Thanks for all the great info posted here.
Just as an update, it all ended well. The seller was happy to give me a full refund, which was great.
I ended up buying a 2013 Epiphone Les Pault Standard Plut Top Pro in Honeyburst for £225, which is a really great guitar, very pleased with it. In the end would much rather have an Epiphone Les pau than a fake Gibson one. These days the Epiphones are getting pretty close, seeb some videos online by a well known music store, where when blindfolded, they failed to tell an Epiphone from a Gibson, so that says a lot.
Excellent, glad to hear it, enjoy!