Houston Manufacturer 'The Vend Doctor' under fire after consumers come forward with complaints
HOUSTON - Shatha Tamimi says her vision of a lash and makeup brand with vending machines installed around Houston has been crushed.
In October of 2020, she says she paid 17K in cash for 2-vending machines from a Houston-based manufacturer called "The Vend Doctor," They also use the name "Billionaire Vending."
"The vending machine business is really not it for me, especially because of my experience with The Vend Doctor," said Tamimi.
Tamimi says it took 4 months to receive the used machine that she paid $7,000 for. She placed it in Katy Mills Mall right away, and she says it had so many technical difficulties that she’s yet to make a profit. She also claims getting ‘The Vend Doctor’ to fix the machine has been nearly impossible.
And more than one year after her purchase, she’s still waiting on the brand new vending machine that she paid $11,000 for. She says the vend doctor refuses to give her a refund.
"He’s saying the machine should be in Houston on a shipment, on a boat or something," Tamimi said.
FOX 26 did some digging on ‘The Vend Doctor;’ the company is owned by a man named Zatrick Alamin. He told Fox 26 that Tamimi’s machine is held up at the Port of Houston, and because of Covid-19 and staff shortages, it’s been sitting there for nearly 6 months now. We took that information directly to the Port of Houston and they looked into it.
Their public relations team sent the following statement:
"Port Houston Customer Service Manager followed up immediately on the matter you presented last week that a customer ‘had machines or parts sitting in a container lost on the docks for months’ hindering his small business and the vendor had said that he had an issue ‘months ago’ at ‘the start of the pandemic,’ but no real pressing issues since. It is my understanding that he said that he did not report any "specific shipment," but it was his understanding that "the story he was a part of was simply that there were delays and impacts to small businesses over the last 18 months due to the pandemic.' It is my understanding that the customer said 'his cargo is moving well now,' but ‘they did see delays in the past.’ It is my understanding that he said that ‘the delays he mentioned were all in the past’ and ‘they have a better flow of shipment at this time.’"
FOX 26 also spoke with Phyllis Saathowff the CEO of Port Freeport and president of the Texas Port Association, we asked her if that timeframe was likely and if they’ve seen situations described by ‘The Vend Doctor’ happening often.
"I think it’s a shorter timeframe. I think if there’s a case like that, it would be an outlier and there’s probably something else that’s involved," said Saathowff.
‘The Vend Doctor’ has a C+ rating on the Better Business Bureau and it’s not a BBB accredited business.
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While looking through social media posts and comments about ‘The Vend Doctor,’ we saw numerous people sharing similar complaints.
Tiffany Toney says she paid more than $2,000 to have a snack and beverage machine delivered to California and installed for her in a boxing gym, she waited about one month for her machine.
"He told me he had employees in California that would help me unload it, bring it in the gym, and set it up, none of that was true. They literally just dropped it off." Toney explained.
She hired help to get it installed, but she says the machine had issues right from the start.
"The machine would not accept money, it kept saying controller error. The machine would be completely full and it kept saying the drinks were sold out and it was also leaking all over the floor of the gym," she said.
Toney says she never made a profit and the broken machine even compromised her contract with the gym.
"It’s leaking on the floor and it’s not safe for the boxers here, so they basically told me I had a certain amount of time to remove the machine from the gym," said Toney.
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She tells us that Zatrick also denied her a refund, but said he would send a replacement. That replacement never came and she says he hasn’t responded to her calls or messages since July.
"I even told him, I’ll take you to court if you don’t resolve this, and he said, I’ll see you in court then," Toney explained.
Zatrick invited FOX 26 to come into his warehouse and interview him about the delays, but after repeated attempts to set up a time and date to do so, he stopped responding. On Thursday, we went to his warehouse on Alvin Street, but there was no way to approach the entrance. We called him and texted to let him know we were there but we never received a response.
FOX 26 also reached out to the Texas Attorney General’s office to learn what people who find themselves in a similar situation can do, they sent over a complaint form that consumers can file to have the Attorney General’s Office investigate.
Both women filed that complaint with the Attorney General’s office, they also filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau.