MN man’s companies failed to deliver $900K worth of products: Lawsuit

BLAINE, Minn. (FOX 9) - Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has filed a lawsuit against a Minnesota business owner that allegedly failed to deliver nearly $900,000 worth of products that consumers purchased, while denying refunds.

What we know

According to the lawsuit, William Shocinski, Jr. and the businesses he owned – including Meraki Metal Art LLC, VO Metal Center MN LLC, VO Metal Art LLC and VO Metal Art MN LLC, collectively known as "Shocinski Metals" – repeatedly violated Minnesota’s consumer protection laws.

The lawsuit says Shocinski’s companies took money from orders nationwide, but then failed to deliver more than half of the orders placed – failing to deliver 12,484 of 28,793 products between August 2021 and December 2023. Shocinski is said to have collected $878,769, or roughly $44,000 per month, from the product orders.

Shocinski Metals also made "false, deceptive and misleading" statements about products offered for sale through company websites.

Of the products delivered to customers, many were damaged, had misspelled customized metal décor, or were not what the customer ordered, the lawsuit says.

Refunds refused

The lawsuit also alleges that Shocinski’s businesses would refuse to provide refunds to consumers, for both damaged products and ones that were never delivered.

As a part of the scheme, Shocinski Metals advertised a "30-day guarantee" refund policy that required consumers to return a form that did not exist, the lawsuit says.

Instead of providing refunds, Shocinski Metals wouldn’t contest consumers’ fraud reports to their credit card companies, which would refund consumers that followed protocol.

Charitable donations

In short, the lawsuit alleges that promoted contributions to charities also didn’t happen.

Shocinski Metals repeatedly advertised non-existent affiliations with youth charities, stating that, "All Orders Help Support Our Local Youth Charity" that claimed to support Today’s Harbor for Children.

However, the lawsuit alleges that no donations were ever made to the Texas-based organization.

What’s next?

The lawsuit seeks to stop Shocinski Metals from continuing to sell products, along with full repayment for former customers and additional civil penalties.