Updates.
Just because I like to talk and communicate my experiences with you all I figured I'd update you on somethings.
1. The merchant account has been going well, it's saving me a lot of time, I have still yet to receive a deposit so that's worrying but still, it saves me so much time it's not even funny. So all is good so far
2. Due to the nature of the merchant account I cannot change orders anymore, previously I was known for being able to add, subtract or otherwise edit orders once they were in the system. I can no longer do that. Please be mindful of what you order otherwise it's going to cause a mess
3. Today I was accused of being a sleazy vendor. I received an order right before I went to the post office (15 minutes ago)
I processed it, packed it and labeled it 2 minutes after it came in (new record) when the person got the notice they immediately emailed me with this accusation. I just came back from the PO to that email. He asked me to send a picture of the package, obviously I can't do that since it's at the PO
and in a response email said he didn't see anything on tracking so I must be lying...
Normally I'd find that amusing but you'll see in number 4 below, it hasn't been a good week. So please know, if you get a ship notice, it means it's packed AND labeled, I cannot create a label until I weigh it, so it's impossible for me to send a ship notice before I actually have it ready for shipping. The ship notice is generated by printing the actual label. It still needs to be delivered to the PO.
4. This week I had someone go completely out of line for a bad ovale kit they received, he said
(among other things) that he "paid fast" and "did not deserve this", I told him I would immediately ship one out, he demanded money for shipping
(I sent a return label) I was at the hospital and made a special effort to get home and mail it before the PO closed. Then I received another not so nice email informing me the post office charged him 6 extra dollars. I told him the ovale weighs 2 ounces
(or so) and I sent a label to cover 5 ounces just in case. Then he said he sent the whole kit, which we did NOT discuss and proceeded to freak out again that I had sent only the replacement Ovale and again demanded that I send all the parts separately. I was out of kits and told him so, then more bad and 'woe is me' emails
(4 within one minute) and demanded to know why I wasn't answering right away or sending him the parts from my other stock
(answered an hour later) The end result is I refunded his money and told him our transaction was over and he could keep what he had and what he would receive.
Most of you know me, if you're in this
thread you have a good idea of what I am about. I have to say this kind of thing is completely unacceptable to me and I have neither the time or the ability to absorb more stress over something so trivial.
The kicker.. he ordered TWO ovale kits, so he had a working unit.
I am not saying this to call any one specific person out, if he is reading this, you can see no names are being proffered.
I am telling this story because it's just not something I want to deal with. Ever. Next time I will not be refunding any payment and not be cooperating with someone so belligerent. 99% are awesome people, but that 1% make this a very difficult second job sometimes.
I am out a kit (maybe two if he didn't send the original) and a third Ovale, but it is a
small price to pay not to see this persons email in my inbox.
I wouldn't usually tell you all this story but I needed to get it off my chest if it seems like a negative rant I'm sorry, it was just really stressful dealing with this person.
I realize I am thin skinned and probably should be more belligerent myself, but it's not who I am.
It's also worth noting that another person had a similar experience with an Ovale kit and he not only gladly send it back on his own, but he thanked me for shipping fast and having low prices and said I shouldn't bear the cost of manufacturing defects
(I don't necessarily agree with that but I'm not gonna argue)
5. As you might have guessed from the above there are a few Ovale kits that have had issues, 8 to be exact, still a small percent but noticeable, I told the manufacturer and they said to stick with 2.0 cartos and above (lol) but it had a 5 amp limit (which I doubt) anyway, they are sending me 8 replacements so I am not out the cost of these ovales. I am not sure I'll be able to wiggle any more out of them but we'll deal with that if more have problems. The issues arise immediately so it's not something that happens, it's something that is bad originally.
I have noticed that if you screw a carto down too tight it will go bonkers and I have also noticed that LR and LR DC cartos do tend to not play so nice on the Ovale.
On to some stock updates.
The Kanger T2 shipped Wednesday and should be here early this week.
The CE3 won't ship until Tuesday (seems to be an epidemic of vendors not shipping on time)
But I purchased 10x the normal amount to keep stock.
The Vision 2.0 coil heads did not make it with this shipment and Vision is disputing this and it is delaying the Vivi Novas. I am looking for someone else to
buy them from. I have put in an order with Vision but have yet to receive a PI for it.
The Ovale is in stock in all colors, except for the kits, I sell a ridiculous amount of those kits...
A few Ovales have come back with strange behavior, when I have received them back they seem fine. I am starting toi suspect LR cartos, too tight connections and that sort of thing, I am trying to find a pattern and will report what I find.
The Thors I have ARE identical to Vision 2.0 I have vaped two of each exclusively the last few days and find no difference between them at all, each of the units have the same two flavors and I cannot tell any difference, so it does not really matter which your purchase if you wanted to get some.
I have Kanger T2's, Kanger T0's (bottom coil), Vision heads, "Lava" 1.5 (not LRider), CE3's and a bunch of other goodies coming in shortly hopefully all next week.
also I was in a conversation the other day with someone about the back end of all this and they mentioned I must be rolling in money, this is not the case, yes a lot of these items are marked up 100% (or less when I can handle it and does not include exorbitant ship charges) but the behind the scenes cost of this business is HUGE, partly because of my return policy but in general it's not nearly as lucrative as some people seem to believe. Once I get to
madvapes size (fingers crossed) it'll be a different story, but for now, just know that I am not, in fact, stuffing my mattress with money
I am taking the rest of the weekend off (sort of) lol
