Dangerous Anti-RFID Leather Wallets?

I've never been much of a wallet person. In fact I've never owned one. Not one that I have used with any regularity anyway. But lately my interest in wallets has spiked, and I've been looking to buy one from eBay UK. There's literally thousands for sale on there. But for what I need, which is a genuine leather wallet with preferably a minimum of 2 zip compartments and a card holding compartment, I figured I wouldn't have to spend much money, and there would be lots of different designs to choose from. I was right.

Anyway, to cut the story short, I ended up buying a brand new men's wallet that had 3 zip compartments. This is a design that many sellers have listed for sale. So I presumed it would be a mass produced item from China, but still expected a decent enough product.  The seller stated it was real leather, and for the price I paid (around £5 including delivery) I thought excellent, a nice looking genuine leather wallet at a cheap price. The exact wallet I bought is pictured below.

Couple that with RFID protection (Or anti-RFID as some like to call it), which if you don't know is basically to stop would-be thieves stealing / skimming your bank details from your card (by scanning your pocket / wallet with a reading device) while its in your pocket / non-RFID protected wallet, and it seemed like a really good deal.

On a side note: RFID protection is now very sought after, and in some ways very much needed. Because these days It's not just bank cards that need protecting, but also things like car keys and passports. but to be honest, I can't figure out why, other than for convenience purposes, banks decided to make cards contactless (no pin number needed to make a purchase), and at the same time open the door to one of the biggest card scams of all time. How stupid.

Don't get me wrong, when a purchase is made, some companies do ask for more details / information than just the data that can be stolen from the card, but there's a lot that don't. And that's part of the reason why card scams / unauthorised payment fraud are at an all time high.

If you're looking for some good protection from data theft for your cards, check out a brand called Secrid (Made in Holland). Some of the products they produce include mini wallets, card holders / sliders, double wallets and money bands. They are expensive but have really good reviews.

If you don't want to spend any money at all, and want something simple, free and effective, research has shown that wrapping your contactless banks cards in tin foil can actually prevent the scammer from being able to read the card and extract the data.

Back to my wallet "review". Fast forward to the wallet being delivered and all seemed well. It arrived well packed and delivered in good time. So no problem with the seller, they were very good. Opening the package was a different story. Once opened I couldn't believe the smell. The wallet completely stunk of chemicals.

A strange combination of paraffin and some other toxic smelling chemical that I can't put my finger on. I know that leather can sometimes smell funny like this, but I got thinking that perhaps this either wasn't a genuine leather wallet, or it was some cheap "leather" that is really nasty. Perhaps the wallet was Faux leather. Apparently these chemicals are sometimes, or a lot of the time, used in the tanning process (Chrome tanning).

Bottom line: This wallet smelled so bad, like it was a danger to health, that I ended up throwing it in the bin. Upon doing a quick bit of research I found out that other people are also complaining about this issue with cheap and potentially dangerous leather items being shipped over from Asia. And it turns out that others are also concerned about the toxicity of the products they received, mostly women's bags and men's jackets, that are produced in the same manner.

Some people say in no uncertain terms that this type of cheap leather is dangerous and bad for human health. Breathing in the fumes, the leather being in contact with the skin etc. I'm no expert, but with how toxic the odour was on my wallet, I would have to agree and say it is dangerous. Needless to say, when reading things like this, it certainly makes me think twice about buying another cheap leather product like this from eBay or Amazon. Because let's not forget, the same people selling these wallets on eBay are also selling them on Amazon UK.

With my new wallet now sitting in the bin I went back on eBay in search of a real, genuine leather wallet. There's thousands of wallets on there for sale, surely it can't be that hard to find one that's actually real leather that doesn't smell like it will kill me. Well, within my price range it seemed like the large majority of the wallets were more of the same that I'd already ordered. Although the designs were different. Cheap, mass produced wallets manufactured in China. And I didn't want to risk purchasing another one of what I'd already bought and being left disappointed with.

So I thought, I'll look at the used items instead. I'm not one of those people who have to have brand new everything. If an item has been used, but is still in very good condition I don't mind buying it. And I figured at least buying used I may come across some good wallets that are the real deal, and more importantly, safe to use. And I did.

Black Leather NEXT Wallet

I ended up finding a nice NEXT branded wallet (Pictured above). It has been used but is still in very good condition. And more importantly is real leather, that actually smells like leather, not chemicals. I only paid around £4.50 including delivery, so ended up buying another used wallet, a 1642 Lichfield. I got this one even cheaper (£3.50 including delivery). This way I've got two to choose from. Neither have RFID protection, but I can live without that.

