The Pennsylvania Attorny General has filed fraud complaints against these outfits, both apparently run by the same husband/wife.
Interesting. It also lists numerous names/alias’ of other companies the family does business as.
Wasn’t there an online shop in Illinois that had similar complaints? I know this is Pennsylvania, but I’m wondering if any of the alias’ are DBA in Illinois.
Wow! I wonder if any of this is true?! I’ve almost boughten from internet hobbies. Sort of glad I did not go through with the purchas.
Back in the days of mail order I got scammed, the guy went to jail for mail froaud but I didn’t get my money back.
When an attorney general gets involved, it starts looking true.
I recall that a company selling trains that had the word “internet” in their name generated a lot of discussion on various forums, years ago.
I also recall that there was another company that had the word “internet” in its name that was kind of dragged along into the pit.
I am surprised it took so long. And I’m surprised jail time doesn’t seem to be involved.
Ed
Been a long time since I heard anything about Internet Hobbies. I remember the prices were really good, but also seem to recall a lot of complaints about them.
Years ago, I bought steam locomotives on two separate occasions from Internet Hobbies. I had no problem with them back then. So, obviously, things have changed.
There was also an online hobby shop called Internet Trains, but that company doesn’t seem to be around anymore.
Rich
There was the one in Florida. Hobby circle I do believe. Plus the one just brought up two weeks ago-Broadway limited. Hard to tell when they are scams. Especially when it started as reputable.
shane
Shane,
Broadway Limited Imports (BLI) is still legitimate. It was another business using “Broadway Limited” in their name in order to make it sound like they were linked to BLI. However, the two are NOT associated with one another. The “other” was purportedly shipping product directly from China to “cut costs”.
Tom
Despite a very professional looking web site, the couple who ran this operation did so out of a single family home. The court document for the state case against them (https://www.attorneygeneral.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021-11-24-In… ) lists the “firm’s” address as 504 US HWY 6 in Mayfield, PA. on the outskirts of Scranton. There is no separate retail store much less any warehouse at this location as claimed on their principal web site–just a modest house. Internet complaints against their failure to supply goods, provide refunds, or even answer inquiries date back to at least 2013. Yet for years they managed to take advantage of unsuspecting customers and the fact that most people whom they cheated failed to take any action against them. Any forum members among this group should contact the Pennsylvania State Attorney listed in the above court document to increase the prospect of shutting down their scam. Others should take warning and not order goods from online firms that are not well known and recommended by others. Check the internet for comments about and reviews of unknown firms before you order.
Voyager
I dealt with these clowns about two years ago. Ended up having the credit card company do the fighting for me.
Apparantly nothing has come of this legal action. I haven’t been able to find anything about the outcome of the case and today I got an email from Internet Hobbies using Model Ship Depot as the storefront.
Why can’t these scammers be put out of business?
Only thing I can contribute is a FB discussion about the place from around the same time as the PA AG matter: https://www.facebook.com/internethobbies/. Curious if anyone wants to monitor this case or post on FB. I too question how this place and remain functioning.
I wish folks would not reference anything that requires me to have a Facebook account.
[Y]
Regards, Chris
Well then, let’s all just pretend that information in Facebook doesn’t exist and not mention it so we don’t hurt anybody’s feelings.
Back in the real world, there is information that requires accounts to access, and behind paywalls that require subscriptions.
It is always appropriate to cite the existence of such information. It is up to the reader to decide if they want to access that information.
Just a thought - perhaps they were investigated, and it turned out there wasn’t sufficient proof of wrongdoing to warrant prosecution?
I don’t think you need to have a Facebook account to view the page. When the window pops up asking you to log in to Facebook, just click the “x” in the pop-up window’s corner, and then you can see the page without logging in
That’s right. Thanks. Someone told me that just recently and I forgot.
I will have a contact in the Attorney General’s Office check it out. It will take a little more than a week but I will report what I find out.