So a rip-off vaping stand just opened in my local mall.

[sraldleif]

There's a new e cig stall that's just opened in my local mall and I was super excited to see that the popularity of vaping is becoming more widespread (especially in Australia), but I was very disappointed with what I've discovered.


I haven't been there myself, but my girlfriend went there to pick up an eGo twist battery for me today and I ended up having to talk to they guy on the phone as my girlfriend isn't a vaper and has no idea what I was talking about.


The conversation went something like this:


Me: Hey, do you guys sell 900 mAh eGo twist batteries?


Him: We sell e cigarettes to help people quit smoking - they look like actual cigarettes.


Me: I know you do, but I already know what I'm looking for - Do you sell 900 mAh eGo twists?


Him: These ones are very good they aren't made in China and they are very high quality and if you buy a starter pack they come with 5 nicotine cartridges that are each equal to an entire pack of cigarettes


(I let that one slide.)


Me(getting frustrated): I understand. Do you sell 900 mAh eGo twist batteries?


Him: Do you want 900mg nicotine cartridges?


Me: Can you please put me back on to my girlfriend?


*Gives phone to girlfriend*


Her: So what am I buying?


Me: Nothing. This guy is an idiot - just walk away.


That was heartbreaking. Little places like this are the reason that vaping is taking so long to become mainstream.


Someone is bound to buy as POS starter kit from them, realize they are getting ripped off and then tell all their other smoker friends that it's not worth it who will in turn tell their smoker friends that they have a friend who tried them and told them that they're terrible and so on and so forth.


Anyone else have anything similar to this happening in their area?

Oh, and as a side-note to any Australians -
I thought the sale of nicotine products other than tobacco was prohibited here?

 

[Dave76]

I was on the Las Vegas strip last week. I found that I could buy an AMERICAN made stick battery/clearo combination (with charger) for a mere $250. After showing them my Twist/mini Vivi Nova purchased for around $40, I was able to negotiate price. There were several vendors on the strip and the best I could do was to bargain them down to $80. I was told that it was well worth the extra expense because, after all, their product was AMERICAN made. I passed on the offer.

 

[markdm4805]

There's a new e cig stall that's just opened in my local mall and I was super excited to see that the popularity of vaping is becoming more widespread (especially in Australia), but I was very disappointed with what I've discovered.


I haven't been there myself, but my girlfriend went there to pick up an eGo twist battery for me today and I ended up having to talk to they guy on the phone as my girlfriend isn't a vaper and has no idea what I was talking about.


The conversation went something like this:


Me: Hey, do you guys sell 900 mAh eGo twist batteries?


Him: We sell e cigarettes to help people quit smoking - they look like actual cigarettes.


Me: I know you do, but I already know what I'm looking for - Do you sell 900 mAh eGo twists?


Him: These ones are very good they aren't made in China and they are very high quality and if you buy a starter pack they come with 5 nicotine cartridges that are each equal to an entire pack of cigarettes


(I let that one slide.)


Me(getting frustrated): I understand. Do you sell 900 mAh eGo twist batteries?


Him: Do you want 900mg nicotine cartridges?


Me: Can you please put me back on to my girlfriend?


*Gives phone to girlfriend*


Her: So what am I buying?


Me: Nothing. This guy is an idiot - just walk away.


That was heartbreaking. Little places like this are the reason that vaping is taking so long to become mainstream.


Someone is bound to buy as POS starter kit from them, realize they are getting ripped off and then tell all their other smoker friends that it's not worth it who will in turn tell their smoker friends that they have a friend who tried them and told them that they're terrible and so on and so forth.


Anyone else have anything similar to this happening in their area?

I really hate those mall kiosks and your experience is the reason why partly. I tried my first puff of an E Cig and when i could catch my breath i politely told the guy I'll think about it. I felt like i had a burning ember in my lung and the next day i had bronchitis. (Now important to note especially to those thinking about vaping i have tried a Krave 500 disposable and my current Ego T and never felt even close to anything like that). As well they wanted like 189.00 for a low quality kit. Places like this have the potential to send someone back to analogs.

 

[noi_max]

I was on the Las Vegas strip last week. I found that I could buy an AMERICAN made stick battery/clearo combination (with charger) for a mere $250. After showing them my Twist/mini Vivi Nova purchased for around $40, I was able to negotiate price. There were several vendors on the strip and the best I could do was to bargain them down to $80. I was told that it was well worth the extra expense because, after all, their product was AMERICAN made. I passed on the offer.

Haha! None of that crap is made in AMERICA. They were blowing smoke.. or vapor..
Also if you can bargain from $250 down to $80 I need to take you shopping everywhere with me...

