Complaint Review: Modern Moms LLC - Beverly Hills California
Ripoff Report on CBS 19
Ripoff Report on CBS 19 - Global Marketing Alliance
Ripoff Report on ABC 15 - Smart Shopper
Ripoff Report - Girls Gone Wild
Ripoff Report on Fox 11 - Car Repair
- Author Confirmed
- Modern Moms LLC 9595 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 900 Beverly Hills, California U.S.A.
- Phone: 310-300-3431
- Web:
- Category: Clubs & Organizations
Modern Moms LLC ripoff false advertising scam Beverly Hills California
*Author of original report: The latest chapter and more lies from Lolita
*Author of original report: Modern Mom DID advertise that all members would receive gifts!
*UPDATE Employee: Modern Moms Club Gift bag response
Show customers why they should trust your business over your competitors...
listed on other sites?
Those sites steal
Ripoff Report's
content.
We can get those
removed for you!
Find out more here.
Ripoff Report
willing to make a
commitment to
customer satisfaction
Click here now..
In April, 2005, Modern Moms, which is supposed to be a support club for moms, advertised on their website and various message boards pertaining to parents that if you joined their Mom's club for $35 (national membership) or $40 (local), you would receive a gift bag worth over $200 for Mother's Day. They also promised 3 other bags throughout the year, all with valuable gifts from their sponsors. Because of this advertising and the promise of the valuable bags, hundreds, if not thousands, of moms joined, including me. I joined too late for the Mother's Day bag, but was still promised all the other bags, including the Father's Day bag.
Members started complaining on message boards that they weren't receiving the bags. They emailed and called MM, and were told various lies like they went out when they didn't, and even provided phony tracking numbers. Sometimes they wouldn't even respond to emails and would blame "filters" on their emails. Then they said a few members didn't receive bags because they were waiting on gifts from the sponsors, when in actuality only a small number of members received anything.
In June, even though most members were waiting for their gift bags, they sent members an email trying to recruit even MORE members, asking them to refer their friends to help get a big sponsor for future bags and even offered them an extra gift worth $35 in the father's Day bag as incentive.
As of this date, most members have still not received their bags. The Father's Day bags were advertised on her website and message boards as containing a messenger diaper bag full of full- size expensive items such as Crest Whitestrips, a Dad's magazine, car cleaner, pain cream, goat milk soap, Taggies toy and many other things. Some members finally received them and instead of a bag full of full-size items that were advertised, they got 2 or 3 samples in an envelope if they got anything at all, and NO messenger bag. Lolita Carrico, the founder, blamed some members who apparently complained to the sponsors because of the way MM was treating them, for the lack of gifts.
I didn't receive anything from them and I emailed Lolita on 8/11 and was told I would get my gift in 5-7 days. When I never got it, I filed a complaint with the BBB. In her rebuttal Lolita said I joined after the cutoff date but it wasn't true. Then she admitted I was right, and I received a little envelope with the pain cream that exploded all over the bag, a goat milk soap, and a Chlorox sample. I asked for a refund on September 1st, and she agreed to give me one, but to this date I still have not received it.
Lolita stated in her rebuttal to me and others who complained to the BBB that she NEVER advertised the gifts and never put a monetary value on them, but I have written proof and screen shots that she advertised the $200 gift bags on her own website, and someone who said they were Meghan Rappaport, who works for Modern Mom, as well as someone claiming to be Lolita's husband Chris Caricco, advertised on several Google boards (which she has since removed).
I am still waiting for my refund, and so are many other people. Emails and calls are being ignored. We are tired of being ignored and lied to. We just want was was promised to us in the beginning, or a refund.
Mary
Brooklyn, New York
U.S.A.
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 09/18/2005 08:35 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/modern-moms-llc/beverly-hills-california-90212/modern-moms-llc-ripoff-false-advertising-scam-beverly-hills-california-157487. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content
If you would like to see more Rip-off Reports on this company/individual, search here:
#3 Author of original report
The latest chapter and more lies from Lolita
AUTHOR: Mary - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Lolita hired an Executive Director to try to clean up the mess she made. This director tried to help everyone and sent unhappy members emails giving them 3 options-to leave Modern Moms and receive either a refund or a $40 gift certificate to Giftcertificates.com, or to stay and receive a back to school and Holiday bag. Members who heard about the options, and not every member did because Modern Mom mysteriously lost people's information, gave the executive director their options and were supposed to receive what they chose.
The people who chose the gift certificate received them, but it turns out that the ones who didn't cash it in immediately found that it had been cancelled! Refund checks were supposed to be mailed out on December 19th never were. Very few of the items for the gift bag were sent to the executive director, so she had almost nothing to send out for the gift bags. She quit her job in disgust.
