puresmoker will not talk

[tiburonfirst]

i thought puresmoker would like to see the bbb's advice for online buying,
and maybe rethink their policies. i realize that puresmoker has an excellent reputation but if it were my company i would surely avoid policies that are considered a red flag in online commerce.

The Better Business Bureau says look for these red flags when shopping online:

• The prices are too good to be true.
• The vendor only communicates through chat or e-mail, never by phone.
• The vendor only accepts payment by money wire transfer. That’s always a risky way to do business with an unknown company

 

[JoeChemo]

1 out of 3: they don't appear to have a customer support telephone number. However, based upon the reviews and comments on ECF by their customers, I'm not overly concerned. I've ordered from them in the past (I'm vaping Geoff's Blend from my Puresmoker Prodigy V3 at the moment) and will continue to do so. So if you're not comfortable with them, why not move on to the next vendor? There are quite a few that meet your requirements.

 

[IMWylde]

1 out of 3: they don't appear to have a customer support telephone number. However, based upon the reviews and comments on ECF by their customers, I'm not overly concerned. I've ordered from them in the past (I'm vaping Geoff's Blend from my Puresmoker Prodigy V3 at the moment) and will continue to do so. So if you're not comfortable with them, why not move on to the next vendor? There are quite a few that meet your requirements.

As a business owner I would rather have a potential customer communicate their misgivings to me instead of simply "moving on to the next vendor".

I also wouldn't make any meaningful purchase from a company that didn't provide full contact information including a phone number.

 

[Kimmy]

Yes, that is excellent advice for any other business type. There are quite a few vendors on here who's preferred method of contact is via internet. Electronic cigarettes though, are a new technology, most people know NOTHING about it. Using a telephone number as a support system would be a costly operation, as you would need many people with a company this popular.

I can't even begin to imagine the amount of people who have many questions calling at all hours.

Puresmoker has an excellent FAQ page which answers a lot of commonly asked questions for new people.

They already have live chat, email, and maintaining a positive reputation on the forums. That's three forms of contact, adding one more and it's almost impossible for anyone to do an efficient job with questions and concerns coming from all different sources your bound to forget about someone.

Email & the internet is becoming the new way to do everything! I found that out the other day when I went to 4 different places to apply for a job and they all told me they didn't have applications in the store, and I had to apply online. Sure bigger companies will have a telephone number, but many companies nowadays are just providing an email as contact information.

Times are changing--fast!


Not to mention providing a phone number on the website opens you up to deal with jealous suppliers, crazy people, former bitter customers, and people just looking to make themselves feel better by ruining another person's day.

Unfortunately we live in a society where patience is a lost art, and many people want an answer right away to fulfill their need for instant gratification. I sent an email the other day to them and got a response in less than 5 minutes!

Not to mention anyone having questions can come to this forum and get answers almost instantly.

Making my first purchase this week from Puresmoker, I did so with confidence, mainly because of the excellent reputation they have on this forum.

Just my

 

[JoeChemo]

As a business owner I would rather have a potential customer communicate their misgivings to me instead of simply "moving on to the next vendor".

I also wouldn't make any meaningful purchase from a company that didn't provide full contact information including a phone number.

Hey, no problem with that! As already stated, I've made purchases from this vendor and feel comfortable doing so. My first purchase resulted from numerous posts by satisfied customers here on ECF. When I placed my order, I didn't bother to look for a telephone number on their web site. I'm not trying to convince you to buy from an ECF supplier that has been online for two years. I am simply expressing my opinion based upon my experience with Puresmoker.com. If you, on the other hand, have misgivings because they don't have a telephone number, I say that's fine. Pick another vendor that meets your needs.

 

[thewomenfolk]

Making his own telephone rules is a business owner's right. And requiring them to have a public phone number before purchasing their products is the customer's right. But I think by doing so you're shooting yourself in the foot. But that's the customer's right too.

 

[The Wiz]

PS has always been great with communicating through e-mail and PM's here on this forum(and others). I'm sure the reason they don't have phone access is to protect Casey from predators!!

Who would want to talk to Curtis after all?...LOL!!(JK Curtis!)
The Wiz!

 

[buGG]

PS has always been great with communicating through e-mail and PM's here on this forum(and others). I'm sure the reason they don't have phone access is to protect Casey from predators!!

Who would want to talk to Curtis after all?...LOL!!(JK Curtis!)
The Wiz!

LOL!!!!

 

[bearscreek]

Who would want to talk to Curtis after all?...LOL!!(JK Curtis!)

Ewww.

Nah. Curtis' avatar looks a bit scary, but then you see his videos and he looks like a pretty fun guy.

 

[motox]

Making his own telephone rules is a business owner's right. And requiring them to have a public phone number before purchasing their products is the customer's right. But I think by doing so you're shooting yourself in the foot. But that's the customer's right too.

Too true. I have been following this thread with some level of amazement. There seems to be a common thought that if PS had a customer service phone that the wackos would be bothering them day and night. And I guess it IS easier to screen out the hard questions (or those pesky ordering issues) through e-mail. But to basically come out with impunity and state that the reason they don't have a customer service (or office) phone number is because it would be too troublesome to speak to paying customers. This is amazing to me and frankly, the reason a small business stays, well, small.

Just an observation. For myself, I wouldn't drop a significant amount of money with any business that puts a wall up between the customer/supplier relationship. Contrary to popular small business beliefs, email and "chat" (God help us) is not equivalent to a business phone.

Saying that they don't offer phone access due to cost and the fact is a small business is acceptable. Saying that there is no phone access because they simply don't want to speak to customers is another thing altogether IMHO.

