(Incoming story time...)
I've been vaping for approx. 24 hours now. My experience has been relatively good with the vaping, and absolutely terrible with the retail side.
So, after asking a friend with a vape and him sucking at responding to my texts, I decided to do my own research. As I'm sure everyone here knows (cause I read that, in multiple places here), all this research is overwhelming. So many types, sizes, flavors, features, TH, etc, etc... I finally settled on going with a basic vape and working my way up. From what I had read online, I could get one for a reasonable price, so me and my partner ventured to the local smoke shop to just dive in. Here in Orlando, Florida, we have a chain of shops called Up In Smoke.
We get there, and despite some bad reviews for the place having stupid sales reps, this guy seemed alright. He ran us through the brands he had, features, battery sizes, his shop's line of oils, and answered all of my questions to our satisfaction. The particular brand I was aiming for, an E-Go CE4, was almost 100 dollars...the item had been repackaged with their store brand packaging and I was obviously immediately turned off of that purchase.
So I asked about vape kits...and he listed off 50, 60, and 70 dollar single vape kits. None of this sounded right. We should have left. We didn't... So then he showed us the Tsunami G-Class 2 pack with a black and chrome battery. No features, no bells and whistles...just vapes. 80 bucks and 2 'free' oils...sounds like a steal, right!? (wink) ...we ask about warranties, and the guy says Tsunami comes with a lifetime warranty. Sounds good, let's just get out of here and start vaping! We choose our oils and go to pay.
This is when I shoulda known I screwed up. He and his coworkers stood around chatting before ringing up the vape, eventually ringing it up, and he stood there silently while I counted my money and responded to a statement made by my partner...I give him the money, he slowly counts it out and puts the twenty dollar bills up to the light, and completes the transaction...and then goes into overdrive with his good salesman routine. He takes everything out of the bag he put it in and is like, 'Oh, let me check all these. I like to test products before I sell them to make sure you don't take home a broken item.' At the time, I thought that was great. He 'showed' us that the items worked, and off we went.
The first few hours were fine. We vaped, it was nice and clean, we coughed a few times because we weren't used to the pure nicotine...lol
Then the issues started. Mine started gurgling, popping, and crackling. It wasn't really affecting anything, and nothing was exploding. We put it off as a 'tomorrow' issue. Bedtime rolls around and my partner goes to put his on the charger...turns out there's a pool of oil hiding between the tank and the battery. Yay! We clean it up, dry it, charge it.
The next day, it takes him hours to get the battery working again, and mine starts volcanoing oil from the mouth piece every other time I push the button. I mean, at least the menthol tastes good.
So, obviously, 4 issues within 24 hours prompts us to want to return the item. We check out the smoke shop's website and don't see a return policy stated. So we call them, and are pretty much cut off with them saying that they don't do refunds, returns, or exchanges, all sales are final, all problems are consumer caused, and our warranty is there for a reason.
Woah, woah, woah... I don't want an exchange, I want a refund and to move to a different product. Two vapes with repeated problems within the first 24 hours...clearly that's a brand problem. Nope, Up In Smoke decided it didn't want to deal with the paperwork regarding their insane markups and to do return and defect paperwork themselves.
So I call Tsunami... No refunds, I pay shipping, I'll get a new product shipped back *eventually*...
Arg!
In all the research and junk I did on vapes, not a single time did anyone mention to be wary of physical store policies!
I guess I'm happy that we didn't burn all our smokes and dance naked around the bonfire of freedom when we bought the vapes, so we have something to fall back on while we wait for the new Tsunamis... But at the same time, I'm really considering taking the new ones they send us and just selling it on eBay instead of using it...
With all of that said, I have a few questions...
What was your first vape, what was your experience with purchasing it, and where did you go from there?
What is your favorite online or physical store(s) to buy vapes and vape accessories, and why?
And lastly, just for fun, if you could build/buy the perfect vape, what would it be/what parts would you use? (excluding 3D printer stuff cause thems cheaters)
I've been vaping for approx. 24 hours now. My experience has been relatively good with the vaping, and absolutely terrible with the retail side.
