Complaint Review: Shop Flip Flops - Miami Florida

Shop Flip Flops received my money 177 days ago and kept it illegitimately in their dirty hands. They did not deliver the goods, not any of it. They did not pay the refund that I demanded more than 100 days ago and repeatedly since. Therefore, the title of this ripoff report calls them thieves, because a thief is someone who is stealing, and keeping other peoples money for nothing and refusing to give it back to them equals stealing.

They are liars, because they are the ones who committed a breach of contract but try to blame the consumer for their own faults and are maligning them. They are destroyers of small biz because they do not care about the customers, the economy, the families and all the sorrow they caused with their scam-like business practices. Had they done none of these things, there would be no occasion for this report. Hopefully, after having read this report on them, they might be considering the fates of so many of their victims and give them some consolidation money.

My complaint could be epitomized like this: Shopflipflop.com is a suppositional "havaianas" dealer scamming consumers in that they take their money and do not deliver the goods and keep the money despite the consumers asked for a refund. Then they go public and urge consumers to not go public but to negotiate directly with shopflipflops.com to settle all disputes amicably. Where this leads to is only hell...

Their advertising promises all items in stock, delivery within days...up to this present day, but the experience of so many a consumer was absolutely horrible with this scam-shopflipflops.com.

As you might see, I had fully fulfilled my part of the contract in that I payed the full amount due immediately after the order was received by them. Therefore, I could reasonably expect they too would fulfill their part of the contract!

But the truth is that shopflipflops.com committed a breach of contract. They took my money and did not deliver the goods. And, afterwards, when I refused to play on their foul game and demanded a refund, they refused to give a refund. They wanted to keep my money up to this day though they must have known that they had no legitimate right to do so. They even accused me of "fraudulent customer" behavior when they received notice from their bank that my bank had informed them that the consumer was demanding a refund because the merchant did not deliver the goods (March 2009). Well, my bank informed me that the merchant, that is shop flip flops had not authorized to refund the money as we requested, and that I should contact them directly. This is a proof that shop flip flops refused to give a refund, despite the fact that I requested this since Christmas last year. But you know what? They keep on promising, "Just tell us, and we'll send you the refund at once..." but have never kept their word. Their word is useless.

Here is a record of the facts:

1. Shopflipflops.com sent an email offering genuine "havaianas" at wholesale terms (September 12, 2008). 2. Shopflipflops.com accepted my wholesale order. 3. Shopflipflops.com declared the order would be shipped in maximum 14 to 30 days after payment was confirmed. 4. Shopflipflops.com received payment (full amount) as per their instructions (October 08, 2008). 5. Shopflipflops.com confirmed having received full payment. 6. Shopflipflops.com did not deliver the goods. 7. Shopflipflops.com did not give any order number. 8, Shopflipflops.com did not give any official order confirmation indicating a detailed list of what was shipped. 9. Shopflipflops.com did not give any tracking number. 10.Shopflipflops.com did not give any notice that order had shipped. 11.Shopflipflops.com did not give any notice of when order was expected to arrive at the customer. 12.Shopflipflops.com refused to give a refund (December 20, 2008). 13.Shopflipflops.com accused the customer of falsehood, slander, etc.(March 2009) 14.Shopflipflops.com did not show any sign of transparency, sincerity or trustworthiness. 15.Shopflipflops.com did not use the last deadline to give the refund requested (March 30, 2009). 16. After 177 days since they keep my money illegitimately, I filed this complaint here at ripoffreport.com

From the date of receipt of payment (point 4) until filing of this complaint at ripoffreport.com 177 days had passed.

The Better Business Bureau at www.bbb.org gave them a rating of "D", which is just one rank above "junk" and significantly below the rank of a company that could be trusted.

Ripoffreport.com shows at least 3 other unresolved complaints from different consumers.

Google.com shows countless scam complaints against shopflipflops.com on their search results. Just follow some of the search results displayed, digg into it and you could spend hours and hours only to learn about what other consumers had experienced with this scam-shopflipflop.com.

