Tuesday 5 May 2009

Sweatshopbytiq/Kawaii Parlor - Scam: Update

You may recall from an earlier entry that I was having problems with this seller, aka Kawaii Parlor and Royalteababy, as I had paid for an item from her Etsy site, she had sent me one 4 sizes too big, told me to return it to her and has never provided a replacement, but did keep my payment.

I reported sweatshopbytiq to Etsy for non-delivery of an item, they investigated, and I am pleased to say they found in my favour, as she provided them with no proof of postage of the replacement item and refused to confirm that she would provide the replacement or a refund. So, ultimately they said they had no choice but to close down her Etsy store. A small victory for moi, as this girl really did take the piss! Here is their email:

> > Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 12:38:08 -0400> > From: abuse@etsy.com> > To: lauren543@hotmail.com> > Subject: Re: Etsy Notification of Non-Delivery> >> >> >
Hi Lauren,We are sorry to report that after many attempts, Etsy has not received an update that indicates the seller has or will settle your transaction. Consequently, we will ban them from using Etsy or operating a shop on the site (this is set to happen this Friday). We hope that you were able obtain a refund. Kind regards, Erin Haldrup Etsy Support abuse@etsy.com
abuse@etsy.com>

I also found her previous Ebay ID http://myworld.ebay.com/sweatshopbytiq*com which has a ton of negative feedback from other buyers that she's ripped off. Obvs, she no longer uses this ID and now operates under a different name... Also found further negative feedback here http://sweatshopbytiq.ecrater.com/view-feedback.php?storeid=17818 Glad it's not just me...

Anyway, sadly Etsy were unable to persuade her to provide me with the item I paid for, or a refund, and advised me to file a complaint to the Internet Crime Centre, which I have done today. I don't hold out much hope of them being able to do anything, as this girl really is a total nightmare and just responds to emails with irrational gibberish and no actual answers to queries!
But, you know, fingers crossed. At least she can't rip anyone else off via Etsy any more though :)

Watch this space...


Edit: 14/12/09
Oh dear, looks like Tiq has been up to her old tricks again. Check out the Ebay feedback...

royalteababy*corsets ( 563 )

Member since: Nov-18-06 in United States


Corset never sent; received refund from seller after 5 weeks.
Buyer:
bisonicgal ( 1161 )
Aug-01-09 14:09

Goods not recieved, failed to reach the seller. Transaction reported to Paypal
Buyer:
macha140471 ( 100 )
Jul-30-09 01:23

Goods not recieved, failed to reach the seller. Transaction reported to Paypal
Buyer:
macha140471 ( 100 )
Jul-30-09 01:22

measurements totally off; only fits 18 m.o child; seller totally nonresponsive
Buyer:
oxfordbunny ( 88 )
Jul-22-09 17:01

Items still haven't arrived after almost two months - not good enough.
Buyer:
kj-angelcakes ( 61 )
Jul-01-09 22:23


Still haven't received items after 7 weeks, despite "promises" from the buyer.
Buyer:
kj-angelcakes ( 61 )
Jul-01-09 22:22

Made several documented attempts for contact Seller never shipped item no excuse
Buyer:
12478 ( 889 )
May-25-09 20:23

Over a month waiting. Still no product. Was supposed to be for daughters prom.
Buyer:
steve17 ( 426 )
May-16-09 12:42

Item not shipped. No communication. I appreciate the refund, however. Bleh.
Buyer:
stargazer206 ( 135 )
Apr-20-09 15:57

Oooooops!!! What a way to run a business.

Thanks for the heads-up Ellie-pie :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edit:


 

37 comments:

Cici said...

Good luck! Chicka totally ripped me off too :( At least you got her store closed down. Small victories and all that.

msemkayvprice said...

Wow, that's too bad, I have ordered from her numerous times and I never have problems. Good Luck

Kelsbabe said...

Yeah, I had a nightmare too,she totally doesnt do customer service lol! Paid for item, never delivered and ignored emails. Got refund through paypal when I reported her tho, did you try that?

