Complaint Review: CD2U Cigarettes direct - louisville Kentucky

Really? How do you know what he did or did not do..... Or exactly what really went down here. Facts so far are we really don't know!

The problem and reason he got raided was you weren't paying YOUR taxes. Not him paying his taxes. Everyone who ordered anything from the site was required to report the total on their tax returns at the end of the year and pay the extra taxes on them.

When the tax bill thing passed for the .60 cents a pack, so how can it be our problem if he isnt paying his taxes?  What am I mssing here?

The ATF does not operate in the same way as your typical police.  Put them in your browser and start reading.  The David Koresh story is only an extreme example of the lengths they go to before a "raid."  I forgot what they were even there for originally but we all know how that turned out.

Remember the ATF was originated in a different time.  It is a 200 year old enforcement agency.  Remember prhoibition?  They were the "enforcers" aka Revenuers.  Interesting read/refresher on them can be found here

(http://trac.syr.edu/tracatf/atwork/current/atfHisto)


From my experience with the merchant in question (or any other merchant I buy from on-line) the payment is processed through the system immediately, before goods are pulled and shipped. I don't see that there was really much time in between and who knows what type of "procedures" they went through before the "raid."  There are plenty of stories out there.  They seem to be a bit of a rogue group, so to speak.  I truly feel for Mr. Chavez.  Frankly, I believe the police actions are of questionable legality.  But that doesn't mean they can't ruin his business and reputation and put him through a Court battle (they have done this before.) 

As for the legalities, it depends on your state laws. Presuming they operated similarly to the Indian on-line stores, Federal taxes were paid.  DBestone, as the others, increased the prices accordingly after the new tax was signed into law.   

The issue is with those few states (9 I believe) that have enacted laws about it.  I believe in New York state, the newest Governor passed a law making it outright illegal.  You can, however, still travel to the reservations and buy them in person, I think, although they are still fighting over that.  They are afraid of an Indian uprising to be honest.  The last time they tried the Natives closed a freeway that runs through their land with blockages of tires that they set on fire.  LOL  I really appreciate their style.

The other 8 states that have passed something, will send a bill for the taxes and a warning, from what I researched.

If you read up on the history of prohibition I think you will find it to be quite an interesting parallel to this anti-smoking movement.  Although,I have to say the prohibitionists at least had some facts behind them, which still hold true today.  I never heard of someone beating their wife (or husband) or kids after smoking one too many cigarettes.  Never known anyone to be killed by a driver who had one too many cigarettes, either. 

A few years ago (5 maybe) when internet sales really began rising and fewer people were afraid of rip-offs, there was a lot of talk about the sales taxes being lost from one state to another, etc.  It gained fervor for a bit and then pretty much died on the vine in most states for many reasons.  Enforcement was one, another was that while there may not be sales taxes to one state, it did produce income taxes in the selling state.  It didn't take long for the states to decide it was pretty much a trade off from one state to another.  So they settled on sales taxes for items shipped within their states. ie, if a company ships from a warehouse or HAS a warehouse in Texas, then Texas customers pay sales taxes.  There are a few states that have to pay sales tax on everything.  Can't remember which ones, Florida may be one. 

Why did they decide on this?  Because those companies within their own states can be audited through the regular audit process they conduct periodically.  Also, it would have killed internet sales before it started because the state from where it was sold wanted to collect taxes and so did the state where the goods were received.  This would have meant double taxation.  Bottom line is after the fighting was over, the more populous states, also having the most businesses, realized they would gain more through the income taxes for any sales to other states, while still getting the sales tax from the sales made within their own states. 

I will try to find the link to the report I mentioned previously about who is really behind this (besides big tobacco).  It is an association of the convenience stores, etc. blowing the smoke in Washington. 

Looks like the FDA issued a warning letter to Mr. Chavez last month. Read the letter here... http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm189158.htm

Everyone keeps saying that he was raided by the Police but yet it has been stated he was raided on the 12th. Now if he was raided on the 12th and most of us ordered earlier then this then were are the cigarettes. This doesn't make sense to me as we all know that shipping is done fast.

I noticed when placing my order that my cigars which are not under the same taxation as cigarettes were not showing in stock but yet the person took my order over the phone. I smell fraud anyway you put it. I think the raid is a cover up. And yes I did file a dispute with my bank and I expect to get my money back holding off for now for a report to the police but I will if I have to.

I could of been buying my cigars locally for the same price I bought them from the site. But I had to shipped for convenience only. And no I don't expect a notice of how much I owe in back taxes and I don't expect anyone else will either. As I was placing my order she said she didn't keep records of what was sold nor or account numbers. Which leads me to believe no one will be getting a notice. I smell web fraud.

