Three Feathers Tobacco Company review: Scam and cheating 90

Even tho this email is dated 7/9/10, it only just now arrived, 7/12/10... (?) It is a different seller that I never did order from because they had upped their June PACT cut-off date so I missed their deadline & ended up at ThreeFeathersTobacco instead.

Anyway, some people may be able to order from these guys... here is their email received today 7/12/10:

(...)
From: "AllOfOurButts"
Date: July 9, 2010 11:25:01 PM EDT
Subject: AllOfOurButts Newsletter
Reply-To: cs@Allofourbutts.com

Newsletter July 2010

Dear valued Customer:

We are sending you this email to notify you that, at this time, we
can place orders for existing customers that have ordered with us
in the past 6 months. We have recieved a temporary stay with the
PACT act until July 30th. There are certain restrictions that apply, so please contact us with your orders, and a friendly phone rep will fill you in on the details.

Thank you for your support during this difficult time.

Sincerely,
Allofourbutts.com
Toll free number: [protected].
(...)

~~~~~~~~~

So I re-posted all the Complaint Board links at Topix (but no way I'm re-doing all the individual quotes, which took a few hours Friday night 7/9/10).

Then I took a screenshot of the posted links. Let's see if they disappear a 2nd time.

I should have taken screenshots of the Topix site last night!

So much for using TOPIX NEWS FORUMS to spread the word:
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/irving-ny/T7IFV3NVS5CRQ2UPB

There were a TOTAL of 17 QUOTED COMMENTS THERE when I last visited the TOPIX thread last night, Sat. 7/10/10.

Tonight 7/11/10 I refresh the page & now there are only 3 comments!

That is 14 comments MISSING!

Not only are 14 comments missing, but the ORIGINAL POST IS ALSO MISSING! Which had links to all the Complaint Board pages so people could see the complaints themselves.

Does Topix not allow links in posts & comments?

Very very strange!

You'll see whoever hijacked the TOPIX thread & deleted the original post & 14 of the 17 comments, only left in Comments #3, 11, 12; meaning they deleted #1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17!

Go see for yourself!
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/irving-ny/T7IFV3NVS5CRQ2UPB

This crazy case gets more weird by the day.

~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks minismom for that update!

Three feathers is one of the 141 mentioned but still are not filling orders.

Thank you, Tileman100, for the harrowing & heart-rending update. The USA becomes darker & darker by the day!

This story needs to break out of the complaint boards & into some alternative news blogs & forums which are crawled by google. They are the only type of news sources that would even care.

I have taken pertinent quotes from all these complaint boards & put them in one thread at the Irving, NY "Topix News" forums here:

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/irving-ny/T7IFV3NVS5CRQ2UPB

I do not live in that area but since that is where ThreeFeathersTobacco, InternetSmokes, & TCL Enterprises are located, I figured that was a good place to start. Or maybe I should re-post it at the Scranton, PA Topix News Forums, the city where Houser is! :)

(Good aspect of Topix is no hassle, no registration required.)

Sorry Still _Hopeful I did not save it and it was off the top of my head so it would not be the same. Basically I said that people should not blame three feathers it is definetly not thier fault and I recommend everyone call Houser because you would not believe the government could just take your money like they are doing. This guy is going to stop smokers single- handedly. He doesn't seem to believe in OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, AND FOR THE PEOPLE

TO EVERYONE AFFECTED BY THE "ECHECK" INVESTIGATION:

Please congregate here at the IRVING NY TOPIX NEWS Forum & please feel free to update this thread with any news, or add your thoughts, &/or copy/paste it into the Topix News for your own city or region or favorite forum.  More exposure the better!

ONLINE CIG ECHECK MONIES CONFISCATED BY FEDS:
Posted in the Irving NY Forum:
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/irving-ny/T7IFV3NVS5CRQ2UPB#lastPost

~~~~~~~~~~

Ahhh Tileman100, so sorry about your long post. Did you save a copy, by any wild chance? Would love to read it... Maybe post it in 2 parts.

~~~~~~~~~

And yes, I agree it's the Feds who have caused the problem.