Moral of the story: I had to buy one to learn this lesson. Avoid the common mass produced terrible quality "leather" wallets and either spend more money on a good quality, brand new product from a known brand like NEXT, Fossil, Barbour or 1642 Lichfield (Not John Lewis), or buy a used branded one, or two like I did. Preferably made in the UK.

Silly Cooker Measurements & John Lewis

Tried to buy a gas cooker lately? This isn't going to be review on a specific cooker, but more of a quick post (This post ended up a bit longer than intended) about how silly the measurement side of things generally are in the world of cookers. Fair enough, most of the measurements are straight forward. Dimensions: Height, Width and Depth, all measured in centimetres. But when it comes to the dimensions of the most important part of the cooker, the place where you actually cook the food, they measure it in litres!

What use is that. Why not do a centimetre or inches measurement so people can know the exact size. I mean, litres! What do they expect people to do, turn the cooker on its side and fill it with liquid. Seems very silly, when all they really need to do is list the inner dimensions. Anyway, I was swaying toward buying the Hotpoint HAG60K, but by the time I made up my mind it was sold out in the place I was considering purchasing it from. And the other outlets selling the same model were much more expensive, and their warranties were a joke.

Buying Cookers & Warranty's

Had a look at the cookers on Amazon UK. The Hotpoint CH60GCIW looked like a decent product. But really the cooker was being sold by Hughes Direct, and if I wanted to buy from Hughes Direct I would just buy directly from their website. Amazon also had the Hotpoint HAE60KS in stock, but that I believe is the electric version of the HAG60K. I'm looking for a gas cooker.

Some outlets, such as Curry's, don't offer a one-off payment for a few years cover, they actually want the buyer to pay a small fee on a monthly basis. Taken via Direct Debit. So, if you bought a cooker from Curry's and paid for monthly cover, which was around £4 each month for the item I was interested in buying, for two years, that would be £96. Very off-putting. (see below for the price of a 5 year one-off payment cover plan from John Lewis). I ended up buying an Indesit ID60G2X (Indesit is also part of the Hotpoint company) from John Lewis. But it hasn't been delivered yet.

Argos was considered, but their guarantee / warranty of two years wasn't as good as the one offered by John Lewis. John Lewis offer a free 2 year guarantee for all their products, and an extra 3 year optional guarantee. The price of the guarantee is dependent on the item bought. Mine cost £70. So five years cover in total for a reasonable price. A lot of the cookers within the £350 - £450 price range have there fair share of good and bad reviews, so its a good idea to get the extra cover just in case it breaks down.

I should add that I am close with someone who is a partner with John Lewis (works for them), and because the cooker is basically half theirs, they, or we, would be eligible for a discount. When the discount was applied, which is 12.5%, we ended up saving around £45.

John Lewis Website - Not As Pictured

Fast forward a few days and I have now received the cooker. Upon removing the packaging I quickly discover that they have sent us the wrong colour cooker to the one that was pictured on their website. The one I ordered was all black, the one I received is black and silver. This was quite disappointing because the one with the silver trim looks a bit cheap in comparison to the all black version. And let's not forget, John Lewis have made the mistake here. They have sold an item, or items (at least one to us) on their website that are not as described / illustrated.

John Lewis Partners Get a Bad Deal

So the John Lewis partner who I bought the cooker with decided to phone them up and see what could be done. We were shocked to discover that if you are a partner with John Lewis and you buy something from them and apply the "partner" discount, you basically don't have the same return / replace rights, or level of good will that John Lewis would usually offer normal customers for making such a mistake.

The only option we were offered was to return the cooker, receive the refund, and just start again from the beginning. I thought they would have said - Sorry for the mistake, it's totally our fault. Someone will be coming to collect the cooker that wasn't as shown on the website and will also be in possession of the actual cooker model you originally ordered (we were sent the older model). But no. They didn't even offer any good will, because apparently, when you're a "partner", and you received a discount on the product, you don't have the same rights or value that a normal customer has.

Excellent Customer Service Myth

I thought John Lewis were meant to be excellent in all aspects of customer service, especially if they make a mistake or sell a faulty item. In this case it was John Lewis that made the mistake, but they didn't really seem all that sorry or apologetic, all because the person who ordered the item was a partner. I would have thought that a partner would at least have been entitled to the same level of customer service and buyer protection that a normal customer would have been rightfully entitled to. What happened to equality. Very disappointing.

Customer For Life?

This was my first experience purchasing something from John Lewis. And needless to say, if I was to do what they proposed, which was return the cooker and just start again, once our money was refunded, I definitely would not have been re-purchasing the correct colour cooker from John Lewis. In the end I decided keep the cooker that was sent in error, as it was too much hassle returning the cooker (and all that entails - waiting in for them to collect etc) and starting again. One things for sure, I certainly won't be using John Lewis in the future, not even as a regular customer. This has been an eye opener for sure. First time, last time.