UPDATE (1st August):
One affected customer has posted a digg article regarding Dirty Microbe, please go forth and Digg it up so more people are made aware of the scam that are Dirty Microbe:
http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Scam_warning_Dirty_Microbe…
UPDATE 2 (2nd August):
It seems people are having a slight amount of success contacting the owner, Christian von Kleist, on Facebook. I have sent him a message and I will update you with what he says.
Well, you know how they say good news travels fast but bad news travels faster? In that case, this should travel at about warp 9.
This Gordon Ramsay esque sentence should sum up the rest of my post:
Order T-shirt. Wait a month. Enquire. Hear nothing. Wait another month. Enquire again. STILL nothing. Pissed off.
Now, to go over that in more detail, back in May of this year (the 19th to be exact), I ordered a t-shirt from Dirty Microbe, as I found the shirt quite amusing (which I still do).
Now, their site said they were receiving an unusually large amount of orders, so would take a bit longer to ship (I was given a date of 9th June). Fair enough I thought.
What I didn’t expect was the fact it’s now 2 months tomorrow that I ordered the shirt and I STILL have nothing from them except from an order confirmation and automated repsonses from their “support ninjas” that they will reply to my query within 2 business days.
Put quite simply, this is NOT acceptable conduct for a business, and it seems I am not the only one experiencing this problem.
So until I hear otherwise, I offer you my advice:
Do not buy from Dirty Microbe. Do not buy from Dirty Microbe. Do not buy from Dirty Microbe.
Done.
21 Comments for Dirty Microbe
Andrew | July 21, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Marston A. | July 25, 2007 at 8:11 am
Same here :-\
Have any of you had luck with the chargebacks? I’m about to file my own.
If you have any success/updates email me: marston@sugarstats.com
James | July 26, 2007 at 12:51 pm
I will be filing mine at the weekend so i’ll let you know how I get on.
James.
sithlet | July 27, 2007 at 11:31 pm
I’ve seen other sites where folks have complained and filed chargebacks. One thing I did see mentioned is that you need to file within 60 days of the charge. I’ll be filing mine next week if I don’t hear from them by then. I’m not expecting anything, but I’ve got too big of a heart to do it without warning them first.
Krisi | July 28, 2007 at 11:02 pm
Alas, I too have discovered the suck that is Dirty Microbe. The worst part is, I would rather have the damn shirt than the money, but I definitely want one or the other. I’m filing my grievance through PayPal, and hopefully I will get my money back that way. So, yes, no Dirty Microbe.
Ulysses | July 31, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Please, digg down this story so others will be aware of it
http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Scam_warning_Dirty_Microbe_customers_are_not_receiving_their_products
alicia | August 1, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Add me to the list of people scammed by these jerks. We need to get the word out, because the site is still taking orders. They have been screwing people since May!
Jon Hull | August 1, 2007 at 4:51 pm
I was hit by this “scam” as well. Not looking good.
I posted in my blog about it and included links to everything I can find on it.
http://jonhull.net/blog/comments.php?y=07&m=08&entry=entry070801-095301
James | August 7, 2007 at 9:50 am
Just to let everyone know, I’ve heard nothing from his Facebook account so far…
Krisi | August 16, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Ha. Victory is mine. PayPal found in my favour and refunded my money, stating that if they (PayPal) could not recover the funds from Dirty Microbe, “Appropriate action would be taken.” Hopefully “Appropriate Action” is a swift kick to the ass. I hope everyone else recovers their funds from these horrible monkeys.
Author comment by James | August 17, 2007 at 3:08 pm
I didn’t realise you could pay via PayPal for Dirty Microbe, i’d have certainly done so if i’d known, PayPal are red hot when it comes to their Buyer Protection Program!
Dirty Microbe Scam - Customers and Partners Getting Ripped off at Tcritic - The Daily T-Shirt Blog About T-Shirts | September 7, 2007 at 7:03 am
[...] Rangga at T-shirt Island, are reporting that customers are getting ripped off and they are. Calamity Jane is also reporting on this, and there is a digg story getting dugg so go digg it. Oh, and I [...]
Jay | September 10, 2007 at 1:00 am
A few months ago they contacted me for advertising space on my site, I checked them out and all was well so went ahead with it… a while after they fell from the face of the earth, completely uncontactable. Glad I didn’t actually buy anything from them…
Mawalabear | September 12, 2007 at 2:56 am
I ordered a couple t shirts for my bf for his bday in May. No shirts came in May, so I thought “hey, maybe they’re just busy.” It’s 4 months and numerous emails to dirtymicrobe later, and no shirts, and I’m out some cash. It’s too late for me to file for a chargeback, so those jerks got my money! I’m so furious, I’m definitely going to digg.com
danielle | October 2, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Hey, I had bought from them in the past with no problems. In fact, they had sent along coupon codes for future purchases. At one point, the last T I bought earlier this summer, DID come later than usual, but they had responded to my inquiry. If anything I don’t feel this is a scam so much as a mass organizational flop on their end. Patience is a virtue, but it doesn’t get a witty T on your back any easier.
ryan | October 17, 2007 at 3:54 am
I ordered a couple of shirts back at the beginning of this year. At first i didn’t get them for about 2 weeks, I emailed and they said they would re-mail them. A couple of weeks later and i got them, no other such problems. One of them was also the toast t-shirt.
Scott | November 5, 2007 at 4:30 am
In defense, I’ve ordered plenty of things from dirty microbe last year (2006), all recieved perfectly well. In fact, I was even refunded 10+ dollars that customs charged me on the shirt (it was stamped on my package that the charge was actually from customs) and so for business practices, I felt that was really going out of the way. I’d be interested to know what the results are later, if there ever is a response.
i too have been stung james. im in scotland, so i assume that delivery from the US would take a couple of weeks… then i think maybe they’re just a little busy, and it might be over a month.. now, ive found all of these complaints posted on blogs over the last week or so, and im starting to realise that im never going to see my money or my shirts. its gone beyond frustrating now.