Hi From NH and a Question

[kraz]

Hi everyone. I'm new here. Been lurking for a while along with a couple of other vape forums and decided this was clearly the one to join.
I'm from the "Live Free or Die" state of New Hampshire, USA.
I started very young and smoked for about 20 years I guess. Didn't smoke a ton unless I was drinking or whatever. Usually about 5-10 smokes a day of Camel Silvers but it's been time to quit for a while now. There were points years back when I smoked a pack a day.
I smoked my first e-cig back in 2007 I believe it was. It was some gas station junk and I think I ended up throwing it out. About 2 months ago I bought a Vuse kit from 7/11. It was ok and the menthol was actually good IMO but it just didn't last long enough so I continued to smoke until 13 days ago when I bought an Evod 2 starter kit. I had a full pack of smokes at the time with one gone and have not had an analog since which blows my mind!
Now here's my question... I did some research but obviously not enough. I knew the Evod 2 was supposed to be pretty good and saw it advertised online for usually about $40 and most places had a free sample of e-juice to go along with it. Well I decided to buy the starter kit from my local vape shop to get it quicker and to support a new local business. I paid $50 for it. I figured, meh, an extra $10-15, whatever. They also threw in a free 15ml bottle of aer e-juice which they charge $8 for. I knew it wasn't top shelf but it's ok. So when I got home I was a bit suspicious because there was no packaging for the product. The battery and the clearomizer were put together already in a plastic sheath that he pulled out from somewhere beneath the counter. He took it out and put the coil in to show me how to use it. The starter kit is supposed to come with:
c/p..

• 2 Evod Batteries
• 2 Evod 2 Clearomizers
• 7 dual bottom coil replacement heads
• 1 ego USB charger
• 1 USB wall adapter
• Gift box

Problem is I got 1 battery, 1 clearomizer, 3 coils and a wall and USB charger with no packaging besides a small white box that the chargers were in. I'm positive I got ripped off. I guess what they're doing is splitting the kits in two and selling them to n00bs like me separately. I really don't have much doubt but I wanted to see what you guys think and what you think I should do about it. There's no box so I can't even do the Kangertech scratch-off thing to verify if it's a genuine product.

Anyway, I'm happy to be a vaping now. I look forward to learning a lot on this forum too.
Edit: Hope this wasn't tl;dr.

 

[keonee]

Welcome kraz to ECF. I think you've learned a valuable lesson. Always know your prices and what's included. I probably would not go back to that store. I do a lot of research here on ECF and then look online. If I purchase something I then look for a coupon.

Do not be discouraged....there are many honest vendors out there.

Good Luck to You...Happy Vaping.

 

[kraz]

Thanks for the welcome Keonee. I appreciate the response and advice.
I just wrote a note to the store I mentioned through their website and asked for the rest of the product. For all I know maybe it's an employee that is doing this and selling the extra merchandise online or something. I hope that's the situation. It's the only vape store for many miles so I'd like to be able to go there if they do the right thing. I obviously will do most orders online anyway but it's always nice to have a brick and mortar plus they're open til 10:00pm.

 

[kraz]

I guess I'm talking to myself here but the owner got back to me and said that this was common practice for brick and mortar stores. They don't buy the starter kits we see online but buy the parts separately and make their own starter kit. They also include good customer service etc. with products they sell.
He went pretty far into detail explaining everything and I actually do believe the guy. Still, it's pretty expensive for what I got.
Since I'm having a convo with myself here I'm gonna just start singing a song for the hell of it... do do do, da da da, do do do, da da da, lalalalalal, do do do, da da da...
















Thanks again for the warm, warm welcomes.

 

[DetraMental]

LoL, nice tune. Hello and welcome to ECF. There are some great online vendors that are recognized here by ECF. Just go to the menu bar and look for "Forum Suppliers" and it will show the vendors.

 

[PapaSloth]

I think this is pretty common for bricks and mortar stores. They have to cover the overhead for their storefront, utilities, sales people, and the free juice tastes. They're probably not doing a huge dollar value in business, so they have to pass all of those costs (along with a reasonable profit) onto a fairly small number of people. Buying stuff from big online retailers, particularly ones in China (fasttech) will save you a lot of money, but you have to know what you're buying and be able to do the research yourself. You're not paying someone else to be an expert, you have to be the expert. But, if you're willing to put in the time and you're interested in learning, you can save a lot of money. Same goes with mixing your own juice. You get a liter of nicotine base really cheaply online, along with flavors, and mix your own for much less than it would cost you at a store. Of course, you can also poison yourself if you're not careful and don't know what you're doing.

 

[Susan~S]

I guess I'm talking to myself here but the owner got back to me and said that this was common practice for brick and mortar stores. They don't buy the starter kits we see online but buy the parts separately and make their own starter kit. They also include good customer service etc. with products they sell.
He went pretty far into detail explaining everything and I actually do believe the guy. Still, it's pretty expensive for what I got.
Since I'm having a convo with myself here I'm gonna just start singing a song for the hell of it... do do do, da da da, do do do, da da da, lalalalalal, do do do, da da da...

Just be aware, you most likely got a "clone EVOD". Clones cost your B&M much less than an original. The original EVOD's are made by KangerTech.