Ecig Vendors piss me off

[paladinx]

You know. I just have to vent. I used to be dead against the government taking control for their own greedy interests, but now a small part of me wants them to. These online vendors just piss me off to no end. Lets face it, Anyone can throw up an ecig site. None of these guys have to adhere to any authority or regulation. They don't have to take responsibility for anything. They import a bunch of crap from China with notorious quality control issues and if you they sell you something defective or something you are not happy with they make up all their own rules and give you a big hassle. Ordering from the Chinese is better. If you aren't happy with something they return it right away and don't aggravate you.

I bought something from a US seller.. It was defective and I tried to return it and the response I got was. " we don't manufacturer it". Imagine going into Macy's or any other store out there with a receipt and they tell you .. hey sorry we didn't manufacturer it. On top of that many are just totally unprofessional, and don't even know how to run a business. From Ave juice opening a store only five mins a day to all these other vendors who just don't have a clue. Im sick of it. Sure there are great people out there and great vendors, but the idiots are ruining it for everyone.

Anyway I just have to vent. Im just sick of these people. They take no responsibility for anything and even how they answer you is unprofessional. Like I am talking to some guy in the street. They are ...... too because why would you alienate a customer and take away your chance of reorders to be absurd about something you paid a few bucks for from china.

To all the great vendors out there who do their job very well and who do great customer service and run their business the right way, I apologize for this post. But just realize the more crap vendors pop up and the more vendors try to just sell you stuff and take no responsibility.. The worse they make the community look.

regards

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

Caveat emptor.

It was worse buying electronics and computer equipment in the early 1990's.

Back then, there wasn't even such an animal as a "DOA guarantee."

 

[ScottP]

I still don't want the government involved. The best we can do is use ECF to share these experiences of who is awesome and who sucks. Eventually those that suck will go out of business b/c everyone is buying from the awesome vendors.

If anything we should fight to get Amazon and eBay to lift their bans. At least those places have built in rating systems and some buyer protections.

 

[paladinx]

Oh and before someone gives me the sanitary excuse. the item had nothing to do with being sanitary or health related. I can understand that excuse for certain things... But ultimately the health/sanitary is just a blanket excuse they use that way they don't have to lose money from faulty china products. I have wanted to exchange unused unopened.. completely individually sealed cartos before because I received black boges instead of silver.. and they wouldn't even do that. They said I could have put poison in them and resealed all the wrappings. Ok, fair enough. Its bull.... of course, but at least they have a legit reason. But if they were smart, they would accept the exchange and throw the cartos in the trash just to do right by the customer. This time, the company can't even use the BS health excuse. ridiculous.

 

[AgentAnia]

It's a Buyer Beware world out there, especially on the internet. I rely heavily on ECF registered vendors and on recommendations by ECF members.

I'm sorry you've had bad experiences. I've had similar bad experiences with (non ecig) vendors and it sucks bigtime, totally frustrating. The only comfort I can offer is that these vendors probably won't last long, especially if you post negative reviews here, which you should do as a favor to your fellow vapers. Reviews of Suppliers - Negative

 

[paladinx]

I still don't want the government involved. The best we can do is use ECF to share these experiences of who is awesome and who sucks. Eventually those that suck will go out of business b/c everyone is buying from the awesome vendors.

If anything we should fight to get Amazon and eBay to lift their bans. At least those places have built in rating systems and some buyer protections.

Yeah I don't want them to be involved either, because they wouldn't do the right thing. If the government did what they were supposed to do .. act in the interest of the people.. than I would be all for it. But the government acts in the interests of who puts money in their pockets.

 

[S1LV3R]

As with any exploding retail community you are going to have the good and bad. In the time it took to write your rant, you could clicked over to the approved vendor portion of the forum, read a couple reviews and know you were going to be dealing with a good, helpful, reputable company instead of trying to save a few cents/dollars going with the cheapest price you could find.

Now, do i agree with their shoddy tactics? Not at all. But a little reading here could have saved you some heartache. Im just sayin.

My

Silver

 

[Plastic Shaman]

You know, all vendors are bound by some rules. Any commercial retailer falls under the UCC and is bound by their state UCC. If you get something that doesn't work, technically it should have an implied warranty in the majority of states. You can always take them to court.

I'm sure this is of little solace since the amount of money is nominal and probably wouldn't be worth it. Just know, there is usually a remedy

 

[paladinx]

As with any exploding retail community you are going to have the good and bad. In the time it took to write your rant, you could clicked over to the approved vendor portion of the forum, read a couple reviews and know you were going to be dealing with a good, helpful, reputable company instead of trying to save a few cents/dollars going with the cheapest price you could find.

Now, do i agree with their shoddy tactics? Not at all. But a little reading here could have saved you some heartache. Im just sayin.

My

Silver

silver that is a good point, but i don't agree 100 percent with it. . There are 100's of sites out there and its really hard to find each one and read a bunch of reviews. A lot of times peoples opinions are subjective and you are more inclined to get people writing reviews if they have a very strong emotion about something. The rest of the business goes unnoticed or ungraded. And you can't always go by reviews. not with juice not with products and not with vendors.

use from pay pal CC.. A lot of trouble.. The company didn't even answer my email about the situation. didn't even give me a bottle of juice.. Instead they went out of business for awhile to get their (MODERATED) straight.. came back after months with no improvement in service whatsoever. They came back to open their store five mins a day.

 

[tanzmitpalmer]

Regulation is good, sometimes... a self-regulating community is even better. This is one of the things I love about the indie bath/beauty community online. If we find a company with questionable practices, we bust the CRAP out of them until they go under. We're pretty frickin' relentless about it. Better that than have someone blinded by unsafe products.

The best defense against crappy businesses are consumer voices.

 

[ScottP]

Scariest thing ever said: "I am from the government and I am here to help."

 

[discusfan]

AVE Wow! 52 bucks for 100ml? That's just stupid!!!

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

paladinx, I recommend that you make an entry here.

Reviews of Suppliers - Negative

This is still largely a self-regulating industry. In self-regulating industries, cream always rises to the top. People can learn from your experience. Share it.

 

[Bob Chill]

Things like this are another reason I hope amazon opens its marketplace to the industry. I never give a second thought to any vendor that I'm buying from. I know amazon has my back no matter what happens. By rule of thumb I try to never order online from a small shop for any product. Everything is great until something goes wrong. Then the onus of responsibility to resolving the problem is more often than not passed onto the consumer.

I've been lucky with ecig stuff so far but I always use my best credit card for purchases though just in case. If anything is delivered broken with no response from the seller I can simply charge it back. Then the onus of responsibility is automatically put back on the seller. Credit card companies will always side with the consumer and make any seller jump through hoops to prove otherwise.

I will say this, the more popular and higher rated sellers on this forum have been nothing but an absolute pleasure to deal with on all levels. My local B&M blew my mind when they botched fulfilling a simple 30ml online juice order. They sent me 90ml AND an 1100mah smoktech winder AND overnighted it. I tried to pay them for my winder but they refused and simply asked me to keep shopping there. I was kinda speechless and they have a customer for life.

 

[S1LV3R]

silver that is a good point, but i don't agree 100 percent with it. . There are 100's of sites out there and its really hard to find each one and read a bunch of reviews. A lot of times peoples opinions are subjective and you are more inclined to get people writing reviews if they have a very strong emotion about something. The rest of the business goes unnoticed or ungraded. And you can't always go by reviews. not with juice not with products and not with vendors.

One example. Ave juice. Most popular company there is. They have received praise from everyone. but in my opinion, I would give them an F as a rating. It took me about 4 months to place ONE ORDER. When I finally got the chance to order ONE TIME.. My credit card was stolen and someone purchased 5,000 dollars worth of stuff. I had to fill out paper work, do an investigation form. return merchandise that was sent to my house from pay pal CC.. A lot of trouble.. The company didn't even answer my email about the situation. didn't even give me a bottle of juice.. Instead they went out of business for awhile to get their sh#t straight.. came back after months with no improvement in service whatsoever. They came back to open their store five mins a day.

I realize there are 100's of sites out there and that is why the consumer dollar rules. If a company is selling junk and giving bad service, i dont think they will be around very long. There is no way in heck id wait 4 months for any vendor either. I dont care how supposedly "awesome" their goods are.

Site/Vendor reviews, whether good or bad are what can make or break a place. Ever heard the old saying, "word of mouth will kill ya" or "it takes 10 attaboys to cancel out one aw shoot" Well that rings true to me. Ive owned/managed retail whitebox computer stores and it rings true bigtime in this industry like it does for ecigs. Every place will get bad mouthed by someone at sometime. But if i see 25-100 good reviews for every 1 bad. That place will definitely get a shot at my business. Hell ill even give someone a second chance if they make an effort to make things right in a screw up situation. Once bitten twice shy though.

I do understand your frustrations and the need to vent man, trust me i do.

 

[Caridwen]

If this is a rant regarding the general experiences, fine. If you have an issue with a specific vendor, the thread will close and you can post in Negative Reviews. Suppliers can not respond here.

 

[paladinx]

Money rules everything. Ecig industry is no exception. No industry is left untouched. Unfortunately.
Cardiwen. I was talking in a general sense. Sorry i mentioned a particular company. I was just using it as an example. I will try to refrain from saying company names.

 

[peterforpats]

Scariest thing ever said: "I am from the government and I am here to help."

ask the tornado victims in ok or the victims of hurricane sandy if those are the scariest words....... I lost everything in a tornado years ago and I am extremely grateful for the help I received. I don't hate the government , just wish it ran better sometimes, but that is not the same as hate......

 

[HDVaper]

Yeah I don't want them to be involved either, because they wouldn't do the right thing. If the government did what they were supposed to do .. act in the interest of the people.. than I would be all for it. But the government acts in the interests of who puts money in their pockets.

You can forget the gubmint EVER "acting in the interest of the people". All they do is "act in the interest of THEMSELVES" at our expense.

 

[Nailz]

I think there should be some sort of regulations, but only to the juice side, right now anyone can make and sell juice, you have no idea how sanity conditions some of these people are working in and what they are putting in the juice, I have juice from quite a few vendors and some I love and would hate to see disappear, but does concern me that anyone, anywhere can make and sell what we are inhaling, and I think that will change in the future.