E Cig in Boots !

[shadow]

just popped in to Boots this morning for a perscription and noticed a stand on the counter with leaflets advertising Nicocig an e cig, i asked the girl behind the counter if they had any in stock, to which she replied "yes we do there £45.95 for a starter kit and £5.95 for the refills which is enough for 60 cigerettes" 6 carts.i picked up the leaflet and had a look through, i'm not sure what the model is but they quote "the battery should last all day with a normal smoking habit", yea right.
The company are based in Birmingham by me so it would be interesting to see if this is just a local thing with Boots or nationwide, keep a look out and report back if they are selling them further afield, i can't decide wether this is a good thing or not, on the good side it raises the profile of the whole e smoking thing but on the bad side if the product is a piece of crap then this could have a detrimental effect on quite a large scale. Your thoughts please

 

[e-pipeman]

Sounds as if it's these chaps...

NICOCIG, electronic cigarette, electronic cigarettes, electric cigarette, electric cigarettes, mini electric cigarette

 

[daveydje]

Nicocig were promoing their e-cigs with a large stand in the Palisades shopping centre a few weeks back. Seemed like a decent well made unit. Nice packaging too.

"£45.95 for a starter kit and £5.95 for the refills" though at Boots... Cheaper buying the starter kit from the Nicocig site, but Boots probably work out better for the refills without the postage.

 

[surbitonPete]

If Boots are selling them it's almost like they are actually being accepted as a health product.

 

[SpaceCadet]

Aha, I knew some pharmacies were selling them, but Boots?! Berluddy hell! On the whole I hope it's positive - maybe people will see it and decide to hit the internet and do some research before buying, and find this place! Seems quite a few from the USA joined up here after being scammed by smokingeverywhere. Not that the Boots cig is rubbish, I wouldn't know, but it's certainly cheaper than smokingeverywhere!

 

[surbitonPete]

It really is quite big if Boots are selling them....I would have thought things must have to pass all sorts of criteria to be sold in a store like that.

 

[SpaceCadet]

They need to sell Totally Wicked. I have Advantage points to get rid of!

 

[Di]

trumpy,
get some facts about the acceptance from boots the chemist stores in uk,

let our pollies know that the motherland accepts and sells them in chemist shops.......

maybe they will consider a change of heart.....

Di .......

 

[Tboy786]

I'm new to this forum and new to e-smoking. Used the Gamucci cigar which I was very happy with but wasn't sure about getting their rechargeable unit after some of the comments on this forum. I opted to go for the Nicocig. Thought they must be reputable as I heard some big claims coming from their end. I purchased the product directly from their website. The first day everything was fine. loved it. But by the second day it stopped working. Neither of the two batteries supplied charge properly and when one did work which was only for a few inhalations I got a nasty burnt taste in my mouth. I contacted them about what to do. They said I should send in the product along with proof of payment and if they can see if there is a real fault they would send me a replacement. The guy on the phone I spoke with though was convinced that I must have damaged it myself by over using it! Dah! I only used it for 1 day! He said that if it was my fault that the product stopped working that i would not be entitled to a replacement or a refund. That was over a week ago and I still have not had my replacement, despite numerous calls and emails. Apparently my device is with their technical team for inspection. I'm not sure I will ever get my replacement or see my money back. Any advice guys ??

 

[K.P.]

consumer advice - Trading Standards Institute

 

[L E Jay]

Interesting. Could go mainstream quickly. Could spell problems for everyone else. Boots have big pockets.
Good news for the consumer really.

 

[Harvinder Balli]

Dear all,

I work for Nicocig, and yes it is true, Nicocig products are available from Boots stores nationwide.
I would like to give you all a little bit of further information as I know many of you are curious as to how or why this is the case.
I don't know whether this is common knowledge, but the electronic cigarette was first invented by Hon Lik of Ruyan, a company based in China. Ruyan applied for a series of patents worldwide. The main patents have now been granted in Europe, and Nicocig is the exclusive distributor of Ruyan products here in the UK.
Nicocig was always intended to be a product for pharmacy, and this is why we have not used the brand Ruyan, as we feel it may be confusing. We are however, bringing out new packaging which will incorporate the Ruyan brand.
Ruyan are a massive company, and over the past few years have been concentrating on proving the their products are safe. Safety trials have been completed, and this therefore means that Nicocig has been able to approach the likes of Unichem and other large wholesalers.
We are currently working on bringing out a series of brand new products, products that are much improved from the first generation on electronic cigarettes. I myself am very excited that we will soon be in a position to launch these.
All our existing customers using Nicocig will be entitled to a completely free upgrade to the new product, as we feel it is so much superior to anything ever seen before.

