Be careful with these offers

Whether gas, oil or even district heating – the prices for heating media are rising sharply. Wood is also in demand like never before. Prices are rising and availability is extremely tight. A situation in which dodgy shops want to cash in online.

Heating is an expensive commodity this winter. Whether gas, oil, electricity or wood, practically all forms of energy have experienced extreme price explosions in recent months. The state steps in for many reference fuels such as gas and now also oil. But if you use an oven or a pellet heating system, you need wood, which is also expensive. Here you also have to be careful of dodgy online providers.

Dodgy online shops for firewood: No end in sight

Whether as firewood, in the form of pellets or for the fireplace – a Bargains can only be found with a lot of luck. The Lower Saxony consumer advice center warns against such rare lucky strikes with cheap offers and the associated shops.

“Even during the corona crisis, we saw that dubious providers were taking advantage of the situation. back then are fake shops to garden items, beach chairs and bicycles shot out of the ground like mushrooms. Now we are experiencing the same phenomenon for fireplace and firewood as well as wood pellets”says Kathrin Körber, legal expert at Lower Saxony Consumer Advice Centre, in a message.

According to the consumer advocates, not only can you find extreme, sometimes overpriced prices for wood online, but also fake shops that lure customers with particularly low prices. Buyers should look closely to spot fake shops. One problem with this: The dodgy operators are getting better and better.

In addition, the names of the shops would be changed frequently, so warnings about certain providers are difficult. The consumer advice center mentions two anyway: buhler-energie.com and bitterlich-brennholz.com be two of fake shops, who want to lure buyers with wood at rock-bottom prices.

With a solar power generator for the balcony you don’t heat it, but it still helps to keep the additional costs low:

Unmask fake shops on the Internet: You should always pay attention to this

Can they help Check shop names with search engines. With shady providers, there are often experiences of other affected people that can teach you a lesson before it’s too late. A look at the imprint is also important: Different company names or a location abroad can be indications of a fake shop. Whether there is an imprint, however, is not enough, because that too is now often forged.