After 21 orders and $ 1,278.90 dollars you have lost a customer .... Very sad.

[Big Hitter]

As the title says between September 2010 and last week I've places 21 orders for a total of 1278.90
Almost all of that money on my favorite juice .... Taboo
I buy both the PG and the VG and mix them to about 60/40 VG/PG ratio.

So after a thousand dollars worth of Taboo I know what it smells like and tastes like.
In fact smelling a fresh bottle of Taboo used to make my mouth water
Now after a silly incident it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, as does the name LiquidXpress.

On my last order of (5) 30ml bottles of taboo one of was not correct ... not even close.
I have a feeling it was mislabeled (smells like it might have been honey flue cured)
What ever it was, it was not what I paid for. So I left a support ticked on the site to get it straightened out.
24 hours later with no reply I sent Rob an email.

In his reply he tells me its "very peculiar" because there have been no other reports of problems with that flavor at that strength. Fair enough it was odd for me because every one of my previous 20 orders had been fine.

But he wants me to pay and ship the bottle back to them and when i give him a tracking # of the return he will ship a new bottle out.

WRONG ANSWER!

I'm not going to pay more money to fix a mistake that was not mine.

The way I see it the LiquidXpress team had two options to keep a good (or any) customer happy.

1) Ask me to dump the bottle and take my word that I would do so and get a replacement bottle out to me ASAP.

2) If they really want the juice back to investigate what happened (probably smart) send me a pre-paid label to return the bottle and get my replacement bottle of juice out to me.

I'm in shock sitting here typing this, I kind of wish we had problem sooner in our relationship before I sent so many of my hard earned dollars their way It just seems so silly to even ask a customer to foot the bill for an error. I met Rob personally at Vapefest in Philly 2011 and he seems like a great guy, we talked for quite a while.

Oh well, just wanted to say farewell to the LiquidXpress team and good luck in the future. Hopefully you learn something from our interaction. I spent 183 dollars at two separate vendors last night beefing up my DIY supplies. That was $183 that would have went your way in the near future.

Thanks for reading,
Vape on!

BH

 

[ltrainer]

You are so right Tim. I recently did this with another vendor I shall not name. THey made good products and when I had a problem they wanted more $$$ so I said so long to you. A liitle common sense can go along way.

 

[vaporator2000]

Tim,

I am glad you took the time to tell us about this. I will definitely avoid spending my hard earned bucks on that company.

 

[mindtwist69]

Hello Tim,

To start with, I will explain our stance and situation on this issue, out in the open, since that is where this was brought up. Our policy regarding any liquid orders is we cannot take back any opened liquid for any reason, because taste is subjective. We have always tried to work with customers, especially our loyal customers, by taking their word for it when something was wrong and having them ship back orders to us so we can find out exactly what the problem was that occurred (was it a shipping issue, manufacturing etc.).

Now as to this specific order, Tim ordered, in addition to the normal order, something different and out of the ordinary for him, a 9mg bottle in addition to his usual 18mg bottles (his previous 20 orders were of 18 alone). I do not know the reason for one bottle being different which is why the policy is for someone to send it back. If there was a problem with the bottle of 9mg (other than just subjective taste), we would ship out a new one with an email for a Gift Certificate or a coupon code for free shipping on the next order.

We feel that is a fair middle ground and began requiring customers to send back the bottles, and if there is a problem, the customer gets replacements as well as free shipping in the future. This to ensure it stops people from just writing and saying their liquid is bad and to send them a new bottle if they do not care for the taste. In the past we have had this happen. Normally long time customers don't have an issue picking up the phone and calling in to talk about a problem and reach a solution, usually it goes a long way with us if people want to bring an issue to light and help us resolve it because we want our products to be the best they can be.

Tim, I know you’re a heartfelt community guy, I see you posting on the forums constantly. I'm sorry this was an issue for you and am happy to help sort it out, but again, I do not care how friendly we are with our customers, at the end of the day our policies are our policies and I am sorry you feel them unfair. The contact us page did not get sent correctly in our system to me, I received your email on Friday at 5:30pm and responded Sat. morning by 8:45 am CST. We do not ignore our customers and if they believe there is a problem with us not returning an email we have always encouraged people to call us. It is the reason we have a toll free number. I hate poor customer service and try to provide as many avenues to solving a problem as we can. As I tell all our clients, at the end of the day taking care of the customer is our job, it always has been and if for 20 straight orders you have opened up product and it was exactly the same, then that alone shows a dedication to consistency of a product. I am sorry you feel that us not following your solutions suddenly makes us a bad company but we have policies here to protect the clients and LiquidXpress, and we have to follow them.

 

[Big Hitter]

Thanks for the reply Rob. I see your point on taste being subjective, but at some point you have to trust your customer enough to know this was not a case of Taboo "not tasting right"

This is a case of my bottle marked Taboo is not taboo. I should have been treated the same as if you sent me a bottle of HFC by mistake (which is what I believe happened).

