After a week of nail-biting anticipation, my ghd IV styler arrived ahead of schedule today to my complete delight. I tore it out of the box only to be deflated when I realized that it was a 2 prong outlet with no hologram on either the inside of the unit or on the power cord. After all the time I spent researching online and thinking that Amazon.com was an approved retailer, I was duped and wanted to throttle Amazon for selling counterfeits. I did NOT buy through the marketplace, but from Amazon directly, since I thought it would surely be selling the real thing. WRONG! I called up the ghd North America hotline and spoke with a representative, who confirmed that mine was a fake and Amazon.com is not authorized in the US. I had seen Amazon on an approved list of stockists on the ghd UK website, which it is....in the UK only(amazon.co.uk). Some reviewers have reported that theirs have been successfully registered by ghd, which is why I think that both real and fake stylers are mixed together in the shipments. Too bad that mine turned out to be one of the fake ones. As a product (however counterfeit it is), I would still rate the iron as a 4 or 5--it does straighten as well as others have reported. Because it is NOT the product I expected to receive and there is no warranty because I can't register it, I give this review an overall 1.
BOTTOM LINE: Buy at your own risk--if you want to take a chance of getting a real one shipped to you, that's your call. Personally, if you don't care whether or not you have a real ghd or not, you can find a cheaper one ($70-80) on other sites---no use paying double for something that's just as fake! I'm returning mine and buying a cheaper iron (not ghd) elsewhere. Hope this helps!