Complaint Review: Shamic and Company or Dock 24 Sleep Shop

I was the victim of an internet fraud and filed a report with your site in October of last year. The company that I filed the report about is Dock24/Shamic. They have many complaints filed against them on your site. As I was reading through some of the new ones today, I read an "Editor's Comment" that apparently someone on your staff has posted after one of the owner's rebuttals on one of the complaints. And let me just tell you, it literally turned my stomach when I read it. You mention that the owner has integrity and is making an honest effort to resolve this matter. That is just not true. Shawn T. Cochran has ripped off numerous coustmers and then tries to make excuses on this website. But it's all a line of bull. He NEVER answers the phone or returns ANY phone calls or emails - unless they are in relation to placing an order or getting the credit card information to charge your account. In the beginning he did, when I was still chasing the carrot that he was dangling in front of me - after the money was already securely in his pocket, of course.

I am not as fortunate as most of the other customers that have been able to get their money back from their credit card companies because I used a debit card to pay for my merchandise. Therefore, I am not granted the same protections as a credit card customer. I am truly out the money.

This man debited $759.96 from my checking account one year ago today - January 30, 2001 and had no intention of sending me the merchandise that I ordered. I have thoroughly researched all of the phone numbers that are available on the website in order to obtain an address and file a lawsuit against this person but ( and this should come as no surprise ) all of his numbers are unlisted. My attorney and I have been unable to obtain a physical address and thus, unable to file suit as you must have the address to have the papers served.

In order to take my lawsuit to the next level, I have been advised by my attorney that I need to have phone company records subpoenaed in order to find out the address associated with those phone numbers. I'm sure you know that now I am paying attorney's fees as well. I have a very well documented stack of records of every correspondance from this company: reciept, order confirmation, assurances that my merchandise in on the way, etc... But it is all irrelevant now that they have filed for bankruptcy.

So please do not refer to this man as honest because he was not honest with me from the beginning. And he has no integrity - if he did he would have been upfront about the status of my order from the beginning. He would not have avoided my phone calls and he would have refunded the money about 10 months ago...long before the bankpurtcy was filed. I noticed that the bankruptcy hasn't stopped Shawn from accepting money and not delivering merchandise to his customers. Note the entry on your site that states a customer was riped off by him as recently as December. The bankruptcy was filed prior to that, so if he has restructured and is attempting to rebuild his business, it appears to be business as usual with him...take the money and run.

They filed the following rebuttal to the above Rip-Off Report:



Their email: Dock24552@cs.com

Their name: Shawn



Their relationship to the company: Owner



Rebuttal:



To Whom It May Concern:



I wish it hadn't gotten so bad! We had been delivering goods for years, and our customers were pleased with the service. Many months ago, before we realized the problems that the credit card companys were having with identity fraud, we were accepting bill to and ship to addresses. We were delivering the merchandise to one customer, after we had verified the bill to information. Then approx. 1 month later the original card holder would call back and ask what the charge was for. We had already sent the merchandise to the ship to address and had to give the original card holder back the funds. We were losing on both ends!



We tried to save the company, by trying to move forward with new sales, but as the situation went on, it only worsened. There were only two of us left to try and run the whole show, as that was all we could afford. We lost a whole lot of money, and I am truly sorry for anyone that was caught up in the whole nightmare.



We have filed for bankruptcy. I was advised by my lawyers not

to write this letter, but I felt it was something I needed to do.



If you have not received your money back, you can still contact your credit card company, even after 60 days if you never received your merchandise. If it makes any one feel better, I have to file personally as well, and will lose everything I have worked for the last 9 yrs. Again I appologize!



EDitor's Comment to the above REBUTTAL:

Dock24, you are to be commended for your efforts. It's not often you find a businessman with as much integrity as you have demonstrated. It's not a crime to loose money and go out of business. In our opinion, you are not a Rip-off. Unlike many other businesses, you have made an honest effort to stay in business and not to rip-off your customers. Although many did not get what they paid for, it appears you were also taken advantage of. We highly recommend that you file a Rip-off Report with more details of how you were scammed by dishonest customers.



If anyone lost big, it looks like you did, and unfortunately there are other victims as well. You are obviously a victim of circumstances, and we commend you for making an honest effort to take care of as many people as you can.



Dock24 did not even have to respond to this Rip-off Report...and that you did says a lot.



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