Warning about these blackout shops

There are frequent reports of the possibility of short-term blackouts, i.e. large-scale power, internet or heating outages. Dubious online shops such as those from ECOM4YOU, HAPPY SHOPPING or Shopfactory24 GmbH rely on the fears of their customers and offer emergency kits for blackouts.

Blackout shop tested

Be careful, we have tested it: The products are overpriced , the delivery times are long , the quality is sometimes inferior and legal requirements are ignored . Despite our legitimate cancellation, we were stuck with the costs!

More and more frequently, online shops are reported to the Watchlist Internet that are difficult to recognize as dubious at first glance. For example, you have an imprint, are based in Austria or Germany and the data is real and verifiable. This is also the case with dyn-amo.de and dynamos.at, which focus on blackout emergency packages.

They offer, for example lamps , gas cookers , emergency power generators and small heaters . While experience shows that the shops deliver the goods you ordered, there are still numerous problems that you do not have to experience with reputable providers.

Test order from the Blackout Shop – dyn-amo.de

Since dyn-amo.de, unlike many dubious shops that we deal with at Watchlist Internet, is a shop behind which there is a registered company based in Austria, we wanted to hear the experiences of numerous people affected testing. That's why we placed a test order at dyn-amo.de.

At the time of purchase, “ECOM4YOU, Lisa Schwab, Sauraugasse 8, 8700 Leoben, Austria” was listed as the company in the legal notice, about which we have already received numerous complaints from other online shops . The imprint now says “Shopfactory14 GmbH iG, An den Weinbergen 5, 95326 Kulmbach”. But ECOM4YOU can still be found in the data protection regulations. We also encountered numerous inconsistencies and problems when placing the order. We ended up withdrawing from the contract, but the money was never refunded.

The order

The order went smoothly. Care was taken here not to give customers any reason to cancel the order or change their mind.

The delivery times

The delivery times were unclear. On the one hand, the products were stated as “in stock”. So you could expect a quick delivery. But here is the first surprise: Despite the Austrian or German address, the delivery takes place from China according to the terms and conditions. It is therefore a dropshipping company. The terms and conditions also describe that there is a processing time of 1-3 days and delivery to Austria will then take a further 7-10 days. The product should have arrived to us after 13 days at the latest. An indication of the delivery time should be found on the product. The information in the terms and conditions is not sufficient.

We ordered on July 13th, 2022 and had to wait a full 29 days for the delivery to arrive on August 11th, 2022. So 16 days longer than the maximum agreed.

The ordered product

We ordered a “Polygon Lamp” for 34.90 euros plus 4.90 euros shipping costs. The lamp should be able to be charged via USB cable or an integrated solar panel so that it can provide light even in the event of a blackout. The lamp received lit up, but charging via the solar cells on the top side of the product was not possible. Even after days in the sun, the battery was not charged.

Overpriced goods

The Polygon lamp you ordered may not seem overly expensive at first glance, but when you hold it in your hands, you realize that it is a cheap Chinese product. This assessment is also confirmed by the fact that the same lamp model is available on Amazon, for example, for less than 15 euros. So we're talking about a price premium of over 130 percent for one and the same product.

A look at the rest of the product range on dyn-amo.de or dynamos.at also shows that products here are sometimes massively overpriced.

Right of withdrawal is ignored

After we were able to test the Polygon lamp, we withdrew from the purchase contract. We have adhered to the legal regulations of the 14-day right of withdrawal that consumers in Austria and the EU are entitled to. Phrases such as “The items must be unopened,” which can also be found on dyn-amo.de, are not legal. All messages informing us of the revocation have remained unanswered, even more than a month later. We could ignore that, but we also returned the product to the return address provided and never received the money back. Since we have a delivery confirmation from the Austrian Post, the possibility of the package being lost during shipping can also be ruled out.

Constant advertising emails

Shortly after ordering, we received constant advertising emails about other products on dyn-amo.de, even though we had not signed up for a newsletter. What was particularly dubious was that we also received advertising mail from dynamos.at, an online shop that was supposedly run by a completely different company. However, the email address was only published on dyn-amo.de. Consequently, data must have been passed on or the same people must be behind both shops, even if they are supposedly different companies.

Fake Trusted Shops seal on dynamos.at

Certification from Trusted Shops is also advertised on dynamos.at. However, a visit to the Trusted Shops website reveals: Certification never took place here and the certificate is being misused here.

How to check reputable quality marks and certificates:

In order for genuine online shops to display reputable quality marks on their websites, they must go through strict testing procedures and meet certain criteria. Fraudulent online shops therefore often try to create trust through fake or fictitious certificates and quality marks. With reputable quality marks such as the Austrian E-Commerce Quality Mark, Trusted Shops or Trustmark Austria, you can easily check whether it is a genuine certificate by clicking on the quality mark logo.

If it is not possible to click on a quality mark or if a link leads to nothing, you can search for the certified shops on the websites of the certification authorities. E.g. at www.guetezeichen.at/zertified-websites . If you don't find any indication of the authenticity of a quality mark there, you should be careful. Also make sure that you actually end up on the website of the respective certificate authorities and not just on a fake page that was also set up by the criminals.

Click on the Austrian E-Commerce Quality Mark logo and view the sample certificate:

Don't let fears guide you!

The shops dyn-amo.de and dynamos.at specifically try to increase and exploit fears of blackouts. Don't let this blind you and make you rush into buying the goods, which are sometimes very overpriced. In these shops, consumer protection regulations are ignored, and in our test it was impossible to get the money back.

Advice & help

For specific advice requests, please contact the relevant offices that we have listed for you Advice & Help www.watchlist-internet.at/beratung-hilfe

The Watchlist Internet would like to thank its readers for the numerous reports about dyn-amo.de and dynamos.at as well as the companies behind them “ECOM4YOU, Lisa Schwab”, “HAPPY SHOPPING” and “Shopfactory24 GmbH”.

source

Watchlist Internet

Also read: Blackout: How likely is this major challenge? The fear of a blackout: gigantic scaremongering or realistic scenario?