Tyumen businessmen accused of iPhone fraud by blogger
Tyumen entrepreneurs Yulia and Sergey Ivanov, founders of the Ivagreen brand, have been accused of fraud. This was reported to the editorial office by Vadim Zaripov — a sports blogger, owner of the VZ fitness studio, and one of the parties in this conflict. The businesspeople, in turn, have filed a counter-statement.
The dispute between the Ivanovs and Zaripov flared up in December last year over the purchase of an iPhone at a significant discount. What initially seemed a minor conflict quickly escalated into a full-blown feud, and the entrepreneurs began complaining about each other to various authorities. We spoke with both sides and recount what happened.
Zaripov«s Version
Vadim approached the 72.RU editorial office with a complaint about the Take Phone store, which is owned by Sergey Ivanov (who also owns several Chehol.72 stores). He was raffling off an iPhone at his fitness studio and found out that it could be purchased at a favorable price in Ivanov«s store.
«The manager offers customers to buy a phone on order, which supposedly arrives in three to five days. On December 8, I bought a phone on order, paid, I think, 94 thousand rubles (approximately $1,000 at current rates), while it sells for 98–100 thousand. But neither on the 13th nor the 15th of December was it delivered to me. The last time I came to the store was on December 28, already with a pre-trial claim against Ivanov, but the manager didn«t accept it from me, saying he wasn»t authorized. Yet he can sign contracts on Ivanov«s behalf,» Zaripov asserts.
According to the man, they entered into a contract that stipulates, in particular, the following conditions:
The seller undertakes to deliver the phone within a maximum of 24 working days.
If the buyer refuses the purchase and wants a refund, they will be obligated to pay a penalty of 20% of the amount.
To conduct the promised raffle, Zaripov bought another iPhone with cash, and for this one, he now wants a refund, as he personally no longer needs the phone. In response, the store allegedly offers to return the amount minus the penalty or to buy another phone from available stock, paying the difference.
Zaripov found other dissatisfied customers, and together they filed a police report against Sergey Ivanov. The editorial office has confirmation of two appeals to the authorities — from Zaripov himself and from Anna A. Zaripov also named four other customers.
Additionally, Zaripov assured the editorial office that he checked the IMEI of the phone that was supposed to arrive for him, and it allegedly turned out that the phone had already been activated. Consequently, it is not new — such a conclusion, at least, was made by the businessman.
As Zaripov assures, during communication with other customers, it emerged that one of them was threatened by the Ivanovs. The girl allegedly paid for the phone by transfer to a number given to her in the store. When the conflict began, the girl called the number, which belonged to Sergey Ivanov«s grandmother.
«She told the whole story to this grandmother, and she didn«t believe that her grandson was involved in such things. And then the Ivanovs found out about it and started threatening the girl. They said they knew where she lived, would come, break her legs, and set her house on fire,» Zaripov puts forward his version of events.
Zaripov also accuses the Ivanovs of review manipulation on 2GIS — both negative reviews (which allegedly appeared for his fitness studio after the conflict) and positive ones. The editorial office has no direct confirmation of these claims.
The Ivanovs« Version
We reached out for comment to Sergey and Yulia Ivanov. In a conversation with a journalist, they said they are aware of the situation with Zaripov.
According to her version, the matter unfolded as follows: Zaripov bought a phone in the store because he wanted to save a substantial amount of money. However, a phone ordered in advance takes longer to deliver, as delivery can be delayed. He was informed that the phone might not arrive before the New Year, to which Zaripov allegedly responded: «Come on, the main thing is it«s cheaper.»
The girl also assured that the phone ordered by the man is waiting for him in the store, but he doesn«t pick it up. Vadim confirmed this, explaining that the smartphone is no longer needed — another one was purchased.
«Our lawyer contacted him. He replies: „I don«t need to settle anything with you.“ He creates groups to compromise us. He had a video where he stands in front of our store and says „Now we»ll have some fun, now there will be such chaos.“ Before us, he conflicted with another electronics store; we are not the first,» shares Ivanova«s opinion.
The girl also assures that Zaripov illegally purchased the Ivanovs« personal data online, something he allegedly admitted to the family»s lawyer. Yulia believes that this story is needed by the young entrepreneur for PR purposes.
«The person doesn«t know how to generate hype, boost his blog, tries to approach it in a shady way, and then invites people to his fitness club. He has been an individual entrepreneur for two months; there isn»t even a shower in his studio. And we have been working for six years, have fallen, gotten up, we don«t have a single client for whom we didn»t deliver anything, all clients leave with phones. We were at the police, and they told us, like, a case should be opened against him. But we don«t engage in such things, haven»t built our reputation on anyone. He«s just become a nuisance,» the entrepreneur says.
Regarding the accusations of threats, Yulia responded that there is «bullying» from the dissatisfied customers. Also, the family showed the editorial office correspondence with a woman where the dissatisfied customer promised to «cause a heart attack» to a 69-year-old pensioner.
The 72.RU editorial office contacted the city police for comment to find out if complaints had been filed about the entrepreneurs« activities and if an investigation is being conducted. They confirmed that complaints had been received by the department. An investigation is currently underway.
In response, the Ivanovs filed a counter-complaint against Zaripov — for defamation.
Earlier, we wrote about the scandal with the Vaskin family from Ishim. Famous bloggers gifted a car to the family head Pavel, a disabled man who lost his legs, and published a story about him on their channel. However, it later turned out that Pavel was previously known as a person with a questionable reputation, accused of fraud. How that story ended, told here.