Nobody should be notifying the Attorney General about this. The whole point of buying the cigarettes over the internet was to save money. The Attorney General is just another Federal organization that will conspire with the ATF to get the back taxes. By alerting the Attorney General know you exist you may be sending a red flag to everyone saying, "Hey, everyone I bought cigarettes and I owe you taxes!" I will not announce here how much I lost, but it is much more then anyone else claims to have lost. I'll take that loss over what I would be facing if I do get that tax bill. If I do get the bill, at least I know I didn't escalate the situation by giving anyone my information. Let the ATF and the Attorney General struggle to get the money they claim to be owed!

I was completely unaware that I was doing anything wrong involving state taxes - or I would have just ordered Russian cigarettes in all honesty.  If I get this tax bill, what am I supposed to do?  I don't remember there being anything on the CD2U website about paying taxes on a personal basis to your respective state.  I just figured the cigarettes were really cheap?  I guess I should have thought it through more, but this seems unfair - considering the lack of information provided by My. Chavez's company.  It seems like it'd be an awful lot of trouble to attempt to collect taxes from ALL of the customers that have EVER ordered from that company.  Maybe they'll just go after him for being somewhat misleading about the whole thing...?

Thanks for the info regarding Mr. Chavez.  I sure do hope none of us get any letter from the gov. in taxes, I have also been dealing with him for over 2 yrs.  Thanks again and good luck to all.  Also anyone with any future info please post, as we are all at a risk now!

I did get in touch with Mr. Chavez yesterday. I found his number on one of the other posts.

ATF did take all his computers and records. His bank account was frozen and his warehouse was locked down.

I need my money like the rest of us. But I have been buying from him for over 4 years now. So I am very concerned that I will be getting a letter from the government now as far as back taxes are concerned. I can not afford this or in the future. That is why I went online to find somewhere else to purchase cigarettes.

I wish all of us good luck on this, as I feel that we have not heard the last of it.

By the way the bank will not do anything, since I knew this person that presented the check on my account.

I am very sorry to hear this.  I had just found this company earlier this year and have ordered a few times and was very happy with their service.  As it seems many of you were as well.  I note there are no reports prior to this month on this company.  They had the very fastest shipping and always had my Senecas in stock.  When I was traveling this summer even shipped my order to me free of charge when I was afraid I was going to run out.  I ordered on Friday and had it at my hotel on Monday.  They really truly were DBESTONE in my opinion. 

I had visited the website last week to order and at first thought this was a technical issue, but now a week later I Googled them and found this update.  This is a very sad situation and considering this latest information I wouldn't be too quick to complain folks.  If they were "raided" by the ATF (something I had been wondering about myself when site was down) some may be getting tax bills in the mail! From my few experiences with this company I can't imagine they would not send something to their customers if they could.  This leads me to believe, if they confiscated their cigarettes and froze their on-line and bank accounts, they likely took their records as well.

A few states have really been pressing this issue because they believe they are being deprived of their taxes.  Most of this has really been caused by the convenience and retailer lobbyists who make a fortune off the sale of cigarettes.  They use the state tax issue to blame for the high prices.  Truth is they have a huge margin per pack.  Thus they in cohorts with the tobacco companies have been smoke screening Washington to pass the Pact Act, which would then make it illegal to purchase cigarettes from another state or country.  (Notably it exempts cigars.)  While the bill was passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee in November, it has neither been voted on by the Senate, nor signed into law by the President. 

The states pushing this the hardest are NEW YORK and I believe Connecticut who have been sending tax bills to people they have identified in their states who have purchased cigarettes on-line, by phone or through the mail from another state.  There is a report that was written by the convenience/retailers association recently where they tell how they are actively searching out companies and turning over their info to the ATF. 

Although this law has not been passed yet, I presume since it made it out of Committee this time they are just going ahead with their raids and enforcement ahead of time.  They have been lobbying for this law for a couple of years now. 

I recently found on Alibaba.com that the cost of a container of Senecas breaks down to 50 cents a carton.  Even with all the import taxes, Federal Taxes and State Taxes $20 more than covers a very fair profit margin.

I suspect by complaining to the Attorney General's office you will get your tax bills from your state much faster for any balance due from your previous orders.  I wish Mr. Chavez the best of luck.  This company has been very active in trying to fight this law and that may have garnered them extra attention from the retailers. 

Welcome to Capitalist Soviet America!  (without free healthcare)

Hello fellow New Yorker!  I have contacted my local police department among other places in various states.  It turns out this man was raided by the ATF and his assets are frozen, thus making it a problem for him to refund us.  I have taken this opportunity to contact our NYS Attorney General with a complaint.  You can find the complaint form on the NYS Attorney General's Office website.  The more of us that do it - the faster we will get a result!