Scammed by a dome climber company help please

[MistyMountain]

This is long but I was wondering if anyone had any advice on what to do. We moved into our house at the end of June and decided to order the kids a dome climber. I really like the price and look of the dome climbers on dome climber.com and that they were made in the USA. I placed an order on July, 1 2012. I got an email from them to send a check and once they received the chec they would send it off. I was a little hesitant but we liked them and Mike said it was fine. He send a check priorty mail and I was wondering why I hadn’t heard from them and on July, 11th 2012 I got an email that it was shipped out with Fed Ex and I would receive a notice before it arrived. They said it takes up to 3 weeks to get there and we are in Alaska so I didn’t get worried right away but dh did. After a month I sent an email and dh started making calls. I sent out 2 emails and dh made a lot of calls and none were answered.

 

I then investigated online and saw they had claims with the BBB and that there were news articles about how parents sent money and did not receive any dome climbers. I called the APD and they told me they could help me but they told me to contact government websites that could help. I contacted one governmental sight that deals with internet fraud. I did more investigating and found lots of others claims. Paypal stopped doing business with him. Dh left a message this weekend saying that we were contacting police and I finally got an email this morning saying it went out USPS and would be there this week. He claimed it went out Fed Ex almost 2 months ago. I called the Tucamcari Police Department since that where his company was based out of and explained the story. Before I even told what the company was the officer said yea we know he is really late sending things out but he does. He said it was a civil matter and I said that it was fraud that he was scamming parents out of money and was never sent out. He said that I had to wait for it to arrive and then if it doesn’t then send all the evidence like the proof that the check was cashed and emails. I said that he originally claimed it went out through Fed Ex how could it be almost 2 months later and it goes out through another method. He said that he believes me but we needed to wait and then he could give it to the DA and they still might not be able to do anything.

 

I replied back to the email which I should not have done and told the owner that I knew it was a scam and that I investigated online and will contact the police and government sights. He said that if he sent a money order would I retract my accusations that he never scammed anyone. It is very very obvious to me what he is doing. He doesn’t send the dome climber and if parents make a claim he will send one or money but he is betting on many parents not doing it. Claims go back to 2008 and there are recent claims. His website is still up so other parents can still get scammed. He made up stories for other people on why it didn’t go through but it is lies.

 

I don’t know what to do now because if we take the money order or if he sends the climber then he can scam other parents. This is fraud. I don’t want him to get away with this anymore which he will. His website should not be up and he needs to be in jail but he isn’t because he resolves when people threaten to go to the police. He also has a second website up now called playdomes.com He talked to dh this morning and his claim was he was in Jail for contempt of child support and that is why it didn’t get sent out. Yea right. Lies Lies Lies. I don’t even want his climber in my yard after what he does. I do want my money back but not if he will go free yet again and scam others. I also worry if we pursue this they will still consider this civil and still nothing is done yet we are out of money. Any advice? Please help

 

http://www.keprtv.com/news/38676557.html

 

http://www.trustlink.org/Reviews/Dome-Climber-205684608'>http://www.trustlink.org/Reviews/Dome-Climber-205684608

 

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080710085840AALuGwL

 

http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/geodesic-dome-climber

 

http://www.bbbsw.org/business-reviews/Playground-Equipment/Dome-Climber-in-Tucumcari-NM-99127205

 

http://www.trustlink.org/Reviews/Dome-Climber-205684608

 

http://www.ripoffreport.com/sporting-goods/dome-climber/dome-climber-i-ordered-and-pai-f7358.html

 

http://www.qcsunonline.com/cms/news/story-489839.html

[Lara in Colo]

unless you sign a legal document, (although I am NOT a lawyer) I believe you don't have to be legally required to not talk.

[Denisemomof4]

I would first tell him to send the money order. Then I would file a report with the BBB.

 

I would NOT want to do business with this person. If there were any issue with the dome, you would be up a creek without a paddle.

 

I hope you get more advice here.

