South Ayrshire Council News

Counterfeit Hair Straighteners

South Ayrshire Trading Standards are warning consumers to be very cautious when making purchases of electrical goods on Internet auction sites. The warning comes after counterfeit GHD hair straighteners were found being sold on the auction site eBay with potential serious safety issues to the user.

GHD Hair Straighteners is one of the well known makes and like many other well recognised brands, counterfeiters have produced copies.

For one consumer in South Ayrshire the excitement at purchasing on eBay new ‘Mk4 Hot Pink’ GHDs soon turned to horror when she called to register her new straighteners, and was told by GHD that they couldn’t be registered, as they were counterfeit. South Ayrshire Trading Standards were notified and had the item tested to check whether they were genuine and concluded that they were in fact counterfeit.

A spokesperson for Trading Standards said: “The Hot Pink straighteners came in a packaging that looked genuine and there was no reason to believe that the goods were not authentic on a visual inspection by a customer. Consumers are advised if they are purchasing GHD straighteners to look for the hologram around the plug. This contains the number that you should quote when calling to register the product. The initial response given when calling the company is a good indication as to the authenticity of the item. Other points to note are that official GHD straightening irons are manufactured in Korea, and the majority of counterfeit ones state ’made in China’. Also the cable should be flexible at the point where it meets the irons. On most of the counterfeit straighteners this is not the case. “

Councillor Peter Convery, responsible for Trading Standards issues said, “It is worrying that counterfeit electrical goods are so readily available on the Internet. Our consumer paid good money in the belief that she was buying the real thing. With the increase in Internet trading we urge our residents to be on their guard when purchasing goods from unknown sources. The web is a very good place to buy goods at a good price, but precautions have to be taken to make sure that you are buying the genuine article.”

South Ayrshire Trading Standards are in the process of obtaining a full refund for the consumer and working with eBay other Trading Standards colleagues in investigating the seller who is based in England.

Anyone who is concerned about a recent purchase of GHD hair straighteners should contact Trading standards at 5-7 River Terrace, Ayr on 01292 616060, by e-mail at cabac@south-ayrshire.gov.uk or through our website www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk/tradingstandards.