William
Longmont,#2Consumer Comment
Mon, February 17, 2003
Some Email addresses did not come throuth correctly in my rebuttal above, so here they are: CustomeService - Gwen James - [email protected] Corporate - Alfreda Cooper - [email protected] FTC Suit - www.ftc.gov/opa/2002/05/projectabsurd.htm Regards,
William
Longmont,#3Consumer Comment
Sun, February 16, 2003
I had exactly the same problem with Tristar, as to the Steam Buggy, i.e., Bank Account Debited within 24 hours, no product shipped, could not get a refund, Customer Service numbers rarely answered, Customer Service refused to give out Corporate information, but I did finally get my refund, by being very persistent, over many months from 2002 to 2003, and exerceising some of the tactics that I describe here.
After that, I was going to let the issue drop. However, every time I go this Site I see more and more Complaints from people still being scammed by Tristar Products, every day, and that really irritates me. Below, is some information on the Corporate contracts for Tristar Products, and some general help information, that I hope will be useful to you. Warning - Tristar seems to be changing that in an apparant attempt to keep hidden, so I have no guarantee of how long this information will be valid.
Tristar Contact\Corporate Information
The Tristar address of Box 5018, 26 Barnes Industrial Road South, Wallingford CT., seems to be bogus. At least you will not find Tristar listed in any Business Directory, or Telephone Directory, in Wallingford. Postal mail sent to their Wallingford address must go somewhere, because it does not get returned, but there is also never a response, so I don't know where the Postal mail to that address really goes. Also, the only 1-800 number that is guaranteed to answer quickly, every time, is the number you call to order the product ("...please have your credit card ready...").
Tristar Products Inc. is a Pennsylvania Corporation, whose principal place of business is the address in Parsippany, N.J. (address below). Tristar Products, Inc. is registered in Nevada , as a Foreign Corporation. It's President, and a Defandent in the FTC Lawsuit, and one of it's five stockholders, is Kishore "Keith" Mirchandari. His picture, along with his description of what a successful and innovative Company they are, is on their Corporate Website (URL listed below).
Now that some people have found out Tristar's Corporate information (which they and their Customer Service worked so hard to keep secret), Tristar seems to be changing their real addresses and telephone numbers (not the 1-800 numbers that never answer anyway), again in a seeming attempt to continue to keep their real identity from the very public that they are aparantly scamming. Think about it - a legitimate Company, with a good popular Product, would be proud to be known - so what does that say about a Company (i.e. Tristar Products) that uses every scheme in the book in an attempt to keep it's real identity hidden from it's Customers.
Here is their last known Corporate contacts that I am aware of. Their Customer Service Department refuses to give out this information, I found it by doing some simple, public information, research work on the Net. Although Tristar is changing this address, however postal mail forwarding still seems to be in effect at this time.
Tristar Products, Inc.
4 Century Drive
Parsippany, New Jersey 07054
They are also changing their Telephone numbers, so I do not know how long these will be in effect:
Tel: 973-683-1000
Fax: 973-683-1001
1-877-9-SEEN-ON-TV
I do have one of the changed numbers for Gwen James, through the Courtesy of another Complaint on this site, i.e. Susan in Mystic, CT.
973-575-5400 ext. 112
Some contacts at Corporate (I expect these Email addresses will probably change:
Customer Service: Gwen James