A student nurse who planned to take a day off work to set up her elaborate 'luxury six foot' Christmas tree was stunned when a 'twig with two baubles' arrived – that was only SIX INCHES TALL.
Sam Smith, from Liverpool, couldn't believe her luck after stumbling across an advert for a huge festive tree with a working train, a moving model village among its branches and Santa climbing a ladder for the bargain price of £40.
The extravagant tree appeared so complicated that the 26-year-old thought she may have had to take a day off work to set it up – as reviews on the website proclaimed it took 'hours'.
The website even boasted that customers who bought the item will 'open a new chapter in your circle of friends, and you will lead a new trend'.
However, four weeks later, Sam and her mum Karen, 50, were left in hysterics when they unwrapped a tiny parcel to find a battered six-inch tree that 'looked like a twig'.
The elaborate model homes and villages between each layer of branches were completely missing, as was the train, the moving Father Christmas and the working carousel that videos had shown spinning on top.
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However, Sam claims that her friend ordered the same tree and also received the same tiny 'twig', while numerous reviews online claim to have received items that do not match their descriptions.
Sam said: "The tree that was advertised was lovely. It was supposed to be six feet tall with Father Christmas carrying a ladder and a working train.
"But we got a six-inch tree which was basically a twig with a couple of baubles, a bit of string and a Father Christmas with a deformed face. It looked like the paint had been chucked on.
"I ordered a charger for my phone that arrived the same day as the tree and the charger came in a bigger box than the tree.
"We were crying with laughter. It was so funny."
Sam had expected a six-feet parcel to arrive but the tiny tree is smaller than her six-month-old Cockapoo, Ralph.
Karen added: "We were excited for it to come, it said you had to build it yourself so that would have been fun.
"I forgot it was coming, the postman came and I didn't know what it was because we're always getting parcels at Christmas. I opened it and just burst out laughing. It was so funny.
"I messaged Sam saying she was going to have to take a day off to help me put it up and she was howling when she saw it.
"You wouldn't get that for £40 so we thought it might be smaller or not that exact quality on the website but it wasn't worth a fiver."
Sam and Karen had ordered the tree from the online shop Wulimer after seeing it had been reduced from £100 to £40.
The Wulimer website, which appears to have dropped the price of the 6ft tree even further to £27.99 while claiming they have 'limited stock', bragged that it was handmade and 'unique'.
Sam said: "Mum came downstairs and asked me what I thought of this tree she'd seen online and I thought it was lovely so told her to order it from my PayPal.
"It said it would take about four weeks to come so we thought that would be just in time for Christmas.
"We read the reviews which were all good, there weren't any bad reviews so we ordered it.
I ordered a charger for my phone that arrived the same day as the tree and the charger came in a bigger box than the tree
"There were photos of it in people's houses which is strange."
Sam shared a snap of her online shopping fail on social media and commentators were quick to share how hilarious they found the incident.
Sam wrote: "Imagine mum four weeks ago saying 'ooh shall we order this tree?' Yeah, sound go on then… it arrived today. God knows where it's gonna fit."
One reader said: "Omg I saw people ordering these on a Christmas group and couldn't believe people were ordering it."
Another said: "I saw that tree and knew it was too good to be true. I think it was about £30 or something."
Sam said: "I decorated it and posted a photo of it on Facebook and everyone was saying they couldn't believe we'd fallen for it.
"We've put the decorations on and put it on the side for fun."
Karen added: "Everyone was laughing and telling us to get our money back but its not about the money, people will fall for it."
Although Sam found the funny side and made use of the tiny tree by displaying it in her kitchen, she has requested a refund from the company but is yet to hear back.
Sam said: "We paid through PayPal so should be able to get my money back.
"About three days after we'd ordered it, I sent a photo of it to my friend who'd ordered the same tree and they'd also received the tiny one so it's happened to a few people.
"I wasn't expecting what we got but I thought it would just be the stand and we'd have to get the parts ourselves."
Wulimer has been contacted for comment but failed to respond.
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