Complaint Review: Midwest Style Steakhouse Quality Meats - Rockford Illinois

I had a similar experience recently. I purchased the same product from a salesman who came to my door. He indicated he had excess inventory from a delivery and was selling to various people in our neighborhood.

I was interested in stocking up on some meat products and the merchandise looked good so I bought a couple boxes.

I then had second thoughts and did a web search. I found this report, which was eerily similar to my experience, and seemed to confirm my fears on the quality of the product. I checked my receipt and realized I didn't have any contact info for the seller/company to request a refund. Based on the info, I decided to dispute the charge with my credit card company to see if I could stop payment. I decided not to use any of the product so it wouldn't provide any excuse to void a refund.

I got a call from my credit card company dispute department today. After getting info from me, they had a phone number for the seller based on the charge and placed a call to them. They explained that I was disputing the charge and the seller offered to provide a full refund. They indicated they would process the refund right away and then pick up the product. I got a call later in the day saying the refund had been processed and asking when he could pick up the product, which was done later in the day.

I haven't seen the credit yet (they typically take a couple days) but am fairly confident I will. My credit card company has said I don't need to pay the amount in the account and no interest will be charged pending the credit. I'll update later if I run into an issue with the refund.

Given the experience with the seller response, I am pleased with the resolution. The seller seemed genuinely surprised that I would return the product but, though obviously not pleased, did not fight a refund. He handled the matter professionally. I appreciated the info on this site and wanted to share my experience.

First, I have to state I cannot submit a case as being a victim to Ripoff Report because Sheldon has proven slippery enough NOT to provide any information to track him.

Sheldon sold my 87 year-old Dad packages of meats for a total of $580.  This sale occurred on Dec 22. Evidently his truck has been repaired.  Five days later, he came back to ask if he was satisfied with the quality since another customer was complaining, but left with nothing but "no problem - haven't eaten any. He happened back on a day when several were at Dad's house. A female accomplice came back a few days later and said there was a meat recall and packed off all that he had in his freezer (some passed out as gifts).  Of course, no money was refunded, only the promise of "we'll be back with good product". As you might have guessed, we have seen no sign of meat or money.

On the first visit back, we asked for a card or other info, but his reply was that he had written the information on a pad.  No one has seen it since.

The company name on the meat box, Direct USA, www.directusafoods.com has proven to be at least difficult to talk to.  They are very careful to point out that any field people are independent so that they are not responsible for refunds. They did say they have never have had a recall... at least I'm not concerned about bad meat. (I do have a box of untested peppercorned evidence in the freezer).  I cannot implicate Direct USA with this meat scam, but I can't help but reiterate the logic of never buying meat off your front porch!

This should be a clear example of why it's NOT GOOD to buy meats from street vendors. If you would have pruchased your meat from a chain food market or meat shop you would have had a refund or replacement immediately, period.

Do you get the feeling these operations have NO interest in repeat business? Why do you think they go for the big sale the first time? They do it because they know you'll never see them again.

Let's take this back to the beginning.  As I stated in the original post, and told this guy...The meat I got from him was horrible.  I tried both grilling and pan frying a number of the chicken and steak varieties and they were all inedible.  My family would not eat any of it, and I never ate more than a bite of this stuff.  I threw some of it away to make room in my freezer because I had no confidence he would ever show up to make good on it.  I've been calling both the numbers he gave me for 4 weeks now and until I post on here, he doesn't respond.

The bottom line is that I have not gotten a single call back from anyone except the distributor themselves...at least they have the decency to pick up the phone.
Also, you don't need a driver to get me a refund.  You could pick up the phone, call me back and I'll give you my address to mail it to.

When you sold it to me, your statement was that you "guarantee" that your customers are satisfied.
Well, I'm the opposite of that.  I'm extremely disappointed and angry about this whole experience.
I'm also out $300 with little or no hope of getting that back, not to mention the time and effort I've wasted on this whole mess.
You want to do the right thing?  Pick up the phone and call me.  You have my name and number from the numerous voicemails I have left you. 