 

[Dave76]

Haha! None of that crap is made in AMERICA. They were blowing smoke.. or vapor..
Also if you can bargain from $250 down to $80 I need to take you shopping everywhere with me...

I'm in sales for a living so bargaining is part of what I do. I rarely buy anything without at least trying to talk them into a lower price. It doesn't work at the checkout stand at Wal-Mart, but you'd be surprised at the number of places that will bargain with you if you just try.

I find it really easy to bargain when something is ridiculously overpriced and the seller is looking for a sucker. Prove you're not a sucker and the price falls rapidly. At $250 for what was basically an eGo battery and a clearo, those guys were clearly looking for suckers

 

[mariahpoo]

I'm in sales for a living so bargaining is part of what I do. I rarely buy anything without at least trying to talk them into a lower price. It doesn't work at the checkout stand at Wal-Mart, but you'd be surprised at the number of places that will bargain with you if you just try.

I find it really easy to bargain when something is ridiculously overpriced and the seller is looking for a sucker. Prove you're not a sucker and the price falls rapidly. At $250 for what was basically an eGo battery and a clearo, those guys were clearly looking for suckers

That is SO freakin true. I use to sell vacuums door to door... or more like I was the person that got the sales guy in. Which believe it or not takes way more skill and talent then the selling. Long story short it's very true that almost ANYONE will bargin with you outside of wallmart. Those vacuums were $2500-$5,000 starting price (depending on how much the sales person thought they would spend) They would drop down to $2000 and the closer would drop all the way down to $800 if it meant squeezing what we would call a mini deal out of them. Let me tell you the patriot is worth every penny of $800. Do not get suckered into buying a rainbow (not anything like the patriot) or miracle mate (close to just not sealed as well as the patriot) as they are really not as good. I have a miracle mate myself because I got one for free. I really want to BUY a patriot someday. But I will not pay over $800. But I digress. I bet you could call some of the online vendors and bargain a little. Not on small orders, but I had half a mind to call on my big order of 4 kits and see if I could get $20 or so off.

 

[sraldleif]

So I actually looked up the law concerning nicotine products relating to e cigarettes in Australia

"The Australian Government is concerned about the use of electronic cigarettes in Australia, and the retail sale of electronic cigarettes containing nicotine is illegal."

So either this guy is selling nicotine illegally, or he's straight up lying to sell the things.

If it's the latter, anyone picking up a kit to quit smoking thinking they're going to get their nicotine hit are going to assume that they just don't work at all, which is even worse.

If he's selling them illegally, there's a part of me that wants to report him just to protect the e cig reputation, but I think it's outweighed by the fact that the guy, although being a POS himself, is just trying to make a living and I'd be putting someone out of a job, which would be especially cruel in this economy.

 

[Ritzo90]

Hey mate,
I'm in Townsville, I know what you mean. We bought a cheap e-cig from a smokeomart, a couple of years ago. Starter kit for $25 and it was crap, but it did lead me to trying v4l and then smokeless image, and that's great. But these did not have nic, as you know that against Australian law. Although this guys ripping people off on price I wouldn't report him.

A lady here sells basicly the same thing on Facebook, it's better priced but again, against the law as they have nic. I've seen good things from her work and if someone like her can sell them, make money, keep up a good rep, and increase awareness then that's great to me. Out ways the ..... in the mall ripping people off.

Also if you make the authorities aware they may come down on all vaping before we have a good following.


Sorry of this hard to read, my phones way to small.

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2

 

[caitlin]

I was at the mall on friday, and the smoking kiosk guy tried to stop us to offer us his thing. I nicely pulled my setup out of my pocket..and the second he saw it (about halfway out) he was like "oh, nevermind. good for you!".

At school today, a girl asked me about mine, and then told me the story of how her sister tried one to quit (from the kiosk in the mall) and hated it so bad she'd rather smoke. it made me sad. i wish i could hand out pvs to everyone who wants to quit! (or start my own mall kiosk?)

 

[Vaptor]

Nic is prohibited to sale here in AU but a guy in one of these stalls that tried to sell me e-cig worth $2 for a $130 was promising that if I buy the e-cig he can get a Nic ejuice too. I told him to piss off.

 

[Rocketpunk]

One of the many rules of vaping:

Never, under any circumstance whatsoever, approach or purchase vape supplies from a mall kiosk. Ever. For any reason.

Same goes for flea markets.