Its all good, if anything I needed to add up the costs of my orders with you it was a further wake up call that I need to DIY my juice.

And I'll give away the Taboo/HFC? to a friend of mine .... I only hope the 9mg part of the labels is correct.

EDIT: I guess I should dump the bottle in question, if the mg is wrong (not saying it is) thats kind of a safety issue.

 

[mindtwist69]

We definitely do trust our loyal customers Tim, this is not a instance of a first time order thinking the flavor is wrong, but it is our process of using a methodical approach to figuring out an issue (manufacturing, shipping, labeling, or a taste subjective issue). I understand the cost analysis in your entire history (roughly $67 a month since you started [averaged]) and I tell clients to find what they like and stick with it, if you like DIY'ing then I'm glad at the end of the day you are happy with vaping.

Hopefully in the future we can help you with any questions / comments / concerns you have. We do listen, and work to keep our customer base happy.

v/r

Rob

 

[Big Hitter]

Thanks Rob, I understand you have to make policy and stick with it (I guess)

It just doesn't seem that there should be a policy that negates your responsibility to fulfill a simple contract.

I ordered XX amount of product YY and paid your advertised price.
You have not fulfilled that contract.
I am still 15 dollars short on product which you do not intend to ship unless I spend more money out of my pocket to prove you made a mistake. I wasn't that upset at the beginning, but the more I think about it the more it seems your "policy" is fundamentally flawed (and perhaps illegal??) I guess I could hit up my credit union and try to file a claim for the remaining open order amount. But I'll just chalk it up as a loss.

PS: I owned and operated my own business for 24 years and I never once had to pull the "policy" card out of the arsenal.

 

[mindtwist69]

Ok Tim,

The policy actually is "no returns", but for our clients we try to help as much as possible. If you owned and operated a small business for 24 years, I would imagine, you would want a customer to contact you to find an answer to a solution, rather than starting multiple threads on the issue linking it this instance. I would have thought that having had 20+ orders without an issue and speaking with me personally would have shown you the care we do take to get things correct, and that you can reach us to find a solution. At the end of the day, I have decided this is what will be done in your case.

What you wanted, you will get. Your credit card has been refunded $5.35 for shipping. Send us the bottle back, I will also refund your card $15.00. You can close your account with us once you get that refund so that there is no confusion. You did a lot of business with us and I regret that you do not agree with the way we have handled the situation, we also regret that instead of calling us to talk about an issue, you felt the only way we would listen is starting threads that you know would cause drama on the forums.

v/r

Rob

 

[mindtwist69]

I would also like to point out Tim, that you have been refunded shipping to your credit card that is for you to send the product back to us, so now that we have paid for you to send the item back, we would appreciate it if you did so. We will not lie about what we get back from you as you seem to be concerned about when you posted in this other post: Here.

v/r

Rob

 

[Big Hitter]

I understand Rob, I actually didn't want a "return" but was told I would have to in order to get the proper item.

I did contact you to make things right. I told you which bottle was not correct and was expecting a "sorry that happened, I'll send a replacement right out".

You are correct I should have just left it alone and moved on. Point taken.

I will drop it off at the PO tomorrow on its way back to you.

Take care.

 

[Big Hitter]

I need to add that Rob at liquidXpress has gone out of his way to make this right.

I regret that I didn't do more to communicate my concerns with him privately,
I'm confident we could had worked it out if I had.

I apologize to the entire LiquidXpress team.

 

[mindtwist69]

No problem Tim, I understand frustration and hope that this entire thread will be a way for people to see that we're not some company that only is out to "get people and their money" but we care about our customers and will work with them.

v/r

Rob

 

[Circuit]

I hate to pile on here, but I've had the EXACT same experience. 20 consistent orders...now this mixup (ordered 9mg Taboo, received HFC instead), and have yet to receive a reply to Friday's message (sent a follow up today). I've only just submitted a trouble ticket, but it sounds like that system isn't working anyway. Instead, I'd replied directly to the order e-mail, since Rob's name IS the order e-mail. It seemed logical that any RE: with an order number might be a priority. Like the original poster; I'm not looking for a freebie. I simply expect the product I ordered, and a timely response to my inquiry.

I understand your point about calling, but to be honest, since you run a mail order business and take orders online, your primary contact should always be digital and prompt. In addition, using your personal e-mail for orders implies that you are monitoring this address personally. If that is NOT the case, then you should probably swap it to something generic ("orders@") to end any confusion. I simply replied to the order e-mail, since it had all the requisite information. 2 business days is more than reasonable to expect a response (sent my message Friday afternoon. As of today, Tuesday, I have received no reply). It sounds like there's a legitimate mix up going on here, but you should know that the timeliness of response is directly proportional to how likely customers are to return; especially if they're regulars. Most won't even bother past their initial message. We all choose suppliers based on their consistency and ability to handle a problem. On #1 there, you've been doing a bang-up job for me since 2010. On #2...well, there's work to do.

