Surprisingly, it was hard for me to find an ad on the Internet to talk about for this post. I thought at first it would be easy but most large webpages such as google or yahoo didn’t allow for massive pop-ups of advertisements. Here’s what I found, an ad for Shoedazzle.com on Facebook. On the ad, it prompts people to take their survey or quiz and they’ll match you up with a celebrity that fits your shoe style. From there you can pick from a range of shoes that only cost $39.99 plus free shipping! Sounds like a great deal for all you girls out there right? Well the advertisment is false. I’ve actually had a friend who has taken the survey for Shoedazzle, which creates a profile for you to choose from a range of shoes you could order each month. While they do pick out cute and unique shoes for you every month, they don’t loudly state that if you don’t pick out a shoe to be ordered that month, they will still charge you $39.99 for that month. Regardless of if you chose a shoe to order or not, you will still be charged the money. At first glance, there is no reason to doubt the advertisement made by Shoedazzle, but then again there isn’t a reliable source to give them credibility. There isn’t a media outlet that is backing up the website telling their customers that the webpage is credible. I would reject the claim because of my own personal experience. I saw the ad and checked out the website and thought it was a reliable place to shop, but once I told my cousin about it she pointed out their scam. So please ladies don’t fall into the scam of shoedazzle!
I can totally relate to these types of ads on the Internet. When it comes to those advertisements, I'm always skeptical. I buy a lot of things online. The last time I bought from a site that said "20% OFF ALL ITEMS" and "FREE SHIPPING ON ALL ITEMS!" Great stuff when you think about it at first, but the problem starts when you actually find something on that site that looks appealing. Anyways, I found something I wanted to buy, and when I checked out, they still added tax, since it was a California based site. It was during the time when we still had 9.25% tax, so supposedly my 10 dollar item (after the 20% off) was still 15 dollars. Not much of a deal anymore, huh?
ReplyDeleteI guess the moral of ads are that, even though it looks like a deal and it's from a reliable site, you can't really trust your personal experience with this.
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I totally agree with both of you! I was surprised to read that shoedazzle.com has an attached scam (with its charging if you don’t buy a pair within the month). I am sad to say that I was close to purchasing from their site and decided to back out at the last minute. Thankfully I didn’t put any personal information in so I was not charged! I can fully believe and imagine that scams like this happen all the time. All of it reminds me of email spam, where you sign up for something that seems legitimate but at the end of the day when you check your email, you have a hundred messages to report to spam or be deleted! Your blog was really personable and helpful! It was a great reminder that all of us should check the “fine print” before signing up for deals online!
ReplyDeleteK_tab,
ReplyDeleteIt is pretty hard to trust sites when you’re online shopping because they do find a sneaky way to trick you into giving them your money! You do a good job at mentioning if shoedazzle had any reliable sources to give tem credibility-which they don’t. You also included your own personal experience to why you do not trust shoedazzle’s claim. Great job! I was also captivated by this ad in the past, since it sounded like such a good deal. I signed up with shoedazzle, but before purchasing anything I read over their terms and agreements. It was not easy to point out, but once I read that they would continuously charge my Visa Card monthly, I was like “No way Jose” and canceled my account with shoedazzle. Phew!
I see that same ad all the time. I actually heard a lot about this site. This advertisement does look appealing as the price is not too high for one pair of shoe and hey there is also a discount for the first pair. I never brought anything from here because it didn’t appeal to me too much. Personally it is because I do not like monthly subscription things and really I do not think I want a new pair of shoes from this site every month. I am always shopping online because its convenient and sometimes I do fall for those sucker deals, but I also try to be smart at it. I only buy things from reliable sites or sites that have a physical store somewhere. I know there are a lot of scams like shoe dazzle everywhere on the Internet so as consumers we do need to take an extra step to check so we don’t get scam.
ReplyDeleteNice Post!
OMG, this advertisement is such a false advertisement! Shoedazzle trys to rip you off and make it seem like it is a really good deal. I'm not going to lie, it definetley got my attention when i first saw the advertisement. I took the free quiz and everything and was about to put my credit card number until i read the terms and agreement below in fine print. It stated that they would charge 39.99 for EVERY month, and if you don't choose a shoe for that month, you would get credit to buy it another time, just like how you had said in your post. This advertisement is such a scam and that is why i believe that we should always read the terms and agreement before putting our credit card numbers in and pressing submit. I bet so many people got fooled from this advertisement because come on now, girls love to shop online! Especially if we encounter a great deal online, we just get so excited to just punch in our credit card numbers and have it shipped already! Right?! Great Post k_tab!!
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