Lauren Grace said...

Hey Kelsbabe, sadly she kept me hanging on with promises of delivery for too long for me to get a refund from Paypal. I guess I'm just too trusting sometimes and expect other people to have some integrity. Meh, you live and learn I guess...

HadleyJones said...

oooh, thanks for the info, was going to buy a custom piece but glad I did a little research first!

Lily_Rose said...

Did ya see she deleted her old Ebay account and opened a new one with the same name to get rid of all that mean ol' feedback?

Lauren Grace said...

Hey Lily,

I'm not surprised she did that, given the awful feedback she had! Happily, I copied and saved a load of it as evidence in my complaint against her. Wanna see...? Course you do!

Feedback Profile
sweatshopbytiq*com ( 607 )

Item was not shipped because their PayPal account was closed. Refund requested. wwwwhite ( 204 )
I NEVER RECEIVE MY PARCEL lilyrosedune ( 85 )

The negotiation could not be completed due to seller's personal problems. bcbas ( 8 )

Untrustworthy seller!! Never shipped my items. Got money back from paypal. LOSER vampkiss300 ( 871 )

Paid day auction ended. Seller did not send item. Doesn't play by the rules! : ( cici*scloset ( 9816 )

very disapointed was lied to several times before receiveing product 6 wk.later mlsewhat ( 15 )

No item, no refund, no nothing. BUYERS BEWARE. Reporing to eBay. bunnypandora ( 204 )

Paid for item soon as auction ended. Seller would not send Paypal refunded money mikcon84 ( 44 )

never received item..never answered emails. 377emmanuelle ( 101 )

I HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE ITEM..NOW OVER WEEKS SINCE PAID!!!! czuni ( 103 )

Reported her to ebay for "Seller Non-Performance." Need I say more? fd163fe806b10165ebe254829218611492186114 (private) No longer a registered user

item was not as described took 2 months to get here then fell apart beckih84uk ( 729 )

paid on june 29th never recieved corset dolcebellavi ( 35 )

Item or refund never received. Emails unanswered for more than 30 days. rcw0262 ( 105 )

kj-angelcakes said...

This woman was a total nightmare of a seller.... Made me soooo angry! I never received my items, she basically stole over $200 of my money! As she told me it might take up to 8 weeks for my package to be made and sent to Australia, I waited....and waited.... She kept making promises that it would be shipped the next day, or the next week.... I couldn't complain to Paypal because the window of time I had to do so was closed, because she kept telling me to bear with her. Guess I'm too nice. She recently contacted me about 2 months after I told her I would be taking legal action, and told me that when she had the money to pay for POSTAGE (?!) she would send my stuff, and then prattled on about having no money because this is her only job, and she has had massive personal problems.... BLAH BLAH BLAH! I just want the stuff I PAID FOR lady! I'm so glad you're doing something about getting her off the internet! She's basically just a thief and has no right to call herself a business owner.

Lauren Grace said...

Hi kj, and thanks for sharing your experience with this seller. Sounds like you had the exact same experience as me - she kept you holding on with her lies until it was too late to claim back with Paypal :( You can report her for theft to the internet crime centre here: http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx Maybe if enough people report her for fraud then they can do something...

Bright said...

Wow!!! I'm soooo glad I found this. I had found her on bonanzle as sweatshopbytiq and it had 28 positive comments, one neutral and no negative! I was surprised to not find her on etsy - so this exclaims a lot. Everyone's entitled to a bad day and not shipping - but this is just too many bad comments to give me ANY confidence. Too bad - I love her stuff. I'm gonna go back to making it myself. ha

Lauren Grace said...

Hi Bright and thanks for commenting :)

Yes, one bad experience can be overlooked, but the amount of people that she has ripped off is quite staggering! I'm unsure how she remains in business in fact.

I would definitely make my own if I were you, as it looks pretty easy. She doesn't make proper steel boned corsets or anything, just bustier type tops. You can buy steel boned tight lacing corsets custom made for the prices she charges as well!

Anonymous said...

