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Hi,

I am getting married next year and found the wedding dress I would like in a shop. Unfortunately its 2000 euro, way out of my budget.

I found out the name of the Indian designer from the label and set about finding it online.

I found the designer's website, but there was no contact information. Anyway I continued searching online and found a hotmail email address of a supplier of these dresses on a fashion website. I emailed the hotmail address and he replied with the price of the dress I wanted. It was only 800 euro. A huge saving. I asked him to send a larger photo of the dress than the one online to make sure its the right dress which he did promptly.

I see two issues:

1) Is the man at this "hotmail" email address really part of this designer's company. How can I be sure? He has large photos of the dresses, and knew the name of the shop in Ireland that sells this dress including their contact details. Other than that I'm not sure how I can check.

2) Payment. He asked me to pay using bank transfer. He sent on the bank account name (this matches with the designer's registered company name), account numbers, bank address etc.
I asked if I could pay using paypal so it would be insured, but he says their company do not have a paypal account. I'm worried that if I transfer the 800 euro no dress will arrive at all.

Any advice on what I can do?
I have researched online and cannot find anyone else who has bought from this Indian designer directly.
Its such a huge saving I hope I can get it!!

All advice appreciated.
Thanks
Jen

Why don't you explain your concerns to him. Can you call him? Perhaps you can reach an agreement to send a deposit or smaller amount, have him send the dress and then you pay the remainder?

Thanks Lauren

I don't think he speaks english.
The emails I get from him barely make sense, its like they have been translated very badly into english by an online automatic translator or something.

The other issue I have is that the first time I asked about the dress a few weeks ago he quoted a different price 200euro less.

Its all very complicated, but its such a huge saving I'm reluctant to give up on it.

Would my wedding insurance cover the dress not arriving do you think?

You should call the insurance company to be sure.

Have you tried google-ing his email address? Just to see what comes up. Also try searching for his name, company name etc to see what turns up.

It could be genuine, I'd hate to recieve €800 through Paypal as the fees would be massive. Alternativly, if you source the amount from your credit card, and it turns out to be fraudulent, can't you issue a chargeback with your company to get the money back?

I wouldnt go down the bank transfer route, as thats notorious with scammers. My heart goes out to you though, however sometimes if it seems to be too good to be true, it usually is.