I was sucked in by the ads and this cleaner looked like a very good one. So I paid $45.95 for the spray bottle and 2 packets of the dissolving tablets.
The postage was $4 so all up $49.95.
The goods arrived fairly promptly and I was eager to get to work. The product had great reviews nothing negative. I wonder now if they were all made up.
The tablets did not fizz and took a long time to dissolve. The cleaner was pretty useless. I took photos of before and after the first and second time. Full money back guarantee but it costs over $20 to send the goods back to the Idaho USA office and be able to track them. They then offer you a 65% refund for not returning the goods. So you are out of pocket 35% which is what the stuff might actually be worth if it worked. lesson learnt , don’t buy from online USA. There is nowhere on the site to review the product. The only place I found bad reviews was on another obscure site.
This was the ad online.
20 DrClean Tablets 55% OFF
Complimentary Spray Bottle
They were very prompt with the refund, just a couple of days.
Maybe on their website, but it is likely that being outside Australia, you are right by saying
It doesn’t take much searching to find what other users on other sites say about the product. This is one…
Tell me if I am right, you saw the advert on social media, like Facebook…while it might not help you now, social media is riddled with scams and associated advertisements…
And you might have to put the $49.95 (or 35% thereof) as an expensive lesson OR if you paid by credit card, it might be worth contacting you card issuer to see if it qualifies for a chargeback. Also let them know you have been scammed and there is a possibility your card may be used fraudulently in the future. They might cancel your existing card and issue new one. If they do cancel it, make sure any automatic payments to the existing card are migrated to the new one…if this is required.
If you paid by PayPal, put in a dispute to see if you can get a full refund.
Giving part refund is in some ways clever as it may void opportunity to pursue other dispute pathways successfully. Even so, still follow up your payment method as they might block transactions with the ‘scammers’, so others also don’t fall for it.
Their standard T&Cs indicate they are based in California but have no offices there, but required you to send a return to Idaho (again no office). If they have an Australian corporate office (used to give website credibility), why does an Aussie need to send returns to the US where there are no offices…because it costly and a customer will take their loss by giving their credit card/PayPal details for a 65% refund.
Assuming you paid by credit card on their website, I also assume they asked for credit card details again to instigate a refund…alarm bells ringing…as it confirms to the scammers it is a valid, working credit card…If you did pay by credit card, contact your issuer ASAP.
I am not on Facebook or social media, the ads came up when I was googling the current oven cleaner to see where I could buy it. They did purport to having a corporate office in Keysborough. I thought about taking the goods there but again how would I get a total refund if I did that. I did get sent the goods so I don’t think i could claim it back on the debit card. I have a debit card I just use for buying online and so they cannot use my limit. I sent them my photos and it was the Pissed Consumer one I was referring to but didn’t find it till later. I sent them those reviews when I was asking for the refund. They were very prompt at responding to my emails and very polite.
Google promotes any product that pays their fees for doing so, no questions asked. This topic may be enlightening, and subsequently @Fred123’s efforts to get the google presence removed.
You already have your answer on your account statement, but for others who may be tempted to order products off shore, regardless of what refund one might get if any, since product was purchased in foreign currency the refund will also be in that currency. It is rare the purchase and credit amounts will be the same in $AUD because each transaction is made using the exchange rate of the moment. During a day it is common for $AUD rates to vary 1% and 5% across any week is not uncommon.
A 100% refund could put extra or fewer $AUD in one’s account than the original charge, so foreign purchases have a bit of currency risk as a percentage of the transaction; depending on the value of the transaction it could be from pennies to meaningful amounts.
You possibly wouldn’t have had any success as the residents wouldn’t know what you were talking about or who MyDrClean were.
Scammers use legitimate addresses of others to perpetuate their scams. If someone searches the addresses on their website, they exist so therefore they appear legitimate (a false belief to overcome natural skepticism). This mojo is common with scammers and has been used for many other product scams, such as machinery scams…
You may be able to for fraudulent products.
Don’t think because they sent you a product and gave you a partial refund you haven’t been scammed. You have and why it is imperative to report it to your card issuer. There is a high chance you will get fraudulent transactions on your card in the future which can take some effort at the time they occur, to resolve.
Credit card companies can also block transactions to scammers which is another reason to contact the card issuer to hopefully prevent others geing scammed.
Also consider reporting it to ScamWatch and Google Ads.Hopefully Google Ads removes them from their platform…but they will invariably appear elsewhere if it has been a lucrative scam.
And thanks for reporting it. As it is a new scam and MyDrClean Internet searches don’t give many other results, this thread will appear very high in search results (currently appears second in Google immediately after the MrDrClean paid listing). Hopefully your post will prevent others being scammed like you have.
While going OT that is an excellent point. I recently found a possible supplier for celdek pads where the price was reasonable but not too cheap to cause concern, the range on offer was big, there was a mobile number to contact, and an address for returns if the parts did not fit. Shipping? Nothing until the purchase forms would be filled in. Googling the address street view showed it was residential.
No ABN, business address, or other info beside a contact form, so on balance I decided it is a dodgy site, but allow it might just be a tradie working from home with a side line, and getting returns there could be a convenience if someone is always there. All considered, I am giving it a miss for the supply.
While small scale businesses don’t need a ABN, MyDrClean claim they have a corporate office in Australia and other countries. Not a minow company which may be exempt from GST. In efect a ‘multinational’.
But, dont rely on thinking that because they have a ABN number they are legitimate. ABNs can be obtained by anyone (including scammers) or scammers can also use ABN of legitimate businesses as well (which has been done in the past and reported in the community previously)
I must put in a plug here for Paypal. I try to never buy anything online unles it is through my Paypal. I have had a couple of products that were not of acceptable quality and in both cases, I went first to the company, then with ANY delay or problem I took it to Paypal, and they got my money back.
Paypal will ask you to contact the company first but they seem to me to be excellent in giving you your money back, which they would then chase up the company for.
The other BIG PLUS for using Paypal, and this is a vital point for me, is that instead of giving your credit card details to numerous different websites, Paypal alone has them and pays on your behalf. This for me is the major consideration. I have twice had my credit card scammed, not through online but apparrently in one case through a little shop and in the other case the bank told me they just try lists of numbers!! Therefore using Paypal has got to cut done on your credit card number being scammed.
I used to use paypal and had a special account there there seemed some issue with them accessing my bank account so i stopped using them. maybe i should start again.
Thanks.
Very lucky. It might be worth logging a dispute with PayPal so at least they are aware of MyDrClean…even if the dispute lodged isn’t successful for you. If a number of PayPal account holders log similar disputes, hopefully it may signal them to take action against MyDrClean (such as closing their access to the payment system).
I agree. I get the impression that Paypal takes complaints against companies very seriously. I also think companies do not want to get a black mark with Paypal because losing that Paypal link could cost them a lot of potential customers.
Paypal is very strict on securing links with your card or bank. When I changed one of my cards, Paypal followed up with sending me a special debit ($2, which they immediately refunded) on that card which had a 4 digit code attached to it, that I had to notify Paypal of. It is their way of making sure my cards/ accounts are genuine and work. It is a simple process, but it may explain the problems you had.
I have found that, unusually for a big company, Paypal customer telephone support is very quick and helpful, so don’t be reluctant to phone them for help.
Choice may be getting suspicious that I am sounding like a Paypal employee! No, I am not. I just like giving good service a thumbs up whenever I come across it, which is often too rare.
