01/11/2008
Customers who ordered shoes online from Kickstime.com aren't getting any kick out of what they've gotten for their money. Eight of the company's customers have complained to us so far, and seven of those complaints were opened in barely more than a two-week period this last December.
The company advertises mostly shoes but some other clothing as well, labeled with such names as Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and others, at prices ranging from $19.94 for baseball caps to $79 for Uggs. Almost everything else is $59. Shipping worldwide is offered free, and they say they charge no other fees--or even taxes.
Readers of The Business Link may recognize this company's modus operandi as the same as that used by Dreamkicks, a company we wrote about in our November 2006 issue. In the case of Dreamkicks, as with Kickstime, all complaints alleged that buyers never received their merchandise.
Kickstime's FAQs, like Dreamkicks', admit that their products are "factory variant, replicas, and NOT AUTHENTIC!" Also like Dreamkicks, all Kickstime's products are supposedly shipped from China, and the refund policies (which generally do not allow refunds) of the companies are the same.
At the time our Dreamkicks article was published, that company had generated more than 1,000 inquiries and 167 complaints. Apparently, though they have not been doing business for at least a year.
Kickstime, however, whose website says they're celebrating their first anniversary, seems to have picked up where Dreamkicks left off. And Kickstime began collecting complaints this past November. Again, complainants allege that they've simply not received their orders. They also complain that the tracking numbers they're given--if, indeed, they've been given one at all--are not valid tracking numbers. Finally, they claim that their calls to Kickstime are not returned nor their email messages responded to.
So far, Kickstime has answered two complaints. To the earliest complaint we've received against them, one relating to shoes purchased last June, the company's final response stated that they had shipped the customer's four pairs of shoes and had offered him another item free of charge. We have not been able to verify whether this customer ever received anything. To a December complaint, they responded that they could not refund the purchaser's money because she had disputed the payment with her credit card company.
Kickstime has been preceded by at least five other companies besides Dreamkicks, all operated by the same family, all selling the same products, all assailed by customers for not delivering, all but one containing "kicks" or "kickz" as part of the name, and all rated "F" by us.
In light of Kickstime.com's website promise that ". . . if you buy from us you are buying from a reputable company, which has a proven reputation for delivering products, correctly and quickly. . ." we ask you to ask yourself whether you find this statement or our "F" rating a more convincing statement of how this this company conducts business. If you answer the former, you'll probably end up kicking yourself.