reply to emails sent to them. I ordered a toy for my granddaughter’s birthday and it has not been delivered and from what other dissatisfied customers say, it never will be. DO NOT ORDER FROM THEM! [Trustpilot] |
I’ve made an order, how can I get my money back?
I paid using a credit card You have protection from Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. It makes credit card company is jointly and severally liable for any breach of contract or misrepresentation by the company. But for it to apply the item or service you bought must have cost more than £100 and less than £30,000.
I paid using a debit card You can ask your bank to get your money back through the chargeback scheme. It’s a voluntary scheme, where your bank and card network will try to reverse the original transaction. It applies to all debit card transactions, but exact rules may vary between the American Express, Maestro and Visa networks. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees your bank will be able to recover the money through chargeback.
I paid using PayPal If the scammer has taken payment for an item through PayPal and then hasn’t sent, you should be covered by PayPal Buyer Protection. But there are some exceptions and time limits on lodging a claim.
We’ve reported the website to its domain registry for further investigation.
You can find out more about how to spot a fraudulent website from our guide.
And if you think you’ve been scammed online, there are things you can do to get your money back.