Frivolous brick & mortar whine.

[Wondertwin]

I love my local store, I really do. They're convenient, well stocked, fairly priced, and very well presented. It's a snazzy place. There's a new presence though, one that will end up being as stereotypical as the undiscovered screenwriter banging his Mac at Starbucks I'm afraid. The e-juice employee sommelier of EVERYTHING. Okay, maybe it needs a new title, but that's what they are. You come in looking for what you like, and they lecture you on why it is all wrong. Assuming of course that what you're using in front of them is all you have to work with.

Granted, I go after work 100% of the time. Which means no makeup, a f'd up ponytail and track pants of some sort. They're in button down collared shirts and slacks which is typically the groomed armor of a pro, but it morphs into a know-it-all weapon as soon as Sommelier opens his mouth. The actual conversation was snarky and boring, so I'll spare that. I felt like at any moment this guy was gonna grab one of the handi-wipes and look for drool to wipe off the chin of stupid girl that accidented her way into the store. It sucked. Not wanting him to feel as bad as I did, but wanting to change the direction things were going, I started talking about my *preferences* hoping he'd get the hint. Nope.

Things came to a close when I asked if they're planning on carrying vivi novas anytime soon. He said he wasn't sure, and then tried to tell me carto tanks are easier. I absolutely had to look away and remember sandbox rules of preschool politeness and make sure I wasn't postured like a beotch before saying "You're telling me that carto prep involved is somehow easier than just pouring juice in and vaping? I would like you to elaborate." He started going off about preferences and I said "Nope! This is the only non preference thing we've talked about. This is pure process. Start over." He looked perplexed at that point as if he realized but couldn't figure out why this conversation was rough. Then tried to demonstrate how to use a carto tank but I was done and just bought my stardusts and left.

This is the 3rd time it's happened, I worry about this trend. I like discussing new things and cool products, I swear. Just not in the context of "you're a dummy that's doing it all wrong." Selection and presentation will keep me going back, but on the topic of preferences (lol) I would rather not have to justify my likes to the person I'm about to hand my money over to.

This post ended up being longer than I wanted. TL;DR: ALL I WANTED WAS A SR STARDUST!

 

[Thrasher]

lol i say heck with them find what you like and load up online, why have it if your not going to try and sell it?
the more we spend with people like this the more of them will pop up.

we have a store in town and they are absolutely clueless if it doesnt say ego on the battery or look like a CE2 clearo, they must have spent all of 20 minutes examining my genesis tank.i will never go back. i dont care how nice the presentation is if they cant treat a customer like a customer then they dont deserve your money.

 

[Heavyrocker]

I heard some people selling these products are clueless,BTW,love your writing style,i learned a new word today, sommelier, a wine specialist.

 

[Wondertwin]

I think you're right Thrasher. I just seem to get stuck waiting forever for my mail. I don't think it's suppliers, I know our postal service here sucks. It could be juice or kid clothes from Grandma and it generally takes forever to get here USPS. So I trudge to the store for the preference beatdown. I get lucky sometimes though, there are great employees too I just have bad luck it seems.

On new gear my best face to face convos are actually the other customers! My first provari vape was with a person there who brought it with him. I knew the hype so I asked him about it. Turns out he was being interviewed by the owner, who told him since they don't sell provari he can't bring it with him. Very loudly and out in front of everyone too, jeez. The more I think about them the less I'm liking them now. Online forevah.

 

[Jarski44]

Personally, I prefer a B&M, but there are none within a 30 minute drive. That being said, if I'm going to a B&M I expect exemplary service. As a vendor, your tastes and preferences are pointless when purchasing product based on my tastes and preferences. I think you were way more patient with this guy than I would have been.

 

[Absintheur]

I used to frequent a local B&M but the attitude of the guy who worked in the most of the time finally stopped me from going in. First I was told my ProVari was junk and I should buy a better mod like the Saber Touches they had in the showcase. Then the attys I used sucked and I needed the $40 ceramic atty. The guy was much more interested in his computer than is helping folks...unless you were young and female then you had a chance to hold his attention if you didn't mind the ogling and innuendo. The owner of the shop is a good guy but is seldom in there as he works a job other than the shop. His son is the main employee with the bad attitude.

I haven't been in there for some time now, sad as it is the only semi local shop in the area.

 

[eRob_]

Hey Wondertwin.. I noticed that you reside in Texas and would love to find a brick and mortar store locally. Would this store happen to be in the Houston area? If so could you PM me the name of this location?

 

[Baditude]

I posted this story in another thread, but it is more relevant in this one. This is more about ignorant sales people and misleading sales pitches.

Last weekend I visited a mall and saw a kiosk for some off-brand cigalikes. Out of curiosity, I walked over to see what was being offered. The salesman looked to be age 20 at most.

Salesman: "Are you a smoker?"
Me: "No, I quit. Now I'm a vapor."
This goes right over his head. He holds out a mini-ecig for me to try.

Me: "How long will this battery last per charge?"
Him: "It will last you two to three days."
I think to myself, more like 2-3 hours.

Me: "How about the flavored cartomizer. How long will it last?"
Him: "The filter on the battery will last the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes."
I take a long drag on his e-cig. Small amount of vapor, weak flavor, no throat hit. How can they sell any of these things?

Me: "I don't believe anything that you just told me. Just curious, how much are you selling the kit for?"
Him: "Today we are offering a special sale. You will get 2 batteries, a charger, 10 filters in a variety of flavors. All this for just $195.00.

