First of all, I'm choosing not to post this in the supplier negative reviews forum because my issue has already been resolved, more or less. Further, I do not wish to call out this vendor by name at this time because the employees are very nice and extremely helpful. I am simply posting to see if anyone has shared an experience like mine or is aware of similar things happening with other vendors...
My wife and I started vaping about a month and a half ago (100% smoke free since!) starting out with cig-a-like kits with pre-filled cartos. Shortly after that I found ECF and learned a lot more about vaping. The pre-filled cartos were really expensive but thanks to ECF I learned that they could be refilled a few times. So a little google search later we found a local brick and mortar that specializes in vapor supplies. Was really nice to be able to test out the juices before buying and check out all the cool toys they had. We bought a couple flavors and left satisfied customers.
A couple weeks later we finally decided to upgrade from the little cig-a-like batteries to an ego style. So we head back to our local store and pick out a couple shiny new 900(?)mah batteries. They were a bit more expensive than what is available from many online retailers but I like to support local businesses when I can. We were informed by the employee helping us that our existing 510 chargers should work but may take a long time to fully charge, consistent with what I'd read here. We go about our day, vaping on our new toys quite happily. However, that night when we attempted to charge the problem began. Neither battery would charge. Ok, maybe the 510 chargers don't put out enough power, let's buy a couple ego chargers. New chargers, still, neither battery will take a charge. At this point we were pretty frustrated and decided it was time to bring the batts back to the store, hoping for a refund at best or at least an exchange.
So my wife takes the batts back to the store and is informed that they will not be able to do a refund but only an exchange. No big surprise there. The person helping my wife checks both batteries and confirms they are both bad. What are the odds right? But these things happen, no biggie. Until the employee mentions that at least one of these has been "fixed" by the owner and put up for sale. This by itself isn't such a big deal except for the fact that this refurbished battery was being sold as new at a premium price. And get this! While my wife was being helped, another customer came into the store complaining that her brand new battery wouldn't charge! Obviously our confidence in this vendor has now bottomed out and we grudgingly accept our exchange. I have little faith these replacements will last very long and very much doubt we will be doing business there in the future. For all I know this is how the owner makes his money, buying garbage batteries, "fixing" them and reselling at a premium. Caveat Emptor.
So what do you think ECF? Is this just an isolated incident? Or does this sort of thing happen a lot? Look forward to your responses!
My wife and I started vaping about a month and a half ago (100% smoke free since!) starting out with cig-a-like kits with pre-filled cartos. Shortly after that I found ECF and learned a lot more about vaping. The pre-filled cartos were really expensive but thanks to ECF I learned that they could be refilled a few times. So a little google search later we found a local brick and mortar that specializes in vapor supplies. Was really nice to be able to test out the juices before buying and check out all the cool toys they had. We bought a couple flavors and left satisfied customers.
A couple weeks later we finally decided to upgrade from the little cig-a-like batteries to an ego style. So we head back to our local store and pick out a couple shiny new 900(?)mah batteries. They were a bit more expensive than what is available from many online retailers but I like to support local businesses when I can. We were informed by the employee helping us that our existing 510 chargers should work but may take a long time to fully charge, consistent with what I'd read here. We go about our day, vaping on our new toys quite happily. However, that night when we attempted to charge the problem began. Neither battery would charge. Ok, maybe the 510 chargers don't put out enough power, let's buy a couple ego chargers. New chargers, still, neither battery will take a charge. At this point we were pretty frustrated and decided it was time to bring the batts back to the store, hoping for a refund at best or at least an exchange.
So my wife takes the batts back to the store and is informed that they will not be able to do a refund but only an exchange. No big surprise there. The person helping my wife checks both batteries and confirms they are both bad. What are the odds right? But these things happen, no biggie. Until the employee mentions that at least one of these has been "fixed" by the owner and put up for sale. This by itself isn't such a big deal except for the fact that this refurbished battery was being sold as new at a premium price. And get this! While my wife was being helped, another customer came into the store complaining that her brand new battery wouldn't charge! Obviously our confidence in this vendor has now bottomed out and we grudgingly accept our exchange. I have little faith these replacements will last very long and very much doubt we will be doing business there in the future. For all I know this is how the owner makes his money, buying garbage batteries, "fixing" them and reselling at a premium. Caveat Emptor.
So what do you think ECF? Is this just an isolated incident? Or does this sort of thing happen a lot? Look forward to your responses!
) but I'm confident that they know better.
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