Lolita claims that the refund checks were sent out January 2nd, but members who are waiting for them never received them. What a surprise. Once again, members were given promises and have still received nothing, except for the ones who were quick enough to cash in their gift certificate before it was cancelled. How long are these lies going to be allowed to continue?
#2 Author of original report
Modern Mom DID advertise that all members would receive gifts!
AUTHOR: Mary - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Monday, October 10, 2005
This was taken from a google group and posted by Megan Rappaport who works for Modern Moms:
From: "Modern Moms Clubs"
Join a Modern Moms Club and get a gift for Mother's Day
April 2005 18:32:44 -0700
Early last year, Modern Mom (www.modernmom.com)launched Modern Moms Clubs to provide all moms-those that work, stay at home, or somewhere in between-an opportunity to meet other like-minded women with whom to have fun, garner support and create lasting friendships.
The response was overwhelming -in just one month, we had more than 20 chapters and we've continued to add new chapters every month.
Beyond our playgroups, Moms Nights Out and regular events for the whole family, Modern Moms provides member benefits such as:
-the Modern Moms Green Card, a national discount card offering up to 30% discounts from retail and service parters online and across the country.
-The Modern Moms Book Club, featuring a new book choice each month to discuss at monthly Modern Moms Club events.
-Mother's Day Gift: Through this week, all Modern Mom Club members will receive a handy Modern Mom tote bag filled with more than $200 worth of gifts from our partners-check out a partial list of what's in the bag.
-And the gifts keep coming! Every few months, you'll get new items to try out and keep-just for being a Modern Moms Club member!......
How about this posted on May 1, 2005 on All About Moms message board from username ccaricco:
Join a Modern Moms Club and get a gift for Mother's Day!
Join by Monday 5/2 for your $200 gift bag!... (The rest said the same thing as the first article)
I would love to post the screen shots I have from Modern Moms own website, but they supposedly have a copywrite on those.
Both of these articles have since been pulled by Modern Moms.
So how do you people STILL insist that you never advertised these gifts?!! Hmm, none of these articles say that only a limited supply of gifts are available, or you MAY receive a gift if you're lucky. They say you WILL receive a gift worth over $200 if you join. There are hundreds of Moms on those so called "freebie and deal seeker" message boards who can attest that you advertised these gifts.
Modern Mom posted under various names on those very boards to attract members and even sent out an email to existing members trying to round up more members, promising an extra gift worth $30. Here it is:
Hello! As many of you know, we are closing the National Membership to Modern Moms Clubs today for the rest of 2005.
Before the National membership becomes unavailable until the New Year, we're adding an incentive for our current members to refer friends. When your friend joins the club and puts your name in the "Referred By" field, not only will they get the fabulous Mother's Day gift bag, but you'll also get a great bonus gift (valued at $30) in your Father's Day bag arriving in early July!
So, spread the word about our wonderful organization and get more gifts for yourself!
Great Partners Pouring in for Father's Day!
We've already got a wonderful list of partners participating in our Father's Day bag, which will arrive in a stylish messenger-style diaper bag for men.
We'll be posting the list of goodies soon! Stay Tuned!
P.S- Lolita, where is my refund that you promised since August 31st? You sent me an email stating you would be happy to refund my membership and that I should email you my name, address, etc to both you and clubs@modernmom.com, which I did on September 1st. I emailed you last week to find out what's going on and got an "out of the office" automated response, that you would be gone for a week, but yet you were posting on Modern Moms message boards during that time. I haven't heard from you yet, and I would like to. You refunded people on message boards just based on their usnernames and when they didn't even want refunds, and yet I go through the inquisition to get mine!
#1 UPDATE Employee
Modern Moms Club Gift bag response
AUTHOR: Modern - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Monday, October 10, 2005
Modern Moms Clubs are support and playgroups across the country for mothers. Occasionally, we do send gifts to our members based on supply from our sponsors.
Modern Mom never advertised our gifts which are not a part of membership, but rather gifts we garner from our sponsors for our members based on supply. We do thank our sponsors on our website in return for their generosity, but the thank you page is not meant for advertising purposes. Membership benefits do not discuss the gifts as they are not guaranteed nor the purpose of our organization.
Surrounding Mother's Day, our gifts were posted on various freebie and deal seeker message boards by non-employees encouraging people to join solely to obtain the gifts, which we cannot control and would highly discourage. Thus, many people joined for the prospect of a "deal" to receive items rather than for the support networks we offer to women.
We never guarantee contents of gifts as they are based on sponsors and supply. Our Terms and Conditions of membership clearly state that membership dues are not refundable.
Advertisers above have met our
strict standards for business conduct.
