I placed my order for a Wii system family bundle on 11/02/08 at a total cost of $320.00 (US). Even though the Magelas homepage indicated they accepted all major credit cards, while finalizing my order a message appeared onscreen asking that payment be made by a MoneyGram. Although I was a little concerned, I have done a lot of online shopping and never had a problem before, so I agreed to their terms.
On 11/04/08, I found a local bank that handled MoneyGrams and on 11/05/08, I wired the payment to Kevin Laumann in Edmonton per the emailed instructions I received from the company. At the time, I asked the bank teller if I should be concerned about wiring money to this company and was told, basically, that since the company had a MoneyGram account it was probably okay.
On 11/06/08, I received an email from the company confirming that they had received my payment and giving me a UPS tracking number. They said that it would take about 24 hours before the number would show any details. I told my husband that I was somewhat apprehensive at this point, but they already had my money so there wasn't much I could do.
The order was supposed to arrive within 3 to 5 business days. When it didn't arrive by 11/12/08, I went online at the UPS website to try to track the order. I received a message onscreen that the number was invalid. I sent an email to Magelas immediately to ask what was going on and also one to UPS informing them of what had occurred.
I checked my email this afternoon -- 11/13/08. There was no response from Magelas. I then called the phone number I had copied from the website, got voicemail, left a message and did not received a response.
I went on line and googled fraudulent companies in Edmonton, which I should have done in the first place. This site was one of several that came up and when I keyed in Magelas, I saw three reports from other customers identifying the company as having ripped them off. It looks like I'm the fourth.
I want to prosecute these people and get my money back if possible. I will do whatever it takes to do that. I work hard for my money and don't appreciate the fact that companies like this make it bad for those that are legitimate.
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