I wanted to post this elsewhere, but as a newbie to the forums, I am relegated to the Newbie forum 
. I thought I would share my Smoking Everywhere / Smokefreeonline.com experience as so many other have.
Smoking 30 years, and have seen all the airport ads for Blue. I've been curious, but never started to look for ecigs. 2 weeks ago I was in the Florida Mall in Orlando and came across a kiosk. Tried it and OMG!! It was amazing!
The kiosk employee had me at Hello, and before I knew it I walked away with two Gold One kits (one for me and one for my wife) and 5 bottles of juice.... and as so many others, a $470 credit card bill. I got caught up in the excitement, which is something I never do. I'm the guy that researches everything. Ugh! I knew as I walked away that I was going to quickly learn that it was a bad decision (financially).
When I got home, I had to know more. The website on the box was Smoke Free Online E-cigarette Store | Electronic Cigarette E-cig. I saw that they had the product at about half the price. Ugh. But still, I knew I would find better, so I googled and found his forum.
After reading for days, it was very clear that what I had just spent $470 on should have been about $75 total. I was ......, of course.
I quickly learned that the product was junk. Of course the mall guy misrepresented. He said the battery would last all day, that a single cart was a couple packs of cigs, that 3 or 4 drops of juice would equate to a pack of cigs, etc. Since I am about to go on a 3 month trip to Europe, I wanted to have enough to get me through... so I realized I would need more than he sold me. Ugh!
So I went ahead and bough an eGo-T for myself, thinking my wife would use the crap we got at the mall, and we would eat the ripoff and call it experience. Still, it was really pissing me off.
I researched it more, and found so many complaints about Smoking Everywhere on this and other forums, plus many formal complaints. I also looked for smokefreeonline.com, and it began to become clear that it was the same company rebranding itself -- clearly because of the complaints. OK, I would not just take the hit.
So I decided to go to the website and contact the company. I got the same runaround so many other do, and they just wanted to sell me more product. It was going nowhere.
I took the next step, and decided to call the mall vendor and insist on a full refund. Of course, I was aware of the fact that there was a NO REFUND policy on the receipt, as well as on the kiosk. But I had a case of product misrepresentation and profiteering on my hand. Plus, with a BBB rating of F and all kinds of complaints against them, I figured I could beat that with a chargeback fight, but first I had to try for the refund. To be honest, I expected them to refuse me, but I had to make the call.
So I called the guy and spent a sold half hour on the phone with him. Of course, he refused to refund me while we were talking, but he made several comments that solidified my chargeback case while he continued with his circular arguments.
He told me his product is 10x more expensive because I was paying for the trademark
He told me I should have researched before buying, citing buyer beware.
He constantly said that since I signed a receipt, that there was nothing I could do.
As the discussion continued, I continued to make it clear that if he didnt refund me in full, I would charge it back and file a complaint. He finally admitted that the product is substandard, but he has a better one that is willing to exchange mine with, called Smoke 51.
I kept insisting, and told him that e had told me enough for me to win a chargeback case, and I WOULD GO FORWARD, plus I would post everywhere, complain to mall managemen and file a complaint. In the end, he told me that if I go to the mall and try the Smoke 51 and like it, he will exchange it. He said that if I still want a refund, he will issue one to me.
I confirmed with him that he would issue a full refund of my purchase if I choose not to switch to the Smoke 51 product. He said Yes.
Of course, at that point, the Smoke 51 could have been dipped in gold and diamonds, and I would not have touched it... in part because I was now educated, and in part because I would not deal with this guy in any case. Still, I chose to research the Smoke 51 product further, and as noted above, there are many complaints about this product and company. Is this the same company rebranded again, or another that simply operates on the same model? Still, tons of complains, etc. Whatever. By now my eGo-T had arrived
The following day I went to the mall and saw the guy. He was ...... and clearly beaten. He wanted me to go away. He didn't even try to offer me the other cig, and issued me my refund.
So for those out there that get ripped off, I understand many say it was worth getting off eCigs, but as a matter of principal, you can make things right.
All said and done, I didn't like the eGo-T. But now I have cartomizers for it, and am loving it!!!
Still smoking a few 'analogs' a day, but down from 25 or so a day to 2 or 3. LOVIN IT!