To emphasize, we will in the near future be very aggresive in protecting our patent rights in the UK. We have already used our patents to close down large manufacturies in China, so we know they are strong enough to hold up worldwide.

Our products are not just available from Boots, but from EVERY SINGLE PHARMACY IN THE UK.
All you have to do to speak to any pharmacist and give him/her the correct PIP codes. These can be found on the Nicocig homepage.

I hope I have explained our situation well enough, if you have any other queries, please do not hesitate to contact us through the nicocig website.

Kind Regards

 

[Harvinder Balli]

Dear TBOY 786,

I came accross your post earlier.
I find it very strange that this was the response that you got from our (nicocigs) customer service team.
I am generally in charge of that division, and have never heard a case like that before. I am in charge of the training, and would never accept a response like you claim to have recieved.

We run a straight business, and can tell you that we do experience some faulty batteries. Not many but some. We have one policy for this, we replace it no question.
We send you the replacement first, with a stamped addressed envelope to send the faulty back, so we would never and have never inspected a faulty good before replacing it.

I am not calling you a liar, just would like to resolve this problem for you. The reason we do not sell atomisers like other companies, is because there is never any need for you to purchase one. You have a warranty, and if any problem occurs we replace this also the very next day.

Our contact number is 01213822285, if you can contact us at your earliest convenience I will sort this problem out for you swiftly.

Reading your post has been a real shock to me, and I will be getting to the bottom of this first thing in the morning.
The quality of our products are generally very good, and improving all the time. I mentioned earlier that new products are being launched soon, and are completely revolutionary in the way that they work. I hope that you will be one of the first to experience our first new product.

I hope to speak to you shorty.

Regards
Mr.Balli

 

[Keef]

Well stone the crows you got Boots.

Well done, I think.

Replacement batteries £5.99 which is very reasonable.

 

[kinabaloo]

Hi Harvinder,

Nice to see your comments re customer service.

I have some questions. Your starter kit looks exactly like a 901 kit I bought elsewhere for under £20. So how do you justify the £40 for yours? And why is it £45 in Boots?

On a more positive note, I am very interested in your comments about new and greatly improved technology that is close to being brought to market. Does this involve the use of piezoelectric atomisation, as used in some elctronic air fresheners and humidifiers (ultrasonic transducer)? (I have begun to look into this myself.)

And you really will offer a free upgrade for people with an existing Nicocig ? That would be great service!

 

[kinabaloo]

In other words, service such as free upgrade would make the £45 price reasonable, good even, especially if battery and atomiser were guaranteed for say 6 months too. It will certainly be nice to see a superior competitor to the grossly over-priced nicotine replacement crap that is currently in the shops.

I hope you have also considered putting the cartridges in a bit of tubing between the battery and atomiser so that the air flow does not fight the flow of liquid (as has been pointed out here before). That would mean a way to get the two power lines past the cartridge section but that's not too much of a problem. Simplify the electronics (warning flashings on an led the user cant see is not much use) but detect dryness near atomiser to cut-out so atomiser doesn't burn/burn out. Then work on improved battery power capacity.

If my Boots has the menthol cartridges in stock, I will try them out and report back.

 

[Chrissie]

The reason we do not sell atomisers like other companies, is because there is never any need for you to purchase one. You have a warranty, and if any problem occurs we replace this also the very next day.

Harvinder, how long is the warranty for?

 

[surbitonPete]

I am amazed because this basically means that (for us here in the UK) we don't really have any fear of vaping being banned!!

And I am certainly interested in what this newer technology will be.

 

[TropicalBob]

Likewise interested.

Our present copycat devices are little more than infants, pooping and throwing up everything they're fed, crying a lot while failing to communicate. They need to evolve to a new adulthood, far from the rejected cigarette shape, into a responsible product that is safe beyond question and works in a predictable, always repeatable fashion.

To the victor here go all the spoils. May the best company win.

 

[katink]

Interesting indeed! However I don't agree with the 'you don't need spare atomizers'-bit. If your atomizer goes just as the shops are closing, and you don't have back-ups, you bet you are going to be onto something else, worst case analogs again, before you can get a replacement-atomizer...