Anyone ever buy from Frooglz.com? Scam artists?

Hi y'all!

My wife bought me a minidisc player as anniversary present from Frooglz.com (you may recall the watch I got her, thanks again for all the help). It appears in stock until after you order, now they say backordered with no ship date yet.

She was taken in by their glowing feedback at Epinions, which I generally trust. But these reviews were all perfectly happy, two sentence posts from people who all have only one review at Epinions. That is, it may be that the site owners made up a buncha IDs and posted about themselves. Just within the last week or so, some negative reviews have surfaced.

So, now I am afraid they are scammers and have stolen our cashola. Wonder if anyone has any experience or information about Frooglz.com. If it gets worse, I have to go to our credit card company. But it's only been 10 days, and I want to give them some benefit of the doubt.

Any help appreciated,
daloosh

Hmm, that site looks fishy to me. To begin with, it always raises my suspicions when the name of a site looks to be trading off the goodwill of another (e.g., "Frooglz" vs "Froogle", the Google product searching service). Then, all those ridiculously glowing Epinions reviews (which all happen to be the only reviews by brand new reviewers). Finally, when their policies include terms such as:

"If the package is larger in comparison to its weight, we will charge freight on its dimensional weight instead of its actual weight. If this is the case for your order, we will automatically place a second charge to your card to make up the difference. This will be done without notification." (my emphasis added)

and

"BACKORDERED ITEMS ARE CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD ON THE DAY OF YOUR ORDER, NOT WHEN THEY SHIP. NO ITEM IS GUARANTEED TO BE IN STOCK AND WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY BACKORDERED IF NECESSARY. COMMENTS SENT WITH YOUR ORDER WILL NOT BE READ AS THE ORDER SYSTEM IS AUTOMATED. ONCE YOU CLICK "SUBMIT ORDER" IT IS FINAL AND CANCELLATION PENALTIES APPLY. ALL ORDERS WILL BE PROCESSED REGARDLESS OF ANY INSTRUCTIONS IN THE COMMENTS BOX. NO ORDER MAY BE CANCELLED UNLESS THE ITEM IS NOT GOING TO BE IN STOCK AT ALL....NO OTHER REASON. YOU MAY NOT CANCEL AN ORDER BECAUSE YOU WERE UNAWARE IT WAS BACKORDERED, AND YOU MAY NOT CANCEL DUE TO AN EXTENDED WAITING TIME. IF YOU INSIST ON CANCELLING, WHICH IS AGAINST OUR POLICY AS STATED, WE WILL KEEP TEN PERCENT OF THE TOTAL BILL AS A CANCELLATION FEE." (my emphasis added again)

Hey, this company may be legit, but based on their stated policies, they can say they have something in stock, take your money, then say it is out of stock, not give you a reasonable delivery date, and charge you 10% of your payment if you want to cancel. Am I reading this wrong? This looks like a company to run away from with as much speed as possible.

Perhaps you can dispute the charge with your credit card company. Or contact your local consumer protection agency, since these terms sound unconscionably bad to me (tho they may still be legal).

John

To be on the safe side you should probably check with your credit card company to see if any unauthorized charges have been made.

Re: Anyone ever buy from Frooglz.com? Scam artist

Wowww!!! Those terms and conditions of sale are unacceptible. Its the "web-store nazi!!!"

Contest the charge when you get the credit card bill. If that does not work, after 30 days, start filing with the internet fraud divisions of the FBI, etc. You can find a list on one of the Ebay Safe-Trade forums.

Good luck.
Dave

Re: Anyone ever buy from Frooglz.com? Scam artist

Holy moley, I hadn't got as far as the no-cancel take-your-money clauses yet, but I checked the credit card, and only the one charge is there.

I feel terrible my wife got taken for a ride, she's aware that feedback is real important, but since she doesn't buy a lot online (unlike the thousands of dollars I spend) she's not as savvy to the tricksters out there. It's worse that it's for a present for me, so she feels terrible, too.

