Why you should check Social Networks before you buy

Normally I do my due diligence when buying online. This one time though I didn’t cause I thought I knew about this company, but turns out… not so much.

I placed an order May 20th with Rollabind by calling the number on the website and actually got what I presumed to be the owner on the line. I wanted to get the purple basic discs (72) and the a couple of shells in an assortment of sizes that were not listed on the website and he seemed accommodating. My card was charged the next day but after waiting 2 weeks, I still had not received my order so I started to call and email. No response.

On June 13th I went back to the website and this time clicked on the Facebook button. First glance told me that they hadn’t posted anything since July 2011. Wow! Then I looked and the “Recent Posts by Others” and low and behold there were over 50 other people posting that they also never received their orders. Their Twitter account also seems to have gotten hijacked by a disgruntled employee that didn’t get paid.

So I started researching. I found that the domain registry was through Network Solutions but I could narrow down who the hosting company was other then it was in UK. Sent a couple emails but didn’t really get anywhere as I kept getting lead to hosts that were very scammy and didn’t have any way of contacting them. Network solutions finally returned my call but just said to contact the hosting provider.

In the mean time I went to my bank and filled out a charge dispute but got otherwise caught up and didn’t find much out.

Yesterday I was going though my bookmarks and was reminded about it so I started looking into the hosting provider again. This time I found 3 email addresses and fired off another email. One of them replied fairly quickly and while they were not the one, they provided me with the actual contact info. Now were getting somewhere!

So I emailed Heart Internet Ltd who responded very quickly with this:

Hi Karissa,

Really sorry to hear about this – I’ve done a bit more Googling about this company and noticed that the Better Business Bureau has received 64 complaints about them of the last few years -> http://www.bbb.org/south-east-florida/business-reviews/bookbinders-equipment-and-supplies/rollabind-in-boca-raton-fl-90026345#

I’ve disabled the site, and it won’t be turned back on under any circumstances.

I’m not familiar with how fraudulent activity, such as this, is handled in the US, but I hope you are able to get your money back.

Best Wishes,
Daniel
Abuse Department
Heart Internet Ltd

Hallelujah!!! I got the site down!!! I feel like I’m in the Internet Protection Mafia! LOL! Now no more unsuspecting people have to go through this hassle. Which BTW I still haven’t gotten the refund yet.
I setup a site change detection to notify me of any changes just in case they think that they can surf to another hosting provider and relaunch the site.

So the moral of this story is ALWAYS check the Facebook & Twitter to see if there is anything unsavory going on.

And when you have a vendor that you love (Levenger.com and the Circa notebook system) just stick with them.

 

::Update 7/25/14 4AM::

My change notification worked and looks like they surfed their hosting to GoDaddy! I am now contacting them to see if they will shut it down.

No matter how many hosting companies that they keep surfing to, I will keep contacting every single one of them about this.

Actually I am going to file a police report tomorrow as well so this can be investigated through all the proper channels.

 

::Update 7/30/14 10AM::

GoDaddy has responded with this:

Support Staff Response
Dear Karissa, Thank you for the message. We have reviewed your complaint but at this time we are unable to take action without a court order. GoDaddy does not allow illegal content on our customer’s websites. However, as a hosting provider, it is not our place to determine if the site you have mentioned is actually engaging in illegal activities.

GoDaddy regularly works with courts and if you suspect any of our customers are using their website to engage in any illegal activities, please help us by obtaining a court order. Please report any other details or additional information via our online abuse form here https://supportcenter.godaddy.com/AbuseReport/Index?ci=22420.

It is the domain name registrant’s or site administrator’s responsibility to review and maintain their website. If you feel that the Website displays incorrect or outdated information please contact the site administrator to request a change. If you feel that the Whois information on a domain is incorrect or outdated please contact the domain’s registrar to request a record update. If we are the registrar, please report invalid Whois data to us.

Regards, Content Abuse GoDaddy

 

So very frustrating!

 

::Update 8/2/14 6AM::

 

They have removed the links to their Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn sites.

 

Pretty self incriminating if you ask me. I don’t think they have access to those accounts any more as there was an unhappy employee that posted his feelings on Twitter and they haven’t been posted to for a couple years.

Also note the Authorize.net button. I forgot to mention earlier that I called them too, and while they were unable to take any action, the did log my complaint and the guy ended up telling me that the account was slated for cancellation due to unrelated reasons.

 

::Update 8/28/14 6AM::

Its been over a month and I still haven’t gotten refunded from my bank. I was talking about this at my WordPress KC Meetup tonight which made me realize that time is flying by. I’ll make some calls tomorrow and see what I can find out. I am also going to start a spreadsheet to tally all the money that they have scammed out of unsuspecting customers.