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Beware - I got ripped off by Haunted Props (www.hauntedprops.com)

27K views 36 replies 29 participants last post by  royintexas  
#1 ·
I have been a member of this board for years and have been a Home Haunter since I was a kid.

Last year I ordered this coffin from Haunted Props.

It is lightweight and heavily detailed - something that I did not have the time to make myself and perfect for the scene I had designed for my haunt.
I ordered it in mid-September.

By the middle of October, I was worried.
My credit card had been billed almost $800 for this item and there was no sign of it.
I called repeatedly and was told it was on its way.

The day before Halloween I was frantic.
I am a single parent and I scrimp all year to buy Halloween props.
I called again and was told that I would have to drive over 4 hours round-trip to pick it up at the courier because it wouldn't be delivered for another 2 days otherwise.
Despite having a million things to do, I dropped everything and went to pick it up.
It was only at customs for 6 hours, so that was not the cause of the delay.

When I got home, I was very excited to open the crate...
I thought there was a mistake...
I ordered this (click to enlarge):

And was delivered something very similar to this (sorry I don't have an original photo...coming!)


It was clearly a homemade, extremely rough pine toepincher. Very heavy and could not be balanced on end. It was thrown together and had a slap-dash coat of deckstain on it that still reeked of fumes (to the point where I couldn't use it because of the stench). It was not stained on the bottom or the footpanel. I could have made this in an afternoon with about 25 dollars worth of pine from Home Depot. (Please note that he sells the pictured coffin on his website for about $200...)

I called immediately, but did not get an answer.
I emailed and received an email back shortly apologizing and promising me my money back.

Months pass. No money. No response to email.
After a half dozen inquiries, I get a very surly response telling me that they had given me a 'better quality' coffin and that he would only give me half my money back. I thought this was ludicrous. I have been round and round with him for a *year*. I have complained to the BBB. And his only response is that I am hard to deal with and that he has done 'everything possible'. Except of course, refunding my $800!

I am sure he will write something about how I am mean and nasty.
Wouldn't you be mean and nasty if someone ripped you off for $800??

I would hate to see anyone else have to deal with the same kind of nonsense. Beware!
 
#2 ·
Not sure if you would have success due to the amount of time that has passed but nonetheless I would contact your credit card company and put a fraud claim in. Funny how companies have a change of tune once they have been accused of fraud.
 
#3 ·
Sorry to hear about your bad experience! I've never ordered from this site, although I've been tempted. Now I know I won't. I'm alsi sending them an email today telling them so. I hope other forum members will do the same!
 
#6 ·
I tried to order from them last year and they told me the product was on back order and after two months I email them to cancel the orders he wrote back he would. Then a month later I get another email form him saying the product would not be in and wanted to know if I wanted to cancel my order I told him yes again. I do hope you get you money back and feel you pain.
 
#7 ·
This all serves as another reminder: Know your credit card's dispute policy, and use it before time runs out. Most credit cards companies are very good about this, especially American Express. Some of them even warranty products beyond the manufacturer's warranty. Having the money forcibly yanked out of their account will wake up a company more than a complaining customer. Also, if it is a continuing problem, their merchant services processor will investigate them.
 
#9 ·
I agree beat them to the punch.I in my own head have a certain amount of time I allow if I don't get it I persue ways to get my money back.
Just recently I ordered some zumba(dance) dvd's off ebay for a buy it now of 65.00 they retail for about 85.That didn't concern me because I have often bought cheaper than retail dvd's.I get a email from ebay stating the item was removed and showed me the steps to dispute.Well I thought I will give them some time the day passed when it should have arrived so I opened a dispute.They then 7 days later provided a tracking number.I waited another 7 days and excelled the process and got my money back.5 days later I got the package .........a stuffed hamster.I refused it.
 
#8 ·
I'm always dismayed (but not too surprised) when I read about these situations. If the offending vendor were in virtually any other line of business (product-wise) this behavior would kill the company. I understand that this is a very seasonal business and that sometimes vendors are at the mercy of their suppliers. And if the vendor is not buying huge numbers of something, like Spirit or Halloween City does, they go to the end of the supply line. As an R&D engineer in a startup company, I know what it's like to compete for low prices on small quantities of materials. Sometimes the NRE and setup charges exceed the cost of the material.
But when the product shipped is most definitely not the product ordered and paid for, that's a different story. It's especially frustrating when the vendor tries to blame the irate customer's attitude for their lack of service. This seems to happen often with Halloween purchases; what's shown on the website is not what's in the box.
In Bliss3333's case, HP's ripping her off twice - they didn't deliver the $800.00 item, and are only willing to refund HALF of the amount paid. She ends up paying ~$400.00 for a coffin she didn't order and doesn't want and that normally sells for ~$200.00. I'm afraid that Haunted Props would lose their shirt if this were taken to court.
For those who have had good experiences with this vendor, that's great, but the real test of a vendor's integrity is what they do when something goes wrong. I'd give HP a low "D" at this point.

