"On December 10th, I ordered a Homedics Shiatsu Massage Pillow from ikitchen.com. I paid with paypal and the site says it would be shipped to me within 3 days. On December 27th (AFTER Christmas so my dad had no gift) I went online to check the status of my order. There was no status, no tracking number, nothing. I contacted ikitchen and asked where my package was. Then I started getting suspicious. I googled ikitchen metromarket scam and hundreds of hits came up!
I quickly contacted them again asking to refund my money or else I would contact the BBB and paypal for a dispute. I looked at this website and saw some other reviews of how you get the fake e-mails from ikitchen saying your item has been backordered, etc, and that they take forever to respond and are pretty much scamming you. I decided not to put off contacting the BBB or paypal.
I contacted both, and I threatened ikitchen. On December 31st, I received a full refund. Don't let this guy get away with scamming any of us!! If you were done wrong, contact the BBB. Let them investigate. Do everything you can. It pays off in the end and you won't feel like a sucker for getting your money back!
On BBB, I looked up homebrands.com because that is the main website. The sales rep is David Balassiano. Give them all the information you can. If all of us contact BBB on this man, hopefully we can stop him from screwing any more consumers. "
"ordered 3 items. they delivered 1 item 3 weeks later and charged me almost complete shipping for all 3 items ordered. A month later and the other items still didnt ship. This merchant does not stock merchandise, how they are still in business after doing this for years apparently is beyond my understanding. Word to the wise. STAY AWAY!"
"Ordered a coffee pot Dec 13th and should have known it would be trouble. The price was only 60 to 70% what others were selling it for. Never got it and emailed them 6 days ago because you can't call them, no answer so I sent another email canceling the order and I ordered elsewhere. Should have done more searching for reviews. Darn"
"I ordered five things on two orders from this store. The most expensive items have not shipped although I received a UPS shipment number that turned out to be bogus. UPS said they have not picked up the merchandise for delivery and the due date is now a week old. I received two items that were the least expensive, one of which was old. After reading the reviews on Resellerratings.com, I contacted my credit card company to intervene but they said I had to follow protocol and if after my efforts, there was no resolution, they would step in. However, the problem with that is iKitchen has already taken my money and based on the other reviews, I don't expect to see my products or my money. I suppose I'm expecting the worst given what other reviewers have had to say. I noticed that today, iKitchen is selling the Nintendo Wii for $299 while every other retailer including all the major chains are out. They say delivery is in two weeks; just enough time to get your money before your credit card company can stop payment. This is a typical scam to get your money. I will never buy from this site again. "
"Thank goodness for re-sellerratings.com. I was all set, mentaly and e-commercially, to order a deLonghi Pro Deep Fat Fryer, at the cost of $89.99 (their much reduced price).
I have known and been an active user of resellerratings.com for more than a year now. Re-SellerRatings.com has just SAVED me from making an $89.99 MISTAKE!!
Thank You Honorable Sirs!!
benboise "
"Unfortunately my story is not different from any of the other reviews. I ordered a $250.00 product on 10/26 and my account was charged on 10/29, as of 12/2/2008 I have not recieved my order. This is the worst company on the net. Do not order anything from this website it is a FRAUD. If you are lucky enough to talk to someone they try to tell you that your product is already shipped and they cannot refund your purchase yet. I am still in the process of trying to get my money back. I repeat, do not order anything from this company they are a FRAUD."
"Like the others, I placed an order with these thieves without checking their history. The immediate response indicated my order would be shipped in five days. One month later I asked questions and was informed that the product was placed on backorder. The company no longer bothers to even reply. I am out $67.07 for some Quisnart pans. DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY; THEY WILL ONLY STEAL YOUR MONEY.
"
"Almost identical senario to the others. Sure wish I had checked this site first. Ordered 3 Timex Electronic rain guage/thermometers because their price was slightly less. It was immediately charged to my credit card as Metromarket thru Paypal($84.77) On 9/26 sent e-mail asking for shipping confirmation-no reply.Sent another e-mail 10/3 received reply on 10/6 saying it would be shipped from manufacturer within 2 weeks-this goes on and on. I have sent a total of 6 more e-mails with NO further reply. I filed a compliant with Paypal and they gave some reason as to why they could not deal directly with this company and gave some general suggestions for dealing with problems of this type which is no help. How do you deal with a crook? I have never had a problem with on-line ordering but this experience will make me much more cautious and I will check new companies thru this web site in the future."