Personally, I've already found another supplier due to the timeliness of response. Can't say you've lost my business completely yet...but considering I'm not the only one having this experience...I have to admit I'm sensing a theme that makes me pretty uncomfortable to continue.

 

[Circuit]

I want to add that Rob and the LiquidXpress crew have been STELLAR from my first order. This is the one and ONLY issue I've had, and I have no doubt that I'm in good hands and that the apparent support issue will be dealt with.

Let's not let technical snafus ruin reputations. If you're a new customer considering an order, don't hesitate. You've got a good 2 years before anything bad MIGHT happen, and they're good folks.

 

[eyebedam]

Well I hate to even say anything & wishe I hadn't read this but I don't think I'll purchase here either if it's that much hassle for a proven loyal customer with a small complaint. I can understand if it was a single order 1 time issue but loyalty to a proven customer has to come into play at some point.

 

[Circuit]

It's a frustration for sure, but I have no reason to believe that they're being intentionally evasive. I chalk it up to poor processes, which have probably made it this far because they almost never have issues. I have a feeling that the customer support side of things will see some changes very soon. I probably sound overly empathetic, but that's only because I've been a small business owner. I promise you that every comment is something you take personally and to heart. From my experience, these folks aren't in this business to make a quick buck. They WANT to do this right, they're just having some growing pains. Let's put this in perspective: They shipped 20 accurate orders to me amazingly quick (even when they were in SoCal), and have only failed once. I'll take those odds.

I'll be patient, but as I said...I have already placed another order with another supplier for my regular flavor. I've always spread it around a bit, but they've been my juice source for quite a while, so it hurts when your addiction can't be fed. I REALLY miss my RY4 flavor right now...

 

[SKYYcamel]

For what it's worth. I started doing business with Rob shortly after I started my vaping journey (3 years now). I've never had a problem with service or products. I'm just posting this to let anyone reading this know that these two incidents are not the norm for LiquidXpress. I've placed 16 orders and all have been perfect. Thanks for reading and now I'm going back to vaping my beloved Honey Flue Cured.

 

[Big Hitter]

I've had the EXACT same experience. 20 consistent orders...now this mixup (ordered 9mg Taboo, received HFC instead), and have yet to receive a reply to Friday's message

OP here, I never had an issue with a timely response from Rob. He responded to the email very fast.
I hope you get the response you wan't to hear very soon.
My bottle went back to LXP yesterday and Rob is going to replace it for me.
You are correct we did have exactly the same problem (less the response time).
Same flavor, same strength, same issue. I'm sure they are going to find the cause and make corrections to the process to lessen the chances of it happening again.

Everyone makes mistakes. I don't think I've made it 20 orders with any other vendor without a mistake. Heck I don't think I've made it to 10.

 

[Circuit]

Just got a response from Rob, who was very apologetic. Good folks, I tell ya.

Seriously, first timers - don't let this scare you off. It's not very often you get personal service like this from a company.

Also, bears mentioning that the "other" vendor I ordered from has just today shipped my order; orders from LiquidXpress make it to me in a consistent 2-days from the time of my order (even if it's Saturday). The "other" vendor? Well, they've taken 3 days just to SHIP my order. Point, LiquidXpress. I'm betting Rob has replacement bottles here before my other shipment arrives.

 

[mindtwist69]

Wow, a lot of input yesterday afternoon.

Let's start with the update: We have taken out of stock a certain batch of Taboo 9mg, which we are having tested, currently based upon smell/taste/customer opinion we believe to be mislabeled HFC, but we need to confirm it.

Second:

I believe something is going on with our admin system, and am having the engineers look into it, it's taking at minimum 26 hours for me to get a "contact us" page ticket, and replies to an order (even though it says rob@liquid) are not coming back to me but to a junk folder. The best way to contact us is to call the toll free number or to send an email to customerservice@liquid (I'm not finishing the email addy because of bots but I believe everyone knows our name.com).

Since restructuring to an actual retail store from an online only there have been some difficulties with getting things set up correctly. Our employees do not sit online all day anymore, usually helping customers in the store, or filling orders, or inventory etc. I normally am the online browser if I'm not talking with a customer myself. That wouldn't be so bad if the move hadn't caused the back end to malfunction and cause the above issues. Hopefully soon the issues will be resolved but do contact either at the number listed or the customerservice email addy.

Once we have in the samples that are being returned we are going to send everything off to finish the testing. We have a separate batch of 9mg that is fine and still have some of that item in stock.

v/r

Rob