Note: This story first ran on Monday May 14
An Ashburton company selling concrete collectables online has had to shut up shop after dozens of complaints about missing orders and undelivered refunds.
Cemented by H has announced it's suspending all orders after being inundated by customers angry they've been waiting months for their orders to arrive.
Disgruntled customers have even formed a Facebook group to voice their concerns and share information on how to get refunded for their purchases.
"I have a February order worth $245 and an email chain of 10-12 emails and have been fobbed off every email reply", wrote one.
"Today I have emailed and asked for my refund… So annoyed!"
The 'H' in the 'Cemented by H' name stands for Harrison, as the company claims to be the start up of a seven year-old child.
The company claims Harrison makes all the items himself, and with his mum, and distributes as many as 300 orders per day.
Cemented by H sells LEGO-like figurines, as well as Star Wars and Disney shaped items, planters, candle holders and cement trays.
It's Harrison's mother Cali Kirkaldie and her husband Stuart who appear to run the business, write the social media posts and correspond with customers.
After months of complaints, and contact from Fair Go, Cali Kirkaldie emailed all customers to tell them online trading has been ceased "for the time being".
"Like anything we have had our triumphs and tribulations, we remain with pride a small NZ business and know we will come out the other side of this. As part of this we do note that at times our expected wait times have exceeded all expectations".
Cemented by H has a website, but much of its traffic appears to have come from Facebook, where customers say they've purchased $5 'mystery boxes' that arrived with only vouchers to purchase more products from the company.
"Did anybody else use their mystery box voucher or am I the only one stupid enough?" said one customer.
"Of course nothing ever showed up," she wrote.
Other complaints include items not being delivered, the wrong items arriving, a lack of communication from the company, customers blocked on social media after querying their orders and incorrect tracking information being given out.
Many were told after they had put through an order, that it wouldn't be dispatched for some time as it was a 'pre-order' for a coming month.
"I put my experience down to lesson learned, deleted their page and said sorry to my kids that the surprise I had for each of them was a total let down", said one customer still waiting for goods to arrive.
Since Fair Go's involvement, many customers have reported receiving refunds for their missing or undelivered items.
The company says that "with any complaints we receive, we try to resolve these in a fair way and to the reasonable satisfaction of our customers".
However, Waikite Valley School near Rotorua is still waiting for the delivery of 75 LEGO cement figurines it was going to sell for a fundraiser.
Assistant principal Lisa Dinning said it was too late for the delivery now, as the funds needed were for a student trip now booked and paid for.
She said she was "pretty angry, pretty gutted for the kids, and on a personal level pretty embarrassed", at losing school funds to the company.
She had sent multiple emails requesting details of the order, and then a refund – but got no response.
Cali Kirkaldie told Fair Go she was genuinely sorry for the problems the school had faced and blamed a staff error for the missing order.
She said she would contact Lisa Dinning to arrange an 'acceptable resolution' but wouldn’t tell Fair Go whether that would be a refund.
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