"Briefly, I purchased a "Vornado Heater" for $87.92 from "homebrands.com".
On October 19, $87.92 was deducted from my PayPal account by a "Metro Market Sales".
On October 31, I received a UPS notification that a "Gary Benson" entered a shipping bill for an 8 lb. item.
As of November 11, the item has not shipped yet, as the UPS tracking indicates.
I have previously emailed the customer service address (mailto:****@****) for an explanation of the long wait, as well as requesting a refund.
I have not had any response whatsoever from "homebrands.com", and I'm currently in dispute with PayPal to get a refund.
Here's where it gets interesting (I did my own online investigating)....
The address of "homebrands.com" and "MetroMarketSales" is: 1204 Avenue U #1087, Brooklyn, NY 11229 which, thanks to Google Street View, is a Mail Drop address. Their 'Customer Service' phone number (their website states is 'down') is: ***-***-****, which is a recording. Feeling immediately uneasy, I check the Better Business Bureau online. Well, it seems "homebrands.com" also does business as: dotcom project, giant savings, homebrands.com, ikitchen.com, kitchenhomegadgets.com, hcg logistics, metromarket.com, and many more, according to the BBB listing, along with their warning not to do business with them.
Visiting "metromarket.com", one finds a similar merchant website, and when clicking "about us", one finds a photoshopped "Metro Market Stores" storefront supposedly at the same Avenue U address with a "Please visit our store when in the neighborhood". Yeah, sure.
Upon furthur investigating online, it appears that there are HUNDREDS of complaints against this company by other customers getting charged for their purchases, and not receiving their items, not only from "homebrands.com", but "ikitchen.com" and other related webstores.
"HomeBrands.com" are apprently run by a "Dave Balas" (real name: David Balassiano), also listed at 256 W36 St NY, NY. It also seems "HomeBrands.com" Corporation is listed at 2439 South 11th Street, Niles, MI 49120 and phone number: ***-***-****, also a recording "Lines are Temporarily Busy".
"aboutus.org" lists "HomeBrands.com" contact as: FurnitureFind Corporation ***-***-****, also a recording "Lines are Temporarily Busy".
You see where this is going.
A search on "my3cents.com" of "ikitchen" gives one a plethora of customer complaints.
I can go on with more information I've discovered, more supposed company addresses, etc., including finding that the domain, "homebrands.com", is 'privately listed' with WhoIs.
So, one can see this company does a fine job of presenting themselves as legitimate online, but in reality, they are accepting lots of orders, but not shipping product, hence, a fraud.
I'd like to make sure others don't get taken by this now-obvious scam.
"
"I've ordered several small item before this one no problem, they were all under $20 items. Then I figured things would be fine so I did the big order, two items, through paypal, to the tune of over $600 dollars. I was charged against my bank account for one item ($252.91) two days later. The larger item wasn't charged to my bank from Paypal for some reason? I did receive confirmation from iKitchen, and or course paypal, but after two weeks nothing about shipping confirmation? I emailed and received a form letter two days later stating it was being drop shipped directly from manufacturer and they didn't have any additional information? Waited another week and requested a phone contact by email, 3 days later I had a number. I called and was told the same thing as the original email reply and they could give me no time estimate and we're unwilling to contact the manufacturer directly. So like a fool I wait another week or so--nothing! Tried calling the phone number over a week period, now the number doesn't go through. Tried a few more emails as well--no replies. At this point I filed a dispute with Paypal but since 45 days elapsed I didn't meet their criteria. Thank goodness I checked resellerratings, I read the comments from the person who found them through BBB and what their actual names are. Now at least I feel I have some recourse. I just filed a complaint with BBB and hope to have resolution soon? This company commits fraud and should not be allowed to steal from unsuspecting consumers!!!"