Glad I did some research before ordering. Wow.

Shellsbells said...

Ugh. Took me months to get my stuff from her. Shocking communication also and really awful quality when they finally arrived. Avoid this seller at all costs...

Anonymous said...

Wow, That is really unfortunate.





http://www.etsy.com/shop/candycorsets

Anonymous said...

Eek! Deffo put me off ordering from her - thanks for info <3

Anonymous said...

I HAD MAAAADDDDD TROUBLE WITH THIS SELLER FOR I OWN A BOUTIQUE AND LOVVEED HER STUFF. I PURCHASED OVER $600 IN CORSETS AND SAME THING NEVER RECEIVED THEM AND KEPT GETTING EXCUSES. SHE ALSO RIPPED OFF MY OWN MOTHER AND STEP MOTHER WHO I REFERRED OBVIOUSLY BEFORE I KNEW SHE WOULD DO THAT. MY MOTHER SO PASSIVE JUST LET HER RIP HER OFF FOR THE THREE CORSETS BUT I SAID "NO" AND I EMAILED HER DEMANDING THE CORSETS WHICH SHE SENT BUT SIZES AND QUALITY WAS TERRIBLE. THERE WAS MISSING GROMMETS AND SHOTTY SEAMS. I HOPE SOMEONE DOES INVESTIGATE HER AND PUT HER IN JAIL BECAUSE SHE IS A TOTAL CROOK AND DOES NOT CARE WHO SHE HURTS ANS STEALS FROM. THESE ARE JUST A FEW OF HER LAME EMAILS

Hello!
There seems to be a misunderstanding. Please don't email me via ebay with derogatory messages. Both Faith and your mother have their items. I shipped your mother's last piece that was owed to her last week and I have delivery confirmation to prove it. Your friend Faith was just down right crazy if you ask me. I will admit that I am super slow with my orders but I do try my hardest to either give refunds, credit orders, or fill them. I was by NO means deturned because of your psycho friend. I was sell to other boutiques, etsy, and yes you can catch my clothing in a video with lil wayne if you read my myspace.
Please do not contact me any further!
God Bless you
Because he definitely blesses me!
(^_^)
I still hope your boutique is doing well!

- royalteababy"

"Okay! We will go over this again very slowly cuz you seem to be dense!
Label/Receipt Number: 9101 8052 1368 3033 0350 09
Status: Delivered
Your item was delivered at 1:08 PM on November 10, 2008 in FORT WAYNE, IN 46804.
Go check your stats doll! And your just as retarded friend Faith "lost" her Paypal claim for the same reason. I do sell to other boutiques and my pieces are in videos and magazine ads too (it feels good to hate right)
I don't have to be Kimora (^_^) I am better than YOU and that's all that matters!
By the way the stuff you sell is cheap and tasteless, so I am glad to NOT have you as a customer!
TTYL
Cuz I am sure you will come back for more!
LOL






Enter Label/Receipt Number.

Enter Label / Receipt Number.

- royalteababy"



ISN"T THIS CHIC UNBELIEVABLE??ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS:

YES I AM SO DENSE ROYALTEABABY THAT I AM STILL IN BUSINESS AND YOUR NOT BECAUSE I DON"T CALL MY CUSTOMERS RETARDED AND TAKE 6MONTHS TO SEND CORSETS IF ATT ALL. AND IF MY ITEMS ARE SO CHEAP AND TASTELESS THEN WHAT DOES THAT SAY FOR ME PICKING "YOUR" ITEMS TO SELL IN MY STORE???!!!

Anonymous said...

So glad I found this too. I had the very same experience about two years ago. It made me angry and feel so stupid... It was my first transaction on the net, and I didn't know the time to report it would expire, so she kept promising she'd make all the thing up, saying she had problems with her daughter who was ill, to the moment in which I couldn't report it no more...
Sorry for my bad english, I'm from Spain, but I had to say, there is another person scammed here, and the list goes on...

Lauren Grace said...

Thanks for commenting guys. I got loads of ridiculous emails from her too. The more people that know about her dubious business practices, the better!

