Gotvapes - NEGATIVE - I pay shipping to return defective equipment?

[VapPornRules]

So I order an e-power from Gotvapes.com, specifically as a 510 backup to my provari (all my earlier equipment was 808 based). It doesn't work. The battery pin in the switch is too low to make contact.

So - I send an email to CS. They suggest I pry the pin up. I do so. It works, but the pin slips back down. The unit is useless to me. It's DEFECTIVE.

First response was:

"Send it back ..and I will TRY to send you a replacement."

Great - I pay the shipping to send back your defective equipment, then cross my fingers and hope I get something back. Awesome (not).

I respond "I don't understand -- can't you send me a new one with a return envelope? "

They respond:

"We aren't set up for sending out return envelopes."

Really -- you send out dozens (hundreds?) of packages a day but you don't know how to include a return envelope in a package.

I get it...gotvapes sells alot of products that are...experimental. They are on the cutting edge of cartomizers. BUT they probably have alot of people that expect things to work right out of the box, and when they don't, they need to have a firm return policy.

This was not that situation. This is a defective piece of hardware. I tried to fix it, but to no avail.

I've dealt with over a dozen suppliers - and had minor return/order cancellation issues, all of which were dealth with IMMEDIATELY and PROFESSIONALLY

Lecig: Immediately sent me a replacement battery when my button got stuck on my pigcig
jazzcartopipe: Immediately canceled an order (when they absolutely didnt have to) after I changed my mind!
Smoketip: replaced defective cartomizers -- CARTOMIZERS!

Each of these suppliers understood that people remember good customer service, and that a few pennies is a good investment to build a loyal customer base.

So am I wrong? Is gotvapes reasonable to expect me to believe that they cant figure out how to send a return envelope?

 

[badkolo]

What other vendors do is their business and they have their own policy and we have ours, its that simple, we stand behind our products and if its defective we Gladly will exchange it for you but you must send the product back and Im sorry but we do not send out envelopes to do so, its our policy and it wont change.

We do understand you have a issue and as daniel responded to you , once we receive it you will be sent out your replacement switch which usually always comes with a freebie for your headache but We can not do so unless it sent back to us and our policy states that. You have a right not to like it but thats how we have to do certain things.

Just for the record, most major vendors on ECF require the customer to return the product before an exchanged can take place, and return shipping being the responsibility of the customer. To name a few: madvapes, Ikenvape, COV and most others. Irnoically instead of a Negative review this should be a Positive. Daniel responded to you quickly and offered to stand behind the product we sold to you and exchange it for a new one.

So to make it clear, WE DO NOT AND WILL NOT SEND OUT RETURN ENVELOPES, Products must be sent back to us & we will send out your product back to you.

 

[VapPornRules]

We can not do so unless it sent back to us and our policy states that.

Nice. You added "Customer is responsible for return shipping" to your return policy within the last hour. This is shady.

This is the google cache of your policy on July 31



And after I complained tonight

 

[dannoman]

In our policies it states to send an email to us to arrange an RMA. In all of our time on ECF we have had only one issue with someone balking at sending the returned item, besides you. Therefore I thought it might be a good idea to explicitly state this after you have made an issue out of it. To be honest it is stated on our forum in a sticky but wasn't explicitly stated on the site.

You insist on using terms like shady and other terms you used in our forum in a thread I deleted. We work hard at what we do, haven't actually even turned a profit to pay back to any of the principals involved with GotVapes. Please try to consider there are people just like you behind your monitor, in the vaping supplier community no-one is tryign to rip you off, make things difficult or get one over on you. You seem by your post count that you are fairly new. Stick around and you will find we are very responsive to our customers and arguably spend more time working with them in our sub-forum than most other suppliers.

We have many exciting things to come at GotVapes and hope you can see that we are not your enemy and enjoy what we have and have to come, in the very near future : )

vape on!

 

[VapPornRules]

I appreciate that you are a small business and believe me I understand. There is nothing wrong with having a firm return policy. In fact, I did not conform to your return policy because I did not make my complaint within 72 hours, yet you offered to try and accomodate me. Great.

