Parents and debutants warned about dress shopping online

A warning has been issued to parents and girls to be extra vigilant if buying Debs dresses online.

A company claiming to be in Paris but operating out of Hong Kong is selling sub-standard over-priced outfits.

Caroline Curneen of the European Consumer Centre in Dublin says hundreds of Irish purchasers have been ripped off this year.

She says there is no legal comeback for purchasing dodgy goods outside the EU:

"We would be advising consumers to try and shop as much as possible form reliable vendors, we would advise them to be extremely vigilant when shopping on new websites", she said

"Nobody likes to read the small print but it is essential that we know who we are dealing with when we are shopping online if you happen to buy from a trader who is located outside the EU, that may mean that you won't be protected by European consumer legislation if something goes wrong"