Storm Media Limited, Fraud?

[Jean54]

As I was going through my receipts for taxes I noticed an entry on my PayPal for Storm Media Limited for last July. I order art instructional videos often, but I could not find any other info for this. I was charged $24.92.

Has anyone else had problems with Storm Media Limited? I didn't get whatever this company said I ordered. I don't know what it is.

I would like to warn others that this could be a fraud.

[Spopp]

I too have had exactly the same problem. I ordered two items from a company called Usimaginever. The first fraud they undertook was charging in USD when the screen currency was set to AUSD.  They then sent me an incorrect tracking number which kept saying was unrecognised. So I contacted the couriers directly (they are notorious in Melbourne for being absolutely terrible so much so they have recently changed their name.) I believe they are also Chinese owned and have links to this Storm Media as suddenly the tracking number worked. I was also tracking the progress through the Shop app on my phone and it showed a strange fault. It said the parcel had arrived in Sydney...New Zealand and then Melbourne....New Zealand. This proves that this is a scam set up and the items probably were in a pick up point in Melbourne all along. (As you obviously know both cities are in Australia.) For our American cousins this would be like you getting tracking info that your goods were in Canada... Anyway I did receive the items neither were anything like the goods advertised. I ordered an 84 piece resin set and got 12 tiny dried flowers and a skull cake mold which would be just large enough to make ice cubes with. So I opened a dispute and found the parent comany is actually called Little Play Land. They did send me an email but with "noreply" in the address so impossible to reply to! I did atempt one anyway just so that I could get the diagnostics report back.  I escalated to Pay pal and informed them that there were 100s of complaints about this company on trustpilot and other consummer sites. What does Pay pal do after stringing me along for weeks "investigating" exactly the same as everyone else return the items to HK at your own expense with tracking and then you will get your refund!! When I complained the case was suddenly just closed. I don't really care about the money as in my case its a really small amount, its the principal so I am reporting the whole matter to AFCA. The law needs to be changed reguarding ecommerce sites. Sorry for the long post.

[Cmlinkletter]

Hey Spopp - don’t apologize for the length, all those details will help when the next person googles their own issues with Storm Media & their zillion shell company names. These complaints are from all over the globe, but your details about Australia are helpful. I’m sorry you went through this. Don’t give up though. Even though PayPal “closed” it, keep contacting customer service to appeal, send screenshots of all these complaints & of all your evidence. They’ve been known to revise their decisions. Good luck!

[ccrn59]

It’s amazing how PayPal will do nothing about this, told me to complain to my bank. I too told them of the numerous complaints against storm media but I don’t think they care. For me it was principle also as I only lost 18 dollars. I’m so angry at myself for falling prey to this company. At this point I will just forget about it as it’s not worth anymore of my time. I can say I will never make this mistake again!

[Cmlinkletter]

I hear you, we’re all kicking ourselves, we’ve learned the lesson the hard way. But, I can’t help but be angry at not being able to protect those who are still being scammed, especially during a pandemic when people are vulnerable. Plus, Storm Media and the like know how to play the system, changing company names, exploiting the “send it back” loophole where doing so costs more than the item is worth (I did send it back & got scammed for the return shipping) but most people will let it go, too much hassle.

[Spopp]

I think I might have found a possible **bleep** in the armour of the "return to China for a full refund" scam. What if you can prove that the item was sent locally, in that case why would it need to be shipped to China/HK?  You need to have kept the packaging that the item was sent in for this to work. I have received 4 parcels this year from China and they all had customs declarations on them and were signed by real people and had the senders address on them. When I was sent my dodgy tracking number I entered it into the  17track.net data base. It's a Chinese postal service. I have used this to track the progress of parcels across China. When I did this it immediately informed me that my tracking number belonged to Australian based companies. There was no info for it ever being in China. Today I received a parcel from the UK using a courier. Sure enough it had multiple bar codes one for the country it was being shipped from and one for the country it was being delivered to. My dodgy parcel has the return address of the local courier company only, there are no other stickers, stamps , declarations or return addresses. Especially during this pandemic a parcel from China would not be allowed in without some sort of declaration. Australia is extremely strict on what enters the country due to enviromental issues. At the moment I have been contacted by someone through the FB message thread who tell me they are going to put a specialist on my case....watch this space

[Cmlinkletter]

That could possibly work & definitely worth a shot, however just be prepared for Storm Media ( or whatever sub company’s name they’re using) to say their returns centre is in China and all returns must be shipped there. Your situation in Australia during the pandemic is unique & may aid your refund request. I hope it does. I’ve seen the number of new positive cases in Australia declining & I hope that you & your loved ones are safe. Let me know if you’re successful with PayPal, bottom line is don’t give up & screenshot everything. Good luck from Canada!

[ccrn59]

My package actually came from California. I had tracking numbers from California and pictures of the package with return address. I asked to ship it back there but PayPal said I had to send it back to the parent companies address affiliated with their PayPal account which of course was HongKong. Believe me I have tried everything. Had pictures of everything, emails back and forth to them but still I lost after waiting over 2 months for PayPal to investigate the case.

[Spopp]

How frustrating for you. I have no idea what the consumer laws are in the US but I do know they are different in Australia.  Every time somebody replies to me on FB it takes 24 hours for the next message to come through which for a company which is toally online is completely unacceptable. So I will wait and see what this specialist has to say. Then I plan on contacting Pay Pal Australias advocacy manager and if that doesn't work then its the AFCA. Pay Pal in Australia is a ADI and so is a financial institution licensed by the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) It can have its license revoked. Five years ago Ebay bought Pay Pal and it seems to have gone through some kind of paradigm shift. It's not the same company that Ken Howery & Co set up. We are certainly, like our close neighbours NZ lucky regarding the virus . Glad I'm not in my native UK. Saying that I am in the worst hit part of Australia, Victoria and we have been in hard lockdown with curfew on and off since March. Only 2 cases today and so finally we might be allowed some freedom. 😓  Hope everyone is keeping safe whereever they are. Take Care.

[Cmlinkletter]

One thing I forgot to mention: does AUS have an equivalent of the Better Business Bureau? The US BBB has a file on Storm Media including consumer warnings & an investigation showing the company is operating with a fake US address. Google Storm Media BBB USA - This info may help you, especially since you’ve documented that California was the mailing origin & their fake address is in California. If you have any equivalent in AUS then search them by the multitude of company names (I have a list of several if you need them.) Glad Victoria has turned around, I was worried for you guys there. Stay safe.

[Spopp]

Hi I just wanted to update you all with what has happened with my case. Firstly I was contacted by someone ( who may or may not have been the specialist!) who apologised for my case being closed. So they re opened it for me. First of all they were singing from the same hymn book " return your item to the seller etc" so I politely said "No I am not doing that I know my rights as an Australian consumer." I also pointed out this thread with it's multiple pages all complaining about the same company. They got a little uppity at first and said they were only trying to help and so I explained that they could help by sending a courier to pick up the goods and refund me. I also pointed out the ridiculous catch 22 situation that everyone has found themselves in having to pay more in return postage than their refunds are worth. I didn't expect to hear any more, but the same operator apologised said he had reviewed my case and has issued a full refund. Plus I don't have to return the goods. So the moral of the story, stick to your guns , know your rights and don't give up. I will let you know when the money has definately gone back into my bank account. 🤔 Stay safe people