Rant over...
 
#12 ·
I have recently had to file complaints against two merchants.
It is amazing how someone who will not respond to multiple emails sent over several weeks will react to one single notification from PayPal telling them to rectify the situation or they will have the money pulled from their account.

I never buy online unless I use some kind of "money protection service" . Either my credit card or PayPal, both allow you to fight a disreputable sale.
As was said earlier, you have to keep an eye on the amount of time that has lapsed.

I really hope you get to a decent resolution with this!

It seems that customer service is vanishing, and when I do find a company that remembers that customers come first, I will go out of my way to promote them! (FX Warehouse, Creative Lightings, for example!)

Getting screwed over by an unscrupulous merchant really bites!
I think that I too, will send them a message stating that their customer service reputation has led me to shop elsewhere!
We ALL should show these THIEVES (all of them!) that their actions do impact their income by telling them so!
"I'm not buying from you, because you have treated others unfairly." is a powerful message to a merchant.

Good luck!
 
#15 ·
I have recently had to file complaints against two merchants.
It is amazing how someone who will not respond to multiple emails sent over several weeks will react to one single notification from PayPal telling them to rectify the situation or they will have the money pulled from their account.

I never buy online unless I use some kind of "money protection service" . Either my credit card or PayPal, both allow you to fight a disreputable sale.
Get a load of this. I've been using ebay and Paypal for over 14 years now, and rarely have ever had to open a complaint against anyone, but this summer I had three sellers fail to deliver the products I bought. I had to open three disputes. I got my money back, but I also got placed on notice by Paypal that I was opening too many disputes and that any additional disputes might cause me to lose my ability to open disputes!!!

I'm the victim here, and doing exactly what Paypal has told me to do in these circumstances, and I'm being threatened with losing my protection against thieves!!!
 
#16 · (Edited)
Glad I revisited this thread. I was looking for a large latex toad prop, of which they have two nice ones, but I'm afraid to order one now given this info.
I copy/pasted a link to this thread on their FB page. wondering if I'll get a reply.
 
#19 ·
And people wonder why I refuse to use PayPal. Yes, it prevents me from using eBay or from buying from smaller sellers who may very well be honest, but at least when I pay with a credit card I have much more dispute power than PayPal offers.

I paid for the stuff I got in the Group Buy fiasco in cash but it doesn't look like using PayPal would have helped me anyway!
 
#20 ·
Sorry to hear about your situation. It's always nerve racking ordering from a company online - You never really know what to expect. I HIGHLY recommend Halloween Asylum for your mask and prop needs. I have ordered from them a few times in the past and have nothing but good things to say about her and her company!

Good luck to you with this situation. Hopefully they will come through and make the best of the situation. And hopefully this thread will save some other haunters some grief by taking their business elsewhere!
 
#21 ·
This actuallty happened to my mom except at wells fargo they had 900 dollars of hers which for about 6 months they claimed they didnt then we get a call... " ohh we found your claims and they have been refunded sorry for the inconvienence" They were lucky i was at work....
 
#23 · (Edited)
In spite of the warnings in this thread, I took a gamble and ordered from them. I ordered the Toad Lord prop. It's a foam filled latex prop. Order went in on the 23 and the prop was delivered yesterday. The prop itself is huge!! Much larger than I expected but is very imposing and impressive. I took advantage of their sale price so it wasn't a bad deal. The prop is in excellent shape but the packing job was bad. The prop simply was placed into a cardboard shipping box; no foam peanuts, paper or any other packing. The box had a good size hole in the top corner as well but this didn't seem to have harmed the prop any. Overall I'm pleased with the item, price and customer service.

Here is a pic of this monster! It's over 20 inches tall!

Image



Image
 
#26 ·
In spite of the warnings in this thread, I took a gamble and ordered from them. I ordered the Toad Lord prop. It's a foam filled latex prop. Order went in on the 23 and the prop was delivered yesterday. The prop itself is huge!! Much larger than I expected but is very imposing and impressive. I took advantage of their sale price so it wasn't a bad deal. The prop is in excellent shape but the packing job was bad. The prop simply was placed into a cardboard shipping box; no foam peanuts, paper or any other packing. The box had a good size hole in the top corner as well but this didn't seem to have harmed the prop any. Overall I'm pleased with the item, price and customer service.

Here is a pic of this monster! It's over 20 inches tall!

Image
I have had great dealings with Haunted Props in the past & ordered this Toad Lord also on a sale they had on it 2 years ago ( It is awesome & yes LiL bigger than I expected ) Packaging could have been better, box was beat up a little, but no damage to Mr Toad !

I guess that there have been some exceptions to the good & bad experiences with this company.......
 
#25 ·
Eww. That's more disgusting than a lot of the gore props made around here. It looks like it would give you a disease by touching it!

I pretty much boycott any company like this but at least you got what you wanted. I've gone in on deals *cough*groupbuy*cough* where delivery wasn't guaranteed but I also prepare myself for the fact that things might go south.