Online toy retailer investigation continues

Mike Kenny's toy for Luca did not arrive. Photo / Dean Purcell

Online marketplaces Trade Me and Fishpond have been approached by the Commerce Commission as part of an investigation into Playdex Limited, an online toy and baby products retailer that has been accused of taking customers' money and failing to deliver orders.

Both companies banned Playdex from using their websites last year.

"We had a range of issues that we were dealing with them on and it got to the point where it was untenable for us to allow them to continue trading on the site," Trade Me head of customer safety Jon Duffy said.

Trade Me had released information to the Commerce Commission under the Privacy Act, Mr Duffy said. "I can't tell you what was in there but it was to assist them with an investigation under the Fair Trading Act."

Fishpond general manager Ben Powles said Playdex had been blocked from using the site after failing to deliver orders.

"They were selling from the site and but not delivering to anyone," Mr Powles said. "Our customers were emailing us saying 'we haven't got this product'. We asked [Playdex] to confirm that they had shipped it and they weren't doing any of that so we banned them. We hold all customer payments so they didn't get any money from us or our customers."

The Ministry of Health confirmed Playdex had also been warned about selling controlled medicines online. The Herald understands the warning related to the sale of fitness supplements containing controlled substances.

"In May 2014 Medsafe investigated Playdex regarding the advertising and sale of medicines on their website," acting manager compliance management Kathy Daly said.

Playdex websites nztoys.co.nz and babyhugs.com.au are still live, however owner Lev Ivanov said they were no longer accepting payments and remained in operation as a point of contact for existing customers. The Herald was unable to place orders through the websites yesterday.

Last month the Herald reported that may customers who had placed orders for toys intended to be Christmas presents had not received their goods from Playdex.

Mr Ivanov said all of the company's customers had now either received their orders or refunds.

"Email them back and ask them if they have been refunded by now," Mr Ivanov said.

The Herald emailed five customers who complained about Playdex. Four of them responded that they had not yet received refunds.

"No I certainly haven't, and I would believe a word that they say," said Keryn Williams. She said had exchanged 20 emails with the company after placing an order for a Prince Charming doll for her daughter over three months ago.

Australian Tania Arlington says she has now threatened the company with legal action after her order for a Disney Frozen Glitter Glider had not arrived and her requests for a refund had been ignored.

"They emailed me yesterday to say that they can see I have lodged a dispute for the payment with the bank who have cancelled the payment which is not true," she said.

Mr Powles said the actions of companies like Playdex reflected badly on the entire online retail industry.

"This sort of thing just annoys us," he said. "People hear these stories and think it is not safe to buy online, which is really annoying to the whole industry."