Some of the links where scams were reported against shopflipflops.com are

(((Redacted))) - (((Redacted))) - (((Redacted))) -(((Redacted))) -(((Redacted)))(((Redacted)))www.rockyjunkies.blogspot.com - www.answers.yahoo.com -(((Redacted)))

Just do your own search on "Shopflipflops.com scam" (without quotes) and see for yourself.

I found consumers from the United States, from the United Kingdom, from the Philippines, from Singapore, from Indonesia, from Malaysia and other countries who complained of having been scammed by Shop Flip Flops. Is it hard to understand that for such consumers it seems to be hard to file their report at the BBB or ripoffreport.com because they just don't know about that possibility.

Most of these consumers who were scammed by shopflipflops.com are small biz entrepreneurs, and to each of them the money they had sent to shopflipflops.com was an investment in their future intended to help them build their businesses and provide for their livelihood. Some of the poor consumers even took up loans to finance their stocks of "havaianas" and having payed the stocks to shopflipflops but not received them caused serious troubles and hardship for them. In countries of Asia this often means in less meals per day!

Each single consumer who was scammed by shopflipflops.com - and as long as they did not refund the money and payed for the damages they're responsible for, it's just a scam - probably lost thousands and tens of thousands of dollars in revenue.

Some of the unfortunate consumers scammed by shopflipflops.com came close to bankruptcy because they did not have the inventory bought from shopflipflops.com to sustain their businesses and their money was with shopflipflops.com all the time. Consumers who were scammed by shopflipflops.com suffered significant loss of credibility with their customers and all this is a direct effect of the breach of contract committed by shopflipflops.com.

From the language and style which shop flip flops used in their communication, especially in their public rebuttals to other ripoff reports, one can easily see whether there is anything good to expect from this company or not. If you were a consumer, how would you feel in reading their response to consumers complaints? - If you'd read the original emails, you'd probably be disgusted!

Keep your hands off from entering transactions with shopflipflops.com unless they deliver the goods ere you pay them! - or else your hands might burn!

Shopflipflops.com contacts people who are on their list by email, offers them "havaianas" flip flops at wholesale terms, receives and accepts orders online by email, demands payments by wire transfer, receives payments from consumers, confirms having received full payments and then fails to deliver the goods in countless cases. Is not this what might be called a SCAM-Shopflipflop.com?

In my case, I payed them more than $4,500 for a wholesale order that was promised to be shipped to us within maximum 30 days from receipt of payment (see email below).177 days later, I have not received my refund that I first requested on December 2008. I never received the goods when I was amendable to receiving them, and after that dead point I was no more willing to receive them but demanded a full refund.

Our small business suffered financial losses worth of $20,000 to $30,000 alone in lost revenues, losses that were a direct effect of the breach of contract which was committed by shopflipflops.com. The moral damages are far greater than that. Our business suffered a loss of credibility since the promised goods we advertised "would be arriving soon" were still missing...Our TV and Radio Ads became a cause of laughter to so many consumers in our town...

Below you find some copies of the exact emails shopflipflops.com had sent me (The originals are safe).

*********************************************************

September 12, 2008 I received an email from Shop Flip Flops Wholesale Special .

Here is an extract of this email.

"We have completed a new spreadsheet for all havaianas wholesale with Shop Flip Flops. Please email me directly if you are interested in making a wholesale order at [email protected] Lower prices with more selection available...

I will in return send you a spreadsheet for ordering.

We also are now offering the following other 21 flip flop brands:

BillaBong Cobian Crocs Dupe DVS Etnies Flojos Ipanema Kustom Melissa Ocean Minded Quiksilver Rainbow Sandals Reef Rocket Dog Roxy Sanuk Scott Hawaii Teva Volatile Volcom

When you receive the new Havaianas Spreadsheet to order please see below...