~~~~~~~~~~

i wrote a very long comment and it would not post. bottom line -- it is william houser that is the problem. his phone # is [protected]

Fri. 7/9/10 @5:15om:

Links to all similar posts here at ComplaintBoards:

June 2010:
Scroll Down Page 1 until you see the June 2010 comments:
Three Feathers Tobacco — Scam and cheating
Con't Page 2:
Three Feathers Tobacco — Scam and cheating

6/23/10:
Three Feathers Tobacco — No product recieved

7/2/10:
Three Feathers Tobacco — Took my money and won't give it back

7/7/10:
Three Feathers Tobacco — Did Not Receive Merchandise

7/8/10:

7/8/10 Duplicate post:
Three Feathers Tobacco — Money was taken from my bank account but no items were ever sent.

7/9/10:
Three Feathers Tobacco — Didn't receive my order but cashed my check for $ 575. 00

All Results for this topic at ComplaintBoards:
http://www.complaintsboard.com/bycompany/three-feathers-tobacco-a97967.html

There could be complaints & reports at other boards or forums &/or also many people who have not written about it publicly.

~~~~~~~~~

i am trying to post but cannot

FWIW, on Mon 7/6/10 I contacted the reporter at the Buffalo News newspaper who has been doing all the PACT articles & asked if he knew or could find out more re this "Houser investigation of smoke shops" & the confiscated echeck funds, up in that Irving NY area. He wrote back once that the US Atty up that way is Hochul not Houser. I wrote again giving the snip from the ThreeFeathers emails of Houser full name & ph#, & I also gave the reporter the link to this thread. But he has never written back since his first reply so I guess he or his newspaper boss is not interested in looking into this. :-/

~~~~~~~~~

Does anyone live up in that area? Are there any other newspapers up there who might be interested in finding out more of what is going on?

Or how about TV Stations in the area? Sometime TV Stations have their own Consumer RipOff News reporters, etc.

~~~~~~~

Sorry ninismom, I do not know.

From what it sounded like to me, Big Buffalo Smokes (who runs ThreeFeathersTobacco.com) evidently is not willing to ship orders for which they never got the money/echecks (which the feds confiscated & are sitting on). From their emails it sounds like they intend to wait until/if/when the feds release their echeck $$$ to them, then they would ship but not if they do not have the $$ first.

Even if ThreeFeathersTobacco was willing to ship without having the funds returned to them by the feds, is ThreeFeathersTobacco one of the 141 Seneca Free Trade Assoc members to whom the Judge gave the 7/30/10 extension to?

~~~~~~~~~

I WOULD JUST LIKE TO KNOW IF THREEFEATHERS IS GOING TO SEND OUT THE ORDERS ALREADY PAID FOR, NOW THAT THERE IS A STAY ON THE PACT BS. DOES ANYONE KNOW?

Good point, Johnny, that could very well be.

The investigation (whatever it is about) being conducted by Houser extends to sellers in addition to ThreeFeathersTobacco, so this is not just one-seller being put under the gun.

Is an "Asst US Atty" always the one who investigates/prosecutes TAX cases?

IT'S BECAUSE OF THE PACT ACT THAT THREE FEATHERS HAS TO GIVE UP ALL YOUR INFO I THINK SO YOU CAN BE TAWED ON ALL THE CIGARETTES YOU BOUGHT IT HAS TO DO WITH THE TAX DEPARTMENT

Update re PACT & Senecas Wed. 7/7/10 PM:

NY judge extends hold on mail-order cigarette law - The Buffalo News:
http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/07/07/1106437/ny-judge-extends-hold-on-mail.html

Updated: July 07, 2010, 7:25 pm /
Published: July 07, 2010, 7:24 pm

U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara on Wednesday extended until July 30 a temporary restraining order that allows 141 members of the Seneca Free Trade Association and another Seneca businessman to continue to operate without having to comply with the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking - or PACT - Act.Seneca Indian Nation cigarette sellers remain free to fulfill orders by mail in New York while a federal judge in Buffalo considers whether a law banning the practice is constitutional.
(...)

I was finally able to post on that other thread (http://www.ww.Three Feathers Tobacco — No product recieved) for them to come read this thread. (Even though I am clearly logged in, it made me log in again to post on that other page which is at this same website. Go figure.)

Anyway, it would be good if people would post follow-up posts to their original comments.

Did any of you call Asst US Atty Houser?

What did his office tell you? etc.

I think I will skip calling his office until I hear what others have to say.

(I am not interested in helping the feds screw the little guy/small business, nor John Q Public smokers).

