After seeing a unique NFL jersey on TV during the 2011 Thanksgiving Ravens/49ers game I found the vendor's website. I contacted the company and was reached by the company owner, Craig Steichen. He sent me links to his products that were shown on ABC. Based on that I decided to order a customer jersey from him. We spoke on the phone and made contact by email. His company does not accept credit cards and I was uneasy about sending him a check for the entire amount. He agreed to half ($66.25). I sent a check in December. I kept in touch checking the status and was told it ws being worked on. This went on for a while, longer than I expected since he assured me the product was being worked on. I got an email telling me the shirts arrived and once it's finished he would put a rush on it. I never heard back from him so I emailed him twice. I heard nothing so I called and left messages. I heard nothing. I finally filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. The day I submitted that I also sent an email to the company website. The next day Mr. Steichen sent me an email telling me the shirt has been ready for weeks and he was waiting for the final payment. That was news to me since I have tried to reach him several times and got no response. I replied to his email telling him I filed with the BBB and he should give me discount on the balance since I had to wait so long and was so patient. He did not respond. I just heard back from the BBB. They have not heard from him either and are closing my case. I am still out $66.25 and have no merchandise. How is this allowed? I also filed a compaint with the Federal Trade Commission but have not heard from them yet. I believe that Torn Apparel's business practices should be invetigated. I'm not convenced he is purchasing "official NFL" jerseys to make these custom jerseys. He may be buying bogus "NLF jerseys" and passing them off as offical and charing an outrageous fee for the product. I have no where to go to get my money back so I am hoping that someone will be willing to look in to this business since the BBB doesn't seem to be much help to the consumer.
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