So, after asking a friend with a vape and him sucking at responding to my texts, I decided to do my own research. As I'm sure everyone here knows (cause I read that, in multiple places here), all this research is overwhelming. So many types, sizes, flavors, features, TH, etc, etc... I finally settled on going with a basic vape and working my way up. From what I had read online, I could get one for a reasonable price, so me and my partner ventured to the local smoke shop to just dive in. Here in Orlando, Florida, we have a chain of shops called Up In Smoke.
We get there, and despite some bad reviews for the place having stupid sales reps, this guy seemed alright. He ran us through the brands he had, features, battery sizes, his shop's line of oils, and answered all of my questions to our satisfaction. The particular brand I was aiming for, an E-Go CE4, was almost 100 dollars...the item had been repackaged with their store brand packaging and I was obviously immediately turned off of that purchase.
So I asked about vape kits...and he listed off 50, 60, and 70 dollar single vape kits. None of this sounded right. We should have left. We didn't... So then he showed us the Tsunami G-Class 2 pack with a black and chrome battery. No features, no bells and whistles...just vapes. 80 bucks and 2 'free' oils...sounds like a steal, right!? (wink) ...we ask about warranties, and the guy says Tsunami comes with a lifetime warranty. Sounds good, let's just get out of here and start vaping! We choose our oils and go to pay.
This is when I shoulda known I screwed up. He and his coworkers stood around chatting before ringing up the vape, eventually ringing it up, and he stood there silently while I counted my money and responded to a statement made by my partner...I give him the money, he slowly counts it out and puts the twenty dollar bills up to the light, and completes the transaction...and then goes into overdrive with his good salesman routine. He takes everything out of the bag he put it in and is like, 'Oh, let me check all these. I like to test products before I sell them to make sure you don't take home a broken item.' At the time, I thought that was great. He 'showed' us that the items worked, and off we went.
The first few hours were fine. We vaped, it was nice and clean, we coughed a few times because we weren't used to the pure nicotine...lol
Then the issues started. Mine started gurgling, popping, and crackling. It wasn't really affecting anything, and nothing was exploding. We put it off as a 'tomorrow' issue. Bedtime rolls around and my partner goes to put his on the charger...turns out there's a pool of oil hiding between the tank and the battery. Yay! We clean it up, dry it, charge it.
The next day, it takes him hours to get the battery working again, and mine starts volcanoing oil from the mouth piece every other time I push the button. I mean, at least the menthol tastes good.
So, obviously, 4 issues within 24 hours prompts us to want to return the item. We check out the smoke shop's website and don't see a return policy stated. So we call them, and are pretty much cut off with them saying that they don't do refunds, returns, or exchanges, all sales are final, all problems are consumer caused, and our warranty is there for a reason.
Woah, woah, woah... I don't want an exchange, I want a refund and to move to a different product. Two vapes with repeated problems within the first 24 hours...clearly that's a brand problem. Nope, Up In Smoke decided it didn't want to deal with the paperwork regarding their insane markups and to do return and defect paperwork themselves.
So I call Tsunami... No refunds, I pay shipping, I'll get a new product shipped back *eventually*...
Arg!
In all the research and junk I did on vapes, not a single time did anyone mention to be wary of physical store policies!
I guess I'm happy that we didn't burn all our smokes and dance naked around the bonfire of freedom when we bought the vapes, so we have something to fall back on while we wait for the new Tsunamis... But at the same time, I'm really considering taking the new ones they send us and just selling it on eBay instead of using it...
With all of that said, I have a few questions...
What was your first vape, what was your experience with purchasing it, and where did you go from there?
What is your favorite online or physical store(s) to buy vapes and vape accessories, and why?
And lastly, just for fun, if you could build/buy the perfect vape, what would it be/what parts would you use? (excluding 3D printer stuff cause thems cheaters)
