The fiasco with POAA.nl an internet business based in Breda, the Netherlands began in June 2008. I spent quite a lot of money with them 959 euros on light fittings. Needless to say they never arrived!

Initially they pretended they had sent them - but every time I asked for tracking details or for the contact details for the freight company they claimed that they couldn't provide them to me but were dealing direct with the carrier.

I had paid using paypal so thought that, at least if the goods don't turn up, I have back up. They played me along like this for long enough that my right to a claim via the Paypal process expired. (I didn't realise that you only have a certain amount of time to claim via Paypal - I won't make that mistake in the future!)

Anyway, sure enough the light fittings never arrived. I began both emailing and calling them but they never answered their phone - it always went to a message service. FIrst Michael, then someone named Patrick, intermittently responded to my emails. They were so sorry the first lights they had 'sent' went missing. They would send another set ?!

Anyway, I was somewhat mollified but insisted that I have shipping and tracking details for the second set just in case they too should go 'missing' on the trip to Australia. Once again, they advised that for some mysterious reason they could provide any shipping details.

These second lights never appeared either. Surprise surprise! And then they stopped responding to any of my emails. I kept calling and emailing for 3 months after the original order was placed - no response. They just disappeared!

By the way, their website says that they do cancel/refund orders, but only if it hasn't shipped. I asked for a refund. Of course, they say that the item has shipped but they just can't track it - therefore they are never responsible for the loss so they won't refund.

I tried to find the Dutch consumer affairs reporting system - they have one - but of course all the information was in Dutch. I think they rely on this when dealing with foreigners.

I have noted other reports about this company on Ripoffreport. All I can say is consumers BEWARE - this operation is seriously dodgy. I wish I had thought to do a search before ordering with them.

There is however a happy ending for me. Because I had paid on credit card through PayPal - my bank actually has a refund policy for goods that are not received. So even though Paypal would do nothing I got my money back in the end. And I learned a very healthy lesson about scepticism in online transactions. I am now a very wary internet shopper.

I have kept copies of all my emails to and from them and copies of the phone bills showing I called them so if anyone wants any further information I can provide.

Belinda
Melbourne
Australia