JEFFERSON CITY – Attorney General Josh Hawley recently said he is suing an online furniture company in Wright County for deceptive business practices.
In a Aug. 1 release, Hawley said he is taking action against Rough Country Furniture LLC, Rustic Concealment Solutions LLC and their owners, Joseph Ross and Ashley Dillard.
The lawsuit being filed in Wright County Circuit Court is based on Hawley's claim that the company and its owners used deceptive and unfair business practices with customers in the sale of furniture and home decor. He said the suit is a result of an investigation that began in November 2017 that received over 1,100 complaints from customers nationwide.
"The company took payments for furniture and home decor but failed to provide the purchased products to consumers," the press release said.
The Missouri office of the attorney general is pursuing charges of misrepresentation, false promise, omission of material fact, deception and unfair practice.
As stated in the complaint, Rough Country and Rustic Concealment "advertise and sell furniture and home decor nationwide," and the products are "handmade," mostly "designed to conceal firearms." Prices can range from $15 to $2,000 and products take between 42 to 160 days to build.
The complaint also states that "defendants have failed to provide products to at least 514 consumers who paid defendants at least $450,094.38." Hawley also states in the complaint that both companies "have failed to provide refunds for orders when consumers requested them."
There were also reports of false promises to customers.
“If companies don’t deliver what they promise when they promise it, they will have to answer to the attorney general,” Hawley said in the release.
Rough Country is also being accused by of using Rustic Concealment as an "alter ego" used by the owners "to assist in their deceptive practices." The company was accused of using Rustic Concealment for deception "after Rough Country received numerous complaints from consumers and the Better Business Bureau," the complaint said.
Many of the products are of inferior quality and differ of those advertised in the company's webpages, the release said.
This case is being investigated by Senior Investigator Margie Colon; Assistant Attorneys General Amy Davis and John Grantham are the prosecutors.