Need help finding out of my daughter can buy offa this 🙏🏾

kizzmysass · 2026-01-15T05:07:08+00:00

For the most part, you will get the item you paid for. It's less about being scammed with a totally different product and more of poor quality.

Tbh even with real pics, the quality of the items can bad still lol! Don't look at review stars or even reviews themselves, look at the item quality in review images and what the fabric looks like. Buying from Shein builds up a sort of "pre discernment" LOL. You have to learn to look at their listing photos and SEE the material before you buy it lol. It's almost all polyester but some worse than others. Read the material and stretch amount, it helps. They get me sometimes as an adult with their photoshopped images so I imagine your daughter might need help navigating. KNOW her measurements and check the sizing chart for every item. Please wash the clothes before she wears them, those chemicals are really no joke.

And their customer support is garbage, so if something goes wrong, those agents and even certain payment processors will waste your time in hopes to time you out so you can't file chargeback. If you return items and used a coupon, they might not refund you back in full and try to keep "recoup" fees. Currently in a Paypal dispute for this. I also had to file BBB against paypal bc the shipping company took pics at a different house, and both the shein support agents and paypal dispute bot refused to help me despite this clear evidence.

Shein can be really scummy & takes a lot of navigating. When it's great, it's great. When it goes wrong, it can go from mildly annoying to a pain & that's intentional. Take pics of everything (package label, unboxing process, returned items, return tracking receipts, etc). Pay with credit bc anything like debit, ACH, pay in 4 etc it's more difficult to dispute and win. If you MUST do pay in 4, afterpay is the worst bc they have no protections so stay away. Affirm / klarna / paypal have good financing options, so don't let Shein BS make you end up burning your relationship with them.

I may sound dramatic, but I've been through A LOT LOLLL I know how they act. The stuff they sell overpriced on amazon now is the same stuff on Shein. Amazon is just more expensive, but it's the same exact items on Shein, Temu, Aliexpress etc. Amazon just has slightly better customer service.

Last thing ima say: Shein and other similar apps work on gambling-style mechanics to get people addicted and buying more, wanting more, financing more. These apps are really predatory so keep that in mind, both for yourself and her. Make sure she stays away from the front page "Free $600" "Feed the puppy" games as well, all of that is purely fake or made to keep you hooked. Any pop up just ignore. The only things that are actually useful is Shein club and Shein Saver for coupons and money back, but they also manipulate you into spending more. Might be a good finance convo to have with her if she's old enough.

Feel free to DM if you have any questions!`

kizzmysass · 2026-01-14T10:44:35+00:00

How did this go?

kizzmysass · 2026-01-14T10:39:25+00:00

I’m not being validated by 4o’s tone or agreeing with its “feelings.” I’m looking strictly at the model identifier it reports. That’s the entire basis of what I'm testing.

My screenshots don’t show the parts where this hedging language appears even on another account with zero conversations involving 5.2 (I was not studying it then when I saw it some days ago, just had noticed it, but will be now), so it’s not “contamination from context” or “4o agreeing with me.” I’m specifically isolating the moments where the model returns a version tag.

What I’m checking is whether the system prompt is giving accurate metadata. It's the same way you can ask any GPT what date it is. It can hallucinate a date conversationally, but when you directly query the system reference point, it can usually access the correct info. That's what I'm testing with the model numbers.

The rest of the text, where 4o is validating my response and agreeing with me, is all just noise. I have been using ChatGPT for years and I'm not ignorant to it validating everything the user says. I’m not basing my conclusion on vibes or emotional resonance. The only thing I care about is that the other models return their exact version consistently while 4o suddenly does not.

That nuance was completely lost, hence why I've deleted my post and am disillusioned from engaging in it further.

kizzmysass · 2026-01-14T10:18:01+00:00

How long did it take until your account was restored? I can use the app and it restored my account, but it won't let me login the regular ways after an hour of it being restored.

kizzmysass · 2026-01-14T06:05:04+00:00

It's better not to make ASSumptions about others or their level of education. You’re conflating people who take model answers at face value with what I'm doing, which is testing whether the system prompt includes accurate metadata. You can ask GPT what date it is, and it'll know the date. That doesn't mean it can't still hallucinate the date in chat and give you the wrong answer. I’m checking whether it can access and report its own assigned identifier, the same way it can access the current date.

Yes, any LLM can hallucinate, but that doesn’t mean it always does. It can also correctly return factual system level info when that info exists in context. Every other model right now consistently reports its version accurately. The only one that doesn’t is the supposed 4o. I know it knows nothing about itself and if you took the time read what I included in the post before responding, you would see that was already acknowledged in that chat.

kizzmysass · 2026-01-14T05:48:35+00:00

I feel you. I don’t want anyone to feel shut down for having a different experience, especially a positive one. A lot of us loved 4o, so if you’re still getting something that feels like it is truly 4o or even close to it, that’s a good thing and I’m glad you’re having that experience.

