I suspected as much...Dollar stores

[Anna Michele]

It soundslike everyoneis on thesamepage. Limitvtheconsumablesto chocolate buythe peel andstck envies and you will live to see another day lol

[sunshine525]

It's been bothering me since spring, and I've finally had the time to do a little searching around for anything that might support my suspicion so that I didn't feel it was "just me".

I quite like the Garnier Frictis shampoos and conditioners...they work very well for my hair. So I was excited to find the exact shampoo, in the exact bottle, at a local dollar store. I'm not sure which one, we have two different ones scattered around town. I bought a couple and was really pleased at the price.
However! It was NOT the shampoo I was accustomed to! I had to keep adding shampoo to get the sMe foamy suds that I was used to and it still felt "watered down"! I thought it might just have been that one bottle, so I opened the other one the next day. Same thing. Okay, the game was on!
I then picked up that shampoo a our RCSS, and used it the next day. THAT was the Fructis I was missing!
So....I wondered IF those. brand-name products were just pale imitation of the real products.

Today I found this, and was thrilled that I wasn't the only one making those observations!
http://money.msn.com/saving-money-ti...a-dollar-store
#3: shampoo and beauty products....

I've stuck to my shampoo from RCSS, and used the other two in hand soap dispensers. They certainly didn't do what was expected of them as hair shampoo!

What are your thoughts? Any similar experiences?
if I've posted this in the wrong location, please move it...

I have had similar experiences with the garnier shampoo. I decided to try it from dollarama, because at the time I thought that it was a good deal. I won't ever buy any other shampoos from there because it ends up costing more since I have to add shampoo to it. I will stick to buying stickers/envelopes/ party supplies/the occasional chocolate bar

[Lynn49]

I've probably become jaded from watching too many "Border Patrol" shows, but some very authentic-looking items have been caught at our borders by vigilant agents, but I'm also quite certain that many of those slip through. I won't be putting my health in the hands of border agents anytime soon. I may be overly cautious, but honestly...burned once, but never again.

There is another thing that bothers me: the fact that products can be labelled 'packaged in Canada', providing a false sense of security, yet the ingredients can be imported from anywhere! I'd much rather the label read: NOT made with ingredients entirely from Canada!...

[lecale]

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[canadian.mere]

I'm hoping a shipment of products coming in the country with a made in Canada label would be noticed. Perhaps it could be faked here but I don't think it would be worth their while to produce fakes to sell at the dollarstore here in Canada with the wages we expect.
If you're buying a name brand, it won't be long before fakes are spotted by the manufacture and the product would be pulled or it will become known that they're fakes. Just like Lynn noticed the difference in the shampoo.
I believe Dollaramma buys from the manufacturer--- products that being discontinued or sample sizes etc.
I think they're doing pretty good business and would be very careful to risk a lawsuit or to have people boycott them.
I only buy from Dollaramma and occasionally Dollartree and I certainly don't have blind faith in them. I check the label and the expiration date and really buy very few consumable goods there.

Yes this is what the do.

[canadian.mere]

No kidding, Natalka! I have picked up superhero colouring books, other puzzle/maze type books which our grandson enjoys ( he loves mazes!), okay, a chocolate bar as a reward for me for,doing all that shopping... Other stuff like glass spice containers, but not food. Did you know that some Dollarama store in the US carry meats?! Gah!

Dollarama stores are Canada only.

[Lynn49]

Dollarama stores are Canada only.

Oopsies, I never pay attention to those "dollar" names since the term means very little anyway.....I'm obviously no expert at discount store names.

[plc]

I usually stick to buying craft stuff, gift bags, and greeting cards. We have a dollarama near work and that is the place that everyone goes for snacks - like cheetos, chips, gum, chocolate and candy. So far no ill effects from that.

[xbbx]

Sometimes, people depend on the dollar store to get by.

It's sad that there are things that we're getting ripped off with. Oddly enough, the dog shampoo my family uses for one of our dogs works very well. It's also sold at Walmart too.

[blueeyetea]

I think a place like Dollarama has too much to lose in terme of profits if they were ever to be found involved in shady dealings like knowingly buying counterfeit products. I often do a double take when noticing products where I think it's a certain named brand, they look more carefully to notice that it's not.

I've had the experience where a cleaner I like was only available at Dollarama in Ontario. I'm partial to Hertel Multi which is a biodegradable cleaner that doesn't leave streaks on my appliance. I usually bought it at Canadian Tire, for a year or two ago, Canadian Tire stopped carrying it, and the only place in Ontario where I could find it was at the Dollarama. It was even listed on the Hertel website as a place to find it.

The problem with counterfeits is that they are so good, they even get sold through big companies like Wal-Mart, Shoppers Drug Mart, etc. Just like paper money, it's hard to detect what's real or fake.

[mulock]

I wonder if anyone actually buys the condoms, lube, ovulation tests, pregnancy tests, etc from the dollar store. Can you imagine the nightmare!

[Zonny]

I wonder if anyone actually buys the condoms, lube, ovulation tests, pregnancy tests, etc from the dollar store. Can you imagine the nightmare!

I have known people online who swear by the pregnancy tests. My response is always that they have a 50/50 shot of being right!

[bargain_hunter_lola]

I wonder if anyone actually buys the condoms, lube, ovulation tests, pregnancy tests, etc from the dollar store. Can you imagine the nightmare!

I've bought pregnancy tests at the dollar store. It's just simple chemistry, besides you go to the doctor and confirm with blood work so why pay $20 for a brand name? Of course in my circumstance I was pretty sure I was pregnant and I wanted to be (I didn't need any special early detection one). The tests I took from the dollarama were accurate every time I did them.


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[Zonny]

I've bought pregnancy tests at the dollar store. It's just simple chemistry, besides you go to the doctor and confirm with blood work so why pay $20 for a brand name? Of course in my circumstance I was pretty sure I was pregnant and I wanted to be (I didn't need any special early detection one). The tests I took from the dollarama were accurate every time I did them.


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Here in NS, you don't get bloodwork at the doc to confirm.

I've heard of some of the dollarstore ones being put together upside down and so your results are reversed, but have no personal experience with them. Sounds like it's simple chemistry, but certainly not something i could create myself? It's got to be somewhat complicated.

I bought a Walmart brand one when I thought I was pregnant, it came in a pack of two. Took the first one four days before we left on a camping trip, it was a faint positive. Took the second one when we came back ten days later, MUCH darker and was accurate.

[bargain_hunter_lola]

Here in NS, you don't get bloodwork at the doc to confirm.

I've heard of some of the dollarstore ones being put together upside down and so your results are reversed, but have no personal experience with them. Sounds like it's simple chemistry, but certainly not something i could create myself? It's got to be somewhat complicated.

I bought a Walmart brand one when I thought I was pregnant, it came in a pack of two. Took the first one four days before we left on a camping trip, it was a faint positive. Took the second one when we came back ten days later, MUCH darker and was accurate.

If you don't go to your doctor to confirm then that's a different story. I didn't realize it's different in different provinces.

As I said I was pretty sure by the time I took the tests and I already had an appointment with my doctor booked for the following week but again I wanted to be pregnant so that makes a difference (I didn't need an early detection test - I just took the tests to be sure before wasting time on a blood test).