Notice: Please immediately discontinue use of your blu pack

[Fluff]

I'm pretty frustrated with this company. I placed my order on the September 21st and it was "shipped" on the 22nd. I live in Georgia so when the order had not arrived from North Carolina in three business days I inquired as to where my product was. I sent two e-mails, one asking about the location of my order and the other telling them to cancel it, and neither got any response from customer service. Then I received the recall/cancellation letter on the 29th. It stated that it would take up to 3 days for the credit to be reflected on my credit card. Well, the three days are up (business days) and it's not there. So, I decided to try the customer service chat this time and it went nowhere:

Mary: Hello, My order has not been refunded yet and three days have passed. Is there anyway for me to make sure your company is in the process of refunding my order?
Ricardo: I can assist you with that. The refund process can take 7 business days.
Mary: The e-mail sent out says 3 days and I have already waited long enough for a "shipped" product that wasn't actually shipped.
Ricardo: May I have the order id?
Mary: xxxxxxxxxxx
Ricardo: Thank you.
Ricardo: The refund time can take 7 business days
Mary: Then why is there not a correction e-mail?
Mary: The e-mail sent by the company president states 3 days.

...and then they just disappear, no response.

I really want my refund so I can go on to buy a nice product with better customer service (I like the Sidesho). It makes me sick that I wasted 13 days and counting on Blu. *cry* So, has anyone received their refund yet?

 

[hellonez]

bump bump bump

 

[Zaibach333]

this is terrible news but I dont think I'm gonna send it back, took me fricken a month and a half to receive it and 3 weeks to get a battery replaced. just forget it

 

[hellonez]

u dont have to send it back. blu is replacing the charging case. 4-6 weeks and you will have a replacement pack.

 

[ndstrctbl]

one of my co-workers buddies had this happen to him with his Blu on a plane...yeah no good lol

 

[Denise]

I previously emailed Blu asking if the black shiny charger pack was defective as well. Rec'd this reply:

I am sorry for any confusion regarding the blu pack recall.

Due to the recent recall of the blu pack, please dispose of all blu packs in your possession to date. All prior orders for the blu pack will be replaced upon inventory received.

For faster assistance, please feel free to contact us via phone, toll free, at 1-888-207-4588. All of our help desk operators are available 24/7 to assist you. This avoids the delay of waiting for return emails and allows us to resolve your issue immediately.

Thank you,
blu Cigs Customer Service

 

[hxj]

Bummer, I was hoping one of my Packs would still be okay to use. Ah well, now I can risk life and limb prying them apart to see if I can mod them to charge 306a batteries.

 

[LABeachBum]

I'm sure many folks have found other places that sell the popular L88 model that Blu uses to replace their defective PCC packs... Haven't seen much mention of this merchant that I found recently which is 3domecigs.com. So the list stands as:

Blucigs.com
volcanoecigs.com
aquavapor.com (spider model)
3domecigs.com (mini model)

At the time of this posting, aquavapor was out of PCCs, and volcano has only white ones.

 

[hxj]

I'm sure many folks have found other places that sell the popular L88 model that Blu uses to replace their defective PCC packs... Haven't seen much mention of this merchant that I found recently which is 3domecigs.com. So the list stands as:

Blucigs.com
volcanoecigs.com
aquavapor.com (spider model)
3domecigs.com (mini model)

At the time of this posting, aquavapor was out of PCCs, and volcano has only white ones.

Just to be clear... are people thinking that PCCs from these vendors won't be subject to the same defect that afflicts the blu Pack? Because as far as I know, the only difference between the PCCs from any of these companies is the logo stamped on the front—they should all be manufactured by the same company out of the same parts, right?

If you want to risk using an L88b PCC and are just looking for places to get them other than blu, that makes sense, but if you're expecting this equipment to be safer than the "recalled" blu Packs, I can't see how that would be.

 

[LABeachBum]

I can only go off what the merchants say. They state their packs don't have any issues. Volcano is even taking advantage of it a little and saying the same as "hey Blu users, can't use your Pack? Ours are ok so come spend your money here."

Of course, they could be lying!

What does everyone else think?

 

[hxj]

I can only go off what the merchants say. They state their packs don't have any issues. Volcano is even taking advantage of it a little and saying the same as "hey Blu users, can't use your Pack? Ours are ok so come spend your money here."

Of course, they could be lying!

What does everyone else think?

The only thing I saw from Volcano (this may since have changed) was a post at the blucigforums that said they hadn't had any reported issues with their packs, and their supplier hadn't had any reported issues with their packs either. That's not the same thing as saying their product is different from blu's and there definitely isn't a problem.

