Don't Shop at BK's Schoolhouse

I am resurrecting this post because received a comment today about it. The company is out of business, but the owner left the website up and running. She continued to take orders and consumers money, but not ship the product. She just decided to ignore everyone's emails. Ever since I posted this back in October of 2007, I've receive several hits a week on it.


Sham Company


In all my years shopping over the internet, I have never had any problems. Until now!
When we decided to study fruits of the spirit, I went online looking for a poster. I found this wonderful “Fruit of the Spirit Bulletin Board set at bkschoolhouse.com. BK's said they were an educational supply house for teachers, homeschoolers and religious. I had never purchased from BK’s before but they looked like a legitimate company with their address and phone number prominently displayed. They had a lot of neat stuff so I ordered several things on July 10th amounting to $45.50 which included priority mail shipping. I received a order confirmation the next day.

After a week of so, when I didn’t receive any notice about shipping, emailed the store, but didn’t receive a response. I tried calling a few times and got an answering machine every time. I left messages requesting a call back. After 3 weeks with no response to my emails or phone calls, I emailed again canceling the order. My credit card was not charged, so didn’t have a major problem. I was very disappointed and proceeded to forget the whole thing. Until, Jessica of Trivium Academy, told us that she too had tried to purchase items from them, was charged, but never received her order. She is currently trying to get her money back.  She has since come across some complaints about bk's at pissed consumer.

So buyer beware as the saying goes...

4 comments:

  1. I have the same experience. They only took $25 of my money, charged my account, and never sent me my stuff. I actually got a local number and talked to the woman twice. She seemed to be having a lot of difficulties getting the merchandise. I was pretty understanding for the first four months. I know told her (with an email that was never replied to) that I'm going to take legal action, and post a blog. However, what recourse can I take? My credit card is already charged months ago. It's really sad that this company takes money from teachers who spend their own money to help their students. I even thought about calling a national TV show like 20/20 about internet fraud.

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  2. Hi, I just watched a local news "consumer investigation" report on our local news about a local teacher that bought $37 in supplies and was charged and never got them. Needless to say the news folks finnaly got ahold of the BK Schoolhouse owner, and apparantly the business has been out of business for more then a year, and the owner says she is just ignoring emails... The local teacher finnaly got her money back as a check, but I ask Why in the world would you keep your business website up, and look like you are taking orders when you are not?!? And if she is out of business the website is still costing her money...

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  3. I ordered from BK's back on 2007, never got my stuff, never got a reply on my emails, never got a return phone call when I left messages. I finally reported them to the BBB that covers the area where BK's is located. They investigated but did not get a solution from the owner, so they closed the case with an unfavorable rating. I also noticed on the BBB site that I wasn't the first to complain about this company.

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  4. Although it now looks like the site has been taken down, I also had the same problem with Barbara at BK's Schoolhouse. Rather than re-has the events, I'll just paste my last email to her (from which I never received a reply):

    Barbara,

    The refund finally came through to my account last night. Thank you.

    I have read through your website and understand your purpose for starting this business....so you could stay home with your child. I am also fortunate enough to be able to work from home and be with my wife and children, so I can appreciate how much it means.

    However, I do feel it necessary to voice some concern about this way my order was handled and my overall experience with your business. I don't know if you actually read the email you receive in this account or not (since you never responded to my previous inquiries about my order), but it's worth a shot...

    For your future customers, you may want to add a simple line to the packing list (or write on it) when items have to be backordered. This may avoid confusion/frustration with your other customers. When I received the shipment (5 of the 10 items I ordered) in early February, there was no mention on the packing slip about any of the other items being backordered. I sent several emails to a couple of the different addresses on your website and I called the number listed on your site several times to find out what happened. You never returned any of my emails, nor were any of my voicemail messages returned.

    This left me with the impression that I was being avoided. I wasn't until I found an alternate phone number for you on a different area of your site (not related to BK's Schoolhouse) that I was actually able to speak with you. You told me that the items had been backordered.

    At that point I was willing to wait another week or so. When I spoke with you again a week later, and you said your supplier was unable to give you an estimate as to when the items would arrive, I decided to opt for a refund of the unshipped items. (I needed some of the items sooner than you were able to deliver them, so I had to find another supplier.)

    This is when my frustration reached its high. I waited two weeks for the refund to come through. It never did. It wasn't until I called you again that you finally issued the refund.

    Through the entire process, I felt as if my order simply was not important to you. Perhaps that is the truth, but the moment I asked for a refund, that money became mine again. You should have issued the refund immediately. It isn't the amount that was important. It was the principal of the matter. I was left with the impression that you simply didn't care enough about something that rightfully belonged to me or to ensure it was returned in a timely manner.

    Whether any of my impressions match the facts of what was going on is immaterial. I won't pretend to know how you want to run your business or what other things are going on in your life. However, when a customer is left to form their own impressions, those impressions might as well be true. For the nearly 20 years I have managed and/or owned businesses and have been directly involved with customer service, I've learned that success is dependant on taking care of the customers and addressing their needs/concerns. Letting a customer feel like he is ignored or unimportant is worse than giving a him an answer you know he won't be happy with. If you plan to continue with BK's Schoohouse or any other business venture, you may wish to keep this in mind for your future customers. Unfortunately, I will not be one of them.

    Respectfully,

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