[Zuzu822]

I don't have any advice, but I'm sorry this happened to you. :grouphug:

 

My sister looked into this company a few months ago, and was very upset with what she learned. Their BBB rating was an "F"-- among other terrible reviews.

 

I sincerely hope you get your money back, or your climber in short order. We got a Lifetime dome climber from Amazon, if you need another source once this is dealt with.

[Harriet Vane]

I would first tell him to send the money order. Then I would file a report with the BBB.

 

I would NOT want to do business with this person. If there were any issue with the dome, you would be up a creek without a paddle.

 

I hope you get more advice here.

 

:iagree:

[besroma]

I would first tell him to send the money order. Then I would file a report with the BBB.

 

I would NOT want to do business with this person. If there were any issue with the dome, you would be up a creek without a paddle.

 

I hope you get more advice here.

 

:iagree:

[MistyMountain]

I am going to ask him for the money order but then I bet they won't do anything then and his website is still up there for him to do this to others. That is how he gets away with it. The officer said to give it time for it to arrive even after hearing me explain how it was obvious what he was doing. He agreed and believed me but said that I needed to give it more time. He must be counting on some people to not contact the police or BBB. When you just google dome climbers the bad stuff doesn't pop up with it. It just isn't right that he is scamming people who are buying something for his children. It is his pattern to not respond at all until police are involved. He needs to go to jail and his website needs to be taken down. It only really hit local news sources not national. It just isn't right that he has been doing this and it affects at least hundreds of people and nothing has done. You know behind the over 100 that did contact the police there are many more that didn't.

[Guest MommiJenn]

Looks like I just fell for this. I ordered from this company, they charged us twice with some Auto Unlock Company in Amarillo, TX. There is no contact info on the website, do you have the contact info you used when this happened to you? I'm so upset, my kids were really looking forward to this for Christmas. 

[matrips]

No real help, but I remember wanting to buy one about four years ago for my kids from him. Somehow I heard about the problems right before I ordered. He had also taken a very long time to respond to my request to buy. It was through parents like you though that had posted things online that I read though. I'd get the money and then pretty much post what happened. Including him saying he'd refund you if you retracted the accusations. People will easily read between the lines even if you don't use the word scam.

[KathyBC]

We went through this last year with a completely unrelated company and product. We started with the BBB. Because we had done an internet purchase using a credit card, we eventually got our money credited through them, but the whole thing took a long time. And yes, this guy's website was also still up and taking orders the last time I looked. :-(

[MistyMountain]

Looks like I just fell for this. I ordered from this company, they charged us twice with some Auto Unlock Company in Amarillo, TX. There is no contact info on the website, do you have the contact info you used when this happened to you? I'm so upset, my kids were really looking forward to this for Christmas.

Call the Tucumcari Police. I called the police and we finally heard back from him right afterwards. We cancelled the order and were going to get the money back but my husband told him that he just wanted the climber and he did end up sending it because of the police. I was so surprised it came with all the parts and everything but he is very shady and it was a horrible experience. I think he banks on getting away with it some of the time and that not everyone will contact the police.

 

If you ordered from dome climber here is the info I found from a search below. He also has a rodney@dom​eclimber.co​m email which he responded to after the police were contacted. I don't have the phone number anymore.

 

 

I ordered a dome climber from Rodney Ward's company 'domeclimber.com' because he was a small business owner that claimed to make a quality product that was made in the USA; I definitely wanted to support that. It is June 4th and I have no dome. The only

reason he replied to my email and returned my money was because I threatened to call the Tucumcari police. Sgt. Paul Belle @ 575-461-2160 is assigned specifically to 'Rodney Ward Complaints'. Rodney is a terrible liar. He claimed he shipped our dome weeks

ago, yet couldn't provide us with a tracking # or name of the carrier. He claimed he is not the business owner, but when we asked for his boss' name and number he claimed he couldn't remember. Liar. Scammer. Here's his contact info: 702 E Aber, Tucumcari,

NM 88401. 575-815-8845 or 575-708-0571. Personal email rodneywa@yahoo.com, as he doesn't respond to the web@domeclimber.com. It's a mystery that he has been able to do this for so long!