Another B&M rant

[WattWick]

Although I do sort of agree with what your saying, wasn't it much better when you could go into any shop to buy something and get well informed people putting you in the right direction (presuming your old enough to remember this) shop keepers would actually sell you something cheaper that was better for you so that you would come back to someone you could trust. Things have changed and although some things are better many things are worse.

Agreed. A little honest, professional salesmanship isn't too much to ask.

Differences in safety issues aside, this practice of (as I'd like to call it) scamming ones customers is especially prevalent in computer sales. If I saw my mother tricked treated like that, some salesman would for all posterity be known as The Laptop Guy to the proctology community.

This may also be a generational thing tho. The older crowd goes to a store to find an expert on something. You don't expect a shoemaker to sell you a pair of shoes that don't fit. (some of) The younger crowd sees it more as a competition in who can trick the most people into buying stuff they don't need.

 

[Rotowoman]

Ya, ya should`nt worry about thats too much.

Da Gobbermint WILL take care of it!

That's what I'm afraid of!!

 

[Oberon75]

It's pretty apparent that a lot of people who work on these B&M's don't know much of anything. I've only been vaping a month and I'm the one schooling them when I go in there to buy things.

 

[rhelton]

So I got a call from a friend of mine tonight. He was having problems with his new mod and was in the neighborhood so he thought I might be able to help him out as I'm the most advanced of our group of friends.

I had heard he got a mod, but hadn't seen him lately. I'm sitting here thinking he had a MVP or istick with a PT3 or Nautilus.

Turns out he's had his mod for like a week or two. Bought it at the local B&M, they set it up for him and let him walk out the door. Sigelei 100W box mod with a Stillare clone running a .4 ohm dual coil. He was running it at 100W the whole time.

He came over because his cotton wick burned and he couldn't replace it.

They sold him a high power mod and RDA, and didn't even make sure he could build a coil. No battery safety, no basics. He doesn't own kanthal, no rebuilding supplies. The only point in their favor is I'm pretty sure those were Panasonic 18650s I saw in it. (Red?)

TL;DR-
I'm just getting tired of B&M's catering to someone walking in and saying "I want to blow huge clouds" without taking into account user level, experience or anything. They don't care if you blow your face off because you don't have the experience for what you're using, they just want your $160.

Yup seen this over and over again from the one two blocks from me. And they sell clones as authentic, mostly patriots, vape jam, fournine, and flips. There may be others but those a for certain. I stopped going there for awhile but I did stop in there couple day's ago cause I ran out of 30 guage and nothing changed. One of the kids that works there was even burnt on a patriot, they refunded him but he still works there. He say's he doesnt like it but there's not any other vape shop to work at. I get that vapin is his passion its mine also but man you gotta draw the line somewhere.

 

[jonny45378]

I hate b&ms that do that. Luckily my 2 local ones aren't like that and will sit there with someone as long as possible to figure out what is best for them. Like for most new people they always recommend the mvp2 or the itaste vv. And they never pressure you into buying anything if you don't want to. While they do build coils they build within reason. I'm sorry your local one only cares about money and I hope more b&ms start being like my local ones who actually care.

 

[chopdoc]

Thats one of my pet peeve's about B & M's and I know not all of them are that way but too many are. We hear a lot on ECF how a newbie will go to a B & M and end up with an RDA and a fancy Mod and thats not really what they need but they do burn thru a lot of juices and have to keep going back to the B & M for more juice which is their bread and butter. To the young kid behind the counter it is more about making the high dollar sale than it is about helping people out.

 

[Pclarity]

Agreed. A little honest, professional salesmanship isn't too much to ask.

Differences in safety issues aside, this practice of (as I'd like to call it) scamming ones customers is especially prevalent in computer sales. If I saw my mother tricked treated like that, some salesman would for all posterity be known as The Laptop Guy to the proctology community.

This may also be a generational thing tho. The older crowd goes to a store to find an expert on something. You don't expect a shoemaker to sell you a pair of shoes that don't fit. (some of) The younger crowd sees it more as a competition in who can trick the most people into buying stuff they don't need.