Please fill in the top portion of the form with your full details. Order under $5000 USD without shipping can use credit card (additional documents will be needed to confirm your account and verify the credit card the first time of use) All orders over $5001 USD will be payment via bank wire directly to our corporate account.

The new process is as follows: 1. Enter in the amount of pairs per row for each option. The total will automatically add up on the right hand side and also at the bottom of the page.

2. Within 24 -48 hours confirms the order as in stock and what is available to ship once payment is received.

3. Send payment via credit card details or request if the order is over $5001 USD we will forward our bank wire details.

4. Once payment is received we will normally pick, pack, and ship the item within 1 week.

We offer three forms of shipping;

- your shipping company (only for bank wire payments) - UPS/FedEx ranging from $1-2 per flip flop and arrives traceable in 5-7 days worldwide. - Our private traceable shipping company which is 25-30% cheaper then UPS/FedEx and arrives in 7 days.

5. If you need Swarovski Havaianas or any custom designs wholesale contact [email protected]

We can reduce these prices even further if you order CLOSED cases of 12 pairs of the same size of the same color. MIN 1200 pairs.

We look forward to adding the new 2009 style later this week.

Thank you,

Alan www.shopflipflops.com [email protected] [email protected]"

********************************************************* The above email proves that shopflipflops.com approached me and offered of themselves to accept wholesale orders for genuine havaianas. This is ok, since I was opted-in on their list. I responded to that email invitation and received another email on September 09, 2008. Here is an extract of that 2nd email from shopflipflops.com

********************************************************* Subject line: Pricelist for Havaianas Shop Flip Flops S.A

"MIN 250 Pairs for wholesale

Please fill in the top portion of the ATTACHED form with your full details.

We accept credit cards for some wholesale clients. The process for credit card payments includes scanning the front and back of the credit card to us with an invoice signed and a copy of your government issued picture id sent to us. (3-5 days to confirm)

Bank Wire payment is to our corporate bank account in Panama. Once we have the order we will send the bank wire details and the order must be paid in 5 business to remain active. (2 days to confirm).

We can also special order and supply the following brands:

BillaBong Cobian Crocs Dupe DVS Etnies Flojos Ipanema Kustom Melissa Ocean Minded Quiksilver Rainbow Sandals Reef Rocket Dog Roxy Sanuk Scott Hawaii Teva Volatile Volcom

Delivery is 15-30 days max from payment due to pick, pack, ship. These brands ship from our USA warehouse and shipping rates are FEDEX/UPS with 25% discount on flat rate with option to use your shipping acccount if you wish. (Bank wire payments only)

The new process is as follows:

1. Enter in the amount of pairs per row for each option. The total will automatically add up on the right hand side and also at the bottom of the page.

2. Within 24 -48 hours confirms the order as in stock and what is available to ship once payment is received.

3. Send payment via credit card details or request if the order is over $5001 USD we will forward our bank wire details.

4. Once payment is received we will normally pick, pack, and ship the item within 1 week.

We offer three forms of shipping; - your shipping company (only for bank wire payments) - UPS/FedEx ranging from $1-2 per flip flop and arrives traceable in 5-7 days worldwide.

then UPS/FedEx and arrives in 7 days.

5. If you need Swarovski Havaianas or any custom designs wholesale contact [email protected]

We can reduce these prices even further if you order CLOSED cases of 12 pairs of the same size of the same color. MIN 1200 pairs.

We look forward to adding the new 2009 style later this week. Thank you, Alan www.shopflipflops.com [email protected] [email protected]" ******************************************************** On October 04, 2008 I confirmed my order and received the following email

"Please bank wire $4530.65 to the attached banking information. When you have completed the transfer please confirm with us and we will start the picking, packing and getting the shipment ready, thanks !

Alan Shop Flip Flops [email protected] www.shopflipflops.com"

*********************************************************

I have sent the wire immediately as per agreement and the full payment was credited to the merchants account on October 08, 2008.

On October 16, only after my follow up, I received the confirmation that they had received the money.

