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I mailed them every day with a reminder that in their conditions they say that payments will be returned within 2 weeks. Also messaged them via Instagram and Messager. Finally by Today I got a reply via Messenger that one of them got really ill but that he will process my cancellation this week, deeply regretting how things went. I did receive such 'promises' before that turned out empty so I am not comfortable with the situation yet. And indeed: I will report them to the ECC if they don't return my money within the following week. Thanks for the tip.
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I reported the case to ECC yesterday. Thanks for the feedback Robert
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After 4 months an a half since I placed my order for an item which appeared "in stock", several exchanges with promises that the item will arrive "by the end of the month" then sudden silence in answering my messages and finally ignoring completely my request for cancellation of the order and reimbursement, I am joining now the group of victims of this Astro-Art, whatever that would be, a real store in serious difficulties or a very elaborated scam/phishing website (I do not know, but I tend to believe the latter). I placed my order on 17 of June 2024 for an iOptron Electronic Automatic Focuser on Astro-Art Finland (www.astroart-store.com), about 254 EUR including shipping costs. The money was taken from credit card, then things started to become weird. After a series of exchanges with them from June to September, with new delivery terms and excuses ("item will arrive by the end of the month", "we were in holidays last month" - does it sound familiar?), beginning of October they practically stopped answering my messages. So that, on 10 of October 2024, after waiting almost 4 months, I cancelled my order and I gave them until end of October 2024 to proceed with the refund. I think I was reasonable enough by waiting 4 months before cancelling my order and by giving them 20 days for the refund. Today, 04 of October 2024, I still have not received any money back. So, I do not have any choice but to file an official complaint against them with the national authorities as well as with the ECC. Maybe I waited too long before cancelling my order, but I thought they were a new business on the market and they needed time to settle. I also thought it would be worth having more astronomy shops in Europe after all. But patience has limits. If they are indeed new on the market but incapable of doing their business or it is about something else, I do not know. I have my doubts about how real they are. I do not have big hopes in getting my money back, but I think this website should be closed by the authorities, in order to avoid that more people fall in this trap. |
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Hello there, Myself, I have been waiting for three months now. I made three orders this summer. My first order, I have got half of the items. The second I recieved right away, a Touptek IMX571 mono camera for dirt cheap. And the third order remains fully invisible. I have bought some stuff from them in the past, got help with the items that were faulty promptly. Absolutely no issues back then. But what is wrong the store now? |
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i also have same shitty experience with them. Paid in Septmeber and no updates from that time. 250 EUR for ZWO camera. Filled a case in police and ECC. ECC already replied that they do have more than few cases related to this seller and that seller isnt cooperating, thus they doubt they can do much. Problem is that i paid to them not by card, but via bank transfer, thus cant use chargebacks option. Please leave negative review for them in Google and Trustpilot to increase visibility on these scammers.
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Audrius: ***I am sorry to hear that. I also used bank transfer, at least for one of my order. And this is course the from which I have recieved any of the items yet. The most confusing thing to me is why did they even bother sending me the Touptek cam if it was all a scam? Do I dare to use the camera, might there be something fishy about?*** |
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The business is legitimate and not a straight up scam. At least it was a few years back. However they are basically in the terminal phase and i find it likely that this company goes bankrupt any day now. The ECC replying that the owner is not cooperating with them certainly doesnt sound like a healthy business... If anyone wants to "peek behind the curtains" they can use the services provided by Kauppalehti for a small price: https://www.kauppalehti.fi/yritykset/yritys/32234856 That site reports that Astro art had no profits but a loss of 37k€ in 2023. Since then these reports of failure to deliver on promises have increased dramatically, so we can assume the business has not been profitable in 2024 either. |
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Theoretically it might be not profitable. But if you are taking money and not providing products then it should be very profitable. He is stealing from us, also from government in the form of VAT that we pay.
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Audrius: * I dont disagree with you. What they are doing is despicable. If they cant fulfill orders due to financial issues then they should just close doors and exit the market. They have dug themselves in such a deep hole that no amount of work will ever earn their trust back from consumers. |
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Audrius: I too received part (Antlia filters S2, OIII, Ha) of my order (although all should be in stock in 18 days). But the rest (the most expensive part: a ZWO ASI2600MM) unfortunately not yet. So it is is not a full scam otherwise they would not have sent the filters. But the endless promises and excuses are just a plain shame. Someone suggested to put money together and hire legal assistance. I am in. Or pay them a visit myself ('just' a 1200km drive) to collect my money. |
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Oskari Nikkinen:Audrius: *** Your surname sounds like Finnish  if it s so, could you help finding some media assistance who might be interested in such crime. Also, i tryed contacting https://poliisi.fi/en, but no success - either you need FIN ID, or noeone is picking up the phone ***
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Audrius: *** I bought ASI220mm, thus only ±300 EUR ***
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What I find interesting is that reading posts in this thread and the other thread on Astroart, is that it seems that they have been trustworthy but since the end of 2023 things somehow seem to have went downhill. But still in May I (and I expect many of you too) received a special offer from AstoArt: "A Special Thank You from Astro Art Store!" saying they had fulfilled 6000 orders across Europe and they offered a 20% discount on items in stock. Also if you look on social media, they are quite active. Like Instagram: last post 1 week ago. Facebook: last post 2 weeks ago. Youtube: Last post 1 month ago. So they seem to be active. Just not with delivering, it seems. |
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they are very active in social networks. I was immediately banned (like after 1-2minutes) after writing negative comment in FB and Insta.
