The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has issued an F-rating to a Vancouver-based company selling swimwear online.
The BBB said it launched an investigation into Bikinishe in February after receiving several complaints from customers in 27 American states, although none from Canadian consumers. That could change, however, with warmer weather on the way.
The bureau said the complaints primarily were about paying for merchandise that was never delivered, lack of communication about the status of orders, substandard merchandise compared to what was advertised and difficulty processing returns.
Last year, after opening a file in July, the BBB received 1,838 inquiries about Bikinishe. In the first two months of 2019 that jumped to 4,624, and in the first three weeks of March there was another 2,782. There were 24 customer complaints in January and February, with 62 more in March. The BBB said Bikinishe has the largest number of complaints for any business in less than four weeks. The bureau said the company has responded to only two of the complaints.
The BBB’s investigation revealed: the physical address for the business is fake; there is no telephone number or live chat feature on the website so consumers can speak directly to a representative for the business; and customers only have 15 days to return their purchase, and to do so requires contacting customer service to access the return/exchange form with emails going unanswered resulting in the forms not being received by the company within the 15-day return period.