At this point I pull out my Provari topped with a cartotank.
Him: "What is that?"
Me: "THIS is MY e-cig."

I ask him if he would like to try it. He declines. So I take a long drag on the Provari. I produce an incredible plume of vapor as I exhale, quadrupling the size of the small whiff of vapor his e-cig made.

Me: "This thing costs the same as that kit you are selling, and look what it can do."
Him: "That thing is huge. I've never seen anything like that. You might be interested in this electric cigar over here..."

I told him no thanks. I told him, not to be rude, but its obvious that he has a limited knowledge of what e-cigarettes are available and I can tell that he has been trained only to sell his brand of e-cigs. I thanked him for humoring me and went off on my way.

 

[Wondertwin]

I think I have this idiotic hostage view of the situation. Where I know in a jam I'm going to come in, so I don't want them to hate me. Vaping is popular here but they're good at remembering people who come in still. I think the patience come from wearing work clothes, I don't want to be a billboard for coaching while dropping customer service knowledge I guess lol. It surprises me too that I didn't lose it a bit more.

 

[Wondertwin]

Hey Wondertwin.. I noticed that you reside in Texas and would love to find a brick and mortar store locally. Would this store happen to be in the Houston area? If so could you PM me the name of this location?

Nope I'm up in the DFW area

I posted this story in another thread, but it is more relevant in this one. This is more about ignorant sales people and misleading sales pitches..."

WRECKED! I love it!

 

[zapped]

Dont let the sales guys attitude turn you off from trying a great juice delivery system. Carto tanks arent as simple as twisting the top off and filling like a ViVi Nova but if you buy the cartos pre-punched and watch a video or two its a pretty simple setup.

Mileage varies for everyone but if all I had were ViVi Novas I'd probably still be smoking analogs.They just dont work well with my juices/ juice blends.

Sounds like your local brick and mortar needs to invest in some training.

 

[twisted1]

The one shop that I frequent has limited product lines. They cater to the unintiated...sheep waiting to be shorn.
They quicky change to their offerings and methods when inquiring of product/juice that they don't carry.
It doesn't matter since this is not a hobby for me. I'll support them until I one day quit vaping.

 

[Wondertwin]

For sure Zapped! I have one carto tank, and I LOVE it with certain juices. I also love my Boge cartos for heavy dessert flavored juices. Sometimes for a dark or complex tobacco too. I generally use the carto tank for my tobacco flavors. My favorite juice is the Ms T's strawberry champagne, and for some reason I just love it in a stardust and was hoping to get a bigger version!

Edit: I am by no means cutting edge. I'm rockin' a eGo T and a Twist, so there's a lot I don't know. I have to check back here and find out about cool things like the vivi nova because they sure aren't on the shelves!

 

[classwife]

...kinda like some days in the New Members forum

 

[Wondertwin]

uh oh do we all need to be nicer? Serious question, because ECF is the haven that the B&M is NOT!

 

[Orobas]

One B&M store said they'd give me a job, but didn't. So I'm not going back there, and not even really because they didn't, but the woman who interviewed me led me to believe it's a foregone conclusion but then didn't have the decency to ever email me back. Plus they never had the fruit smoothie juice I wanted (from ECB, which they buy in bulk and then sell to me for $9 for 10ml. lolwut.)

The other one just opened, so I poked my head in to see if they had anything good. ego knockoffs from health cabin as far as they eye can see. Which, while they're aesthetically pleasing, the markup wasn't. Oh, and they wanted to charge me $9 for 10ml of DEKANG.

I laughed my way out the door.

EC Blend manages to get my order from Oregon to the opposite coast in 2 business days, usually, so it's really not worth it to me.

 

[tA71ana]

Methinks that a lot of folks who are starting up in the ecig biz have never had their own businesses and so haven't the foggiest notion of how to be humble when dealing with the general public.
The first rule is to never make immediate assumptions about what your customer knows or doesn't know about the products.

 

[MF DOOM]

At this point I pull out my Provari topped with a cartotank.
Him: "What is that?"
Me: "THIS is MY e-cig."

Dude, you did a Crocodile Dundee on him!

 

[PickyJuicer]

There are a few brick and mortar stores that are like that around here too. My favorite store, however, treats all their customers like guests.

My husband and I sat in the store for two hours the other night, whipping out our equipment and talking about it with another vaping couple. We talked with only the other couple but the store's owners. In fact, some of the products weren't even sold in that particular store. I commented on the owners drip tip (I hoard them) and he said "Oh, we don't sell them here" but he gave me the name of the website where he buys them! I know where he gets his supplies from, I know what brand of flavorings they use, etc. They're transparent with everything they do. Those are the best shop owners I have ever met and it's why we keep going back.

At one of the other stores we visited, they are so clueless to actual products that my son in law was the one to teach a new vaper how to use it properly and my husband explained to another new vaper how "cigalikes" often don't work well for heavy smokers. This store has a pretty big web presence too...

It's amazing though. My shop could probably double their prices on everything and I'd still go back because I get treated like a customer and not like a "future sale."

 

[SissySpike]

I see this also Im working in Tuscon AZ and one of the B&M employes got very curt with me when he over herd me tell someone the best source for information was ECF. They sell mostly ego type stuff and clearomizers I always create quite a stir when I bring in something exotic Its also painful to hear the lack of information the employs have. But Im not knocking them I just wish as you mentioned they did not act like they were the ecig messiah when they are really just a very small peddler.