"My advice: 1. Don't buy from them. 2. If you do, keep a log, document everything, and be persistent. I think they count on keeping the money of those who give up or can't be bothered.
I ordered a Braun Plaque Remover model D6011 on May 9, 2008 from iKithen.com after an Internet search suggested their price was quite good. I got an email confirmation promptly (and also started receiving a couple of email advertisements a day). In May 15 I got a UPS electronic shipment initiation notice. However the first actual scan on the UPS log was when the package departed Brooklyn on May 22. On arrival at the end of May, the external package was beat up in a way suggesting that it had already made several roundtrips. The contents appeared fresh and undamaged in original shelf packaging, but it was the wrong toothbrush. (Oral-B Vitality “Dual Clean” D12513P). The wrong toothbrush was not what I wanted, and listed (along with the right one) on their website at that time at a lower price.
June 4 I used their prescribed web site interface at: http://www.ikitchen.com/info.html#contactus to complain, demanding that they cancel their order and refund my money, and offering to return the wrong product at their expense. On June 8 I received an email in apparent response, which provided the means for me to print a prepaid UPS shipping label for the return (this step is the only step in the whole process that went well).
June 9 I shipped the product back, with all documentation including the RMA number on the package outside. UPS reported the product arrived on June 16.
On July 8, having received no communication nor a refund to my card, I emailed again demanding order cancellation, confirmation of receipt of the returned goods, and refund.
July 10 I got an email reply, asserting it might take as long as 60 days for my refund.
October 20--still no communication, no refund to my account. I sent another email specifically threatening to refer the matter to account services at my credit card company.
October 27 I received a response, acknowledging they had received my return, and asserting they had that day refunded in full.
October 29 the refund actually appeared in the online logs for my card, with the merchant name given as "METRO MARKET SALES, I - ***-***-**** NY".
"
"As with everyone else who posted reviews, I did not do my homework before ordering from this company. I assumed Yahoo Shopping would only list reputable merchants....Finding it odd that the only confirmation I received was from Pay Pal for the payment, and no correspondence whatsoever from iKitchen/homebrands.com/metromarket.com (all one and the same), I began to investigate. Each review was a nightmare. Just as stated, their websites have no contact number or mailing address. Only email links that are, for the most part, not legitimate. One week after placing, and paying for, my order, I went to the Better Business Bureau's website. Once I was there, metromarket.com and iKitchen both proved futile, however I hit the jackpot when I typed in "homebrands.com". They are located in Niles, MI and the case was handled by the Western MI BBB in Grand Rapids. I filed with the BBB on Oct. 27 and received an email today (Oct. 30) from Michele Adams of iKitchen (email addy is ****@****), apologizing for the fact that they "would not be able to provide the item I ordered" and that the full price would be refunded. Sure enough, I also had an email from Pay Pal, showing the refund. Whatever you do, file a complain with the BBB!!!! They will immediately contact the merchant and that seems to do the trick. "
"Well I guess I should have used this site before buying. After waiting for a month for my iron I finally sent numerous emails before I got a response that it was on backorder and they didn't know when they'd get any. I've asked them to cancel my order and ordered the same item from Amazon on Monday...got it today with free shipping. I got drawn in to iKitchen as they were slightly cheaper. After reading the reviews about used items I'm glad it didn't arrive. Why do I even bother with sites other than Amazon? Hopefully I won't have too much trouble with cancelling the order from them..."
"I ordered a waffle maker from iKitchens and had a difficult time getting any information about them related to a long delay in shipping. Now, two years later, the product has stopped working and I JUST DISCOVERED that it's refurbished -- a fact that was not made at all clear on the website (although I just found the fine print, 2 years later.) Well, that explains the great price!! I'm not a fan of this store."
"I had ordered 2 items. A Roma strsainer #07-0801 and a set of strainers #07-858. The strainer arrived but no strainers. After months of haggling iKitchen did refund my money for the set. Without the set the strainer itself was worthless to me. I sent the sttrainer back, according to their rules, but here it is a year later and I still did not receive my refund."