They wrote me by email:

"We have received your bank wire and will start pick, packing and then ship the items. We will update you when complete.

thank you,

Alan Shop Flip Flops [email protected] www.shopflipflops.com"

This proves that they had acknowledged of having received payment. As you can see above in the previous emails, by this date we could reasonably expect to have the order coming in anytime now. That was the status by October 16, 2008. We expected the delivery to arrive by the end of month and to dispose the stocks within 1 months time.

So we started an advertising campaign, telling our friends the hot news, posted a radio commercial and tv ad to spread the word in our 150,000 people city. We gained a lots of attention and people rushed to our small boutique asking about the new stocks...

********************************************************* 30 days had passed away without any info or update. I sent them an email asking,

Subject line: "Where is our ordered stuff?- More than 1 month since we fully paid you!"

"Hi Alan,

We are still waiting for your confirmation. Since you received the full payment for our order almost one month ago we need to follow up.

Please inform us ASAP if you are going to send our havaianas or not, and when.

Hope this can be resolved properly.

Thanks" *********************************************************

No answer.

Another 30 days later, on December 20, 2008 I sent the following email to shopflipflops.com

Subject line: "2nd notice: Request for Refund of $4'530.65 because of breach of contract."

"To whomsoever it may concern,

On October 8, 2008 I sent a bank wire to your account according to your instructions for payment of ordered "havaianas" flip-flops.Despite your affirmation, the ordered goods were not delivered to us up to now and we have not received any announcment that it had been sent to us.

On November 18, 2008 I followed up and sent you an Email asking you where our ordered havaianas are. Since you refused to answer my legitimate questions, I demand a full refund.

Therefore, I demand a full refund over $4'530.65 to the same account from where it has been sent.

In addition, I ask you to answer by Email within 72 hours.

Should you not fully comply, I would start publishing my ripoff report in the internet and start taking further legal action.

Best,"

*********************************************************

"Hello, I am Kent from Shop Flip Flops.

I have taken over the job of ALAN who used to work here for shop flip flops.

We had seen that your order was not processed correctly and is extremely late.

This is what was shipped and I will get the tracking number tomorrow. list of items they claim to have shipped)...

We will be refunding the missing items, you will see it on your credit card.

Alan has been let go from Shop Flip Flops. You may contact Kent anytime or leave me your telephone number and I can call you if you need anymore information.

Again we are very sorry about your troubles and will get this figured out ASAP.

Kent Shop Flip Flops [email protected] www.shopflipflops.com"

********************************************************

With this promise, made on Christmas 2008, another hell of time passed by without any results. They promised to solve the problem ASAP. More than 100 days is pretty long in the fashion retail niche, isn't it? More than 100 days have past since before this report was filed here. If shopflipflops.com were not a scam, why were they still doing such things?

********************************************************** The last email I received from flipflopshops.com was their response to my ultimate demand of having a refund or they would have to face legal action. The email I received from "Kent" reads like this

Subject: Re: cancellation of transaction and ultimate request for a full refund

"You online attempt to send liable and slanderous posts about shop flip flops is unwarranted and false. We have asked you to send the refund and return request in writing to us and you have told us that you will. You also have lied and now made this a civil issue. http://searchmarketingtraffic.com/

Please advise how you wish to proceed.

Online negative spam against our company will not be tolerated, we will take very , very, strong actions against such slanderous and false accusations.

KENT Shop Flip Flops [email protected] www.shopflipflops.com"

********************************************************* I replied with a quick note that I expect an unconditional refund within 48 hours and said this would be the last deadline for them.

This last deadline passed by unused.

So, after 177 days of non-sense monkey-business and lots of wasted energies with scam-shopflipflops.com, I decided to finally submit my complaint to ripoffreport.com.

NOTE: What do you think about the possibility of "Alan" and "Kent" being one and the same person? Wouldn't that be interesing to find out? Reading through their emails, this thought seems not unreasonable...