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Audrius:Oskari Nikkinen:Audrius: *Yes i am Finnish, however i am not sure what you expect the police to do about this? I am not sure an actual crime has taken place. Sure, goods not delivered and attempts at getting refunds are ignored. As long as the company *eventually* returns the money from refunded/cancelled orders then i think the law was followed. Or refuses the refund and just posts the goods. Really dont know. My legal knowledge about these things is thin at best, certainly not deep enough to contact the police on someone elses part. I think the best the community can do is spread the word and report issues to the ECC or whatever local authorities are interested in these cases. |
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well its simple theft, or fraud as a minimum. You take money and disappear. In my country it is a crime, but maybe in Finland you understand crimes in a different way. Nonetheless i opened a case in police in Lithuania. Case in Finland's ECC opened, but not much encouragement there.
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I'm still waiting for my refund. No reply do my emails or contact attempt. Now I'm waiting for the result on the complaint I sent to the European Customer Center.
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I have seen some sort of progress. I recieved an email saying that the items that were in stock at the time of ordering have been sent and are on their way. A glimmer of hope, I am curious to see what things I will find in the box when it arrives in a few days. I do wonder how long it might take for the items that were not in stock to show up. But, still zero response from Astroart. I have not recieved any replies to my emails for quite some time now. I would say this is the worst part. I would have no problem waiting a while for my orders if only I was not met with complete silence from their side. |
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Me too. I was contactend per e-mail with many apologies and was promised that my cancellation would be processed ‘promptly’. They were extremely short staffed due to illness. A few days later I got mails about my order (the goods that were never delivered were removed from my order and another mail stating that the payment for the goods that were delivered, was received). Also the friendly guy from Sweden tried to call me but we haven’t been able to talk yet. Still waiting for my money but I have better hopes now. I am in touch with legal support nevertheless to apply more pressure. |
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Me too. I was contactend per e-mail with many apologies and was promised that my cancellation would be processed ‘promptly’. They were extremely short staffed due to illness. Oh, but I did not recieve any communication per say, only the 'automated', or whatever, email with the confirmation of shipping. When did you recieve the email containing the apologies? How recently have the swedish man been trying to contact you? |
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Me too. I was contactend per e-mail with many apologies and was promised that my cancellation would be processed ‘promptly’. They were extremely short staffed due to illness. He tried to call on Tuesday. I tried to call back on Wednesday. These automated mails you got, I also got on Tuesday. I give then until this weekend to complete the refund. After that I will go all in on legal pressure. |
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Me too. I was contactend per e-mail with many apologies and was promised that my cancellation would be processed ‘promptly’. They were extremely short staffed due to illness. I am quite curious to hear what they would have to say. Please do share if you do manage to get in touch with them. So, the parcel sent from Astroart arrived the other day. It was a flimsy envelope. It had opened during shipping. What it contained was a pair of the cheaper items, the more expensive items were missing. Perhaps they could have fallen out, or someone had taken them, or they had not been included at all from the start. I don't know. The flimsy envelope was sure not enough to hold all of the items to begin with. The weight of the parcel measured by the shipping company seemed suspiciously low for all of the items that it was supposed to hold. It is being returned to Astroart, "damaged during shipping". I guess I probably should have kept them, but the things were not really worth much anyway. Is anyone here on their Discord? Some "news" have been dropped there. Apparentely the owner has been struck with a case of cancer in the liver.. Meanwhile, the company is supposedely busy expanding. They claim to have opened offices in Sweden, Greece and a second one in Finland They must be damned busy with all of this not being able to reply to any emails or update their website, facebook, and what not with the information that they are having some issues at the moment and that delivery of orders might take a very long time. Riiiiiight.... |
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Take a look at the officially registered address of the store in Finland with street view. It speaks volumes...
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Just look at their trustpilot or google reviews.. Its all "scam, scam, scam" https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.astroart-store.com |
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D. Jung: Pretty much the same at their swedish office as well. |