Looking forward to follow-up posts.

~~~~~~~~~

Wed. 7/7/10 Afternoon Update:

I slept until noon but when awake found 2 calls from Big Buffalo (a/k/a ThreeFeathersTobacco.com) on my cell, from around 11am.

So I called her back but she had another customer on the other line so she called me back.

She said they have been giving everyone the US Atty Houser # to call & I said, yeah, got that in email but had not called Houser office yet.  She said it's not much help if you call the US Atty Office/Houser, all you get is a voicemail &/or eventually a lady or secy & they just tell you a brief overview, that this or that went down, but no real detailed explanation nor solution is offered, & they will say that your $$ may be returned or may be forfeited in the end, etc. etc.

She reiterated that all echeck monies NEVER made it to their bank.  Which makes me think of a sting operation of some sort where the feds probably hijacked their account &/or the echeck service in general so that when orders were placed online that all echeck monies were immediately diverted to the feds.  (Remember, further above, how she had told me Monday that they had no idea there was even a problem until the bank/echeck company had called & told THEM.  In other words, it wasn't Johnny-Fed who called Big Buffalo/ThreeFeathers & said, "Surprise surprise, we are investigating you & are screwing with your bank account & have confiscated all your customers' echecks!")

She/Big Buffalo/ThreeFeathersTobacco lady also said they have been getting more & more calls from customers asking what's going on & when she explains, they have been very kind & understanding, wishing the best to Big Buffalo/ThreeFeathers & she in return to them because she feels terrible about peoples' money &/or orders being tied up by the feds.

In other words, everybody feels bad about the situation for the OTHER person which means human kindness, compassion & understanding has definitely not disappeared from the American landscape which is very refreshing.  All it takes is being able to talk to the people directly & you will find that they are REAL people, just like all of us.  So it is my heartfelt opinion that there is Nothing sinister going on by Big Buffalo who operates ThreeFeathersTobacco.

I wanted to clarify something I wrote in a prior post last night.  I dont know for a fact that Big Buffalo has an actual brick & mortar store.  She referred to it as the shop... Down at the shop... where the cigs are kept.  (Could be the TCL building, maybe a warehouse or something, where orders are shipped out of).

She said they have no idea how long things will be tied up, whether two months or longer & that they have been advised by their counselors & those whom they work with to just hold steady until everybody knows more of what's going on or what the outcome will be.

She said they will be letting people know more whenever they themselves know something definite, & she again apologized sincerely for all the hassle.

I do not want to put her name & cell # online since it is not already part of online public records (I wouldnt want someone to put my cell # online either).

But if you ordered from ThreeFeathersTobacco.com, as I wrote earlier, you can call the Seneca Free Trade Assoc. # which I included in earlier posts (whose # can be easily found online at their website, & their link I also included in prior posts), the SFTA lady will take your info & have the Big Buffalo lady call you back.  And she will call you back!  She's been on the phone constantly so give her a chance to get to you.

BLESS YOUR HEART, Mz. Big Buffalo lady!  I'm so sorry for all the unexpected stress & troubles.  I don't even know you but feel you are a friend!

~~~~~~~~~~

Some other people are nervous over on this page: http://www.ww.Three Feathers Tobacco — No product recieved I am trying to post on that page but it isnt working. Please somebody tell those people to come read this thread for more info. Thanks.

For those who keep saying that ThreeFeathersTobacco &/or Big Buffalo, etc. are not part of the Seneca Nation, then how is it the Seneca Free Trade Assoc was able to connect me with the rightful owners; & the below 2009 customer was able to connect with the owners via the Seneca Nation HQ?

The Seneca Nation of Indians
http://www.sni.org/
Govt Contacts page:
http://www.sni.org/contacts.html
Cattaraugus Reservation
William Seneca Building
12837 Route 438
Irving, NY 14081
[protected]

