catsluvusdeals.com catsluvus.com Offered a free barbell for sale, charged for shipping, took the money and ran laguna nigel California

My girlfriend ordered a barbell from "catsluvusdeals.com" as a gift for my birthday. Since the gyms are all closed due to covid, we've been trying to collect some fitness equipment to work out with. A barbell was something we were looking for. There is lots of price gouging and scams going on right now for fitness equipment because many other people are trying to do the same thing as us.

When we saw the deal for a free barbell on catsluvusdeals.com, we were sure it was a scam. First, a free barbell? Second, the name: catsluvusdeals.com. 

So, we checked it out. Turns out catsluvusdeals.com is supposedly as offshoot of a family-run business in California that ran a cat hotel. Due to covid, they were hurting, so they started selling merchandise online as an online retailer - basically a super-mini Amazon. The prices for their other items were in line with most other places. We figured the barbell must be some kind of a loss leader or something.

There were a couple of reviews on their site talking about how the reviewer had also thought the site was a scam when they stumbled across it, but given the story (covid crisis forced the them to pivot to online retail), they were reassured. Those reviews reassured us because they were echoing our same sentiments. They also had those popups in the bottom left corner of the site that regularly appeared saying things like, "Someone purchased a 'Tulip X-Large Block Party Tie Dye Kit 16 oz' x minutes ago from United States". All of the above made us feel like the place was probably legit.

So we ordered the barbell. They wanted $19.95 for shipping. My girlfriend paid that, charging it to her Amazon account. She got an order confirmation. Then...nothing.

She followed up. She contacted "customer service" at catsluvusdeals.com. They told her she needed to scheule a call for a couple of days later (at 7:30 in the evening) to discuss her order and their "VIP Membership". She set up the call. They never called at the appointed time and didn't answer their phones.

On the second call, they apologized and said they'd escalate it to management. They said management would call. They never called.

On the third call, they apologized again and said she needed to fill out a customer service issue request via the chatbot on their website. She did that and has heard nothing.

Side note: on that call, they also told her she should have ordered the other free items available on their site at the same time. They asked her if she wanted to add them (for an extra $19.95 shipping per item). We had not seen those free items when we placed the original order. Good thing. We might have ordered them.

Catsluvusdeals.com has no email address. As described, phone calls do nothing. They just placate you and stiff-arm you.

Another strange thing: their site is peppered with links to add a "Tip for Marcus Your Dedicated Account Manager" via "TipGenius" for $1. Weird.

This site is a scam. They're very clever in offering a lot of merchandise that isn't too good to be true, and then just a few items that are free. They charge shipping for those items. They pocket the shipping money. They never send the item. They probably never had it in inventory.

Scam. Fraud. Rip-off.

Avoid catsluvusdeals.com.