My distributor told me to give him a box of ribs or something and they would pay for it, as for not taking care of it yet my vehicle's engine blew up the day I picked the little food that he gave me back, so the guy wants me to give him a,bunch of money for a product he said was substandard but yet he ate most of it. Of everything but a steak or two was missing I could understand wanting a full refund but most of it was gone,and I still offered to try and get half his money back. Now the customer is threatening me and I don't respond to hostile people with issues that can't handle business matters like a gentlemen. After my car blew up I was out of work for pretty much the last month and have had no way to take care of customer service, and at the same time my finance's grandmother started getting really sick from pancreatic cancer and just passed away last Week the funeral was this past Tuesday, so now that we have gotten past this hard time I'm trying to pay someone to drive me to get back to work and handle everything that needs to be handled including this customer if he would just talk to me without swearing and threatening me I will take care of it. I typically sell 42 boxes a day when I'm working so taking care of this deal which is worth six boxes or $150 is no problem once I get back out into the field, I know where you live and am putting together a driver so I can take care of you. It's is a civil matter so if you want to go to the police and pay for a lawyer and court costs your gonna end up paying way more than $150 dollars. So please just let me get back to work and get this all sorted out. All I want is for this customer to admit on here that he was paid back,for,half the meat when he gave back less than half the meat when I handle it and tale this report down. I want it in writing and on this forum will be just fine.

The even crazier part about all this is this customer had product in his freezer from two other company's that do the same thing as me and go through the same distributor, so yes this customer buys this meat all the time, I'm pretty sure if I bought something that was so bad I wouldn't eat most of it or have a history of buying the same stuff from other sub-contractors of the same meat, but either way if you want to calm down and handle this like adults I can assure you this will be taken care of and I will pay for half the product or $150.00 cash which you have in writing from me Sheldon Wheaton right here. I'm sorry it all ended up like this it has never happened before and the only other time I got a cancel was from someone reading this report, funny thing is that after talking to the customer that canceled from this report she decided to try the meat and keep it all. So people will cancel an order because of this report before even trying the food which I think is absurd but hey he got,what he wanted right? Well at first anyway. I need you to e-mail your info and address to [email protected] again cause I lost all the food you gave back including the name and address to send the refund to when my vehicle was towed off the highway. And if you want to call me try being professional about it cause threatening me with police isn't going to get you your refund any faster. I have done nothing illegal and technically the law states you have three days to notify the seller if you want to cancel which is described in the law as a "cooling off period" from door-to-door sales, which also states the customer must return all the goods as received to the seller and notify them in writing within 3 days that you do not want the product and wish to return it. I have not broken any laws because this customer lives on the outskirts of the city in the country so I did not need a permit to sell door-to-door as per city ordinance. That's why I work outside the city if I don't go to town hall and pay the 10 dollar solicitors permit fee. So lets just resolve this issue and move on with our lives cause I have a baby on the way and have too much going on in my life and business to be arguing with anybody.

I'm a family man and would not want to take advantage of any family that's out there working hard like myself to provide for their family. I will contact and hire a driver so I can get back to work hopefully in the next couple days so please be patient let me get my ducks in a row and you are the first person I will take care of!you have my word you will get your $150.00 as soon as I get back to work.

×

1 / 0

❮ ❯

Since I can't get a return phone call or any other resolution, I'm going to try and file criminal charges for fraud and theft....hopefully I can save the next person who might make same mistake as I did...

He's probably trying to sell your old meat to someone else so he can give you your refund. Reminds me of an old comedy movie line: "We cheat the other guy and pass the savings on to you".

After seeing this report, the meat salesman, Sheldon called me back and claimed to want to help. He showed up at my house and I gave him the unused portions of the two cases of steak and chicken....he said he would get right back to me .....that was a week and a half ago....since then he won't call back....so first he sells us crappy product, then he stops by and takes it away with no refund..... This guy is a scammer and no one should ever buy from him. Beware buying this product and avoid doing business with Sheldon Wheaton.

What a typical scammer line. Non-commital and vague. Why not just say if you're not satisfied you'll get your money back for all unused product?? Keep it direct and simple. Leave no question that you stand behind the quality of your product. Why would your company want a customer to keep a substandard product and be dissatisfied? While we're at it how's about a real physical address for your companys home office and a phone number. What about a web site?  What is the USDA GRADE of your beef? Please don't say top-quality or USDA inspected. I expect that from scammers.

I am Sheldon Wheaton and this report is not true! I have been selling and eating this food for twelve years and have never had any complaints or problems. I offer quality all natural choice meats at a wholesale price, furthermore I offer my contact phone number and receipt to every customer and this customer has not called me. I guarantee my product fully for up to 2 years in the freezer and take care of any customer issues immediately should they arise. If you would like to return the product because you decided maybe you couldn't afford it or something than feel free to contact me at 815-414-2109 and I will assist you in the best way I can. Again, I have been selling food for twelve years an have never had somebody post online negative about me or the company I get my product from. Please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I get the message, I am delivering during the day so my business line gets checked nightly. I hope you contact me and we can resolve this matter to your complete satisfaction.