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25-Jun-04 |
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Fraud Alert! Hauswerks.com in Savannah, Georgia
We ordered a $500 rug from www.hauswerks.com about 6 weeks ago, a woman named Janice received our order and promptly charged our credit card. We were told the rug would be delivered within 4-6 weeks. 7 weeks on, no rug, no phone call, no email, nothing. We tried contacting Janice at Hauswerks, but no one ever answers the phone or reply to our email. We are reporting this to our credit card company and are considering bringing charges against her if it does not get resolved soon.
Please DO NOT order from hauswerks.com
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posted by pauyeung
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15-Jul-04 |
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Update on this...
I looked up on the Southeast Atlantic BBB site and found that Hauswerks has had a number of complaints in the past from customers who never received their paid merchandise. Please be aware of Hauswerks! I've filed a complaint to BBB and also wil contact the Design Addict team to not endorse (or show their name) on the site, since this is where I found Hauswerks.
http://166.70.32.196/~savannah/commonreport.html?compid=80003483&code=
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posted by pauyeung
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15-Jul-04 |
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Yet another update
I called the Hauswerks number again, this time leaving a message using a fake name to order a bed. Last 10 times I called and left messages regarding my previous order, no one ever got back to me. This time, Janice herself called within an hour to ask me what finish and color I want my bed to be. I baited her for a while with questions regarding price, delivery and refund policies. Then I revealed my true purpose of contacting her, and demanded a refund on my rug purchase. She was caught. Now I hope she will cancel the order and refund my money. Anyone out there following this, I'll keep this post updated. Meanwhile, DO NOT order from Hauswerks.com. They are bad news. Janice Hoppmann a fraud and a liar.
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posted by pauyeung
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18-Jul-04 |
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More on this saga
Oh man, it pays to do research before you put down cash to buy things:
http://www.savannahnow.com/stories/060303/LOChauswerks.shtml
Bad news. I guess others have lost way more than I. This woman Janice just keeps taking orders to keep herself afloat, with no intention of fulfilling them at all. Yikes!!!
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posted by pauyeung
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18-Jul-04 |
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It is quite amazing...
To see the usefulness of a website like this. How would and coud one reach such a large audience and make the aware of this kind of problems, documenting them with articles in local newspapers etc.
My point: let's continue to support DA!
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posted by koen
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18-Jul-04 |
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Not so enough
I'm a big fan of Design Addict, and I really appreciate having the forum to speak out on various subjects, as well as sharing information with my fellow consumers.
It is an outrage that people like Janice Hoppmann and her company is allowed to keep up their web site and business to take orders when she's awashed in lawsuits and legal troubles. People are still losing money because of not knowing what they're getting into. I've written to everyone that has anything to do with Hauswerks, including the author of that article. I'm trying to follow up with previous Hauswerks victims to see how their cases ended up. I also want to have a place where I can warn even a larger audience about people like Janice, I know there are other bad apples out there. Ultimately, I want Hauswerks.com to shut down as a Web site, so there'll be no more trusting consumers losing their money.
Any suggestions welcome.
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posted by pauyeung
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19-Jul-04 |
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not just a breach of contract
Just curious, but have you thought about contacting the local police department or district attorney's office? Taking someone's money upon a knowingly false promise is not just a breach of contract, but a crime (either fraud, obtaining property by false pretenses, or perhaps even some form of larceny).
Given what you've described about your experience, and based on all those stories about other victims from the newspaper link, it certainly seems like criminal conduct by the seller. She is clearly taking money from people after making a promise she knows she cannot fulfill.
Anyway, good luck.
Good luck.
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posted by ycl
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19-Jul-04 |
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Savannah DA
Thanks for your suggestion ycl.
I have yet to take any real legal action. I am giving Hauswerks a chance to refund my money in the next 7 days, after which I will contact the Savannah police department as well as the DA office to see what legal actions I can take. Like I said, ultimately I want Janice and her shop closed for good. She's crazy. She thinks people are just givig her a hard time. I will continue to post my updates here. I'm glad people are reading up on my experience with a bad merchant, and I hope people share their experiences so that we can all be more informed consumers.
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posted by pauyeung
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19-Jul-04 |
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Do you really have ...
Do you really have recourse?I do think its good for you to post on them.Many of the online "business"are little more than a p.o. box.Good luck to you,do give updates.
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20-Jul-04 |
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This may be an obvious suggestion...
...but keep in mind that most credit cards have policies about fraud and non-delivery...contact your credit card and see if the charge can be disputed, this may save on legal recourse.
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21-Jul-04 |
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credit card
yep, already did that. just before the 60 day expiration. the tricky thing is, many places make you wait 4-6 weeks, sometimes more, so by the time you figure out that the merchandise is not coming, the 60-day limit on the credit card purchase protection is gone. i'm surprised there aren't more crooked online sellers exploiting this.
is there a place where these cheats go afterlife? maybe a place where they will be eaten alive by rats forever, feeling the pain but never allowed to die? wahahahaha...
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posted by pauyeung
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21-Jul-04 |
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Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for...
Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery,thats a standard here in the conential USA.Hope all goes well.
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posted by betty
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29-Jul-04 |
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Update
We finally got the credit card company to credit our account for the amount we paid for the rug. They're investigating the case.
At least we got our money back, so that's good. Meanwhile, Janice Hoppmann is still taking orders and cheating people out of their money. That's not good.
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posted by pauyeung
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30-Jul-04 |
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Excellent, that's great news!...
Excellent, that's great news!
At least you personnally have a good ending to this sad tale.
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posted by cwoo
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