BBB Warns Consumers About Risky Online Shopping

The Better Business Bureau serving Chicago and Northern Illinois, and the BBB of Central Illinois are warning consumers about a variety of online retailers that do not deliver purchased merchandise, or deliver a product that is crafted from poor quality material that does not resemble what was advertised.

The online retailers in question are using addresses in Naperville, IL, Champaign-Urbana, IL, Las Vegas, NV, Los Angeles, CA, Nashville, TN, and West Chester Township, OH.

These online retailers advertise discounted merchandise, including hunting and tactical apparel, tapestries, watches, vehicle accessories, and athletic wear, among other products. In addition, the companies advertise that a portion of their sales go to charity.
BBB of Central Illinois requested substantiation for such claims but did not receive a response.

In a clever (or sinister) little trick, the shops offer a 30-day refund policy for regularly priced items but only advertise discounted merchandise. The businesses’ refund policies also state that discounted merchandise is not eligible for a refund. Some consumers allege they received their merchandise after 30 days making the order ineligible for return. 

As of 1/14/2019, BBBs in Illinois, Tennessee, and Nevada have received 87 total complaints against these businesses. In addition to the 87 closed complaints, another 56 complaints are pending. Complaints originate from 32 states and three countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, and United Arab Emirates.

The BBBs have received complaints for the following active websites: Hunteroo (hunteroo.com), Tactical Deer (tacticaldeer.com), Berzerk Athletics (berzerkathletics.com), Tapestry King (tapestryking.com), Urban Mob (urbanmob.net), Epic Tapestry (epictapestry.com), Buff Eagle (buffeagle.com), Vehicle-King (vehicle-king.com), and Dixon Leather (dixon-leather.com).

The online shops are using 18 different addresses across Illinois, Tennessee, Ohio, California, and Nevada. Many of these addresses are residential, according to Google Maps.

Dennis Horton, Director of the Rockford Regional Office of the Better Business Bureau (BBB):

“Online shopping can open the door for consumer fraud. A tip-off to the rip-off is fake websites luring customers with deeply discounted prices. If you know the product costs $500 everywhere else, and the website you are looking at has the exact same product for $150, it may be too good to be true,”

BBB urges everyone to report scam attempts, even if you didn’t lose money, to BBB Scamtracker.