Jennifer said...

Unfortunately, she has a new Etsy site:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/tusejolie
If she'd been banned from Etsy, perhaps someone should notify them? Sounds like she's ripped a huge amount of people off.

Lauren Grace said...

Hi Jennifer,

Yeah, I figured she'd probably do this, given the amount of Ebay IDs she's got through!

Sadly, I think that once a liar and a thief, always a liar and a thief so I'm pretty sure she'll shoot herself in the foot and get her store closed down again all by herself. She's already received some neutral feedback - sounds like the quality is definitely not representative of the super-expensive prices she charges...

NightRayne says:
This corset was really cute! :) Sadly, it came the day after my party that I was going to wear it to, but I did buy it on short notice. >w< Even though the measurements for the small should've fit on me, it felt as if it needed been an inch or two smaller below my waist. (it was kinda loose, even with the lace tied as tight as I could put it. Maybe I just have a awkwardly skinny body? x) There was a small part that was dirty, but will probably come off if I wipe it with a damp cloth. The end of one of the plastic bones was protruding out of the cloth a bit, which worries me that it might rip. :(

If you're thinking of buying a corset, for the same sort of prices that she charges, you could get an amazing quality steel boned corset, that is super comfortable and is actually a proper corset, waist reduction and all, from this seller:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BoomBoomBabyBoutique

From personal experience, great customer service and amazing quality corset

Ellie said...

Did ya see her latest blog post? Hilaire!!! She starts off by saying she's made some mistakes in her business before (ahem - understatement of the century, no?), but that god has great things destined for her and we, apparently, are all sent by satan to bring her down! Gosh, how very dare we actually want to receive the things we paid for, right?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe god states that one should not lie or steal, so I guess by her own beliefs she's going straight to hell :) LOL!!!

Lauren Grace said...

@Ellie,

No, I don't subscribe to her blog. Maybe I should, if it's that entertaining! Show me where it is?

I got some fairly entertaining emails from her too:

"I am sorry that the Postal Service didn't deliver your article but I must say that I am completely over people using and abusing me. I don't really care anymore although i think you are a nice person and don't mean/ or have/ anything personal against me. It's just a misunderstanding. When you are successful the devil or the enemy comes in all forms. To me, it's just the univeres way of saying you are divinely blessed."

Also:

"And one more thing, please stop contacting me so much it's harassment at this point.I don't believe in karma because it didn't create the world in seven days, God did!(^_^)~tiqthat's why I am blessed"

Er, actually I just kept on emailing you because you just kept on ignoring my emails, my dear! Harassment? Pfffttt. I believe I did actually point out to her at the time that if she believed in God so much, she would know that lying and stealing were sins...

Want another? Sure you do...

"See what you don't realize is that you aren't just "messing" with me. I have hired 4 people in the midst of a horrible recession and scaled back my means of living completely to accomadate them and myself. Not to mention two innocent children. So I really don't appreciate it when I have to run across brats like yourself.Then again your efforts haven't really stopped anything come to think of it. As a matter of fact never mind child (^_^)Just send me your email address cause I am not sure if the one that is in my Paypal account is correct. You and this whole retarted situation is truly beneathe me-LOL"

Nice, trying to use your kids to make me feel guilty about wanting to receive the thing I PAID FOR!!!

Ellie said...

Aw, she went and deleted it. Spoilsport! Actually, it looks like she deleted the whole blog and any references at all to her sweatshopbytiq ID and is replacing everything with the tusejolie ID. Sweatshopbytiq no longer exists and has now become tusejolie. Hmmm, good luck with that one!

Think I took a screen capture and saved it somewhere though... will email ya ;)

Ellie said...

OMG, looks like she changed her name AGAIN to Yumpop Boutique - http://www.etsy.com/shop/yumpopboutique. So, from Sweatshopbytiq, to Royalteababy, to Tusejolie, to Yumpopboutique, racking up the negative reviews each time! Keep an eye out for the next reinvention ;)

*kisses*

Ellie

Lauren Grace said...

