I ordered some Lilly Pulitzer sandals from Rios-Shoes on 9/8, and immediately received an e-mail confirmation with my order number. I also got a second e-mail at the same time welcoming me to Rios. So far, so good. After a week, I went to the Rios site to check the status of my order and it said "pending." Well, the PayPal payment was completed and funds had also already been taken from my bank account. I sent the first of many e-mails to Rios-Shoes through their website, but never received a response. On 9/28, I filed a dispute with PayPal over the phone. PayPal flat out told me this company was fraudulent, and immediately refunded my money (thanks PayPal!). For those wondering, PayPal told me customers that don't receive their items from Rios-shoes will get refunds and that the seller has been dealt with. However, I noticed that the seller has used several different e-mail addresses so it would probably be pretty easy for him/her to do this again. I wish I had Googled Rios before making a purchase. Their website looks very professional, and the immediate e-mail confirmations after purchase definitely lulled me into a false sense of security. However, there were signs that the website wasn't legit - under the "Contact Us" tab, there are "Customer Service Phone Hours" listed but no phone number (or address for that matter). The hours are given in EST, but there is a British flag in the upper-right hand corner of the website - the frauds probably got the British and American flags mixed up since they are both red, white, and blue. Anyway, I have learned my lesson and will always be sure to research unfamiliar websites before purchasing in the future. I am also very glad that I paid via PayPal since these crooks would have my credit card number if I hadn't.
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