4 days ago
Shopper Rhi ordered the perfect side tables online. What arrived left her gobsmacked
A shopper who thought she'd found the perfect side tables for her bedroom was left red-faced after realising she'd made a major shopping mistake.
Rhi Howard, from NSW, stumbled across a vintage-style wooden stool for $15 each on the affordable Chinese shopping site Temu.
Without thinking twice, she initially assumed they were designed to be bedside tables so she added them to her online shopping cart.
But when her order finally arrived at her home, she couldn't help but laugh - the true size of the 'tables' told a very different story.
As she laughed hysterically, Rhi realised the item was far smaller than expected - no larger than a small potted plant or a kitchen kettle.
When placed in her bedroom next to her existing bedside tables, the stools looked miniature and was barely large enough to fit her iPhone on top.
'I ordered these off Temu because in the picture they were bedside tables. That's not a f***ing bedside table is it,' she said a now-viral video, laughing.
In the comments, Rhi admitted she didn't check the product measurements or read reviews before hitting 'add to cart'.
Now she's aware of her mistake and will always double check before purchasing.
The amusing short clip has since been viewed more than 116,000 times in 48 hours and received a mixture of comments from hundreds of people.
'Cute plant stands though,' one suggested.
'I cannot tell you how many times I've done this. You'd think I'd learn to check and yet, I don't,' another confessed.
'I love that you still put them next to the bed,' a third said.
Many saw the funny side - but some were far less sympathetic.
'They have the dimensions on the product, I don't understand how people get fooled,' one pointed out.
'The spiders in Australia are bigger than those tables,' another joked.
'Always only buy after reading reviews with pictures,' one warned.
Last year Temu changed its name just one year after bulldozing into the Australian retail landscape.
A company spokesperson confirmed they had changed the pronunciation of the brand to 'Teh-mu' despite hard-launching the original pronunciation 'Tee-mu' with a US$7million (AUD$10.59million) ad during the 2023 Super Bowl.
'As Temu continues to expand into new markets globally, we want to ensure our brand name has a consistent and memorable presentation across different regions and languages,' the spokesperson told FEMAIL.
'After careful consideration, we determined that the new pronunciation achieves this goal better.'
The original Super Bowl ad featured a woman spinning around, showing off her Temu purchases to the tune of 'I like it, it's mine, the prices blow my mind'.
The new advertisement, which is animated, features a catchy song about 'shopping like a billionaire' and the new pronunciation of the brand name.
Fans of the online retailer, which launched in North America in 2022 before heading to Australia and New Zealand and later Europe, were quick to notice the change.
Many of them commented on the old video after heading back to 'see if they were right'.
'I KNEW the pronunciation of tee-moo was changed!!! Now it's teh-moo, and it doesn't sound so fun anymore,' one woman said.
'Watching both commercials back to back is like traveling to a different alternate universe,' laughed another.
'So I'm not the only one who searched for this! Good. We're not crazy,' a third added.
Others dismissed the new pronunciation.
