Holy *@#$! can you believe ikenvape?

[uzzaperez]

Seemed like a catchy thread title. Really though I just wanted to comment on a recent customer service experience. 5card recently turned me on to ikenvape and I placed a big order. Normally I try things a bit at a time before making a big order, but for some reason, probably all the praise from multiple credible forum members, I just went ahead and made a big (for me anyway) order.

I screwed up the order and didn't realize my mistake until the order arrived. So, I contacted ikenvape for a return. What followed was some of the best customer service I've experienced in any industry. They did better than fix my mistake, they provided good advice centered around my vaping equipment and personal vaping style. No BS or marketing speak or messing around. They looked at what I use, considered my preferences, gave good feedback on the ikenvape options I should consider, and delivered in spades.

A lot of vendors in this industry give really great customer service, particularly those that are active in the forums. And this industry is also home to some of the worst customer service; you can't get worse than Smoking Everywhere's rob you and run policy. But many great vendors, even with good customer service, are too caught up in trying to sell you with generalities to provide real and quality feedback. But the support from ikenvape was better than experience tells me I should reasonably expect.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that these cartomizers are so freakin' awesome. Good products go a long way towards setting people up to be happy. And I'm very happy - so much so that I had to take some time to dish out the praise.

 

[5cardstud]

That's Isaac in a nutshell. He is one vendor that truly treats his customers as friends. That's why I coined the phrase "Where the goodness never stops" it describes Ikenvape to a tee.

 

[WomanOfHeart]

Isaac is a one of a kind gem in this industry and we love him for it! I only have one other vendor (for my DIY supplies) who even matches the level of customer service that I've received from him. That's not to say that my dealings with other vendors has been sub-par, but they don't even come close to the SUPERIOR CS and products from IKV! This is why I recommend IkenVape so often and will continue to do so.

Thank you, Isaac!

 

[Iken]

Aw man! I missed this entire thread!!
Thank you Uzza, Johnny5 and WomanofthebiggestHearts!! You guys are the absolute greatest! Greatest thread title of all time! lol

Ps. Cool World!! You rock Uzza!

 

[Switched]

I am no fanboy! Just a very satisfied customer

 

[mini_art]

Issac is a angel of mercy and I can prove it LOL> He is the best

 

[Switched]

Issac is a angel of mercy and I can prove it LOL> He is the best

Yes he is How's the wing?

 

[Iken]

Thanks Mini and Switcher! Why does it have to go to one being a fanboy for showing praise and gratitude to another who's looking to help?

 

[mini_art]

Hi Switched, The wing is as good as it is ever going to get . It will work so thats all good

OH I'm a fan LOL> I see nothing wrong at all with being a fan When its good why not say it ! There is enough carp in the world that the good should be proclaimed when it is found.

 

[MokshDhua]

Post is irrelevant to thread

Email or PM Ikenvape

 

[MokshDhua]

Post is irrelevant to thread

Email or PM Ikenvape

How so? OP said he recd great service. I said I didn't the thread discusses service of the vendor.

Any ways the service was great in his case because he is a regular forum member. It sucked in my case because at the time of my purchase I wasn't an active forum member. So service at ikenvape is selective not consistent.

Since I failed to receive any email communications from ikenvape as a customer, I see no point in emailing him again.

PS: I have the emails saved, I had sent to isaac and never recd replies to. I also have the order receipt and my communications with him thereafter. I can post this entire one sided communication in the reviews forum if this post also gets deleted.

EDIT:

Sorry for going off on your service a couple of months after my bad communication experience with Ikenvape

I do understand that this once was a small community and a very personalized service to everyone was once possible. I also understand that the "oldies" have thus recd. excellent service from most vendors and in the process formed personal friendship with you guys.

I also understand that as the community grows it is not possible to keep up with personalized service for every customer. So you have to become selective and respond to the most vocal of the "newbies"

But I urge you to look at it from the "newbies" perspective. An apprehensive and confused ex-smoker in this overwhelming world of vaping is looking for not just advice and reassurance but also the same level of one-to-one service after reading the "oldies" reviews.

If this is not possible for the vendor he should make this clear and follow what the bigger vendors do. Most bigger shops now do not selective personalize service. They have a support ticketing system. As a newbie when I go to such a vendor I don't expect personalized service and yet I buy from them. Usually these vendors are also good at sending proper instruction manuals with their products. This is much better that building false expectations of personalized service.

