A woman who spent £41 on what she thought were rum advent calendars has been left stunned after receiving tiny acrylic ornaments smaller than her fingernails.
Aileen Lungrin claims she spotted the calendars on an advert on social media and was immediately drawn in by the promotional pictures, which appeared to show little bottles of rum.
The 50-year-old says she paid £41 including postage and packaging for two calendars, intending to give them to her husband and father, who both love rum.
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But when the parcel finally arrived three weeks later, Aileen was shocked to discover the calendars looked nothing like she had expected.
Instead of booze, minuscule ornamental bottles were inside, leaving her in hysterics – a moment which was documented on TikTok, racking up 219,000 views.
“They popped up while I was scrolling, and I thought they looked lovely,” Aileen, a salon owner from Stoke-on-Trent, told Need To Know.
“I thought they’d make lovely gifts for my husband and my dad, as they both absolutely love rum.
“The promotional pictures looked beautiful, and the calendars appeared to contain little bottles of rum.
“I thought they would be something a bit different from the usual chocolate advent calendars and a lovely little treat for December.
“It was meant to be a gift that kept on giving throughout the month.
“Little did I know that the only thing it would be giving me was a very good story to tell.
“The pictures in the advert gave the impression of little bottles of rum, and that was what initially caught my eye.
“I hadn’t noticed any measurements when I ordered them.
“I was drawn in by the pictures and hadn’t paid enough attention to the finer details.
“I certainly wasn’t expecting anything quite as miniature as what arrived.”
Instead of bottles of rum, she claims she found just 23 tiny acrylic ornaments – smaller than her fingernails.
She said: “When I opened them, I couldn’t believe it.
“The whole thing was so ridiculous that I had to laugh.
“The boxes were bashed up and looked incredibly cheap, nothing like the beautiful presentation I’d imagined from the advert.
“When I opened one of the calendars, all the little compartments were empty because the contents had come loose and ended up at the bottom of the box.
“Then I saw the actual ornaments.
“They were so tiny and incredibly lightweight.
“They were so small that my fingernails were bigger than them.
“My first thought was, ‘You’ve got to be joking’.
“I’d clearly been taken in by the lovely pictures.
“It was one of those moments when you have to laugh at yourself because the reality is just so far removed from what you expected.”
After realising there was no rum inside, Aileen says she considered whether she could fill the tiny ornaments herself but quickly abandoned the idea.
She said: “There was absolutely no rum in either calendar.
“Once I realised they were ornaments, I thought I might be able to fill them myself, but when I saw how tiny they actually were, that idea quickly disappeared.
“So, despite buying what I thought would be a rum-themed Christmas treat, I ended up with 23 tiny acrylic ornaments and not a drop of alcohol.”
The calendars also provided plenty of entertainment for Aileen’s family.
She showed her husband and son, who she says “absolutely couldn’t stop laughing”.
Aileen said: “They are always telling me not to buy what they call ‘crap’ online, so you can imagine how much ammunition this has given them.
“At least the calendars have provided the family with plenty of entertainment, even if they haven’t provided anyone with a drop of rum.
“I ended up with a rather expensive lesson in online shopping.
“They are forever telling me not to buy things online without checking them properly, so they were delighted to have proof that they might occasionally be right.
“I think I’ve had more laughs out of these calendars than I would have done if they had actually contained rum.”
Aileen said she had not contacted the retailer about the issue because she didn’t think it was worth the hassle of returning the calendars for the £41 she spent.
She said: “They will most likely be heading straight for the bin.
“I will certainly think twice and do a bit more research before ordering anything online next time.
“I think I’ll be sticking to the normal chocolate advent calendars in our house from now on.
“I have definitely learned my lesson, not everything you see online is quite what it seems.
“Next time, I’ll be reading the small print before I reach for Apple Pay.”
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