 

[ninjuh]

The people who work for those companies generally don't know much about it aside from what they read in a brochure. They have knowledge with the e-cigs THEY sell but nothing beyond that.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Butters78]

What is great is the advent of smart phones and tablets. Whenever you walk around the mall for example and see a product let's say remote control helicopters. All you have to do is Google "rc helicopter forum mall kiosk" and you get informed. There is no more of that impulse buying without info.

Here is a result for the helicopters.

http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=359668

 

[PakaJoe]

8 months ago I put out a cigarette before I walked into a mall to do some shopping. Inside, I discovered an ecig kiosk and decided to talk to them. They talked my ear off, and let me sample this strange device. I ended up spending $150 for a cheap ego clone, 2 atomizers, and a 10ml bottle of juice.

Almost as soon as I got home with my purchase I googled "ecig" and found vendor upon vendor offering the same stuff I bought for a fraction of the price. I was MAD MAD MAD, I felt that I got ripped off, but guess what -- 1 week later I was completely off the stinkies.
If it wasn't for the rip off mall kiosk, I probably wouldn't have switched as I had previously heard about ecigs but discounted them as something that wouldn't work for me since nothing else did.

A month later I visited the kiosk again and showed them my Hoosier Kgo 1100mah and told them what I paid for it. They had little to say other thank asking me not to tell anyone.

Yes, they are a major rip off, and really didn't know anything other than what was written in the pages in the binder they read from, but because of them I am no longer smoking cigarettes.

 

[dgm76513]

I agree with PakaJoe. Although most kiosk-based e-cig businesses are a rip-off, it generates exposure. Paka's story is one that has been sung many times here on ECF. I say live and let live; you're now educated enough on the subject to avoid being taken for a ride, so no harm, no foul. Let the mall kiosk rip off the suckers, who will wonder if their impulse buy was worth it or not, and in-turn likely do a little research on the subject, which will probably lead them here, where they will tell their story, and we will listen.

It's a cycle. Embrace it.

 

[Butters78]

Those kiosk deals where they have the women trimming other women's eyebrows with dental floss freak me out. They put some of the floss in their mouth.

 

[MrSmith99]

I look at it this way, the sales people at these kiosks are not the owners usually. They are minimum wage sales people with zero experience with vaping. They only know what little they have been told. I am always polite to them but show no interest and just keep walking. I know I can find better equipment with a better price online. So, why even bother talking to them? I feel sorry for these people if that is the best job they can get. Most will probably be waiting tables in a month or so. It is also ashamed that smokers think e-cigs cost that much or they try these poor-quality units and it doesn't work for them. Sad, sad, sad.

 

[mre777]

One of the many rules of vaping:

Never, under any circumstance whatsoever, approach or purchase vape supplies from a mall kiosk. Ever. For any reason.

Same goes for flea markets.

I disagree on the flea market thing partly because we don't have a B&M shop here. There is a vender at the weekend flea market that is selling totallywicked eGo kits and PVs like the Vmax and Gripper. He tried to talk me into a few of his PVs until I showed him my GGTS and ZMax w/RBAs Granted his prices are a little higher then a person can find online but he has some decent stuff for potential vapers to try and I'm glad for that. I have been seeing more people around with eGo style batteries and it gives me hope. Now there are a lot of shady flea market vendors that sell only overpriced cig-a-likes with nasty eliquid but I walk on by.

 

[tidegirl]

We don't have a mall e cig kiosk, but the kiosk people in general are seriously dancing on my last nerve. It's getting to the point that I can't stand to go to the mall anymore because you are getting assaulted every 10 feet. We were there a few days ago and some girl selling some beauty product tried to hand me a foil sample packet. I reached for it and she pulled it back and started trying to give me her spiel. Of course, I just kept walking. But seriously, do you think I'm gonna jump for your little foil packet like a puppy for a milk bone??? Get real!

ETA: It kinda felt like Eddie Murphy and the ice cream man... "Wanna lick? PSYCH!"

 

[Yokymo]

I was at the mall on friday, and the smoking kiosk guy tried to stop us to offer us his thing. I nicely pulled my setup out of my pocket..and the second he saw it (about halfway out) he was like "oh, nevermind. good for you!".

At school today, a girl asked me about mine, and then told me the story of how her sister tried one to quit (from the kiosk in the mall) and hated it so bad she'd rather smoke. it made me sad. i wish i could hand out pvs to everyone who wants to quit! (or start my own mall kiosk?)

Reason I bolded the start my own kiosk, with the reaction i have been getting since i have went e-cig, i have kinda felt the same, just need to educate myself more, but see i'd have to be fair and make sure the user are educated too, I suck a ripping people off, i rather have people feel like they leave knowing something bout the product even if they dont buy at that time.