Newbie - Smoke51 Rip Off ?

[buzzer4543]

Hi to all.

First, this is a great forum and many thanks to all who contribute. That being said, I have smoked cigarettes for 35 years, since I was 13 years old. I am truly sick of it and have tried on many occasions to quit. I saw an internet ad for E-Cigarettes and clicked on it. It was a link to a news video about E-Ciggs. There was a link in there to Smoke51.com who offered a free trial pack.

I went to their site to order the free trial pack and promptly found out that shipping was not free. OK - fair enough. I gave them my CC and shipping info and authorized the $10 or so shipping fee. That was 3 weeks ago. I checked my CC account and discovered that they had charged me the shipping fee twice.

OK - Maybe an honest mistake or a web site bug, or maybe I clicked the order button twice (don't think so). If I ended up with 2 free trial packs that would have been fine. So far, I have ended up with nothing. At the 2 week mark I sent them an inquiry via their site Contact link. I sent a nice message asking why my card had been charged twice and how long should I expect delivery to take. I got an email confirmation when I placed the order and another one when I sent the inquiry.

No response from them at all. So, I guess I will dispute the charges and look elsewhere for a good introductory deal. I am wondering if anyone has experience with Smoke51.com and am interested in recommendations for a newbie just wanting to try E-Ciggs.

In the mean time, I am reading reading reading !!

Thanks to all !

 

[Arizona Dad]

You might want to check out cignot.com. They have a 510 starter kit for about $35. I believe this is the cheapest price for a 510, AND they're honest.

 

[Bennywow]

The 510 starter kit from cignot is a great price and they have fast shipping. Smoke51 I have never heard anything good about that company.

 

[rjp44]

If cignot has not gotten the 510 kits in stock, nhaler has 510's and great juices. If you order use saveinnj coupon code for 10% off.

 

[MHR7331]

Go with cignot. Got a 510 from them, and it worked out great. You don't need some BS free trial offer; just get the $35 starter kit ($65 with a PCC).

 

[laurieok]

Smoke 51 is made by smoking everywhere. It is a 2 piece system...battery and cartomizers. They are really high priced and charge a lot for the cartomizers. It is the same as an E9..red dragon is also an e9.

 

[Dubskie]

I havn't tried or ordered from Smoke-51, but it was the first company that got me interested in e-cigs. They're the reason that lead me here to this wonderful forum.

However, my understanding about Smoke-51 is that they say you can try a trial version of the product, which is the basic starting kit for the low price of "JUST" the shipping (I believe thats $10-15.99). I almost did this because of my impatience, but I did stop to do some research before I placed an order. What I did find out was a bit disheartening, as it takes about 7-12 days to recieve your shipment, then the trial ends after 14 days or so. They clearly state in fine print somewhere on their site saying that they're going to charge you $100+ dollars for the kit once the trial period is up. So basically, the shipping time is accumulated in the trial period. Worst case scenario, you actually only have 2 days to make a decision, and hypothetically speaking, you could ship it back, but because they didnt recieve it before the 14 days, you actually got billed regardless.

I also read that once you pass your 14 day trial, they sign you up for what they call "Membership Status" and put your name on an automatic list where you'll recieve more cartridge refills every month for $14.99 - 29.99. Thats a little much, considering that we're humans and can make up our own minds.

I'm not trying to talk trash, but I think the marketing was a little shady for my taste. The promotion on the site alone looked like a scam to me.

-Dubskie

 

[Apophis]

I agree that somke51 is on the expensive side. I started with the bloog. Also expensive and the same two piece design. Seems that all two piecers are interchangable from what I've heard. If you truely want the two piece, I hear people on here raving about the Vapor King. If you really want to do smoke51, the best time to get anything from them is when they do their 51% off sales. Sign up for their email list and just wait for the sales.

 

[Archer74]

short answer to the question... YES

same tactic as SmokingEverywhere. 14 day trial and membership. I've learned the hard way its all B*LLCR@P with a capital ....

 

[props76]

If you need out of it, and don't want to be ripped off, report your credit card stolen/lost NOW, before they start running it for the $100 and the ripoff monthly charge.

Return the unused kit, by registered mail, so you have proof you sent it back (just to be honest). Kiss your $20 in shipping good-bye and cut your loss. They may send you nasty letters asking for the $100 with threats, but unless you signed something, there is no proof of a contract, even if there was a contract any method to get the $100 out of you will cost them 100 time that in legal fees. They will go away, and you saved youself being scammed.