Yumpop Boutique you say? Wow, that's a lot of different names! Tsk tsk, she'll never acheive a successful brand identity if she changes it every five minutes ;)

Ellie said...

Looks like she's got a new website now selling under the name Kawaii Parlor...

Lauren Grace said...

Well, here's hoping she's finally sorted out her business practices and that Kawaii Parlor won't scam and rip off it's customers, and marks a new start for Adrienne/Tiq.

Keithan said...

Man, she makes some UGLY stuff! Looks well cheap and nasty!

Anonymous said...

Wish I'd googled Kawaii Parlor review before I ordered from her. Waited for ages, didn't receive item with tons of excuses about her being busy. Now she closed her store because of neg feedback :(

Anonymous said...

i emailed her recently for a custom order. I explained to her why i was so adamant about this order and why it was important for me to receive it and gave a time frame in which i needed it. She is not very responsive to emails. Eventually she responded and said she would send an invoice this weekend. Since it is a custom order i asked her where should i send the fabric and how much of it will i need and she never responded. I am tired of sending emails with no response. Is a waste of time and irritating. I wouldn't deal with her either. she now has a store on storenvy.com.

Anonymous said...

Ordered from this store, waited forever, no communication and then was really badly made when it arrived.

Lauren Grace said...

Ah, I see StoreEnvy don't have a feedback system. Probably a wise choice for Kawaii Parlor then, given her track record with unhappy customers!

Anonymous said...

Yea, she actually hasn't changed. Still not sending stuff, still keeping the cash.

Unknown said...

Unfortunately, I am yet another victim of Kawaii Parlor/Store Envy (http://www.storenvy.com/stores/44966-kawaii-parlor) (http://kawaiiparlor.storenvy.com/)

Thanks to this blog I am more convinced to file a dispute with this transaction with Paypal (still within 45 days period). I wish I've done my research before buying from this seller. I wrote a business review on Yelp.com
http://www.yelp.com/biz/kawaii-parlor-decatur?hrid=32jhf-KbLzT0z61neI2nTA#src:self

I posted pictures of the poorly made corset. Who uses a hot glue gun to adhere accessories on a vinyl material? Of course, it fell apart!!! Photos here:http://www.yelp.com/biz/kawaii-parlor-decatur?hrid=32jhf-KbLzT0z61neI2nTA#src:self

Here's my review on Yelp.com and included the link to weloveshinythings.blogspot.com :

"I was suprised to receive a corset that was poorly made despite the fact that I paid so much for this item. The accessories were falling apart even before I tried it on, the zipper pull pendant had missing rhinestones and rust. I returned the item but Ren Smith (owner) pretended that it got lost even though USPS tracking confirmed that it was delivered. I never received a refund from the owner. However, I will dispute this transaction with PayPal. Just found out from a blog that Kawaii Parlor/ Store Envy has tons of negative customer feedback since 2009 and has changed its name multiple times and/or closed their Etsy and Ebay store due to bad feedback http://weloveshinythings.blogspot.com/2009/05/sweatshopbytiq-update.html?m=1"

Unknown said...

Wow...Can't believe Ren Smith (owner of Kawaii Parlor/Store Envy) has scammed a lot of us from all over the world!!! I filed a claimed with Paypal and they're requesting proof from my side to show that corset she sent me was either damaged, item not described etc. Good thing I took pictures of the corset before mailing it back to Ren. I also included a link to this blog to show Paypal that Kawaii Parlor/ Store Envy has been scamming people since 2009!

I also wrote a business review for Kawaii Parlor on Yelp.com:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/kawaii-parlor-decatur

Unknown said...

UPDATE: After I filed a dispute, Paypal heard both sides of the story (seller and buyer). In the end, Paypal ruled in my favor and granted a FULL REFUND! Thanks PAYPAL!!! I've definitely learned my lesson and will never order from Kawaii Parlor/ Store Envy!

Anonymous said...

Arrggghhh, their website is the worst! Crimes against Photoshop!!! Or more likely MS Paint :)