christmastrees2u.co.uk

sinope

I ordered a real xmas tree from this website and they have not delivered. They have also changed their payment method from paypal (which I paid with) to nochex. They have 2 contact numbers on their site - the landline one is occassionaly engaged or just rings out and the mobile number goes to an orange answerphone which is full so you are unable to leave a message. They also don't respond to e-mail.

Anyone else have any dealings with them? I am at a bit of a loss what to do now.

KittyLady

The site comes up as suspicious from the start.
Domain namechristmastrees2u.co.ukRegistrantDarren BillinghamRegistrant typeUK IndividualRegistrant's addressThe registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their address omitted from the WHOIS service.
He shouldn't be hiding his address as a business. I'd start a chargeback with paypal, it looks pretty suspicious and if it's not, well if your tree appears you cancel the chargeback.

A quick addition. I checked the address on the site, it's a nice collection of residential flats and houses. there's a christmastrees2u.com which I assume they are trying to trade off the good name of.
I've let nominet know that the registration details are incorrect so you may find his address appears on the whois soon. They responded to say "We have investigated christmastrees2u.co.uk and have issued notice to the registrant and registrar that the address details for the domain name will be opted in to the WHOIS unless changes are made so that the domain name meets the opt-out criteria."

marleyboy

I tend to avoid any company that uses the Nochex payment method, Nochex have a sour history and are mentioned regularly in the forums, Fraudulent companies are only to happy to use Nochex, due to the simple method of grabbing the cash and doing a runner with it.

sinope

Thank for the replies. Tbh I sort of thought after I had ordered there was something "not quite right" with the site.

They did e-mail me back this evening saying due to "bad weather" the order would be delivered "sometime next week". I think this is a delaying tactic...they still aren't answering their phones.

Also, is there anyway to check whether the paypal address I payed to has been closed down or has any other claims against it? I am thinking this is maybe why they changed to nochex?

Can I contact the police, do they deal with things like this? I really want to warn other people. Presumably the next two weeks would be the busiest time for this site...hopefully I can prevent them getting any other peoples money fraudulently!

omen666

Well it has not been hard to find out where the owner of the site lives. Let us know how you get on

janeathers

Hi Sinope, Just came across your thread. Unfortunately I am in exactly the same situation as you. Have you contacted the police yet? - I was just about to. Please let me know how you are getting on

Jane

sinope

Hi Jane,

I reported it to www.actionfraud.org.uk which gave me a crime reference number. I wasn't exactly sure which police to report it to. Let me know if you want my crime ref. number when you report so they could link the cases.

janeathers

I have now reported it to the police. After ringing the police station in west midlands they advised me to call my local station who would then pass the information on to them. I also reported it to Nochex, they have just called me and said they spoke to darren billingham this morning. They tried to assure me this company was not a fraud and that they had processed 500 orders with no complaints - unfortunately i find this hard to believe as i have been trying to contact this man for the last 4 days without any luck.
I hope you have some success in getting your money back - Nochex said they would refund my money, so i will wait and see.
If i can be of any help please let me know

christmastrees2u

Hi,

I'm Darren from Christmastrees2u.co.uk

I am the owner of the business

To answer some of the above questions.

Firstly we are a small business with only 3 people delivering these Christmas trees

Before the snow came we were very busy delivering night and day and at weekends.

Obviously the snow came and the whole country went to pot.

The sheer number of phone calls was becoming unbearable and would have meant no trees were delivered, therefore we emailed every customer to advise them there would be a delay in delivering.

Likewise any emails received have have an auto response advising them of the delay caused by the bad weather.

We scan the hundreds of emails that are coming in daily requesting cancellation/refunding and we refund immediately without delay any that we come across.

If you have requested a refund and not received it yet then it will be dealt with by close of play today.

christmastrees2u

With regards to NoChex, they have been totally helpful.

Your comments at post #2 about scammers using them, I can not comment on other than to say that we had many hoops to jump through with NoChex before they would consider us as a business.

All compliance checks etc they have performed we have passed and any queries which they have raised and are raising from customers who dont bother to ask us for a refund but instead go direct to NoChex we are responding to.

christmastrees2u

Sinope / Janerathers please post your order numbers and I will arrange for an immediate refund if one hasnt already been done.