Seneca Nation of Indians Tribal Administration
Gowanda Rd
Irving NY 14081
Primary: [protected]
http://www.livestrong.com/business-seneca-nation-of-indians-tribal_716-532-9794/#

~~~~~~~~~~~

6 Reports this page re ThreeFeathersTobacco.com:
/URL removed/

Threefeathers Tobacco, Big Buffalo, Seneca Indian Nation Review:

8/2009-[redacted] #476475
/URL removed/

Retraction of Report
Retired don - Edinburg, (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED:Saturday, August 29, 2009
POSTED:Saturday, August 29, 2009
August 29, 2009

I am proud to report that with the able assistance of representatives at the Seneca Indian Nation Headquarters in Irving, NY that my personal situation has been rectified.  It took several e-mails and phone calls  to find the right person to talk with but my order was eventually fulfilled.  I had filed complaints with the Post Office and the NY State Attorney General but have retracted same.  Once I was able to talk to the right person at the Seneca Nation, I was able to contact the owner and manager of the "Big Buffalo" outlet by phone and he resolved the matter personally with promptness. For reference, should anyone have difficulty with Seneca Nation (CATTARAUGUS RESERVATION) outlets situated in the Irving, NY area, contact the Seneca Nation Headquarters @ [protected] and ask to speak with the Business Permit Office. It was frustrating that this situation occurred but it was encouraging to see that the Seneca Nation does hold some control over their business outlets and they do attempt to police these outlets.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3 Feathers 7/2009-Report #467437
/URL removed/
(...)
Dont order from them or any of their affiliates- they say they are associated with the seneca nation- they are not...
its an apartment in buffalo listed as their business address-
(...)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Final Note: Re above quote: cSo since when is running an internet biz from your home or apt a crime? It looks to me like MAYBE the shipping is done out of the TCL Enterprises business, but if you run the rest of your internet biz from your home, you're in good company with tons of other people who do the same thing.

The Big Buffalo lady was so very kind & caring about this mess that I just do not think they are crooks. Maybe better biz mgmt/better customer access would be an improvement, though, especially when there are shipping delays, etc.

It could also be they were told NOT to say anything to the customers until the feds gave them permission to do so, ie, after they met in court Tues. 7/6/10, which is when the emails were sent out.

And I definitely DO want my $$$ back just like everybody else, but it's not Big Buffalo sitting on it but Mr Houser, your friendly Uncle Sam representative. :-/

Since ALL the smoke shops were being targeted by the feds, it could just be more harrassment by the feds against cig sellers in/around the Seneca Nation area. Since TCL Enterprises principal is Morris Seneca (per the manta biz info further above), that's obviously an Indian name even if Mr Chiavetta who works thru TCL is not Indian.

And dont you think the timing is interesting? The feds wait until they know many people would be making big orders to stock up due to PACT cut-off, so they wait & grab all echeck funds right when the pot is at its fullest. For all we know, when you inquire to get your $$$ back from Houser, they will want you to pay more taxes or something.

Nothing would surprise me anymore with the out-of-control runaway govt. :-/

And before I forget, that disconnected phone # that was at my bank site for Big Buffalo, the Big Buffalo lady intimated that that had something to do with the echeck confiscations by the feds. I dont know how it works, but maybe the feds shut down that phone # so customers' banks could not initiate getting the money back... (?)

~~~~~~~

Enough for now... At least this will give anyone enough leads to contact the owners or the feds, whoever you want to contact.

Going to BED! Zzzzzz!

ADDRESSES searches done on Sat. 7:3:10...

From the ThreeFeathersTobacco.com site:
Licensed Native American Shipper:
Our Mail Order Center address:
Big Buffalo
PO Box 40
Irving, NY 14081
Contact us:
orders@threefeatherstobacco.com
Customer ID Fax Line:
[protected]

~~~~~~~~~

From a 12/2008 [redacted]:
Three Feathers Tobacco, Internet Smokes, Big Buffalo
13 Slate Creek Drive, Box #4
Cheektowaga New York 14227

~~~~~~~~

InternetSmokes.com:
http://www.internetsmokes.com/
Owned/Operated by TCL Enterprises, Inc.
orders@internetsmokes.com
(associated with ThreeFeathersTobacco)

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?oe=UTF-8&hl=en&q=cache:hTyEB3kEYZIJ:www.internetsmokes.com/category/Bishop-6
Licensed Native American Shipper:
TCL Enterprises
12723 Route 438
Irving, NY [protected]
Contact us:
orders@internetsmokes.com
Customer ID Fax Line: [protected]

PHONE # Searches...

1.  The Phone # ThreeFeathersTobacco.com gave my bank when they deducted my echeck is DISCONNECTED:  [protected].

2.  A Phone # online for Craig Chiavetta, [protected] - the guy who answered 7/3/10 when I called it said he gets calls for them all the time, but he is not them, so wrong #.

3.  [protected] - Answering Machine for TCL Enterprises which is connected to InternetSmokes.com which is connected to ThreeFeathersTobacco.com; I left 2 voice messages 7/3/10.