Kubolaw, thanks for pointing out the terms. I would think they step over the line of legality, and that they wouldn't be able make them stand up in court, not that I want to go there. Especially since they hide them, as it's obvious they suggest it's all in stock and then hit you later with "oh, it's outa stock and by the way, you agreed to pay us anyway, even if we never know when it will be in stock." My sense is that's it's fluff, like when the garage tells you they have no responsibility at all for your car, or the coatcheck says it's your fault if we lose your jacket.

Well, the billing month just ended, and my wife just told me she got an email saying they don't know when they'll have it. So I think I have to contest the charge. Thanks nikon and DaGunn for your suggestions.

daloosh

BTW, I guess no one at CPF has ever had contact with these people, anyone?

Re: Anyone ever buy from Frooglz.com? Scam artist

I did a quick search on google and found a posting that complained about a bait and switch problem. Buy an item, it's not available, the only other choices are at least 20% higher and you can't back out. Caveat Emptor.

Re: Anyone ever buy from Frooglz.com? Scam artist

Holy crap!!!

Talk about a brutal policy structure!!!! And I'm in the Biz....

Ouch!!!

Re: Anyone ever buy from Frooglz.com? Scam artist

I agree with the other people who think that you got hosed. The shipping policy basically says, "We're going to charge you right away, and we can put off shipping indefinitely so long as we call it 'backordered,' and you can't do a damn thing if something goes wrong." The best you can hope for is that you'll receive your item, most likely after an absurdly long delay. Or if the item doesn't show up for months, you can probably make the case that it's never going to appear and that you're being defrauded.

Re: Anyone ever buy from Frooglz.com? Scam artist

Federal Trade Commission's MAIL OR TELEPHONE ORDER MERCHANDISE RULE

The Rule requires that when you advertise merchandise, you must have a reasonable basis for stating or implying that you can ship within a certain time. If you make no shipment statement, you must have a reasonable basis for believing that you can ship within 30 days. That is why direct marketers sometimes call this the "30-day Rule."

What You Should Know Before You Make a Shipment Representation
When you offer to sell merchandise, you must have a "reasonable basis" for:

any express or implied shipment representation, or
believing you can ship within 30 days of receipt of an order -- if you make no shipment representation or if the shipment representation is not clear and conspicuous .


It's not very clear and conspicuous for them to hide that off the wall policy in their "Info" page rather than spelling it out right in the order form upon ordering in screaming bold. I have to say, reading their policy was kinda fascinating- sorta like looking at some gross slug or insect. Incredible!

I'd be very surprised if the credit card company doesn't go to bat for you on this matter; I'm sure they can take care of this if nothing happens by the time you get the charge card bill from them.

Re: Anyone ever buy from Frooglz.com? Scam artist

grumble. sounds fishy to me.....

neg

Re: Anyone ever buy from Frooglz.com? Scam artist

Photonboy, yeah I saw that bait and switch review, the guy ordered the same minidisc player my wife did. Not good.

Chris, Andrew, neg, you guys are right, this sucks and they suck. I do think that a good argument can be made, at least to the credit card company and/or the better business bureau that their policies are unconscionable and inherently unfair to consumers.

Wingerr, thanks for the link, you know I'm always looking for fodder for the cannon. I like that the government is our side sometimes, at least!

Thanks all,
daloosh

Re: Anyone ever buy from Frooglz.com? Scam artist

Wow, what an eye opener.

Re: Anyone ever buy from Frooglz.com? Scam artist

daloosh,
I ordered from Frooglz too, and have not received yet.
Can you tell me what you have done since, or did you ever get your item?

Re: Anyone ever buy from Frooglz.com? Scam artist

Hiya zoombloom, welcome to CPF, and why dontcha stay awhile!

This is a great community, and I look forward to your future posts. Perhaps you would like to share your experience with Frooglz in a little more detail with us.

daloosh