Just in time for summer barbecues, there's a new and super convenient way to score meat in Maple Heights: just wait around for your friendly, local, unlicensed door-to-door meat vendor. What? That doesn't sound good?
The Cleveland Better Business Bureau, in reminding folks of the practice, cited an example in a June 28 press release of a Maple Heights woman that purchased $200 worth of steak and meat from a vendor last month, only to find that the cooked chicken was so tough that it was inedible. When she tried to call and ask for the refund, the number that the meat seller, Buckeye’s Finest Foods, provided did not work.
Buckeye’s mailing address is a UPS Store mail forwarding address where mail can’t be sent to, according to BBB. The BBB also says that after reaching the company's owner, he said he has nothing to do with the vendors who go door to door.
BBB president Sue McConnell told WEWS:
"Honor their guarantees, give refunds if their customers insist on refunds. In this case people were buying a product that was just not edible. Are you really going to want a replacement?
"The owner told us once the broker purchases the meat, Buckeye's Finest Foods is actually out of the picture. It's the broker’s responsibility to handle the sale correctly get the proper permits.’”
The vendors could be arrested and face a fine upwards of $1,000 if caught, according to Maple Heights mayor Annette Blackwell.
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