radiojohn

Surrounding many news and social media pages are 100% garbage ads from China. Beyond silly "click bait" articles you must scroll though endlessly, these are deceptive ads outside the control of the FTC.

One is for a very poor quality heater that is so small it plugs directly into a wall socket...not cord. Walmart had them for around $15, but in these ads the hype (lies) are astounding! So are the prices.

" Elon Musk Reveals the Secret to Heating Your Home This Fall And Winter... All While Cutting Your Heating Bill to Basically $0.

Fall 2023 Special - “This hyper-efficient heating technology is how we kept astronaunts warm on trips to the International Space Station. Last December the tech was finally declassified, so we knew we could help millions of people stay warm during the current energy crisis heading into winter.” [Note they couldn't spell astronauts!]

The faked photo was obvious.

Other ads offer $399 coats from [add famous name here] for $39.95. Buyers report never getting the product and the website vanishing, only to reappear with a new URL weeks later.

These appear on all kinds of pages, so be careful not to get taken.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

When ordering anything from a questionable or unknown source, I always pay with PayPal if they have it and/or my bank(s) debit card linked to an account I only put money into when I buy something.*
Between PayPal and either BofA or USAA's fraud departments over the years I have gotten some bad merchandise (never bought from them again) I had to return and only once did they fail to recover my money=$69.

*For that matter, I do all my online buying that way and try to get my wife to stick to it also. Fortunately, she doesn't trust any seller she never heard of and 99+% of the time buys from the big names while grumbling their prices are a bit higher at times.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

If anyone believes that a little box plugged into a wall socket will heat a room.............

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Yep, Google is featuring the one with Elon Musk and the heater on their home page. Shame.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Paid advertising....
Google/Amazon/.... do NOT check for the validity/accuracy of an item. I would bet TEMU is the worst.
If they are sold in another country, there is little recourse the US can take.

BassmanBruce Loc: Middle of the Mitten

Oh, they really will heat a room.
Till the fire department puts out the fire!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Depends on the room, how well insulated and how long you let it run without opening any door to let the heat out.
I have had two little ceramic heaters over the years that could do it. But don't put your hand in front of the vent. That air comes out HOT!!! We had a miniature shepherd dog named Sniffy and I put a doggie door in the garage (which I had turned into a work shop for my hobbies) built a double walled heavy cardboard dog house out of large appliance boxes and put her bed inside it. Then I mounted the little ceramic heater on a metal bracket pointed at the door of the dog house from about 3–4 feet. It had a thermostat and after some cold nights I would go out to check and the garage was nice and warm. Sniffy would stick her head out to see how cold it was and often go back to bed. I had to take her food and water dishes in there for her.

On cold weekend days or weekday evenings, I would sometimes light a fire and bring her into the family room with an old rug in front of the fireplace for her and the two cats, which she got along with. I would sit in my lounge chair or at my desk and read, listen to music, write lessons, grade papers and often end up inspecting my eyelids for light leaks. Nothing like group naps.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

There is theory,
and then there is practicality.
You do realize that I'm not referring to the ceramic heaters that sit on the floor, right?

BebuLamar

Oh sure if you have your room super insulated so there is no heat loss then you don't need a heater. Just open the door when it's warm and close it to keep the heat inside. Well it's good as long as you still have enough oxygen in the room to breath.

rustfarmer

Then there are the ads for Dr. Oz and Ben Carson "renowned cardiac and diabetes experts", smh.

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

One would expect Amazon or Google to exercise at least a tiny bit of discretion by rejecting such a blatantly faked photo/advertisement but I suppose it's a slippery slope. How many products should they play consumer protection for? It's simply not their job.

As usual it's buyer beware when on-line shopping. Oh for the days when you'd walk into your local hardware store for this heater and ask, "Does this thing really work?"

BTW if you think a cheap $15 dollar resistance heater is going to heat your room almost for free, I have a perpetual motion machine I'll sell you.

Ollieboy

Just don't buy anything directly from China. It's not a guarantee against fraud, but it's a major step.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

radiojohn

I still like the idea of our "astronaunts" plugging these into the 110v wall sockets on the SpaceX rocket to keep warm on the way to the space station.