The ‘wool’ M&S jumper that’s only a third wool ... and the ‘satin’ dress totally made of polyester

From clothes to furniture, how major brands’ products aren’t always what they claim

THOUSANDS of shoppers are discovering items ordered from reputable retailers are not what they expected. Complaints about goods that were poor quality, faulty or not as described rose by 138 pc last year, according to the dispute service Resolver.

In many cases, items were described as being made of quality natural materials, like wood or leather, but turned out to be constructed from cheap synthetic imitations.

Not only are these cheaper materials worth less, they tend to be flimsier and less durable.

Here, Money Mail investigates misleading online descriptions and how you can avoid being caught out . . .

DODGY DESCRIPTIONS

CAROLINE BLIGHT, 43, spent £30 on three wooden shelves from Homebase. The website described them as ‘ timber shelves’ with a ‘hard-wearing timber finish’.

But when the baking blogger, from Hertfordshire, collected the shelving, the packaging stated the products were actually made from the synthetic material melamine.

‘I said to the assistant I thought I had been given the incorrect order and she told me that things on the website aren’t always labelled the same as they are in real life,’ says Caroline. ‘I was really annoyed.’

Ratula Chakraborty, professor of business management at the University of East Anglia, describes misleading product descriptions on websites as ‘a modern twist on a classic bait-and-switch ploy’.

‘Traditionally, consumers were hooked by a marketing claim and then steered to buy something else, but here the ploy is to sell inferior items that do not match the intended quality,’ she says.

She recommends shoppers examine the small print carefully for any clues that the product is not what it seems and look out for phrases such as ‘effect’ or ‘pattern’ next to words like ‘wood’.

Customer complaints about furniture, kitchens, bathrooms and other home improvements — including misleading descriptions — rose by 25 pc between 2017 and 2019, compared with the previous two years, according to the Furniture and Home Improvement Ombudsman.

Other unhappy customers include those who bought £64 ‘knotty pine’ doors from B&Q and complained on its website that the surface bubbled when they attempted to paint or varnish it.

They said it was not made from solid pine, as the description suggested, but a thin wood veneer glued on to cheaper materials.

After Money Mail contacted Homebase and B&Q, the retailers edited their websites to make it clear the products were not made from real wood.

Homebase says: ‘We always aim to make sure product descriptions are accurate. We’re sorry we didn’t make it clear this time.’

B&Q adds: ‘ Delivering high quality products that our customers love is so important to us.’

MISLEADING ADS

WHEN shopping online, your first step might be to do a Google search for the item you want.

But watch out for the ‘shopping’ results shown at the top as these are adverts paid for by retailers and may not give an accurate description.

Prof Chakraborty says some retailers exploit the weaker regulations governing search engine adverts to use misleading language to entice customers to visit their websites, which are subject to stricter rules on accurate descriptions.

One £369.99 Wayfair chair, which appeared in a Google Shopping result for ‘ wool chairs’, was described as a ‘Scandi Wool Tub Chair’. But when Money Mail clicked through to the Wayfair website, we found the word ‘Wool’ had been replaced with the word ‘Wide’ in the product title.

And although the description said it was made from ‘original fabric pattern wool’, another link to the small print revealed the chair was actually upholstered in a cheap ‘polyester blend’ fabric printed with a picture of wool.

Wayfair did not respond to our requests for comment but the description of the chair was later updated.

‘Misleading adverts waste consumers’ time and result in wrong purchases and money wasted, which also causes environmental waste,’ says Prof Chakraborty. ‘[The practice] can only be stopped by search engines being more responsible — or tighter advertising rules and stronger regulation.’

GOLD TRICKS

SHOPPERS are also being misled by online descriptions of clothes and jewellery.

Last year, a Money Mail investigation revealed how some jewellery advertised as ‘gold’ online contains as little as 0.6 pc of the precious metal.

A solid 18ct gold ring is worth around £400, but one that looks similar made of plated cheap base metal could be worth less than £1, says Harriet Kelsall, deputy chairman of the National Association of Jewellers and owner of Harriet Kelsall Bespoke Jewellery.

She advises consumers to look for a hallmark and buy directly from the jewellery maker’s website, rather than through a third party such as eBay. Some retailers imply clothes are made from quality natural materials when, in reality, they are predominantly made from cheaper fabrics.

One jumper by White Stuff, which was sold on the M&S website as a ‘wool’ jumper for £59, actually contained only 36pc wool — the rest was nylon and acrylic.

M&S said the wording was ‘an error’ and had been updated. The product is no longer on sale.

Retailers may describe polyester items as ‘silky’ or ‘satin’. One £28 ‘satin’ green dress from Pretty LittleThing turned out to be 100 pc polyester. The company did not respond to requests for comment.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

THE law says consumers are entitled to products that match the description, are of satisfactory quality, are free from defects and last a reasonable length of time.

So if you are caught out by a misleading website description, you can request a refund and should not have to pay for return postage. The same protection may not apply with retailers based overseas.

If you are concerned about an online description, contact the Advertising Standards Authority.

moneymail@dailymail.co.uk