More Tiki Trader mishaps

I just wanted to warn everyone to be careful about ordering from Tiki Trader
(http://www.tikitrader.com/). The problems I have had with them recently
make me believe that this is a disreputable company and I don't want others
to have to go through what I have been going through.

I placed an order of several tiki items in November as a Christmas present
for my husband. One of the items was out of stock, so they e-mailed me to
show an alternative item (which was very helpful). They charged my credit
card for all except the alternate item almost immediately. As soon as I got
the specs for the alternate item (still in late November or early December),
I informed them that I would also purchase it. However, I never received
any items on the order. I called and e-mailed several times, getting
various different responses. Finally, on the Friday before Christmas, I was
told that they THOUGHT the items had already been shipped, but would send
out another shipment to make sure that I received the gifts for my husband.
I still have not received any of the items that were ordered and thanks to
Tiki Trader, my husband did not receive any tiki items for Christmas. I
tried calling after Christmas to give them a chance to give me some true
answers and to attempt to rectify the situation. But they conveniently
don't seem to be taking my phone calls or answering my messages anymore.

I have contacted the bank to dispute the charge to my credit card and will
be contacting the BBB. However, I just wanted to make you all aware of the
problems I have had so that you can hopefully avoid a similar situation. I
strongly suggest that you be very cautious about placing any orders with
Tiki Trader.
[email protected]

How can they be stopped, so many stories,
yet still in business.

Tiki Trader never answer a single e-mail enquiry I send them, and I've sent a few. they seem like a very low rent operation.

Here is the current report from the Better Business Bureau on them:

http://www.hawaii.bbb.org/common.html?location=/home/common/www/mis67/report.php&bureau=hawaii&compid=14001890

They currently have 5 complaints but hold a "Satisfactory" standing with the bureau? Why?...because 5 complaints is not considered on overwhelming amount of complaints. For those that have a dispute, you should go here:

http://betterbusinessbureau.com

It's free to file, but you must be complete in your (on-line) filing.

TikiTrader's will get a copy of each complaint and time to respond (to the BBB) about the complaint. You cannot get the details of past complaints other than if they were resolved or not. It does say that all 5 were resolved, but it's unfortunate that it had to come to complaining to the BBB to get it resolved.

Lastly, it is illegal for a company to charge your credit card before goods or services UNTIL they are rendered. In the case of a retail company, they cannot charge your credit card unless they can prove an actual shipping record was generated showing that your package left their facility on its way to you. Not an "internal" computer-generated copy, but an actual USPS, UPS, FedEX or other contracted carrier's shipping record. Trust me.

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