However, I think that when a piece of equipment is defective a replacement should be sent out immediately.

I did not use the word "shady" in the first post. I did so in the second. Because you changed the policy on your site a few hours ago, and then responded to my post that your policy states it, as if I had missed something. Am I correct or not?

I can make the pictures bigger when I figure out how to do so.

 

[dannoman]

You stated in our forum that it appears we try to make it difficult to return products, purposely. This is what I meant.

And again, as I stated - 95%+ of our customers come from ECF and here in our sub-forum we have a sticky that goes into our return procedures in detail. On the site it is more abbreviated but it does state you can email us and we will arrange an RMA. Since you made an issue out of it and I was working on the site tonight I decided to explicitly state that the customer has to return the product, something most customers realize is the norm.

 

[VapPornRules]

OK - I retract the "shady" bit. That's was a bit much. You have a right to your policies, even if I find them lacking. I'll keep the switch (I can use it as an anchor to clean my equipment) and order a switch from jazzcartopipe -- I owe him one!

I appreciate you taking the time to respond and I continue to appreciate that you guys are way out in front on R&D, and I know that this an expense that requires serious commitment and investment in $ on your part. I'm convinced it will pay off for you and wish you success

 

[dannoman]

If you want to keep the switch - PM me and I'll give you a discount coupon code to get one from us if you want - we sell them separately...

 

[VapPornRules]

I just wanted to update this post. I know the supplier has taken to calling me a "troll" but honestly that is not my intent (although I do find it offensive). I would reiterate what I tried to convey in the title of the thread - defective equipment should be replaced quickly and without cost to the buyer. If I can possibly change some supplier’s policies by making this thread a little longer and get more attention, that’s my intent.

Gotvapes sells cutting edge gear for experienced vapors. Alot of this equipment is intended for early adopters and requires what I called "futzing" in my original post (to which great offense was taken by Dannoman and deleted – you can still find it on Google if you try). This is not what I am talking about when I refer to defective items. If I ran a business that sold alot of this type of equipment, I would provide clear instructions to my buyers on how to use the goods, and I would also have a firm return policy. I think Gotvapes does a great job of this - lots of instructional videos from DJ Bizzum. Their buyers know in advance that if they get new equipment before reviews are posted out, they are taking a risk, and if they have a problem, DJB can talk them through it via Youtube.

Gotvapes has purposefully made the business decision to make it difficult to return goods (within 72 hours, user ships themselves, GV judges whether equipment is defective and charges return shipping if they judge it is not). Most people will not make a special trip to the post office in order to return a $10 piece of equipment - and every internet vendor knows this. There is nothing “shady” about this and I never said there was – it’s a business decision that they have chosen to make. Personally, it seems a bit "chintzy" to me (another offensive word), but I can see why you would have such a policy when selling innovative stuff.

HOWEVER, in my case, I was returning a mechanically defective piece of equipment - not a CE2 that I didn’t know how to fluff. Others have pointed out to me that the “low battery pin” was identified as a defect over three months ago by several customers.

Here - http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/gotvapes/181871-lets-talk-about-e-power-6.html#post3087381
Here - http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/gotvapes/181871-lets-talk-about-e-power-4.html#post3074306
and here - http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/gotvapes/181871-lets-talk-about-e-power-2.html#post3070470


To Danno’s credit, he sent out replacements to at least two of these customers without first getting the equipment back (I don’t think they actually got return shipping/envelopes though!). I’m sure he took into account that these were good customers – so he did the right thing!

The bottom line is, they sent me a piece of junk, and when I complained about it, they certainly knew I wasn’t making it up, as they had gotten identical complaints about this problem immediately upon issuing it - Danno even noted that they had a Gotvapes inspector in the factory in China checking the pins! I’ve dealt with similar situations with other suppliers – and they did the right thing (regardless of their policy). Gotvapes did not and I wanted people to know about it.

And GotVapes should grow a thicker skin if they want to run a business from an internet message board . I still admire their innovation but CS needs a little work – for me, at least.