Tsiigu and Sheldwelt
Tsiigu was a web-based baby equipment vendor run by Mari Aid. Unusually among Estonian web-based stores, it required its customers to pay in advance in full—a practice not permitted by Estonia's consumer protection law. When the Consumer Protection Agency intervened, the advance payment requirement was cut to 50%, the maximum allowed by the law. However, since middle 2007, it became routine for customers to never receive their goods, nor, even after multiple requests, to get their money back. Media interest was piqued by Aid's unusual and weird statements, such as claiming that the company's illiquidity is a result of evil (but unnamed) competitors' sabotage.
In March 2008, police requested Zone Media, the ISP hosting Trendshop's web stores, to shut them down in prevention of further crime. The ISP complied, and the stores were taken down.
The 'virtual complaint book' ran by Tarbija24, a consumer news portal operated by Postimees, gathered rapidly more than 1000 posts under the topic of Tsiigu and Mari Aid.
Read more about this topic: Mari Aid