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Review 3/15/2011
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I was also a victim of fraud from bricktrainshop a couple of months ago. I sent everything back with delivery confirmation and had the charges reversed by my credit card company. Then I decided to have a little fun and poke them for information. I would ask seemingly innocent questions, let them lie to me, then show them proof of their lies, then they would flip-flop and come up with ever more creative stories. Those folks are pathological liars; they even lie when there is nothing to gain from lying: it’s like a reflex to them.
I placed my order on a Saturday evening, and then early Sunday morning I was taken by doubts and checked them out on the BBB. I immediately sent a cancellation order via email. On Monday morning, 9 AM sharp, I also called 5 times. Nobody answered, so I left 2 voice mails. Then around noon, Susan P. emailed back that the package had already been shipped. I objected that I had cancelled on Sunday morning, but she replied that the package was mailed on Saturday night. That’s right: they would have you believe that they are so dedicated to customer satisfaction that they mail orders even on Saturday night when the post office is closed. The USPS tracking information shows that the package was actually dropped off at the post office on Monday afternoon at 4:20 PM. They lied to me about the shipping date and time in order to justify shipping the package even after they had acknowledged my cancellation order and told me it had already shipped.
They charged me for shipping as “Priority Mail Flat Rate Box”, but actually shipped as “Media Mail” for a quarter of the cost. I argued that the item descriptions in the shopping basket do not say anything about instructions, while every line item on the bill in the shipment is preceded by the mention [instructions]. Susan P. claimed that the descriptions were identical. I kept a screen capture of the shopping basket, and anyone can see the difference with the bill.
They wanted to charge me for restocking fees. However I never agreed to such fees. I ordered in January, and at the time their return policy did not reflect restocking fees. In February they added a paragraph about charging a 30% restocking fee for returns over $200. In March they lowered the limit to $150. Susan P. insisted that I agreed to such charges when I ordered and that the policy had not changed. I replied that I had kept a screen capture of their old policy page to prove my point. Then in a stunning twist, Susan P. said that they change the policy all the time in order to protect themselves from frauds. That’s right, they feel entitled to your money, and if you ask for a refund, you are the ones defrauding them! Susan P. also implied that they had the right to change the return policy retroactively and that I was still responsible for the restocking fee, even though it did not exist at the time I ordered and I had not agreed to it.
They lied in their response to my complaint to the Office of the Attorney General of California, claiming, among other things, that they did not return my voice mails because I was "belligerent". At the time I did not suspect that they were that dishonest and I was still expecting to be treated fairly. I made sure to start my sentences with “please” and ended them with “thank you”. That’s what passes for belligerent for these people!
Now for the truly ridiculous: according to Susan P., 1822 Villines Ave. San Jacinto, CA 92583 (the return address listed on their website) is not at all a house. It is their “incoming mail processing facility”. Well, according to the Riverside County Public Records Office, it is a 1325 square foot, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths house in a residential zone.
Susan P. does not know who Clifton Stults and Michael Martinez are, and she claims they are not the owners or operators of bricktrainshop. Never mind that it is Clifton Stults himself who registered the store with the BBB as the owner, claims to be the owner on his LinkedIn page, and registered the business name with Riverside County in 2010. Michael Martinez is the person listed at the 1822 Villines Ave. address.
Then it gets really interesting: on 2/24/2011, Cliff Stults and Michael Martinez registered as a partnership a new business name: “BRICKS AND FIGS”. The info is available online for everyone to see on the Riverside County Public Records Office website. It seems that bricktrainshop’s reputation is so badly damaged that they are getting ready to get themselves a new virginity by taking the name of an unrelated eBay store with a perfect record. That would explain the new cynical statement on bricktrainshop’s front page: "we have decided to remove the Lego Instructions Category from the store until we can redesign the listings to provide better transparency to our customers". They are actually busy building the new site bricksandfigs.com: check the troubling similarities in content and layout. Still, according to Susan P., this site has nothing to do with bricktrainshop or its owners. Never mind that some item descriptions on bricksandfigs have been simply copy/pasted and still refer to bricktrainshop, or that the paperwork that the owners filed themselves to register both business names can be viewed by anyone: Susan P. still denied it and actually cast aspersions on the reliability of the Riverside County Office of Public Records.
While dealing with those people, I was told that I “obviously need help”, was “uneducated”, “don’t read”, that “obviously you think the world revolves around you. Please get some help” and that I was “delusional”, all without any provocation on my part. Almost every question I asked was met with a lie. Every one of their lie was rebuked with tangible and publicly verifiable proof, and every proof I provided was answered with insults. My advice to anyone who falls prey to these crooks is to return the merchandise with delivery confirmation and oppose the credit card charges, but do not hold any expectation of honesty or fairness from these people. You are better off dealing directly with the credit card company, unless you actually enjoy the abuse.
And stay away from bricksandfigs too.
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