4.  ThreeFeathersTobacco.com Fax still works as of 7/3/10, same Fax for InternetSmokes.com & TCL Enterprises [protected] - but who has a fax machine anymore? Not me. :-/

5.  A prior [redacted] online said he got results by calling the Seneca Nation Headquarters & asking for the Business Permit Office: [protected] & they were able to put him in touch with the ThreeFeathersTobacco.com owner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

/URL removed/
(...)
For reference, should anyone have difficulty with Seneca Nation (CATTARAUGUS RESERVATION) outlets situated in the Irving, NY area, contact the Seneca Nation Headquarters @ [protected] and ask to speak with the Business Permit Office. It was frustrating that this situation occurred but it was encouraging to see that the Seneca Nation does hold some control over their business outlets and they do attempt to police these outlets.
(...)

~~~~~~

FWIW, the above person retracted their complaint once they were able to talk to the owners who took care of the problem.

Mon. 7/6/10 I had called the Seneca Free Trade Assoc after seeing it mentioned in the below news article. It was the Seneca Free Trade lady who had the Big Buffalo Smokes Shop lady call me (Big Buffalo operates the ThreeFeathersTobacco.com website).

http://www.senecafreetrade.com/index.html
OFFICE HOURS:
Mon-Fri: 9a-3p
Wed: Open until 4p
Ph: [protected]
Fax: [protected]
 
~~~~~~~~~~

7/3/10:  Cigarette mailings to continue for now — ObserverToday.com
http://www.observertoday.com/page/content.detail/id/542157.html

United States Attorney's Office - Middle District Of Pennsylvania - Contact Us: Locations:
http://www.justice.gov/usao/pam/offices/index.html

(The Scranton, PA office at above link has same phone # that was provided by Mr. Chiavetta.)

Why is a PA Asst US Attorney investigating/seizing funds from a NY business?

On Jul 6, 2010, at 4:57 PM, "Internet Smokes" wrote:

CheckCare has provided some of our other customers with this contact number for Mr. Houser: [protected] Ext.244

Sincerely,  
Craig
TCL Enterprises ( To: xxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: Order#xxxxxx
> Reply-To: craig@internetsmokes.com

>
> Dear xxxxx
>      We tried to get all of the orders out before it was too late, but we were unable to get yours shipped due to an investigation brought on by Assistant US Attorney William Houser.  
>      Mr. Houser has launched an investigation of all smoke shops.  Until this investigation is concluded all transactions through CheckCare have been restricted and our funds in that account frozen.  At this time CheckCare nor Mr. Houser has given us a timeline as to when our funds will be available or when transactions will be able to resume.  As soon as we are allowed to start making transactions again we will issue your refund, as well as send you an email with a copy of the credit transaction.
>  
>      We understand the inconvenience this posses to you, but we are going to do everything we can to get your refund issued as soon as possible.  We thank you for your cooperation in this matter.
>
> Sincerely,
> Craig Chiavetta
> On behalf of
> BIG BUFFALO (

I will post all the info I found & Houser # in a bit. Got to take a "smoke break, " lol.

Typo! I meant generic email replies, not genetic replies, lol.

And too funny, as I was completing the above post, I look up at the TV & what do I see? A group of BUFFALOS out in a large field, lol, no joke. A country singer, Carroll Roberson, its his program & he & wife always go to scenic locations to sing their songs. Too funny at the timing!

Tues. 7/6/10 @ 9:30pm EDT:

Ditto what Tileman100 said above.

6/21/10 First time ever I ordered from threefeatherstobacco.com website, placed big order (their max limit 30 cartons) due to PACT Act (stock up!), paid by echeck. Then sent ID an hour later. $$$ was deducted right away, shows Big Buffalo at my bank website.

6/22/10 Got email from Matt Mallon requesting more shipping address verification. Zapped that by email.

6/23/10 Got confirmation that all documentation was approved & order was sent to processing.

6/23-28/10 Waited for USPS Tracking #. Never came.

6/28/10 Emailed them asking would order be shipped before PACT deadline? No answer.

Fri. 7/2/10 Emailed again asking what now? since PACT deadline had passed? No answer.