 

[tiburonfirst]

i did not start this thread to go over the old ground one more time.
i started it because if i were puresmoker and realized that one of my business policies is considered to be a red flag by the better business bureau i would seriously reconsider that policy.
not every potential customer comes through ecf and has done his/her research on this forum.

 

[thewomenfolk]

The Better Business Bureau says look for these red flags when shopping online:

• The prices are too good to be true.
• The vendor only communicates through chat or e-mail, never by phone.
• The vendor only accepts payment by money wire transfer. That’s always a risky way to do business with an unknown company

I think comsumers have to simply be careful, because although those 3 red flags may fit a scammers way of doing business, they can also fit the way a lot of honest people do online business too.

As for "The prices are too good to be true", the prices at PS may indeed 'seem' too good to be true, but they are (truly good).

As for "The vendor only communicates through chat or e-mail, never by phone", if hiring phone people would break the bank or cause undue trouble, then I'd rather they forget the phone and stay in business.

As for "The vendor only accepts payment by money wire transfer. That’s always a risky way to do business with an unknown company", the first phrase doesn't apply to PS, and PS is not an unknown company.

I don't believe any of those red flags apply to PS. As for the second one about the phone, I'm sure a lot of legitimate online businesses choose to communicate in all the ways that avoid the problems and expenses that can and often do accompany phone communication.

 

[nomochokes]

I have been a customer of Puresmoker for over a year now and have made many purchases without any problems at all. They are very receptive to any questions I have and also take care if any issues I may have in a very timely manner. I have also purchased from other vendors with great success but there are a few that I would never buy from again.

I don't think most people realize how small a company Puresmoker is. As far as I know there are 4 or 5 people that run the company and I think they do an excellent job. Taking phone calls could easily require 1 or 2 people dedicated to just that task alone. Even though I may have one quick question I would be just one of many trying to get an answer. Based on their staffing level and the fact that they all multitask to get things done in a timely matter it makes good business sense to assist people through ecommunication and live chat as much as possible.

Bottom line is they work hard to provide a quality product and at least for me, excellent customer service. Yes, there are a lot of fly by night companies out there and you need to be very, very careful doing online business when putting your credit card and trust in a company you know nothing about but Puresmoker has been around a while now and have proven themselves as being a solid and reputable company. They have earned the trust of many people like me. I never hesitate or worry when I hit the submit button making a purchase with them.

 

[g33k]

Here's my take on the whole phone support system:
-Casey already has enough on her plate helping out folks in need via chat, email, and forums like this one, vapors forum, and pure-smokers.com forum
-PS would possibly have to hire someone else to handle that phone system, if not multiple people
-Those people need paid right? Well, out the window with PS's great prices! That ego kit for 49 bucks just became the same as every other vendor with a price tag of 60-80. And don't think about buying in bulk (atty bulk discounts and juice bulk discounts) cause they would need all of the profit to pay the new "support group"
-I can say that I have spent WAY more than I care to talk about spending with PS and it's for the simple reason that when I have a question, I get it answered. Their support is great without the added cost of a phone line. The longest it ever took was an hour for a response! That's it Try emailing or calling a larger company and see how long you are placed on hold for before being transferred to another department to be put on hold there as well lol!

Steve has grown his business ALOT and it's because of sound business practices. I realize that the BBB has their warnings, but out of all of us on here, who actually listened to warnings...I.E. Surgeon General's Warnings! Didn't stop us then did it *sarcasm btw*

 

[bearscreek]

As already said, that BBB info has nothing to do with PS. There are no risks in ordering from them. Nothing to worry about. Their CS seems fine, although I've only dealt with that aspect once very quickly. On my first order with them, my payment wouldn't go through and I didn't understand why. Casey answered my ticket practically faster than I could read it. She, of course, had no real clue except to say that my CC wouldn't work. Apparently, my CC company was stopping it for a fraud check, maybe a random thing, but since it had never happened before, I figured it was something in the PS system. Anyway, Casey's side of things was way fast.

With all that said, sometimes I just don't understand why the occasional customer who seems to really need a phone call can't have it, although maybe I'm underestimating the number of "occasional" customers needing phone contact. I know at some point (can't say when, can't say how often), Steve has indeed made a phone call to walk someone through something that took longer than a question about battery compatibility, so a phone call has been had at some time or another. It's not like it's never happened. For all we know, the OP here may have already talked to them, although if Casey's on vacation, maybe not

 

[LowThudd]

Did you have a goal in mind in making this thread? If so, what? I fail to see anything productive from a post badmouthing a company you have not even dealt with. Are you honestly complaing that their prices are too low? Please enlighten us.

 

[NCChief]

How many Vapers actually check the BBB before making a purchase?

I personally would rather get the opinions of my peers (you guys) than that of a third party organization. I wonder how many Vapers are employed by the BBB. hmmmm

I have been a PS customer for over a year and have had 0 problems with anything. Steve and Casey have bent over backwards to make me happy....that is why I keep coming back to them....good products, good customer service and I always get a response.

 

[tiburonfirst]

Did you have a goal in mind in making this thread? If so, what? I fail to see anything productive from a post badmouthing a company you have not even dealt with. Are you honestly complaing that their prices are too low? Please enlighten us.

i plainly stated puresmoker has an EXCELLENT reputation.

there was a prior thread where the op complained about no phone support, case closed, customer lost.

coming across the better business bureau's warning to consider "no phone" a red flag, i thought ps might want to reconsider their policies in case sales are lost because of this. not every prospective customer comes through ecf and knows of their reputation.

 

[Vaporologist]

I don't know about you guys, but I love Nutella!

 

[brandon555]

IF they had a walk-in store, then yeah they should have a phone number.

Whats so bad with only communicating through email? Communication is communication.