A bad hair day
If you thought that you’ve had a bad hair day....wait until you read this!
Trading standards bosses have issued a warning for people to be on the lookout for dangerous products and fake hair straighteners, in the run-up to Christmas.
The advice comes after several complaints from people who have brought so-called ‘bargain’s from various internet sites.
Customers thought they were buying Good Hair Day (GHD) hair straighteners, but what they were really buying, it turned out, were dangerous counterfeits.
Hartlepool Borough Council's trading standards team said people thought they were buying from the official GHD website or a legitimate UK site, only to find that the items came directly to them from China or the Far East.
The trading standards team also received a complaint that one of the pairs of straighteners began to burn when being used.
Michael Welsh, the council's principal trading standards officer, said: “If anyone is thinking about purchasing GHD straighteners on the internet at what appears to be a knockdown price, they should be extremely wary.
“These are more likely to be copies and with counterfeit goods you don't know what, if any, quality control checks have been carried out and how and where they have been made.
“You run the risk of being injured and it will be very difficult to take action against the manufacturer or supplier of the fakes.”
As a result, Mr Welsh has urged individuals who have brought such items at a discounted price, to check whether their purchase is genuine by registering the unique hologram number on the box, on the authentic GHD website.
He also gave a stern message to traders who have imported false items, stating that they could face a criminal injury claim if any customer suffers a personal injury.
“They are liable for the goods if they turn out to be either counterfeit or unsafe. They could face prosecution – apart from a heavy fine and a criminal conviction, they face losing their stock and are liable for any personal injury claims if the person they have sold the item to is injured.”
Crackdown on false products
The Metropolitan Police said last week that it shut down more than 1200 illegal internet shopping Web sites that claimed to sell cut-price goods.
These illegal internet shopping Web sites claimed to sell products such as GHD hair items, Tiffany jewellery and Ugg Australia Boots. Instead all they were really doing was supplying fake goods or at times nothing at all.
The Central e-crime unit of the Metropolitan Police worked with UK domain name registry Nominet to close down the addresses of these Web sites.
Speaking on the move, head of Central e-crime unit Charlie McMurdie, said, “Fraudsters target the victim's desire to buy designer goods at reduced prices, particularly at this time of year.
“The risk begins when your desire to purchase blinds your judgment or leads you to illegal websites. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. The focus here is to make the UK the safest place to trade online.”
Updated on 12/8/2009