I believe it's also that businesses no longer truly train their employees. They don't set outright standards anymore, particularly at the retail level. It used to take weeks before a new employee was let alone on the sales floor, now it's a couple days if that and sink or swim. Fight or flight in training leads to bad practices to keep a pay check.

 

[nynvolt]

I'm super angry I was at the grocery store and bought some beer. They didn't even bother to tell me it was bad for me or I shouldn't drink and drive!

Seriously I do think it's in the shops best interest to keep customers safe but if a guy walks in and buys stuff, I wouldn't expect them to interrogate him/her. I would politely ask if they had any questions but having worked in retail before, I bet 9 of 10 customers get all huffy if you try and educate them. It's not their responsibility. Good business practice but not their responsibility.

 

[ImThatGuy]

I'm super angry I was at the grocery store and bought some beer. They didn't even bother to tell me it was bad for me or I shouldn't drink and drive!

Seriously I do think it's in the shops best interest to keep customers safe but if a guy walks in and buys stuff, I wouldn't expect them to interrogate him/her. I would politely ask if they had any questions but having worked in retail before, I bet 9 of 10 customers get all huffy if you try and educate them. It's not their responsibility. Good business practice but not their responsibility.

This is full of win!!!

 

[Maiar]

I'm so glad that all three B&M's I go to here aren't like that at all. They sell all that complicated stuff but if you say you're a beginner they sit you down and pretty much show you a wide range of products and actually try to find the one that suits you best.

 

[IMFire3605]

Having worked at least 2 B&M shops, I have to say it is hard to find the right type of employee for these positions. The 2 I worked at, only 1 the owner knew quite a bit more than the employees, downside he was rarely in the shop. The last shop, the employees knew more than the 2 business owners, always in the shop, upselling people stuff they asked about or did not need (at that particular moment due to lack of knowledge), then leave it to me when the customer came back p1$$ed off and confused. Needless to say there were more than 1 argument between me and them, especially if you gonna sell the dang thing, instead of just sitting around gibbering between each other, get on the darned computer and hit google and youtube to learn your industry or stay at home and leave the shop operations to the managers. Needless to say, next shop I work at will be my own and operate with in the beginner and intermediate area instead of advanced stuff with classes and such on like Wednesdays and Saturdays.

 

[Rocketpunk]

I still find it extremely ironic that hardcore cloud chasers were never smokers in the first place.

Also, this obsession with thickness and density of vapor. When I was a smoker, I couldn't care less about what came out of my face holes. I just wanted to smoke. I do understand that we want to see something coming out of our lungs that mimics cigarette smoke. It helps with the transition. But chucking plumes just to see them.....

Now everyday I see people saying, "I want more vapor, I want bigger vapor".

I understand, but this is a recent occurrence. A new phenom. I get truly excited when someone comes in and says, "I want to quit smoking." When someone comes in and says, "I want to blow clouds", I have to bite my tongue and tow the line.

They've taken something that is wholly important to us and turned it into hotrodding.

Sent from my KFOT using Tapatalk

 

[AndriaD]

I still find it extremely ironic that hardcore cloud chasers were never smokers in the first place.

Also, this obsession with thickness and density of vapor. When I was a smoker, I couldn't care less about what came out of my face holes. I just wanted to smoke.

*Snicker* I absolutely 100% agree; before I knew about e-cigs, I never even really NOTICED what came out of my face holes! But, once I started vaping, while I was still dual-using, I actually watched my exhalations; my 85% PG ejuice makes a substantially thicker "cloud" than cigarette smoke ever thought about!!!

What comes out the face holes is *almost* TOTALLY IRRELEVANT! The entire point is, are you satisfied with vaping as a substitute for smoking? The sensation you feel in your body is the point, not what comes out, and anyone who's never smoked cannot answer that question at all! An ejuice that's 85% PG makes more of a cloud than cigarette smoking; if you can't tolerate that much PG, fine, use VG, but keep in mind that the POINT is staying off cigarettes, NOT creating your own weather!

