If you paid for an order you never received, this page lists the official channels available to you. Nothing here is a substitute for legal advice, and none of these bodies is affiliated with this site.
The point most out-of-state buyers miss: Kinnickinnic Bees is a Wisconsin business, so Wisconsin's consumer protection agency has jurisdiction no matter which state you live in. Customers in Nebraska, Texas, Oregon, Michigan and elsewhere have all reported problems with this company. You do not have to live in Wisconsin to file there, and Wisconsin is where a complaint carries weight.
1. Wisconsin DATCP — the one that matters most
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection runs a Bureau of Consumer Protection with a mediation unit. Staff contact the business on your behalf, usually within about a week. Individual complaints are also aggregated, which is how regulators identify patterns across multiple filings against the same business.
- File online: datcp.wi.gov — File a Consumer Complaint
- Paper form: DATCP Consumer Complaint Form (PDF)
- By phone: (800) 422-7128
- By mail: Bureau of Consumer Protection, 2811 Agriculture Drive, PO Box 8911, Madison, WI 53708-8911
Include your order number, the date you paid, the amount, what you were promised, and copies of your emails and order confirmation.
2. Better Business Bureau
The BBB publishes complaints and the business's responses on its public profile, which is useful to future buyers even when a complaint is not resolved. File at bbb.org/file-a-complaint. The company's profile is here.
3. Your credit card issuer — act quickly
For goods never received, card networks generally allow a dispute within 120 days of the latest promised delivery date, subject to an outer limit of 540 days from the transaction. Tell the issuer the merchandise was never received. This is usually the fastest route to getting money back, and the window closes.
4. The FTC
Report at reportfraud.ftc.gov. The FTC does not resolve individual disputes, but its complaint data is shared with law enforcement and used to identify patterns.
Note that the FTC's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule requires a seller to ship within the time promised, or, if it cannot, to notify the buyer and offer the option to cancel with a prompt refund.
5. Your own state's attorney general
Most state attorneys general accept consumer complaints about out-of-state sellers who shipped, or failed to ship, into their state. Search for your state's name plus "attorney general consumer complaint."
6. Small claims court
Wisconsin small claims covers amounts up to $10,000. A contract claim is filed in the county where the defendant is located, which for this business is Pierce County. Filing fees are modest and out-of-state plaintiffs may file. Note that the company's terms reference arbitration; read them before filing.
A note on leaving reviews
Public reviews help other buyers, and this archive exists because customers took the trouble to write them. Keep to what you can document: dates, amounts, order numbers, what was said to you. Truthful, specific accounts are both the most useful to readers and the most durable.