About 5 weeks ago I ordered some products from an Australia site called Direct Discount. I paid via Paypal. I got a confirmation email. Everything looked legit. But it’s been five weeks and still no product. I’ve tried emailing their sales support line but the emails bounce. They have a fax number on the site but no telephone number. I can’t find a listing for them in the Aussie WhitePages. Any ideas on how I track these folks down to see if I’ve done my $100 or not? They also have a US site.
UPDATE 29 July 2007: Well I took Fi’s advice (thanks Fi!) and made a complaint via Paypal. The process took a couple of minutes and, a couple of days later, the company refunded my money, claiming they were out of stock with the product. A good outcomes from Paypal! Obviously the company (DirectDiscount.us) takes Paypal’s emails more seriously than they do mine. A lesson for anyone out there who gets ripped off in a Paypal transaction – make a complaint.
Do they have a contact through PayPal?
My other thought would be do mock up an ACA/TT letterhead and tell them they are under investigation, sending it via the fax number. Have you tried ringing the fax number? Better still let ACA/TT know about it and let them do the work for you, but pretend you are a battling pensioner…
C’mon Cam! You broke the first couple rules of shopping online… (A) You didn’t investigate who these people are before you sent them money, and (B) you paid via PayPal. Don’t be surprised if they’re based out of Russia or drop-shipped from Hong Kong or something…
A Whois brings up;
PRIMUS TELECOMMUNICATIONS PTY LTD.
Contact Info: Simon Verdon, PO Box 41782,Phoenix,AZ Phone: +1.6025327038
But that could be anyone.
Yeah thanks Herne. I actually googled them before I processed the order and nothing nasty came up. I did the Whois as well and rang the US number but got a voicemail. I took Fi’s advice and made a complaint via Paypal too. Thanks folks!
Cam have you tried the local aussie address? Might be worth sending a letter (as archaic as that is). Ringing the fax is a good idea.
It can be easy to miss an email I had an instance once where a whole trusted domain that was blocked because it was considered spam by my provider.
The other thing I thought of was checking the business registration, that might give you something other than a postal PO box.
Good Luck
Also they are with Bluehost, you might want to contact them as well as they are pretty good about that stuff, although not sure what they could do.
Molly
I didn’t think you’d be silly enough to give away your money to just anyone, Cam, but there’s so many people that do I jumped to that conclusion.
One of my ex’s bought aftershave through an Amazon.com reseller and had it shipped from the US up here to Canada. The seller sold her a 1.7 ounce bottle of aftershave for $9.95 and when they shipped it here to Canada, they claimed the contents of the package was “lotion” valued at $100US. So I got hit with a Canada Customs import bill for about $40. Not only did they sell a product that was clearly marked “Sample, not for resale” all over the packaging as genuine product, but they also made fraudulent claims on a US Customs form. After going back to Canada Customs, getting everything straightened out, and getting my money back, I made complaints to Customs and Amazon.com. I doubt either did anything about it… Just goes to show that you can’t even trust something that Amazon.com represents online if they don’t sell it directly.
Don’t forget to report them to Consumer Affairs, as they’re operating under a .com.au
am 74 year old victim, along side many others throughout the world, of these folks – operating under other names of NetStoreUSA.com and Open Media Pty Ltd., as well as above. Traced partner (Michel Bowen) of Simon Verdon through whois.domaintools.com to following address in North Carolina. 10917 Fox hedge Road, 28105, Matthews, NC US. Google mapped it – very nice large house in salubrious area!!! Obviously doing very well for themselves. Simon Verdon has various PO Box nos in Sydney – and Phoenix AZ. They need catching!
Dear Barbara,
I just read about your experience with NetStoreUSA.com. I live in Germany and ordered a book from World Retail Store on Aug. 24. Open Media Pty Ltd billed my credit card with AUD 155.00 (from Rushcutters Bay, Australia, obviously). I doubt I’ll ever receive the book I ordered. The company World Retail Store operates from 10640 N 28th Dr., Suite B203, Phoenix, AZ 85029 in the US and from Sydney, Australia.
As luck would have it, I got a friend in the German police force who works in the fraud dept. I doubt much can be done from another country though. Please let me know if you have any info that might help to get these people caught!
I’m going through the same thing. Ordered A$267.70 worth of product through http://www.netstore.com.au back on the 30th October. My account says the items were shipped on the 26th Nov – last Monday – but I’ve not yet received the goods. I’ve sent numerous emails and faxes to both the Sydney and US contacts, but I’m just being ignored. I’m going to try what Cam did and go through PayPal to hopefully get a refund.
I checked out their ACN and they come up as Open Media Pty Ltd.
I’ll also be registering a complaint to the ACCC.
This company/site claims to have been operating since 1994. I can’t believe they haven’t been shut down!
Update – I sent DirectDiscountUS a message via PayPal at 5.46pm Melbourne time yesterday, and they responded in 13 minutes! This would have made it midnight in Phoenix, so the whole thing is really baffling. After sending countless emails and faxes to them last week and being ignored, just one email via PayPal and they respond in no time at all.
This was their response:
“We do sincerely apologise. We should have told you that there was a delay in collecting all the items but that these are all now on their way to you by airmail. You should expect to receive them with your normal mail within the next 7 days. Thank you for being patient”
I’ll now be biding my time for the next 7 days…
I got my stuff in the mail today – YAY! If anyone else is having problems with Netstore/DirectDiscountUS, I highly recommend using PayPal’s Resolution Centre. It did the trick.
I ordered a book from the World Retail Store on the 9th Nov 2007, they (Rushcutters AU) have taken the payment from my account but have not sent me a confirmation email as they stated they would, and my item has not arrived!
They don’t reply to my emails!
Any ideas what I should do?
Regards, Fran.
Ordered books from World Retail Store on June7 2008, my credit card was charged 155.00
on July 8 2008, have not received anything yet, not even the confirmation of the order.
Got suspicious when Open Media PTY showed up on my credit card statement. So l googled to find out who they are, since l did not buy anything from anybody by that name.
SURPRISE! The Rip-off report came up about others in the same predicament! l immediately called my credit card Co to block any further action on my card. l’ll be in touch with the card Co during office hours, trying to resolve the issue. They have a resolution dept.
well it looks like everybody is getting ripped off by this Open Media(Pty)Ltd. I am South African and havent even purchased anything, never even heard of them before yesterday when I noticed 2 big unauthorised purchases on my credit card statement.
My bank informed it was from Australia.
My son cant get any answer he says the phone just goes onto voice mail.
Who are these people and how do they get away with this?