Claire's Bowtique - Amiee McCarty Sima Claires Bowtique FRAUDULENT SELLER--PROMISES QUALITY, AFFORDABLE PRODUCT BUT (LITERALLY) FAILS TO DELIVER! Internet

As a member of the Claire's Bowtique Facebook fan page, I was able to partake in 'specials' that Amiee held on her page.  On Friday June 25, 2010, I contacted Amiee via e-mail to take advantage of a '50% off any item' special that she had advertised.   I had requested a 'Minnie Mouse Set' consisting of a shirt, bow and ruffle skirt.  The set shown in her photos had bloomers rather than the skirt and used pink and white fabric, but I had requested to change the bloomers to a ruffle skirt and for the fabric used to be red with white dots instead.  I hadn't heard back from Amiee on whether or not my order was received, so I resent it on Monday June 28th.  She responded shortly thereafter to let me know that she did receive it and to ask if I preferred large white dots or small white dots on my red fabric.  I responded that I would rather the large white dots and she replied back that it would be no problem and that she would invoice me right away.  She did and paypal in the amount of $14.50 was sent shortly after on June 28th.

On Friday July 16th I e-mailed Amiee to inquire about shipping of this order (as well as for a tutu that I won in a contest with her on June 12th--I wasn't too worried about this given that it was free though), as my family and I were going out of town and I didn't want a package left on my porch while we were away.  When I hadn't heard back from her, I resent the e-mail on Sunday July 18th.  She responded with (word for word quote):  "Hi!  Your order will be out this week.  :)  a tracking will be up loaded to paypal as soon as it ships.  Thank you!  I can't wait to see pics  :)"

"This week" came and went and I received neither the tracking nor the order.  I e-mailed her yet again on Sunday July 26th to find out about the status of the order.  No response was every sent to that message, so I e-mailed once again on August 2nd.  Again, no response.  On August 3rd I sent my 'warning e-mail' to let her know that if I didn't receive a detailed e-mail response from her by 5pm the following evening that I would be filing a dispute with paypal.  When I hadn't heard back from her by the following day, I filed with Paypal.

When I filed my dispute with paypal, it automatically escalated to a claim.  I've used paypal numerous times in the past, as both a seller and a buyer, and have never heard of a claim automatically escalaiting, which prompted me to call paypal.  Upon calling the paypal customer service line, I was informed that a dispute will automatically escalate to a claim when a seller has numerous open issues on his/her account.  Though paypal never game me any specific information on Amiee's paypal address, I assumed this was the case with my dispute. 

On August 9th I posted a public post on the Claire's Bowtique fan page, stating that I had opened my dispute and that I would appreciate a response via paypal with tracking included or a refund for the items I had purchased.  It was deleted within minutes of posting, but I did get a message from Amiee's personal account on Facebook stating, 'All you have to do is email me.  Thanks.' 

I went ahead and e-mailed her, as advise and again, through the original e-mail order thread showing her the 3 messages that had gone unanswered.  She replied to that e-mail, the same day, and said "Yup this shipped!  I will get the tracking to paypal.  Thanks!'    Obviously I did not believe her.

Given that I HAD e-mailed her numerous times without any response and that she seemed to respond better to Facebook, I proceeded to respond to her via her original Facebook message to me.  I informed her that I had sent 3 e-mails that had gone unnoticed.  I told her that I was confused as to why she was able to constantly list new items, ready-to-ship at that, while she wasn't fulfilling previously ordered customs.  I also gave her info on what I had been told by paypal, and also let her know that a friend of hers let me know that there were open claims on her account.  I informed her that my husband is a police officer and that we wouldn't hesitate to contact the local office of FBI to inform them of internet fraud if need be.  I urged her to give me the info that I was requesting or to issue a refund.

She replied with (direct quote--please excuse the horrible grammatical errors, as these are her words, not my own):  First of all PAYPAL does NOT give out personal information about ANY account.  Your the only claim on my account.  Second of all you need to check the email you are sending to because I dont have any new ones from you that have not been answered and third you can "report" anything you like I ship items to my customers as I say I will and that is what matters.  Thank you."

I messaged her back to let her know what paypal had said and to inform her that paypal NEVER gave me any personal info on her account.  I also let her know that there was no issue with my e-mail, as I had been using it daily and that I had replied to her within my original order thread (that was received perfectly).  I also let her know that I was in contact with a number of customers who also hadn't received their orders and who had put claims into paypal.  I asked her how she could say that 'ships items to her customers as she says she will,' as she promised me shipping of 'this week' almost a full month beforehand. 

She again replied with (again direct quote so excuse the grammar):  "Well you can say or think whatever you want you are my only claim on paypal.  I'm done speaking to you now.  If you have any questions or want top be rude you can keep them to yourself.  I fi need to "correspond" with you I will do it through paypal where your tracking number will be! (PS my policied wait time before August 4th was 4-6 weeks)  yes the goal was to get them all done around July 15 but there were to many for that to happen.  Have fun with your new "groupies"

After her blatant show of immaturity, I e-mailed her again and copy and pasted our entire correspondence on Facebook messanger.  I let her know that I was doing so in order to put all contact with her into one place so that it was simpler for the FBI Internet Fraud Division to sift through when I filed my complaint.  I also made sure to point out that according to her '4-6 week timeframe,' my item should be shipping no later than that very day, August 9th.  I also (sarcastically) thanked her for her stellar customer service and promised to send 'the groupies' her love.

She replied back with:  "I will add the definition of internet fraud to attach to this when I get home.  MUAH"

I responded to let her know that didn't need for her to add the definition, as I had already obtained it from the iC3 Complaint Center's website (and I urged her to also make sure she had all information she needs before verbally committing to something) and that given the fact that my items were never received, she had violated the terms of selling online. 

Her response:  "And as it states non delivery hmmmm while my wait time PRIOR to August 4th, 2010 CLEARLY states 4-6 weeks for items to be shipped as you stated I am right on schedule sorry hun try again cause that's NOT fraud!  :) "

I responded and asked her why I didn't have a tracking number if she was right on schedule.  I also asked her why the tracking numbers that she had posted on her Facebook page for others never updated through the USPS system?  She was talking in circles and not very well. 

Her final response was "Again I don't owe you a tracking by filing a claim I owe paypal a tracking and I will give them one.  Your just a confused consumer who has no idea how pay pal/internet web businesses run.  I do and I know the laws I must follow which I also do.  :)  have a good night."

I replied once more to inform her that I was well-aware as to how internet businesses run, as I had one of my own in the past.  I let her know that her blatant disrespect for her customers was all the proof I needed to believe that she is a scam artist, as many had tried to warn prior to my purchase.  She never responded. 

I received a refund via paypal funds reversal today, August 15, 2010.  Amiee NEVER gave the 'tracking number' to paypal, so my case was closed and funds were returned to me.   I will still be awaiting my items though, as Amiee says she has already shipped them.  If items do show up (which I KNOW will not happen, as I do not believe for one second that she ever had any intention of shipping my things), I will send them back 'return to sender.' 

A friend of mine placed an order after all of my drama began, not knowing the issues between Amiee and me.  We compared paypal addresses and Amiee is now using her mother's paypal address to continually collect orders while not fulfilling past orders.  Paypal has been alerted to this as well. 

I will never do business with this person again.  I understand that sometimes a business can fall behind due to personal and family obligations, however, Amiee McCarty Sima is a bold-faced LIAR, as can be seen from the fact that she stated she shipped my item and clearly did not. 

Buyer beware of this con-artist!!