Summary: On October 08, 2008 Shopflipflops.com received USD 4,530.65 representing full payment for an order. On October 16, 2008 Shopflipflops.com confirmed by email having received the full payment.

Since then, until today, April 03, 2009, Shopflipflops.com failed to deliver the payed goods. But not only this, they also refused to pay a refund.

We never received the goods, neither did we receive an order number, an official confirmation for the order, a notice of shipping, a tracking number nor any useful information about our transaction.

On December 20, 2008 I requested for a full refund for the first time. My request was not answered. On March 30, 2008 I ultimately requested for a full refund within 48 hours. My request was not granted.

Conclusion. Shop Flip Flops demanded and received money for goods they never delivered. Despite their breach of contract they refused to give a refund. From date of payment until filing of this report 177 long days had passed away. Is it that unreasonable for a consumer who endured such bad experience with shopflipflops to think they are a SCAM?

Cosidering that dozens of other fellow citizens of the world and potentially hundreds suffered the same nightmare through this scam-shopflipflop.com, I hope this case will be thoroghly investigated. Let not a single consumer in the world become another victim of this dishonorable company.

For the economy and the homeland security such scams like this could be bad. If there were only 100 victims and each lost around $4,000 to the shopflipflop-scam, this would amount to $400,000. Take into consideration the lost revenues and income for these sacrifices, this will easy amount to more than 7 figures. Based on the record of the BBB, during the last 36 months, shopflipflops was able to settle only 1 scam-complaint every three months. That makes up one dozen of resolved cases. Now, everybody knows the the percentage of cases made public is small compared to the actual victims. Like in other statistics, this could be only the tip of the iceberg.

Therefore, based on this record of the Better Business Bureau, dozens, or even hundreds of victims of this scam-shopflipflops.com could have been left out so far. This could combined reach an amount of millions of dollars of damages caused to innocent consumers through a breach of contract committed by shopflipflops.com.

What breach of contract? - Getting the money but not delivering the goods - Fraud! Using the money customers paid to finance their operative business, without paying interest! Using the money as security to get more credit with suppliers! Using OPM (other people's money) illegitimately to run their operative busines, buy new stocks and do whatever they want to do...

There is a possibility that shopflipflops.com uses this pattern to work with OPM, that is "Other People's Money", thus getting cheap money to fund their own operations...

It is also interesting that they transfer their money from their bank account in NYC to their offshore bank account in Panama, making it more difficult to trace their assets, business records and revenues...

I would be very interested to know what the IRS knows about this company.

I hope people will take this information as a warning and learn from it. Please see also on the countless other complaints filed from consumers all over the world against this scam-like company called shopflipflops.com

If you had experienced a similar nightmare with shopflipflops.com or any other company, don't hesitate to file your report here, it's free. If you see a report or complaint of somebody else who suffered the same bad experience as you with a certain company don't hesitate to tell the world the truth! Support your fellow consumers and be supported by them. Thus you can not only find ways to get back your money but you can assist your fellows in their fight for justice, support them, and help them too to get back their money.

Consumers in the world, don't send your money to a company you don't know! Find out some truth about the company and see if they are worthy of your trust! Thus you will avoid temporarily loosing your money. You should protect your assets and don't forget to be faithful to your friends, and give them a warning while it is time!

"Kent", the STRONG man in the management of shopflipflops.com! - You messed it up! You took it over from "Alan" but it seems you are just one and the same person. There's no difference in your expression than was with "Alan". Is this your secret trick to fool the people? You had your chance to resolve the problem, but you just couldn't or wouldn't keep your word! That's how it goes, so please give back my money and pay me compensation for the damages you have caused and don't forget to do the same to all other people of whom you might think that you've just fooled them!

Had you and the company you represent kept the contract, we would not stand at this point now. How shall the story go on? I say your company must give back our money, and pay a compensation to us, to all the people you have tried to fool!

Pete Tuguegarao City

Philippines

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