Indiana mom says she was scammed by online retailer when she just wanted to return swimwear
CHICAGO (CBS) – The week after Christmas is a big one for retail returns.
So ponder this head-scratcher: a Northwest Indiana mom reached out to CBS 2 for help with her return that started in July. CBS 2's Marie Saavedra discovered curious customer service responses unlike any she'd ever seen before and had a warning for anyone who buys stuff online.
Social media advertisements and word of mouth from friends and videos drew Sara Dimitroff to Meet Curve, an online retailer that sells women's clothing.
Dimitroff was about to take a beach vacation and ordered some new swimwear.
"I had a couple of kids, so I needed to get different swimsuits than before," she said.
So, in July, she spent just over $200.
"They came no issue," she said. "They came pretty quickly."
A blue suit was a keeper, but most of the others didn't fit quite right. So Dimitroff went to the Meet Curve website to start a return, back in July, and it was not the return process that the company promised.
"They just kept trying to persuade me to keep the items, or keep them, and they would return me for a lesser amount," Dimitroff said.
It was like the game show "Let's Make a Deal." She received the offer on July 31 to keep all the items and get a gift card or a $46 refund and keep all the items.
"We went back and forth," she said.
On Aug. 1, she was offered a $77 refund to keep the items. On Aug. 2, Meet Curve upped the refund offer to $105 for her to keep the items.
Trista, a supposed customer service representative even wrote, "This is the best compensation we can get for you."
"I kept saying 'No. I want my full refund,'" Dimitroff said.
Finally, on Aug. 4, Meet Curve agreed to a full refund of $153.44. Dimitroff shipped the items back at her expense, with a promise from Meet Curve that she would have a full refund within five to 15 days.
Saavedra: "And did you?"
Dimitroff: "I never did, and here we are, December."
Between August and December, Dimitroff emailed Meet Curve many times. The company repeatedly said, "Sorry ... Please don't worry ... We have contacted the finance department." One message even had a red heart emoji, but as for the actual refund? Nothing.
In fact, Meet Curve doubled down and told Dimitroff to not file a credit card dispute.
"If I lose the case, I could never get a loan in my name, work a job, like starting to threaten me," Dimitroff said, recalling the exchange with the company.
Saavedra: "Wow! That's pretty wild."
Dimitroff: "I went onto the Better Business Bureau, BBB, website and I found a lot of similar situations as mine."
CBS 2 also looked into similar situations and found horror stories all over the internet with comments like, "Return process is a scam" or "Refuses to return."
Meet Curve has an F rating with the BBB. The retailer hasn't answered any of the watchdog's questions.
"In the last 12 months, we've had over 58 complaints filed, which, a lot of time, I would consider a huge volume," said Clayton Alexander of the BBB.
Meet Curve also showed up on the BBB's Scam Tracker, where consumers can report bad experiences with companies. Several other companies with the word "Curve" in them also got F's from the BBB, and according to the watchdog, all of the companies operate out of one Chino, California address.
"Change the name of the company and then just start anew again, even changing to a new website, but a lot of the time, they'll have a similar name," Alexander said.
Saavedra: "Do you feel mad at all?"
Dimitroff: "I'm just upset in a way because it has taken up so much of my time."
She added, "I'm assuming I've lost it and will never see that back. I would like to bring awareness to this so that people don't get stuck in the same situation."
Dimitroff did not file a credit card dispute because by the time she realized she wasn't getting her refund, more than 60 days had passed, and it was too late.
CBS 2 reached out to Meet Curve and other curve cloned websites for comment but received no response.
The lesson for consumers is to check with the BBB Scam Tracker and do a Google search for a company before they place an order online.
