Consumers complained about retail incentive program
Heath Combs — Furniture Today, June 29, 2009
BBZ Resource Management, which offered a free gas and grocery voucher incentive program tied to purchases of furniture and other products, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Arizona has few details, listing both assets and liabilities of between $1 million to $10 million.
Several Better Business Bureau offices began issuing alerts about Mesa, Ariz.-based BBZ this month after receiving more than 225 complaints from 40 states about its gift card voucher program. In addition, KNXV-TV in Phoenix reported that the Oregon attorney general’s office is investigating BBZ as a possible pyramid scheme.
The vouchers were offered as promotions by retailers including furniture stores, electronics chains and car dealers, among others. Typically, they advertised $100 to $500 worth of free gas or groceries with purchases.
Vouchers were sold to retailers via brokers by BBZ. Consumers were to send BBZ receipts from gas and grocery purchases, and BBZ was supposed to issue gift card rebates adding up to the total offer of the promotion.
Most of the complaints were for non-receipt of gift cards, delays in getting them, non-activation of the cards, or that they were only good for a gas station outside of consumer’s area, the BBB said.
Ashley Furniture HomeStores was one of the largest furniture retailers to sell the vouchers. Steve Phillips, who co-owns six Ashley stores located mostly in St. Louis, ran the promotion in February and said he’d recently begun to be deluged with complaints.
Phillips said he has set up a Web site to handle the complaints and has begun working with a new company, through representatives that sold him the voucher program, to redeem customers’ certificates.
Kerry Lebensburger, Ashley Furniture president of sales, said BBZ claimed the program was bonded and insured, and suggested that participants in the program talk to their lawyers about seeking those funds.
BBZ claimed to have issued 160,000 certificates in March, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported.
Furniture/Today was unable to reach BBZ, whose offices refer all inquiries by phone to a Web site. Bankruptcy papers listed the president of BBZ as Justin Elenburg.
The BBB reported that it believed the company was run by Troy Warren. Furniture/Today was unable to reach Warren’s attorney, Peter Gorski.
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