A year ago I was browsing online and came across a beautiful white dress with navy vintage lace. It cost around £100 but I had no occasion to wear it so resisted the urge to buy it, until the same dress appeared in an advert on Facebook last week.
I’m getting married next month and have been looking for a dress for the registry office, so clicked on the advert. It took me to a website called SammyDress where the dress was around 70% cheaper.
This did seem strange but I have often bought end-of-season items from John Lewis, so thought nothing of it and paid for the dress through PayPal.
Five days later, Yodel delivered a package stamped from China and alarm bells rang. The website had listed an address in California.
I ripped it open and my heart sank. Inside was a cheap, dirty piece of viscose that looked like a child’s Halloween costume. The design was a poor copy and unwearable.
Spot the difference
I realised I had been scammed and immediately Googled “SammyDress scam” and discovered hundreds of other people had been scammed too. There were several Facebook pages dedicated to this, so I contacted customers who had never received items or received the same cheap knock-offs as me.
I learned that SammyDress rarely responds to complaints or offers returns and some customers have even had their credit card details stolen after using the website.
After searching Twitter for mentions of SammyDress I came across a Romania-based dress designer called Chotronette which claimed that SammyDress was stealing images of their dresses and using them to con customers.
Set up in 2009 by friends Silvia Chiteala and Laura Cazacu, Chotronette produces luxurious bespoke vintage dresses and now receives up to five emails a day from customers warning them about SammyDress stealing photos of their designs and claiming to sell them at a discount.
“We first found out about this from our followers who contacted us through our website,” said Cazacu.
“For us it’s very sad because people keep ordering these dresses for proms or weddings and are so disappointed when they arrive.”
An original Chotronette design and a copy
The dress I fell for was the Tea Party dress. But Chotronette only made three dresses in that style, and it hasn't been available since 2014.
After sending an email threatening to expose SammyDress as a scam, I received a response and the £30 was credited to my account, something that has reportedly never happened before.
The response apologised for the situation and asked for more details.
Chotronette
Only 3 real Tea Party dresses were ever made
But when I emailed the address again, I received no further responses. I tried to call, but the phone number did not work.
“We have tried to contact them with no answer so we are surprised that they did get in touch and send your money back,” Cazacu told me on the phone.
“They also operate under different domain names and even advertise on eBay, so it’s very hard for us to control.”
In the days that followed the same advert kept appearing on my Facebook wall as if to taunt me and I examined Facebook’s advertising policy which states that Facebook does not allow deceptive, false, or misleading content, including deceptive claims, offers, or business practices.
Facebook does not allow misleading ads
Being in clear breach of this policy, I reported SammyDress to Facebook who responded with the following statement.
“Facebook prohibits advertisements that are false or misleading, including deceptive claims, offers, or business practices.
"We are conducting a thorough review of whether this company has violated our policies, and will prevent them from advertising on Facebook until the conclusion of our investigation."
In the meantime I have ordered a proper dress from the girls at Chotronette so my wedding dress disaster turned out for the best in the end.
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