 

[rc51kodiak]

@MokshDhua

I understand your frustration, it is hard enough to quit analogs and still have the patience to sift through the vast amount of information on the whole ECF forum but there is a wealth of knowledge in here and it can get confusing at times, but you will find many helpful people that are willing to take the time to walk you through any problems that may come up along your journey or answer any questions you may have.

As far as your Ikenvape experience goes I can only speak for my personal experience with Isaac as a vendor and I think he is one of the best when it comes to customer service and I am not an "oldie".
Sure it may take him a while to respond sometimes, but can you imagine how it is to read hundreds of emails everyday and then respond to all of them plus talk to the manufacturers on a regular basis and then still find time to package and ship all the products out... There are a few that are bound to fall through the cracks and get missed. From my experience he does not seem like the type of person that would do that on purpose...

Once again I understand your frustrations as we all probably can as we have all been there at one point or another on the road to quitting analogs. Confused from all the options, wanting someone to point us in the right direction, wishing there was someone that could tell us exactly what to get so we would not be dissapointed or fall back into our old habit. Isaac is top notch in my opinion when it comes to this, but he is only one man and that means he may miss a few of us but that is where this forum comes into play, because I can almost be certain that any question you may have on his products could be answered by some of the "oldies" when Isaac is not available.

You ask that he looks at it from the perspective of a "newbie" which I am sure he will when he reads your post.... I then ask you to do the same and look at it through his perspective... I would guess he is trying to do the best job he can to make a living and help as many people as he can along the way. I run a very small business with only a fraction at best of the customers that he deals with on a daily basis and it is very difficult to say the least. Now factor in that most of his customers are suffering from stress and withdrawls of some sort from trying to kick their old habit and their patience are probably somewhat less than normal I guarantee you it makes for a very long day for him.

So I guess it boils down to what you prefer, I for one prefer dealing with someone that is doing their best even if it is not perfect to make my experience a good and personable one versus dealing with a place that just considers me a number and the only thing they want to know about me is my credit card digits...

I have not tried all his products so I probably would not be your best choice but if you can not find someone to answer your questions that you have on vaping or IKV products send me a PM and I will do my best to help you out.

 

[Switched]

Hummmmmm, what's in the water in California these days

If you would have taken the time to follow the sub you might have come to the understanding that there has been several glitches with the IKV site to include but not limited to e-mail traffic.

Furthermore some yahoos e-mail or PM every hour or so to see if there order has shipped etc... that clogs the mail system. Folks need to take a chill pill when they are going through withdrawals.

 

[jbmcdan]

I have to disagree with your accusation of "selective customer" service from IKV, mokshedhua...I'm fairly new to the forums and Isaac's always answered my questions WHEN I ASKED NICELY AND IN THE APPROPRIATE THREAD.

I'm glad IKV does not follow the CS model of the "bigger vendors".

here's your carto instruction manual: Fill it with juice. Vape it.

 

[chet]

How so? OP said he recd great service. I said I didn't the thread discusses service of the vendor.

Any ways the service was great in his case because he is a regular forum member. It sucked in my case because at the time of my purchase I wasn't an active forum member. So service at ikenvape is selective not consistent.

Since I failed to receive any email communications from ikenvape as a customer, I see no point in emailing him again.

PS: I have the emails saved, I had sent to isaac and never recd replies to. I also have the order receipt and my communications with him thereafter. I can post this entire one sided communication in the reviews forum if this post also gets deleted.

EDIT:

Sorry for going off on your service a couple of months after my bad communication experience with Ikenvape

I do understand that this once was a small community and a very personalized service to everyone was once possible. I also understand that the "oldies" have thus recd. excellent service from most vendors and in the process formed personal friendship with you guys.

I also understand that as the community grows it is not possible to keep up with personalized service for every customer. So you have to become selective and respond to the most vocal of the "newbies"

But I urge you to look at it from the "newbies" perspective. An apprehensive and confused ex-smoker in this overwhelming world of vaping is looking for not just advice and reassurance but also the same level of one-to-one service after reading the "oldies" reviews.

If this is not possible for the vendor he should make this clear and follow what the bigger vendors do. Most bigger shops now do not selective personalize service. They have a support ticketing system. As a newbie when I go to such a vendor I don't expect personalized service and yet I buy from them. Usually these vendors are also good at sending proper instruction manuals with their products. This is much better that building false expectations of personalized service.