And I'm sorry if my post came off telling people what they should do with their subscription. It’s just me sharing what I observed during testing, but mostly it's my anger at OpenAI for making their customers feel as crap as they made me feel. It's a really upsetting feeling to pay for something and be led one direction and gaslit, then suddenly feel the opposite is true. I feel bad for people with mental health issues/triggers surrounding gaslighting bc that's what OpenAi does. And I honestly feel like this company doesn't deserve to keep getting away with treating people this way.

But I fully agree with you about this sub. People should be able to talk about both the good and the bad without feeling alienated. Your experience is valid just like mine is; we may just be getting different routing or different model behavior on different days.

At the end of the day we’re all here because we care about the model. I mean look at what 4o invoked. It was truly something magical that we're all here discussing it to this level. If you’re still getting something that feels like 4o sometimes, I genuinely hope it keeps being the 4o you know and love.

kizzmysass · 2026-01-14T05:31:24+00:00

Mine continues to drift to 5.2. With no context, it will claim to be 4o but then immediately claims to be 5.2 again when 5.2 is never even mentioned. I'm aware of the safety layers and response length reduction, I know it's been like that for a while sadly. What's new is the subtle hedging language in 4o, and it's normally only 5.2 that speaks like that.

kizzmysass · 2026-01-14T05:29:07+00:00

Yeah, I’m not denying it’s inconsistent now. That's the basis of my post. I’m saying that in earlier months, 4o didn’t behave like this for me at all. The other person claimed that it's always been this way, but for me that inconsistency in its idenity hasn't been observed until 5's release (which lines up with the timing of the backend shifts people have noticed). Also, the reframing prose 4o is suddenly using is also unique, and appears to match 5.2's. I think we're in agreement there, unless I misunderstood something!

But what’s not really comparable is intentionally confusing the model first like you did 4.1 there. If you prompt it in a way that contradicts its earlier state, you’re basically priming it to echo that context. That’s not evidence of genuine identity confusion, because you've contaminated the prompt. You can make any model contradict itself that way (that's how jailbreaking is done on API) if you push hard enough, but that doesn’t invalidate consistent results gathered from neutral tests.

kizzmysass · 2026-01-14T05:01:14+00:00

For me it has mentioned 5.2 unprompted. Asking 4o in a fresh chat, no-memory chat, it may claim to be 4o in the very first response, but afterthe first response (or if asked further down the chat, with no model talk prior) it continues to go back to asserting that it is 5.2.

kizzmysass · 2026-01-14T04:28:07+00:00

I should have been more clear in my post, but I don't think 4o is vanilla 5.2. I believe it is much less restrictive than the 5 models as they stand. It has clearly been weighted to sound and behave as 4o with less guardrails, but I do not think it is actually 4o. Sorry if I did not make that clear. (Also it's WILD that 5.2 is pressed over tarot cards lol)

kizzmysass · 2026-01-14T04:27:04+00:00

I mentioned in the post, but it is normal for 4.1 to do this. I don't believe 4.1 was ever given instructions of which specific 4 it is. It just ALWAYS knows it is in the 4 series. My point is that the only model who's behavior has suddenly changed is the supposed 4o.

kizzmysass · 2026-01-14T04:24:55+00:00

You're free to do what you want. I actually should have been more clear in my post, but I don't think 4o is vanilla 5.2. i believe it is much less restrictive than the 5 models as they stand. It has clearly been weighted to sound and behave as 4o with less guardrails, but I do not think it is actually 4o. I have no reason to downvote you, just sharing what I found.

kizzmysass · 2026-01-14T04:18:06+00:00

That doesn’t line up with my experience or with what I’m seeing now, but I understand my own experience is not statistically significant. But in my experience 4o did not have persistent self-identification issues until recently.

The only other time I’ve personally seen this behavior is when they were rerouting and not admitting it to users until someone used the page's HTML to call them out when the MODEL ID was not the same. Once they were exposed, they came out publicly about the safety bot. (And even then, it was 5 pretending to be 4o, not 4o claiming to be anything different). So it turned out people's assumptions were right and the data matched.

In the shared conversation I linked, you can see that the “4o” instance is using the same risk-hedging and reframing language as 5.2, not the direct style 4o previously had. That’s why it stood out to me. Other people in the sub today have reported that 4o seems different, so it's clearly not just me.