I'm not saying that never-smokers don't have a right to vape if they really want to, whatever their reasons may be -- and there are surely a lot of reasons why people might want nicotine therapy, but were unwilling to stink just to get it -- but I also see no point in catering to this TOTALLY BRAINLESS fixation on clouds that look like coolwhip. No actual smoke EVER looked like that.

Andria

 

[choochoogranny]

Maybe because more vapor = more flavor......up to a point? Know I didn't pay attention to the smoke I was exhaling using cigarettes, but did learn that if I had proper working coils I had more vapor and thus better taste. Am not a cloud chaser by any means (can't be with my gear), but do blow more white fluffy vapor than I ever did smoke. I guess I use the amount of vapor as an "indicator" of how well my coils are doing.

 

[WattWick]

Maybe because more vapor = more flavor......up to a point? Know I didn't pay attention to the smoke I was exhaling using cigarettes, but did learn that if I had proper working coils I had more vapor and thus better taste. Am not a cloud chaser by any means (can't be with my gear), but do blow more white fluffy vapor than I ever did smoke. I guess I use the amount of vapor as an "indicator" of how well my coils are doing.

Then again you could always add a couple drops of extra flavoring

 

[carrdoc]

I also think the shop should TRY to gauge a persons levels,instruct the less knowledgeable with as much info as needed or wanted.I have seen experienced vapers at thelocal,and still they needed some learning.I always try to help if in earshot of someone questioning and I thinkn the worker /owners like getting the extra help.BUT ,if a consumer doesn't want to learn,only so much an employee can do.I figure no matter what level we are,we can always learn more which in the end profits the shop anyway.

 

[crackizzle]

Unrelated note, super sub ohm has some benefits on a regulated device. It saves battery from a lower output voltage, and possibly lower amp drain. I also really don't like a super hot vape and running 8.4 volts through a 1.5 ohm coil to get in the range of my sweet spot is EXTREMELY hot.

Also kudos on being a reputable vape employee. My local B and M's are both very good at not up selling everyone to cloud chasing. One even has two separate sides of the store, one for egos, regulation and tanks. The other for mechs, high power boxes and rdas.

 

[AndriaD]

Unrelated note, super sub ohm has some benefits on a regulated device. It saves battery from a lower output voltage, and possibly lower amp drain. I also really don't like a super hot vape and running 8.4 volts through a 1.5 ohm coil to get in the range of my sweet spot is EXTREMELY hot.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Lower resistance means GREATER amp drain.

Andria

 

[crackizzle]

Also... Hate to double post, but what's wrong with vaping to vape... I definitely cloud chase, but not always, I was a 3 pack a day smoker. I also had a hookah and a pipe, I enjoyed the feeling of smoking and of lung hits. The attitude that it is wrong to vape to the extreme is ridiculous. I smoked to the extreme when I did smoke, and now my all day vape is a 0.2 28 gauge quad coil at 55 watts on my Sigelei. It's not wrong, just different. This is still the best forum for vaping on the internet, but I almost feel like an outsider, hated by all the "real" vapers here.

Can't we accept that different people want different things out of vaping? My girlfriend only likes about 6 watts of power, and that's how her set up works. She also was only ever a cigarette smoker, and hated my hookah. Just like there are choices for tobacco users there are choices for vapers and that's a good thing.

 

[LMS62]

I'm super angry I was at the grocery store and bought some beer. They didn't even bother to tell me it was bad for me or I shouldn't drink and drive!

Seriously I do think it's in the shops best interest to keep customers safe but if a guy walks in and buys stuff, I wouldn't expect them to interrogate him/her. I would politely ask if they had any questions but having worked in retail before, I bet 9 of 10 customers get all huffy if you try and educate them. It's not their responsibility. Good business practice but not their responsibility.

This exactly. I went to Sears roughly 2 years ago and bought a chainsaw. Nobody explained the safety aspects, nobody asked my experience level with chainsaws, etc. As an adult consumer, the responsibility is on me....as it should be.