Thank you to everyone in this forum!
. I thought I would share my Smoking Everywhere / Smokefreeonline.com experience as so many other have.Smoking 30 years, and have seen all the airport ads for Blue. I've been curious, but never started to look for ecigs. 2 weeks ago I was in the Florida Mall in Orlando and came across a kiosk. Tried it and OMG!! It was amazing!
The kiosk employee had me at Hello, and before I knew it I walked away with two Gold One kits (one for me and one for my wife) and 5 bottles of juice.... and as so many others, a $470 credit card bill. I got caught up in the excitement, which is something I never do. I'm the guy that researches everything. Ugh! I knew as I walked away that I was going to quickly learn that it was a bad decision (financially).
When I got home, I had to know more. The website on the box was Smoke Free Online E-cigarette Store | Electronic Cigarette E-cig. I saw that they had the product at about half the price. Ugh. But still, I knew I would find better, so I googled and found his forum.
After reading for days, it was very clear that what I had just spent $470 on should have been about $75 total. I was ......, of course.
I quickly learned that the product was junk. Of course the mall guy misrepresented. He said the battery would last all day, that a single cart was a couple packs of cigs, that 3 or 4 drops of juice would equate to a pack of cigs, etc. Since I am about to go on a 3 month trip to Europe, I wanted to have enough to get me through... so I realized I would need more than he sold me. Ugh!
So I went ahead and bough an eGo-T for myself, thinking my wife would use the crap we got at the mall, and we would eat the ripoff and call it experience. Still, it was really pissing me off.
I researched it more, and found so many complaints about Smoking Everywhere on this and other forums, plus many formal complaints. I also looked for smokefreeonline.com, and it began to become clear that it was the same company rebranding itself -- clearly because of the complaints. OK, I would not just take the hit.
So I decided to go to the website and contact the company. I got the same runaround so many other do, and they just wanted to sell me more product. It was going nowhere.
I took the next step, and decided to call the mall vendor and insist on a full refund. Of course, I was aware of the fact that there was a NO REFUND policy on the receipt, as well as on the kiosk. But I had a case of product misrepresentation and profiteering on my hand. Plus, with a BBB rating of F and all kinds of complaints against them, I figured I could beat that with a chargeback fight, but first I had to try for the refund. To be honest, I expected them to refuse me, but I had to make the call.
So I called the guy and spent a sold half hour on the phone with him. Of course, he refused to refund me while we were talking, but he made several comments that solidified my chargeback case while he continued with his circular arguments.
He told me his product is 10x more expensive because I was paying for the trademark
He told me I should have researched before buying, citing buyer beware.
He constantly said that since I signed a receipt, that there was nothing I could do.
As the discussion continued, I continued to make it clear that if he didnt refund me in full, I would charge it back and file a complaint. He finally admitted that the product is substandard, but he has a better one that is willing to exchange mine with, called Smoke 51.
I kept insisting, and told him that e had told me enough for me to win a chargeback case, and I WOULD GO FORWARD, plus I would post everywhere, complain to mall managemen and file a complaint. In the end, he told me that if I go to the mall and try the Smoke 51 and like it, he will exchange it. He said that if I still want a refund, he will issue one to me.
I confirmed with him that he would issue a full refund of my purchase if I choose not to switch to the Smoke 51 product. He said Yes.
Of course, at that point, the Smoke 51 could have been dipped in gold and diamonds, and I would not have touched it... in part because I was now educated, and in part because I would not deal with this guy in any case. Still, I chose to research the Smoke 51 product further, and as noted above, there are many complaints about this product and company. Is this the same company rebranded again, or another that simply operates on the same model? Still, tons of complains, etc. Whatever. By now my eGo-T had arrived
The following day I went to the mall and saw the guy. He was ...... and clearly beaten. He wanted me to go away. He didn't even try to offer me the other cig, and issued me my refund.
So for those out there that get ripped off, I understand many say it was worth getting off eCigs, but as a matter of principal, you can make things right.
All said and done, I didn't like the eGo-T. But now I have cartomizers for it, and am loving it!!!
Still smoking a few 'analogs' a day, but down from 25 or so a day to 2 or 3. LOVIN IT!
Thank you to everyone in this forum!