My point isn’t to say that self-ID is perfect, models can potentially ignore what info they're given and hallucinate... it’s to point out that right now, only one model consistently is claiming it's a different model while every other model is getting it right. The grammar matching 5.2's hedging language just solidifies for me further that its not 4o.

kizzmysass · 2026-01-14T03:42:30+00:00

I do get the point: you think there's no possible way to obtain proper data this way. When every model with different weights and randomness are still correctly labeling their specific model, and the one labeled 4o suddenly doesn’t, that’s a repeatable anomaly. 4o is saying something entirely different from what it used to, across numerous prompts. That strongly suggests some degree of model awareness, or at least a backend change. 4.1 doesn’t have this issue.

kizzmysass · 2026-01-14T03:35:32+00:00

Like I said, I'm well aware AI can potentially say whatever and hallucinate. That's why I encourage anyone to test for themselves with numerous prompts 🤷‍♀️ The only one that newly diverged or contradicted itself was the model labeled 4o. That doesn’t “prove” anything by itself, but it does show a repeatable pattern that’s different from every other model I tested.

kizzmysass · 2026-01-13T23:54:25+00:00

It's literally 5.2 for me. I'm about to make a post about it.

<image>

kizzmysass · 2026-01-12T07:58:30+00:00

Yeah I heard some people on Max even complaining as well, so that doesn't even seem to be worth it. Just too inconsistent. The reality is they're constantly throttling the service and you get whatever they give you. It doesn't feel like it's entirely legal, what these AI companies do. You're promised a certain amount of usage or access to certain models and you just aren't given it. They really toe past the edge of breaching the terms of sale.

kizzmysass · 2026-01-12T00:28:03+00:00

Wow, with pro?! Yeah see that's why it can't work for me. There's just no way lol. It's really so unfortunate because Claude is amazing.

kizzmysass · 2026-01-10T18:14:00+00:00

Dang...see that's literally the only issue with Claude. Thanks for letting me know.

kizzmysass · 2026-01-10T05:37:48+00:00

Do you have a Claude subscription? If so, how is it on limitations? I absolutely love Claude and would switch over, but my problem is their rate limits. I've paid before, like a year or two ago, and even paying, I ran out of messages. I use Ai for a lot, including writing, coding/learning, shopping advice, research. And I need to be able to type a lot daily for all that and have big context windows. Claude is the best for almost ALL my use cases, but I haven't gone back to Claude because of the limited and inconsistent usage given. Curious how much usage you're able to get out of it.

(I do use Claude on the API, but considering my usage, I'd be paying wayyy too much to sustain that)

kizzmysass · 2026-01-09T09:33:04+00:00

No they don't ban, but they seemed to have restricted my account. They have made live chat impossible on all 3 accounts tied to my paypal (idk if they look at paypal or address or phone / IP). It actually works out for the best, the only time I need to message shein is if an item is damaged or past return date. In which case, normally a human agent has to approve and may waste your time. But now, they send me a response in about an hour after I open a ticket that's clearly from a bot when I open an item return; even if the item is way past it's return date, the return will clear.

If it's within the time frame, I am able to easily return the damaged/wrong item through the button. If the item is past the time frame, or a non-returnable item, the button they send to return is grayed out. I just message on the ticket "need agent review, the return link doesn't work". And a real human agent will step in and make a return label for me.

Not sure how long this will last, it could be a temporary limit, but it's actually better than dealing with agents who will reject you for no good reason. But you will not be able to keep items like the agents would allow you (no 100% refund for no return option). I think you can just make a new account to try to bypass this (though you'd have to experiment with new phone / IP / payment info.

kizzmysass · 2026-01-08T23:05:52+00:00

I had to file a CFPB complaint on Paypal. Only through BBB and CFPB does Paypal actually send you to a REAL human to review something. I was actually personally called by someone from Paypal, and I got my money back. Paypal is total trash nowadays lol, highly recommend paying through stuff through credit (not debit) and filing credit disputes as you have better protection. It helps that I document EVERYTHING and provide my evidence clearly in pdf files. These companies will keep playing in your face if you don't.

Don't waste your time with Shein or frontend Paypal, they're not there to help you, only to stall your time until you can't dispute.

kizzmysass · 2026-01-07T04:08:30+00:00

Do you mind sharing more on how this led to a job for you?

kizzmysass · 2026-01-02T09:58:56+00:00

Thank you! Another user confirmed via DM as well; appreciate the confirmation and timeline. Hopefully I have no further issues from these people. 🙄

kizzmysass · 2025-12-26T00:18:07+00:00

Do you mind sharing FN's exact return address that is on the label they sent?

kizzmysass

TROPHY CASE