Caromac Nuts - Beware

[saxmaam]

Hi all,

Earlier this month I placed a substantial order with Caromac, an online seller of nuts. My one previous experience with them was good. This time there was no acknowledgement of my order and I didn't receive it in the 19 days since I placed the order. They have made no reply to my emails and phone messages.

I have filed a dispute with Paypal, but they say that there is no guarantee that they will recover my payment.

There may be extenuating circumstances and I plan to update this post with new information as appropriate. In the meantime, I hope this post may keep one of you from the disappointment and loss of funds that I have experienced.

October 10 Update: Paypal found in my favor but says there is no money in Caromac account so they won't give me a refund.

[spicyfull]

Hope it all works out for you. I always use a Card, they will cover it for you. Thanks for Sharing.

[Eva]

I had a similar experience when part of my shipment was missing. It was resolved several months later, but they were nice about it. I followed up in the beginning, then got tired of that. Eventually I think Lucy (veganforlife) made a comment that struck with me. So, I decided I would contact them daily if necessary. Didn't take long. And Clive was nice about it, actually.

I think they need a good programmer to help them set up a better order management system. This is pretty typical of companies that grow faster than expected and don't do that from the beginning.

That's my best guess. I hope it works out for you.

[saxmaam]

Eva, when you contacted them daily, did they respond at all? I'm getting ZERO after sending 2 emails and leaving two phone calls in a week.

[Eva]

In the beginning, no. I really can't remember all the details now. I do remember they sent more than what I ordered in the end and that the daily emails didn't take more than a few days.

[saxmaam]

Thanks. I feel so angry about this. They have a website set up to collect money at any hour of the day or night but they don't feel obligated to do anything in return, at least not in a timely fashion. (I know, I'm just imagining their point of view.) I am ready to give them $10,000 worth of negative advertising. But for the moment I guess I need to let paypal do their "investigation" thing.

[Veganforlife]

saxmaam - I think a good while back when the problems were happening, if I remember correctly, something happened on their end, like computer problems, or something that made them not respond in a timely manner. I know it's frustrating and I hope it gets resolved quickly for you. :(

[saxmaam]

saxmaam - I think a good while back when the problems were happening, if I remember correctly, something happened on their end, like computer problems, or something that made them not respond in a timely manner. I know it's frustrating and I hope it gets resolved quickly for you. :(

Me too. But they don't answer their phone or return calls, either.

Anyway, thanks for the support. It tells me that (1) I'm not the only person who's had a problem with them, and (2) there's hope that I'll get a positive resolution.

Susan

[Veganforlife]

Anything yet?????????????

[saxmaam]

October 10 Update: Paypal found in my favor but says there is no money in Caromac account so they won't give me a refund.



After careful review, we have concluded our investigation of the Buyer
Complaint described below.

We have decided in your favor, however, we were unable to recover any funds
from the seller's account. As stated in the PayPal User Agreement, recovery
of funds associated with a Buyer Complaint cannot be guaranteed.

Please know that we will make our best effort to recover the funds in
question if they become available in the seller's account in the future and
will take appropriate action against the seller. Such action may include
issuing a warning, a temporary restriction, or terminating the account.
Keep in mind that PayPal uses a number of factors to determine when to take
action, including member complaints. Due to privacy laws, we cannot discuss
the details of any action taken. We hope you understand our policy and that
it assures you that you are safe using PayPal.

I may be physically safe, but my money is gone.

Paypal charged my credit card for this, so I'll be filling out paperwork for VISA today.

Bottom line: The Caromac site took my money, nothing was delivered, phone messages were unreturned, emails were unanswered. Paypal won't refund my money unless they can extract it from Caromac.

[Veganforlife]

WOW! I am really sorry to hear this!

[Eva]

Thatás pretty crazy'

[Eva]

LOL, whoops!!! I forgot to make the switch back from Hungarian to English!!!

I meant to type: That's pretty crazy! :o

[Veganforlife]

But I bet we are going to see more and more of the small companies, going under with the way the US economy/stock market is going. That's a bummer for you though saxmaam! Dern!

[saxmaam]

Their website is still there waiting to take people's money. Then the money will disappear from the account, if my experience is any indicator. That's worse than simply going out of business, it's a crime.

[Veganforlife]

OH! I didn't realize this. That IS criminal. Can this be reported to the better business bureau or something? WOW!!!

[saxmaam]

I filed a report with the BBB this morning. Maybe I should file a police report .... hmmm.

[Eva]

Very good on the BBB report. I hope you'll report back as you find out more information.

[Moretta]

I hope the situation gets resolved in your favour. Sorry to hear the troubles you have had with that company.

[deb]

I had the same problem with them last year. It took months but I finally did get my nuts. Something about the supplier not coming through. But the thing was, he would never respond to my emails or calls. I could have dealt with the delayed shipment if he had just responded.

I did report him to the BBB and will never do business again. I get an ad now and then for specials but no way... never again.

I hope you can get your money back!!

[Morn]

http://www.rawfreedomcommunity.info/forum/showthread.php?p=43530#post43530

Check out this thread. Its seems you are not the only one.

[raweater]

Was www.caromac.com their website? If so it seems to have been shut down.

[JEN]

I think this is the site
http://caromacsc.tripod.com/driedfruitnutsseedsandherbs/id16.html

[saxmaam]

Lycos runs tripod.com. I sent the following:

"This website took my money and gave nothing in return. I am not the only person who has been cheated like this recently. Please see these discussions for details:

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=44835
http://www.rawfreedomcommunity.info/forum/showpost.php?p=42924&postcount=29

Paypal found in my favor but says there is no money to pay me back. I have filed a complaint with the BBB and my credit card.

I think tripod should shut this website down. The owners are committing fraud on your watch.

Thank you for your consideration,"

[saxmaam]

Update on this ...

Lycos shut down the website. I'm not out for revenge. I'm just glad that others will not get suckered out of their funds like I did.

The BBB of SC says that the company hasn't responded to their investigation. No surprises there.

I still haven't heard from my credit card company about my dispute. I guess that takes a while.

[Eva]

WOW! "Nice" work on that. Business is business, but you can't just take people's money in exchange for nothing!!! This is a great reason to give business to local and/or recommended businesses. :)