However, if a website is not as well-known, how do you know you are actually going to get the items you pay for?
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Online shopper Krystina Purvis was one of the victims. She discovered Savemore.com in November 2011.
“A $25 gift card for $15 is what attracted me,” said Purvis. “It all started was with that.”
She was buying Christmas gifts, but Christmas had come and gone and only two of her nine purchases had actually been delivered. She repeatedly called the company and finally got someone on the phone.
“He made me feel better at the time but I never ended up getting anything,” said Purvis. “After that contact, I didn't really hear much from the company.”
Then, she checked the Texas-based company's Better Business Bureau rating; it was an "F".
Central Indiana BBB CEO Bill Thomas said in just last year, nearly 1,300 people complained to the BBB about Savemore.com. More than 20 of those complaints came from Central Indiana.
“I think it was the night before Christmas 2011 that the Dallas BBB sent out an alert and then the floodgates opened and there were a lot of customers who said ‘yeah, I made a purchase for a $15 for a $25 gift card and I haven't received mine either,’” said Thomas.
Over the last couple of weeks, the site has been down a few times, but for the past two days, it has been live and it appears people are still making purchases. They are making purchases that might never be delivered.
“The owner of the company has had problems in the past with a company called Credit Solutions of America, a debt settlement company, where they were going out and charging people fees to try to help them settle their debt,” said Thomas.
That situation ended in a lawsuit, but not before people were duped out of money, Thomas said.
Purvis said she is out more than $100 and wishes she would have checked Savemore.com out on the BBB website ahead of time.
“I’m trying to cut my loss on this one because I feel like I’ve done what I can do at this point and now I’ve learned my lesson,” said Purvis.
Thomas said with so many sites like this popping up, you always need to research the site before giving them your credit card information. He said consumers need to read reviews and go to the BBB website to see if other people have had problems with a particular website.
http://indy.bbb.org/
http://savemore.com/DailyDeals/National