I mean, say I have a little corner candy store and sell Snickers bars. Stop & Shop also sells Snickers bars, but obviously in far higher volumes. All the Snickers bars are made by Mars, Inc., but Stop & Shop gets their Snickers bars from Big Huge Mondo Confectionery Supply, Inc. whereas I, with my far lower volume, get mine from Fred's Candy Wholesale.

Then three Stop & Shop customers get food poisoning that is traced to Snickers bars purchased at their stores. What should happen, obviously, is that instead of just Stop & Shop issuing a recall, the recall would come from Mars, Inc. and would trickle down to every seller, no matter what supplier they bought the candy from. I wouldn't continue to sell Snickers bars using the logic, "hey, none of my customers told me they got sick, and I called Fred's Candy Wholesale, and none of their customers reported any Snickers-related problems either, so these must be okay."

But in the unregulated world of e-cigs, there's no such mandate from above; blu has sold a lot more packs than Volcano, so the statistical likelihood of whose customer would finally have a problem with a poorly-designed pack is obvious. If blu's customers reported damage or harm caused by faulty batteries in the Packs, they can't very well force the Chinese manufacturers to issue a recall; all they can do is tell their own customers to discontinue use and wait for a safer replacement. Meanwhile, just because Volcano hasn't had any customer complaints about their V-Packs, and neither has the specific supplier they purchase from, that doesn't mean the product is safe.

None of this applies, obviously, if the Volcano V-Pack is really and truly different than the blu Pack, instead of just being the same exact product from the same manufacturer with a different logo screened on the front. But I haven't heard anyone say that isn't the case. If Volcano et al have gone on record to say that their equipment is different and not subject to the battery problem, I may have some shopping to do. ;-)

 

[TravisD]

Hi all i'm new to the ecig scene as well as the boards, and I was just wondering if anyone has had a pack blow up on them? About 3 days before this notice was up on the site my pack actually exploded - well it was more like it shot a ton of smoke and sparks from the top and bottom and caught on fire. It took a few minutes of running water over it with a hose to put out. I have been meaning to call them and complain and try to get a replacement as it melted my battery that was in there but i haven't had the time. Just curious if anyone else has had this happen to them, I think that if i wasn't home it could have caused a fire. Has anyone had this happen? if so any advice on how to approach getting a replacement from them?

 

[hxj]

Hi all i'm new to the ecig scene as well as the boards, and I was just wondering if anyone has had a pack blow up on them? About 3 days before this notice was up on the site my pack actually exploded - well it was more like it shot a ton of smoke and sparks from the top and bottom and caught on fire. It took a few minutes of running water over it with a hose to put out. I have been meaning to call them and complain and try to get a replacement as it melted my battery that was in there but i haven't had the time. Just curious if anyone else has had this happen to them, I think that if i wasn't home it could have caused a fire. Has anyone had this happen? if so any advice on how to approach getting a replacement from them?

Holy cats! Nope, this is the first firsthand report I've seen of a Pack actually catching fire, though we all assumed it must have happened to prompt such extraordinary and expensive measures on blu's part. I remember there was a member here who complained that his Pack made a gurgling noise every time he charged it, but he stopped using it before something awful happened.

Everyone with a Pack will get a replacement automatically when they're available... at least, that's what blu claims as terms of the "recall." As for your battery, if you call them and tell them what happened, I don't think they'll give you much grief about sending out another battery. Heck, they'd probably send you a couple dozen just to try to keep you from suing them.

(Just to be extra-clear, since you didn't actually specify—you are talking about a Pack from blu and not Volcano, right?)

 

[hxj]

None of this applies, obviously, if the Volcano V-Pack is really and truly different than the blu Pack, instead of just being the same exact product from the same manufacturer with a different logo screened on the front. But I haven't heard anyone say that isn't the case. If Volcano et al have gone on record to say that their equipment is different and not subject to the battery problem, I may have some shopping to do. ;-)

Update (and I should have checked this sooner—apologies, everyone) to the Volcano thread at blucigforums:

We have confirmed that our PCC's do not have the same problems as Blue. Our model is the newest version and has no problems. There were problems with the original PCC from our supplier, but they fixed this problem with the new and current version that we have. We have never sold a PCC (V-Pack) with this problem, Joe Volcano

Although I still wonder about this, because according to blu, the "newer" L88b PCCs (the matte-finish, "grippier" ones) have the same problem as the original glossy, hard plastic ones. I believe Volcano has those matte ones. If the existing "newer" L88b PCCs were okay, surely blu would be sending those out to existing customers in this recall, instead of waiting 4-6 weeks for brand new ones from the manufacturer? I mean, anyone with money can order a ton of those from JSB over the web.

