Complaint Review: KissToTease - Encinitas California

If you are old fashioned enough to believe the old saying ' what you see is what you get' best avoid this online site. They will show you beautiful pictures of popular name brand lingerie; unfortunately, that is not what they will be sending you. Then they will have the audacity to accuse you of fraud when you call them on it.

In late April, We made two test orders with KisstoPlease; one for couples’ vibrators, and one for plus sized lingerie.

The first we found by searching in Google with the name brand; the first business to come up was theirs. The screenshot said the name brand; the picture used was so similar to the actual name brand’s original advertising that we overlooked that the top of the device did not bear the correct brand.

As they were 1/3 less than our supplier normally sells them for, we thought we’d give this site a try.  After making that first purchase and checking out, we noted on the sidebar familiar name brad plus sized lingerie we already stock and sell.

We made a second order from their catalog, of lingerie; it was almost the same price as two of our suppliers, but in business, it is good to have backups you can go to when primaries are out of stock. Both orders showed 7-10 day shipping.

Some nineteen days later, the first order arrived. Two of us noted that the shipping package did not appear to be large enough for the amount and size of items. Upon opening it after end of business day, we discovered why the items were sold for less. They were what they call imported ‘knockoffs’.

We immediately emailed support at the site, stating that these items were not what we ordered, and we would like to return them. They did not respond. We emailed two days later; and again there was no response.

Seeing as this first order was not what we thought we were paying for, we started investigating the company on the Internet Fraud sites, and the Better Business Bureau. Yes, we should have done this BEFORE WE PURCHASED; hindsight is 20/20.

We checked their site, and it showed the second order was still processing after 19 days. They did indicate they had shipped four of the items. Unfortunately the tracking number provided was from someone else’s order, in January.

On May 31^st, 36 days after order, the lingerie still had not arrived, nor had we received an email from the company. We contacted our credit card company and disputed both charges. Twelve days later, we received the lingerie. As with the vibrators, they were not the products advertised by picture on the site.

The lingerie company in question has distinctive boxes for this type of product, and has a certified sticker on every box. The lingerie items we received were in 6 x 9 self-seal plastic envelopes, without tags.

When we contacted our credit card company, it was suggested that we investigate what we should do with products that possibly infringe on a copyright, return or turn in to a Trade Commission drop of center. We also filed complaints/reports on four different sites to do with ecommerce.

We contacted two of the companies who actually do make and distribute both the vibrators and the lingerie, advising them what this company was doing on their site, attaching pictures of actual screen shots, and the actual products KisstoTease had sent, so they could take legal action if they chose.

On June 25^th – two months after the orders – we were finally contacted by the KisstoTease; a short note in reference to the credit card payment being held in dispute. There was a rather thinly veiled threat in that email.

We responded to the message advising them why the payments were in dispute, and what actions we had taken. We advised them we were awaiting notification from the credit card company, as to whether we should return the items or turn them in for destruction.

We received several angry, threatening responses from ‘Management’ demanding we withdraw the hold on the funds, or our credit would be ruined, we would be taken to court for fraud, and advising us they would ruin our reputation on the internet.

The following day the credit card company advised just to return the product and cut off all dealings with them. We shipped both packages back to their returns address, and advised we wanted no further contact or harassment.

Their final message to us was insulting and disparaging. They asked “Who do you think you are, telling me what I can and can’t do on my site?” Who are we?  We are supposed to be your customers. We expect you to sell what you advertise, not some cheap imitation.

We are also a company that goes out of their way to ensure customer satisfaction to all of our buyers.

Our ratings over the 8 separate family businesses average between 99.5-100% for customer satisfaction. We are businesses who are honest in their dealings with others, and expected the same from KisstoTease.

We were also – on occasion - stupid, which we admit. If we had done our research, this never would have occurred in the first place. With 23 reports on BBB alone, that would have clued us in NOT to buy from them. The reports reference delay in shipment or non shipment, lack of response to email, and quality of products, the three issues we had with them

Strangely enough, 6 hours after they sent the last message, they cancelled one of the two orders. One half hour before they filed a ‘Ripoff’ report on this site.

Stupidity in not fraud; it is not against the law.

Defamation however, is a crime. Their statement of ‘belief’ that we as a business purchase things and dispute the payments in order to perpetrate fraud is defamation. Stating we had disputed charges after receiving the product is defamation. We disputed after receiving product that infringes a business’s copyright, and did not return them until we had confirmed we did not have to turn them in to the Trade Commission, and we disputed a charge after over 6 weeks of not receiving product.

Our internet tech is currently searching the ordering computer to find the original screen shot of the vibrator on the site, so we can send it to the company that actually holds the copyright. We are reporting their actions in every available venue.

Considering that this particular adult products company won a well-publicized case against  a major competitor for the same type of behavior, we believe that Gino at KisstoTease may be a little too busy in court answering those charges, to bother with us again. As of 0130am CST, KisstoTease is still using other business's pictures and descriptions for non-name brand items