Sat.-Sun. 7/3-4/10 Spent all weekend researching internet to find more info on company & reading all news articles re PACT reprieve for some sellers, etc. Rechecked their website, said now "Closed." Rechecked my bank site to look more closely at the Big Buffalo debit from 6/21-22/10 & noticed the phone # with the debit entry & called that # & it said Disconnected. That's when I started to get nervous. :-/

Sat. 7/3/10 Left 2 voice msgs on answering machine at TCL ENTERPRISES, Irving NY, because via researching online, I found that InternetSmokes.com is connected to TCL & they both use same Fax # as ThreeFeathersTobacco. Online manta corporation search info had a ph number for TCL so that's what I called & got answer machine.

Sat. 7/3/10 I also sent another email to ThreeFeathers.

Mon. 7/5/10 Was going to call Seneca Nation HQ as I had read at another [redacted] site entry from last year which ended well for that person & they retracted their complaint once they were able to speak to owners of ThreeFeathersTobacco.com (which they were able to do by calling the Seneca Nation HQ & ask for Business Permits Office who connected customer with owners). But before doing that I decided to first call the Seneca Free Trade Assoc. to ask if ThreeFeathersTobacco.com &/or InternetSmokes.com &/or TCL Enterprises (all three have same Fax # per internet searches) were among the 140 businesses included in the PACT reprieve & could still ship temporarily, at least until next court date tomorrow, Wed 7/7/10? (which I had read in newspaper articles online). Nice older (Indian-sounding) lady took all my info & said they would find out & call me back.

Mon. 7/5/10 A short time later another very nice lady called me back, from Big Buffalo Smokes, didnt sound Indian, not that that matters to me. :) She was VERY nice & I feel her compassion was sincere & truthful. She said it has been chaos & stress, not just because of PACT deadlines, but because the feds confiscated all echeck monies due to some investigation going on for awhile which they knew nothing about until their bank/echeck company called & told them the feds took all the echeck $$. (Paper check orders they had been able to fulfill first). But that they had no idea where all the echeck $$ is exactly & that all the men were going to be meeting the next day at court to figure out what's going on. (I was confused since I was thinking of the PACT reprieve court date of Wed. 7/7/10 I had read in paper, but this must be separate re that investigation.) She said they, Big Buffalo (which is stated on ThreeFeathersTobacco.com website) is their biz & they have a local shop plus internet, & they do care about their customers, that all this hurts their reputation terribly, etc. She said at first her hubbie (I'm not sure who that is) thought he had been the only one targeted by feds, but later they found out many shops had the same thing happen. She took all my info & said she would check their local shop the next day to see if they had in stock the brands I had ordered, etc. & she would call me the next day. She called me from her cell & said I now had her cell & could call her any time. I had also asked, Why not put something on their website so customers don't have to keep wondering what's going on? Basically she said no way did they want to tick off the feds so they figured they should just not put info on website about it.

Tues. 7/6/10 (today): No call from the above nice Big Buffalo lady (she may call tomorrow or I can call her) but I did get 2 emails in reply to my emails of 7/2/10 & 7/3/10, one from William Welch (TCL & ThreeFeathersTobacco) & the other from Craig Chiavetta. Both emails said same thing, same as described by previous poster, that all echeck monies were held by investigation by Asst US Atty William Houser, & that Houser has given them no info to date as to when the funds will be released, but as soon as the funds are released they will issue refunds, etc.

I emailed back Thank You's for the updates but since this type of investigation could drag on for years, why should customers be penalized & should I contact Houser directly, & did Chiavetta have an email addy for Houser? Chiavetta responded in short measure with phone # for Houser.

(Houser # is in PA, yet TCL & ThreeFeathersTobacco, etc. are in Irving NY, per online searches. Not being familiar with that area, I don't know why a PA atty is investigating NY businesses? Maybe Houser got transferred to NY?)

By this time it was after office hours so I did not call the Houser # yet. Will try tomorrow, Wed. 7/7/10; & also keep an eye on newspapers up that way to see what the PACT hearing results are.

Hope this helps allieve some anxieties for anyone who may have ordered/paid by echeck. The problem with complaints to feds is stuff just like this. Best to always try to deal with the businesses themselves vs calling in the Nanny Police State who is already against all smokers anyway. Granted, ThreeFeathersTobacco.com & Big Buffalo could definitely use more employees to monitor & answer emails right away from a real person vs genetic replies & have a direct phone # on their site (vs a fax line) & not leave people hanging, now or in years past. Definitely not good business practice to leave customers wondering & waiting. But that doesn't necessarily mean they are crooks either, at least I would like not to think so because they were very nice once I got to talk to the Big Buffalo lady. I sent her a big thank you email yesterday because of her compassion. I think maybe they are not that big of a company, just family, & hard to keep up with all the workload.

