OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — A web-based company specializing in gifts for groomsmen is under attack for not delivering customers’ orders.
Among those unhappy customers is James Whittlesey.
Whittlesey spent about $300 last July purchasing seven engraved pocket knives for members of his September wedding party.
“I was really looking forward to giving them to these guys,” Whittlesey said. “I had a speech planned and everything.”
Whittlesey had expected the knives from thebestmangifts.com to arrive in August, but by the time we interviewed Whittlesey in October, he still didn’t have them.
He acknowledged that he may have slowed the delivery by initially providing an incorrect mailing address.
According to a UPS tracking number the company provided him in early September, his package was returned to sender because of a bad address. Whittlesey corrected the address, and the company told him a few days later it had been resent.
But Whittlesey has never seen it. And then no one from thebestmangifts.com would respond to him.
He’s not the only groom complaining, according to Aaron Reese with the Better Business Bureau of Kansas City.
“We’ve received six complaints about thebestmangifts, and every single one is about not receiving the product,” Reese said.
Customers are out between $50 to $700, Reese said.
The BBB contacted Thebestmangifts, but never heard back. The agency has given the company an F rating.
“Whenever they don’t respond to complaints whatsoever, it’s a red flag to us that maybe something more serious is going on,” Reese said.
Thebestmangifts is based out of the Overland Park home of owner Jacob Knopke. He answered the door when Problem Solvers paid a visit. We told Knopke that Whittlesey had repeatedly tried to reach him.
“I have no idea who this person is,” Knopke told us, but then he promised to give him a call.
We then asked about his other unhappy customers, reminding him of his F rating with the BBB.
“That company is no longer in business,” Knopke said; however, the website is still up and working.
We then asked Knopke whether he planned to refund that $300 to Whittlesey.
“I don’t owe him anything,” Knopke said. “Who are you?”
We again told him we were FOX4 Problem Solvers.
Knopke then demanded to know whether he was going to be on television, telling us he was dealing with some personal issues that had caused his business to suffer. He then informed us he would take care of Whittlesey’s order right away.
Here’s the good news: Knopke kept his word. Two days later, those missing and engraved pocket knives arrived at Whittlesey’s home.
“I was really shocked,” said Whittlesey, adding that they were also good quality.
The receipt on the package shows the label was printed September 17 — although not mailed until a month later.
So is this a problem solved?
“Yes I would say problem solved for me,” Whittlesey said. “But not for the others.”