My current interpretation is this: JSB uses whatever the cheapest batteries it can get its hands on at the time when it builds PCCs, and it was a particular batch that were bad when they built a couple of massive orders for blu. Perhaps JSB records show that the bad batteries were limited only to PCCs that shipped to blu, but blu's record-keeping (or lack thereof) doesn't allow them to determine which Packs they sent to which customers, so they're forced to replace ALL of them.

Meanwhile, JSB knows that the bad PCCs only shipped to blu, and so PCCs from all other vendors are okay.

Does this make sense? Batteries are tricky things, as evidenced by all the laptop battery recalls over the years by Dell, Apple, etc. The difference being that big companies like those keep track of every lot number and serial number, so they can post a message saying "if you have a laptop battery with a serial number starting with Q333ST, the battery may be faulty; here are instructions on how to obtain a free replacement," etc.

 

[TravisD]

Here are some pictures, excuse the bad lime in the background this thing has been sitting out in my backyard for a few weeks. Also you might not be able to see it in the pictures but the plastic is warped pretty bad due to the heat.

oops...
I can't post complete links just yet, but if anyone would like to repost them as pictures please feel free. replace the xxx with com

i42.photobucket.xxx/albums/e338/OsirisD/Photo748.jpp

i42.photobucket.xxx/albums/e338/OsirisD/Photo744.jpg

i42.photobucket.xxx/albums/e338/OsirisD/Photo747.jpg

i42.photobucket.xxx/albums/e338/OsirisD/Photo746-1.jpg

 

[hxj]

Here they are:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e338/OsirisD/Photo748.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e338/OsirisD/Photo744.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e338/OsirisD/Photo747.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e338/OsirisD/Photo746-1.jpg

That's pretty messed up. 8-o

 

[LABeachBum]

...None of this applies, obviously, if the Volcano V-Pack is really and truly different than the blu Pack, instead of just being the same exact product from the same manufacturer with a different logo screened on the front. But I haven't heard anyone say that isn't the case. If Volcano et al have gone on record to say that their equipment is different and not subject to the battery problem, I may have some shopping to do. ;-)

As most of us know, if you leave a Blu battery in the Blu pack, it starts to discharge the battery and the pack after a few hours. However, last night I accidentally left a battery inside the Volcano pack and woke up this morning to find the battery was fully charged and the case did not discharge itself. This suggests that the pack does in fact have some subtle differences. Should this give us a little confidence that Volcano's pack might in fact be different?

 

[hxj]

As most of us know, if you leave a Blu battery in the Blu pack, it starts to discharge the battery and the pack after a few hours. However, last night I accidentally left a battery inside the Volcano pack and woke up this morning to find the battery was fully charged and the case did not discharge itself. This suggests that the pack does in fact have some subtle differences. Should this give us a little confidence that Volcano's pack might in fact be different?

I think it's a reasonable thing to think, if the V-Pack really does auto-cut-off after charging. Sounds a little strange, though, since Volcano's own site goes to pains to point out that "***It is very important to unscrew the V-Battery from your V-Pack after it has completed charging. The V-Pack has a fail safe built into it that will drain the battery if you do not unscrew it to ensure that your V-Battery is not damaged. You may leave the V-Battery in the slot for storing, just make sure that it is not screwed in."

Regardless of that, though, I'm increasingly confident that the battery problem was localized to a specific lot or lots of L88b PCCs, and that JSB knows they were all shipped to blu. The only bit that gives me pause is, if that's the case, why would it take blu 4-6 weeks to get good replacements? It certainly isn't taking Volcano that long to get V-Packs in stock when they run out (as they recently did). So I'm still uneasy about believing that V-Packs are totally safe, since the facts just don't seem to hang together.

Then again... Volcano just got WHITE V-Packs back in stock, but the BLACK ones are still out. And if JSB is working on making a zillion black ones to replace every single one that blu ever sold, well, that might make a lot of sense. Volcano's site currently states that black kits will be selling again starting tomorrow, so I guess we'll see...

 

[Mo JJC]

Here they are:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e338/OsirisD/Photo748.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e338/OsirisD/Photo744.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e338/OsirisD/Photo747.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e338/OsirisD/Photo746-1.jpg

That's pretty messed up. 8-o

Wow glad I had quit charging mine. UMM why is blu spelt uld in the above photos?

 

[Slighter]

Here is a mobile charging suggestion till the new packs show up. It's an APC usb power pack(APC-UPB10) originally picked a few years back to use with my motorola Q and Zen mp3. It works with both the blu usb charger and the TW 510 passthrough(which also works with blu atty's). It is a discontinued item but can be had online. I can't post links yet but compu-america.com says they have em in stock for $50 or google APC UPB10.