I have done business with three feathers tobacco for several years and never had a problem until now. On June 19 I ordered 15 cartons (3 times my normal amount) because of the PACT act. I have e-mailed them several times and did not recieve a response until today. The response was that the US attorney William Houser was investigating all indian cigarette businesses and has frozen all thier money. I think this is a load of bull. On thier website one of the links says that a judge has put a stay on the law for 2 weeks. I intend to call the US attorney general for New York (the only thing I could find for attorney Houser says he is out of Pennsylvania. I am also calling my bank to see if they can do anything. It has been my experience in these situations that we are all out of luck.
tileman1

I placed a large order on June 20th, the last day they could take orders before the PACT act passed. They sent me a tracking number on June 23rd, but the tracking info has never been updated since! I have sent them at least 6 emails and got ONE response to the first email, stating simply that they have a large volume of orders and are backed up.. Unfortunately, it became illegal to mail cigarettes as of June 30th. I have been filling their inbox with complaints and gotten NO response since my first e-mail. They won't even tell me if I'm getting my cigarettes or getting a refund! I have threatened to call authorities if I don't get a response this week. Unfortunately there is no phone number or address on the website. Only a PO box. It's going to be hard to get my money back (that is if they ever answer my e-mails)

I also placed an order with Three Feathers tobacco company...they took my money out of my checking account and kept telling me my order was delayed and then they couldn't ship the product and would return my money but that the company they used to refund checks was having problems...one excuse after another is what I got! I don't know about the rest of you but I can't afford to lose this money. Can someone tell me how to contack the NY Attorney General Please? Please post the information so that all of us that have had trouble with this company can contact the right athorities. These people should not be allowed to get away with this!

I placed an order from this website on June 21st for 5 cartons. I had ordered 3 or 4 times prior to that with no problem, but this time was different. I still had not received a tracking number on June 27th, so I wrote to them, they wrote back on the 28th and said that I may receive a tracking number as late as July 2nd. So July 2nd when I still had no tracking number or cigarettes I emailed again and now it is July 5th and I still have not received any answer from them. So I found this page, saw the number that "GERI1959" posted and called and spoke with a woman who stated that their website is "3" not "three" feathers and that their old web designer Craig Chiavetta stole their website and is doing business illegally. She stated that he is not licensed by the Seneca Indians because he is a white man and his business is all illegal. The only good point that came out of it is that she told me that they got a "stay" and can still take orders, so if anyone wants to call the real 3feathers to place an order, the number is listed above on "GERI1959"'s post. NowI'm off to the bank to try and get my money back!

I have the opposite problem. Not only did I get the cigarettes I ordered, but, in another box I got 5 cartons for someone else. I've repeatedly emailed them and they have not advised me of what to do. I know how this happened. Apparently the order was the one after mine (as shown on the invoice) and they printed two address labels for me. I'm sending one more email. No response and I'll give them to a friend that smokes that brand.

Same here. Ordered on 3/22. Money taken out of account next day. Got a shipping confirmation number. sent 4 emails to different people. got no response. 4/16 sent fax. got home and had a voicemail waiting for me from the processing manager stating they were on backorder and didnt know why i didnt receive an email stating this. I almost would have believed him if it hadnt been for the 2 emails that i sent him personally in the past month which he never answered. Anyway he said they were mailed and i went into the tracking for USPS...and they were shipped and on their way.

Same thing just happened to me and I am really upset! I ordered 2 cartons on 2/7, got an email on 2/9 that they were ready to ship, but never rec'd a shipment email from USPS like I normally do. I waited quite some time and finally emailed on 2/16. I did get a response that they were going to get the tracking # and email it to me later in the day. But nothing! I emailed again asking for it because $60 already came out of my account! I was dealing with a different company and wish I would have contined to do so.

Me too!I was just trying to locate a phone # off the website(to no avail)And, thankfully found all of your comments. My echeck was cleared immediately on Jan 12/10 and no shipment thus far. They have not answered my repeated emails.It was for 5 cartons.Strange thing though.I have been buying from them for 2-3 yrs without a problem.What gives with that?