I’m taking time to post this because the fiasco that Gear Passio/ Omega Holdings- from the Camping/Hiking Facebook page has caused is staggering!
It’s gobbled up our time, and resources and put us in the most precarious position of both being stolen from, and having to defend ourselves that we are not associated in anyway with the company that abused the camping community.
Let me give you some back story. In early April I clicked on the Camping/Hiking Group page ad that showed one of the same hats that we also carry to compare prices. There’s was $20 something- ours is $18 something, cool. Down lower on the screen it said ‘Frequently Bought with this Product’ and showed a photo of our Happy Camper Flips Flops they stole from our Web Page!!! I went blind with rage and disbelief. WTH? I consulted with a lawyer and called our Flip Flop maker to see if they had any insight?! Was someone selling our flip flops out the back door of the factory? What?! They lawyer advised against International legal action. We could squander every penny we had and still not make any dent in their actions.
Here’s our web site photo from their ad they used to get sales, but shipped crap two months later.
The worse part was I had to get on that web page and order a pair of the stolen flip flops as evidence. I took screen shots along the way and learned everything I could on their web page that may be helpful later. At first glance the company represented themselves as being from Arizona. But further digging led to facts that they were in Singapore. The small print said the shoes would take 6-8 weeks to arrive. Two Months! They cost over $30 with shipping and I had to wait for the evidence to arrive. All this time stewing over what was happening. We’re they shipping our shoes? Were they just taking the money and shipping nothing? I was actually hoping they were just stealing- but my heart sunk when I read reviews that seemed like customers were really getting shoes they liked. Those were apparently fake reviews too.
Two months, and three ulcers later- my shoes arrived. By then, I was already getting calls that ladies hated their shoes, they were cheap and a men’s size to add insult to injury. When I went to my own mail box, our shoes were there too. I didn’t even have to open the package to know they were not our shoes. We opened the package documenting every step along the way. I almost laughed if it were not so terrible! They were thin soled. They had stolen our art work, but had them printed on faux-suede in a similar color to our woven design. The campers were the same, in the right order. At least on the inside they had the ‘integrity’ to remove our website from the copy. Here’s the worse part- they apparently shipped everyone a Man’s medium instead of Woman’s.Later calls reflect they shipped Men’s sizes of a women’s small too. Looking at my original screen shot, it maybe that there was a list of sizes, but the Men’s showed as M 8/9 on my screen.I assumed it meant Medium instead of Men’s. There’s half a chance that if I had taken the time to scroll the offerings that they had Women’s sizes, but we’ll never know because they frequently close web pages when they alienate enough women.
So, Women bought this shoe from a web site that did not only not benefit ArtWareDesigns in anyway…but actually stole from us in lost sales and bad will. Gear Passio/ Omega Holdings was intentionally deceptive and shipped counterfeit goods.They showed a photo of our shoe to get sales- but intentionally fabricated a facsimile they tried to pass off as our quality shoe. See from the photos below- they fell a bit short.
We’ve had to answer 50 rude phone calls, 100 terrible emails asking where the &%$#+@ their shoes were,that the size was wrong when they never ordered them from ArtWareDesigns in the first place. The time and energy this has taken is amazing- not only no income, but costing us greatly in bad will. Now that shoes are actually shipping, and women hate them….NOW they find us though our own web site and want to discuss their options. I’m writing this post in the hopes of being able to referring women to this site, talking about it less, and get back to the actual business of shipping first quality goods that we design from the US through ArtWareDesigns.com We run a successful retail store on Hilton Head Island.
What’s your recourse? I filed a complaint with the company I paid with- PayPal. You can do the same, or refute payment with your credit card company. This company needs to be shut down-Period! I did reach out to the company through the email PayPal provided. Good thing since they were not responding to emails they listed on their web when we ordered. I got a polite, but firm NO from a woman calling herself Amanda. Amanda said that there was no refund unless the shoes were defective, or misprinted. I think showing a photo of one shoe, but shipping a counterfeit shoe is sure a defective, misprinted shoe. How about you? I noted my case number with Paypal and emailed to their fraud department all the visuals I had collected. Screen shots of the original photos they sold from, screen shots of their now closed web page. Photos of their crappy shoe next to the real goods.The photos I’ve shared with you above.
I encourage you to file suit with your own payment company. I’ve gone to all this effort to try to make it easier of other ladies to get a refund. I am asking Facebook to take down the Camping/Hiking page that appears to be nothing except a funneling tool to drive people to fraudulent web sites. Camping Lovers deserve better than this. Camping is fun and community- to this Chinese company it’s a profit center.
You can help me in one way- report the Camping /Hiking page to Facebook. Post on their page where ever you can about what terrible business practices this company uses. Save someone else from this experience.
While I sure can’t refund money for shoes we never shipped. If you should get your refunds, or just want to get the Happy Camper Flip Flop you should have gotten in the first place- Look at https://www.artwaredesigns.com/product/happy-camper-flip-flops/ Use our special coupon code we created for you Flip Flop. It will save you 15% off your shoes. Our Happy Camper Flip Flops are created by ArtWare- Produced by FanFlip- a great quality shoe. Take a look around our web page and you’ll realize we’re real Camper Gals who love camping and You!
