The Better Business Bureau of North Central Texas is warning you about an online retailer that's supposedly based in the DFW area.
The BBB has fielded complaints about Texas Gunshop from customers in 12 states.
"They are operating under several other business names, (and) they are operating several other company websites," says Monica Horton, BBB spokeswoman. "But basically, we're hearing the same thing from consumers, and that is they are not receiving what they were promised or what they thought that they purchased."
Some of the other names the company does business as include Firearms Texas, Buy Gun Online and USA Gun Shop -- all of which have earned an "F" rating from the BBB.
Among the customers who have filed a complaint against Texas Gunshop is Brian Naeyaert of Dade City, Fla., who was looking for a hard-to-find item.
"I couldn't find it anywhere locally, so I started searching online for it," Naeyaert tells KRLD news. "And that's when I ran across this Texas Gunshop online, and they claimed to have them in stock and ready to ship."
So he jumped at the opportunity to spend $1072.99 on the item, even though red flags were visible.
"I should have known that it was a red flag whenever they wanted me to pay via PayPal to a personal email address," says Naeyaert. (When KRLD visited the site and went through the online purchase process, there was an option to pay with either PayPal, Venmo or a credit card.)
Naeyaert says another red flag was Texas Gunshop saying it would send his item to a Federal Firearm License store which is no longer in business.
So when Naeyaert never received his item, he tried getting a refund, to no avail.
"I kept emailing back and forth, and they made up a few excuses," says Naeyaert. "And then I started searching scams online, and I realized that I wasn't the first person that this had happened to."
And when Naeyaert confronted the company about that, the company stopped replying to his emails.
Texas Gunshop claims to have a physical address of 300 Bryant Ave. in Midlothian, but KRLD has not been able to confirm this.
There are also two telephone numbers listed for the company; one gives a busy signal, and the other has a recording saying, "call rejected," before the call is disconnected.
Horton says when buying anything online, it's always best to use a credit card.
"Credit cards have certain protections in place," Horton points out. "So when it's possible, definitely use a credit card."
And Horton says pay close attention to any possible red flags.
"If you cannot find a privacy policy on a page, that's a big red flag," says Horton. (Texas Gunshop's website does not include a privacy policy.)
And, as always, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
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