From my personal experience, I'd also have to disagree with your 'selective customer service' mentionings.
Good thing I read this thread because I have a perfect example of his customer service.

Let me check my mailbox...

My first email was sent on Saturday, July 23, 2011 2:01 AM
I received the response on Saturday, July 23, 2011 2:02:05 AM

I must've caught him at the right moment, because I received the response in 1 minute and 5 second. And I was just asking about the coupon code, so it didn't take much writing on his side I guess.
But still... this is 2AM(Pacific, so it's 5AM for him) and on Saturday.

Pretty amazed, I sent him another email asking about his atomizers.

Inquiry sent: Saturday, July 23, 2011 2:05 AM
Response received: Saturday, July 23, 2011 2:16:34

He sent me the reply(218 words counted) explaining which ones I need. None of the words seemed to be copy-pasted as he addressed every question I asked with detail and even some extra suggestions. I started my second email "that was pretty fast" and he wrote me back starting with "Haha didn’t go to sleep just yet." so... this is one friendly guy who doesn't mind doing his business work at 5AM on Saturday. Really, I felt like I was on MSN messenger.

Now, this was my very first email exchange I've ever done with him, and nowhere in my message I mentioned I was on any ecig community. I'm a 4 day old brand-newbie vaper(most of my over 150 posts come from Red Sky Mod thread in past couple weeks) so in my experience he most definately was not being selective in any way. Also, I'm yet to purchase anything from him(yes, I felt bad that I decided to hold on it even after he told me the coupon code along with all the answers I needed) so I was definately not on his customer list.

So from my experience, I can only guess something in the system went wrong to deliver your email, his responses ended up in your spam folder, or something else happened... have you checked the spam folder?

 

[Switched]

@MokshDhua

I understand your frustration, it is hard enough to quit analogs and still have the patience to sift through the vast amount of information on the whole ECF forum but there is a wealth of knowledge in here and it can get confusing at times, but you will find many helpful people that are willing to take the time to walk you through any problems that may come up along your journey or answer any questions you may have.

As far as your Ikenvape experience goes I can only speak for my personal experience with Isaac as a vendor and I think he is one of the best when it comes to customer service and I am not an "oldie".
Sure it may take him a while to respond sometimes, but can you imagine how it is to read hundreds of emails everyday and then respond to all of them plus talk to the manufacturers on a regular basis and then still find time to package and ship all the products out... There are a few that are bound to fall through the cracks and get missed. From my experience he does not seem like the type of person that would do that on purpose...

Once again I understand your frustrations as we all probably can as we have all been there at one point or another on the road to quitting analogs. Confused from all the options, wanting someone to point us in the right direction, wishing there was someone that could tell us exactly what to get so we would not be dissapointed or fall back into our old habit. Isaac is top notch in my opinion when it comes to this, but he is only one man and that means he may miss a few of us but that is where this forum comes into play, because I can almost be certain that any question you may have on his products could be answered by some of the "oldies" when Isaac is not available.

You ask that he looks at it from the perspective of a "newbie" which I am sure he will when he reads your post.... I then ask you to do the same and look at it through his perspective... I would guess he is trying to do the best job he can to make a living and help as many people as he can along the way. I run a very small business with only a fraction at best of the customers that he deals with on a daily basis and it is very difficult to say the least. Now factor in that most of his customers are suffering from stress and withdrawls of some sort from trying to kick their old habit and their patience are probably somewhat less than normal I guarantee you it makes for a very long day for him.

So I guess it boils down to what you prefer, I for one prefer dealing with someone that is doing their best even if it is not perfect to make my experience a good and personable one versus dealing with a place that just considers me a number and the only thing they want to know about me is my credit card digits...

I have not tried all his products so I probably would not be your best choice but if you can not find someone to answer your questions that you have on vaping or IKV products send me a PM and I will do my best to help you out.

Absolutely!

 

[Iken]

How so? OP said he recd great service. I said I didn't the thread discusses service of the vendor.

Any ways the service was great in his case because he is a regular forum member. It sucked in my case because at the time of my purchase I wasn't an active forum member. So service at ikenvape is selective not consistent.

Since I failed to receive any email communications from ikenvape as a customer, I see no point in emailing him again.

PS: I have the emails saved, I had sent to isaac and never recd replies to. I also have the order receipt and my communications with him thereafter. I can post this entire one sided communication in the reviews forum if this post also gets deleted.

