Backstreet Beanies - Buyer Beware

As time went by, this page was updated. Here are the updates: The original article about this outfit www.rockstarbabies.com shut down (Feb 22) They're back at it again at Xoom.com (March 3) Xoom closes them down (March 4) They're back at it again on a new page at Xoom.com (March 9) Xoom closes them down, again! (March 17) Update (Feb 22, '99) Winterland, the company responsible for BSB merchandising served RockStarBabies with a cease and desist order approx. 2 weeks ago. Apparently, they were not licensed to sell BSB beanies. It has been alleged that they didn't even have a product to sell and were ripping off young fans of the Backstreet Boys, Hanson and Spices Girls to name a few. Their website at http://www.rockstarbabies.com was shut down on Feb 22, '99. Top Of Page Update (March 3, '99) They're Back! I don't trust this outfit. The following is a copy of an email that they sent to all sorts of BSB website owners. It's hard to believe but guess what? They didn't send me a copy of the message! I wonder why? This outfit may be fraudulent so before you buy anything from them check with your parents and make them read this entire article! I have yet to receive a single email from anyone who has received their order from these guys but I have received lots of email from people who "claim" to have been ripped off! According to Winterland, the company responsible for official BSB merchandise, this outfit is NOT licensed to sell BSB Beanies. From: rockstarbabies@email.com Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 13:33:45 -0500 (EST) To: xxx@yyy.com Subject: BSB Dear BSB website owner/webmaster, We are proud to announce our NEW BSB beanie babies. We are looking for a few top notch websites to promote our product and at the same time recieve our products for FREE. All you have to do is place OUR banner on the front page of your website, write a paragraph about our new products such as (shipping takes 2 weeks and is included in the price, prices:$25 for the set, and that they will be very limited) with a link to our website (http://members.xoom.com/rsbabies) and for every month our banner is on your website you will recieve a FREE case (12 sets) of BSB beanies. If you would like to take part in our offer e-mail us back when the banner is up and send the URL along with your name & address where you would like your beanies sent to. Kind Regards, Rock Star Babies It's hard to believe that they'll send you $300 worth of product for every month that you advertise for them on your site isn't it? Attention Backstreet.Net readers! If you come across a web site that promotes this outfit, please alert the website owner to this article... tell them to check out the BSB Beanies article at http://backstreet.net. Top Of Page Update (March 4, '99) Their site at http://members.xoom.com/rsbabies was closed down today. Top Of Page Update (March 9, '99) It looks like they're at it again. This time they have opened up a page at Xoom.com called http://members.xoom.com/rockstarbaby We'll see how long they last. Top Of Page Update (March 17, '99) It looks like Xoom got the message again. Their page at Xoom.com called http://members.xoom.com/rockstarbaby was taken down on March 17, 1999. I'm sure that it's because lots of us told Xoom about this outfit! Good work Backstreet.Net readers! Top Of Page Here's the original article that I posted: Last December I published a bulletin entitled Buyer Beware. It was about the outfit that sells Backstreet Beanie Babies. In that article I stated that I believed that the company was not licensed to sell BSB merchandise and thought that their operation was suspicious. Within 2 days of posting that article their lawyer contacted my Dad and threatened to sue us for slander. We agreed to remove the article from the site. Their lawyer said that to prove that they are legit, they would send us some free samples and product litterature. Guess what? I have yet to receive anything! Last week, I placed a message on the top of my site asking for people who have ordered the BSB beanies to email me and let me know if they received the merchandise. Of the 27 responses I received, not one had received their order and one of them had ordered back in September '98. Of course, this could just be a coincidence but I would have suspected to get at least one message from someone stating that they had received their order. Many of the respondents indicated that they had tried to reach the company via email and regular mail but none of them ever received a response. They also indicated that the cheques that they sent were cashed. I tried to contact them via email and received no response. The email address that I have is that of one of the partners. The address is valid because it didn't come back as being undeliverable. I don't know for sure if this outfit is fraudulent and don't want to wrongfully accuse them of anything. I can't mention the name of the outfit or their web address for fear of being sued but I can alert Backstreet.Net readers to this issue. The site in question states that Marilyn Manson, Spice Girls, Hansons, BSB & Leonardo beanies are now in stock. They don't have any real pictures of the beanies, just cartoon-like drawings. They also don't accept credit cards, just cheques and cash. They claim to be based in Atlanta and have offices in LA, NY and Miami. Top Of Page