Eighty-five customers from 32 states and Puerto Rico have filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau about Utah-based iKaput.com, claiming that the iPods customers sent to the Pleasant Grove company for repair were not fixed.

In the past nine months, complaints have poured into the BBB's Utah offices. The customers said their iPods were not returned, or the wrong iPods were returned, and that the company did not respond to their concerns, according to a BBB statement released Monday.

When customers contacted the company about their iPods, they were told various stories. Some customers were told that the company is restructuring. Others were told there had been a death in the family. Still others were told that the offices had recently moved. And some were told that a staff member had stolen some iPods. A large number of customers never heard back from the company, the BBB statement said.

The domain name of iKaput.com is registered to John Homer at 81 S. 1380 West in Lindon. The Deseret News could not find Homer for comment. An e-mail sent to the Web site was not returned.

The Web site is down "for maintenance," it says, adding "please come again soon."

The company has not responded to the BBB's request for information, and the BBB tried calling a phone number connected to the company, but it has been disconnected. The mailing address is a private mail-collection company, not a physical business location, the BBB statement said.

"The BBB urges caution to consumers considering doing business with this company," the BBB statement said.

The BBB recommends that people doing business with a new company should check out its reliability report at www.bbb.org.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com