Trying to get a recurring charge off a credit card is next to impossible unless the company is willing to remove it. Position of the credit card compaines is that you have a contract whoever is making the charge. Its a pain to even get a single charge blocked if not impossible.

 

[buzzer4543]

Great. Thanks for the input. I will cancel the card tomorrow and try one of the places suggested above. I will NOT be paying them $100 for anything and I do NOT want a "membership" or anything else that involves recurring charges.

These companies have a product that is in high demand. Why do some of them have to resort to these kinds of tactics

Thanks again to all.

 

[JohnK]

Great. Thanks for the input. I will cancel the card tomorrow and try one of the places suggested above. I will NOT be paying them $100 for anything and I do NOT want a "membership" or anything else that involves recurring charges.

These companies have a product that is in high demand. Why do some of them have to resort to these kinds of tactics

Thanks again to all.

In some cases, the cost of advertising........in other cases, pure greed.

 

[crmartin]

I ordered and received the Smoke 51 Trio and requested an RMA number 3 weeks ago. They charged me the initial 9.95 shipping charge and 89.95 for the kit after my 7 day trial period even though I asked for the RMA 2 days after receiving the kit. They have also charged me 29.95 for the VIP membership and I have not received the cartridges. I sent an email to cancel@smoke51.com and they replied that they were extending my trial period by 7 days. When I sent another email to rma@smoke51.com I got a reply stating that additional emails would put you back on the bottom of the list. I have called the number on my cc statement and only get a recorded message. I want to return the kit and get a refund, this company is bad news, the worst customer service of any company I have ever dealt with.

Avoid them like the plague.

 

[props76]

Call your credit card company and tell them the situation.

Most likely they are going to tell you tuff luck, but you have nothing to lose.

You can be sure the credit card company, although not doing anything for you will be taking note. If they get enough complaints they can pull, or even threaten to pull credit card service to smoke51.

By the sounds of things, the rude email that if you email again, you are at the bottom of the list, seem like they are doing everything in their power to keep you from sending the kit back. they may not have every acepted a kit back. You might have to just take the hit of the price of the kit.

 

[JohnK]

Call your credit card company and tell them the situation.

Most likely they are going to tell you tuff luck, but you have nothing to lose.

You can be sure the credit card company, although not doing anything for you will be taking note. If they get enough complaints they can pull, or even threaten to pull credit card service to smoke51.

By the sounds of things, the rude email that if you email again, you are at the bottom of the list, seem like they are doing everything in their power to keep you from sending the kit back. they may not have every acepted a kit back. You might have to just take the hit of the price of the kit.

Actually, my credit card company credited the shipping charge back to me after I provided all of the details about my repeated contact attempts and Smoke51's failure to reply. Most credit cards have a "Dispute" process that you can execute if you feel that you've been wronged. Mine credited the charge back to me in just 3 days, likely after THEIR attempts to contact Smoke51 went unanswered

 

[robin40]

Hi to all.

First, this is a great forum and many thanks to all who contribute. That being said, I have smoked cigarettes for 35 years, since I was 13 years old. I am truly sick of it and have tried on many occasions to quit. I saw an internet ad for E-Cigarettes and clicked on it. It was a link to a news video about E-Ciggs. There was a link in there to Smoke51.com who offered a free trial pack.

I went to their site to order the free trial pack and promptly found out that shipping was not free. OK - fair enough. I gave them my CC and shipping info and authorized the $10 or so shipping fee. That was 3 weeks ago. I checked my CC account and discovered that they had charged me the shipping fee twice.

OK - Maybe an honest mistake or a web site bug, or maybe I clicked the order button twice (don't think so). If I ended up with 2 free trial packs that would have been fine. So far, I have ended up with nothing. At the 2 week mark I sent them an inquiry via their site Contact link. I sent a nice message asking why my card had been charged twice and how long should I expect delivery to take. I got an email confirmation when I placed the order and another one when I sent the inquiry.

No response from them at all. So, I guess I will dispute the charges and look elsewhere for a good introductory deal. I am wondering if anyone has experience with Smoke51.com and am interested in recommendations for a newbie just wanting to try E-Ciggs.

In the mean time, I am reading reading reading !!

Thanks to all !

I fell into that trap as well. I did not give up and tried several others with very good results. The two piece Bloog is very good and the Vapor King 510(manual battery) works great. The customer service is like night and day as well. I charged those 2 Smoke51's that I got and put them away just in case I get in a bind one day. I pray that does not happen becasue they suck!!