EDIT:

Sorry for going off on your service a couple of months after my bad communication experience with Ikenvape

I do understand that this once was a small community and a very personalized service to everyone was once possible. I also understand that the "oldies" have thus recd. excellent service from most vendors and in the process formed personal friendship with you guys.

I also understand that as the community grows it is not possible to keep up with personalized service for every customer. So you have to become selective and respond to the most vocal of the "newbies"

But I urge you to look at it from the "newbies" perspective. An apprehensive and confused ex-smoker in this overwhelming world of vaping is looking for not just advice and reassurance but also the same level of one-to-one service after reading the "oldies" reviews.

If this is not possible for the vendor he should make this clear and follow what the bigger vendors do. Most bigger shops now do not selective personalize service. They have a support ticketing system. As a newbie when I go to such a vendor I don't expect personalized service and yet I buy from them. Usually these vendors are also good at sending proper instruction manuals with their products. This is much better that building false expectations of personalized service.

Hey Mok,
I am very sorry for missing your email(s) Sometimes it difficult keeping up with all the emails as that's where I spend probably 80% of the day and apparently early morning to say. 100 a day is probably low balling it and when you add-on that I don't believe in cheap one-lined answers they can be never ending but sometimes some do fall in between the cracks or even they're very long messages that I need to divide time for and even then they mistakenly get forgotten. I should've just erased the other vendors name in your post and for that I am sorry.

If you let me have a 2nd shot at helping I would love the honor. You don't have to reply but I hate to see someone pouring through funds without knowing what is really going on. Honestly 7-10 days is still very bad to go through. I agree 306 models aren't the strongest as they do take the most severe punishment in use but you still should be getting a month to two of quality vaping per atty. How long have you been experiencing these low atty lives? Have you used liquids from other vendors if so, what ratio and where from?Sometimes it's hard to accept that the flavors we hold dear could be the underlying destruction of an atty. Much like 1.5 atties. The people that Love them accept the fact that they will live very short lives as it still beats the price of analogs.

 

[MokshDhua]

If you let me have a 2nd shot at helping I would love the honor. You don't have to reply but I hate to see someone pouring through funds without knowing what is really going on.

To late As a newbie I had no idea how to prime the 306s (7drops + rest + 3more) and hence popped 2 atties in 2 days. Sent you an email in frustration. Then popped another 5 making a total of 7 atties in 10 days. So I wasted 7 atties to learn.

Having bought 15 atties from you I still had and have 8 left (none popped after I learnt)

Had you:
- Replied to me
- OR sent an instructional leaflet with your product

I would not have lost those atties.

Good luck

PS: It takes very little effort to mass print some instructional leaflets for your products I suggest you do so

 

[Switched]

Well I guess that's it then. Next cup of coffee you order from Starbucks be careful it contains hot liquid.

 

[rc51kodiak]

@MokshDhua

I want to start by saying none of my comments below are meant to belittle anyone or make anyone feel bad they are just my conclusions from reading your post's above.

"PS:" It takes very little effort to read the description when you purchase something. This is posted right under the product you say that you ordered and it has been there since the first time I looked at IKV website....

"Witness our own variation of the 306 atomizer. They measure in at 21.3mm L and 7.6mm without cap making it the smallest atomizer in existence. While they can be used with the factory standard cap, it is recommended to use a 306 Drip tip as these are dripping devices. To properly fill: Drop approximately 7 drops on to the unit and watch the bridge absorb, activate twice, then drop two more, then Enjoy!"

So exactly who is at fault here? It took you seven times doing the same thing to relize you might be doing it wrong?

I know when your frustrated its easier to blame others but we the consumer have to take responibility at times and this my friend is that time and you have to step up and do so. It is clearly stated on his website how to fill them.

I am sorry you lost 7 atties as that is a sad thing especially since I am out of 306lr and do not know when they will be back in stock, but if you are ever are in a situation on not knowing how much to fill an attie again start by flooding them first and work your way backwards that way you will never burn them out. Just in case you do not know what flooding them means it is when there is so much juice in them that they leak out all around the threads at the connector.

I am not an expert by any means and have ruined my fair share of products over the past months through trial and error but have found most problems that I have had could have been avoided by reading through the post on ECF, I know it is time consuming but you can learn alot about products and their correct usage.