Stupid implulse purchase..paid way to much?

[gr1llmeacheese]

I already have them a little ticked at me. I bought some replacement heads from them for my Vision Vivi Nova and the heads were for a clone Vivi so they didn't fit. I went back to let them know and had to explain why they didn't fit. A customer schooling a shop owner is never a good thing.

Hard to judge without first hand experience but it really seems like these guys are clueless or even worse, intentionally ripping people off. I wouldn't worry too much about ticking them off and regardless of how this vamo deal turns out I probably wouldn't shop there either.

Oh, hey it's my 3 month today.

 

[BigBen2k]

Sucking it up now. Digging out my receipt. The price I'm paying for my stupidity.

It's a learning experience

You'll also find out that you should know a store's return policy, before making a purchase.


I wouldn't be in a hurry to bash this B&M; all vendors have to be aware of their clientele. In my town, half the population is made up of university students, and they know how to save a buck, by purchasing online, so the local shop carries a minimal hardware inventory, but has lots of unusual accessories.

Lots of shops get stuck with old/obsolete hardware, and would like nothing more than sell it, just so that it doesn't sit on a shelf for all to see. The business is very volatile.

My local shop sells juices for a bit more money than I pay online (for Halo!) but they have a taste bar. I don't mind the extra couple of dollars, because they come in handy when I'm in a pinch.

It seems like lots of people just don't understand the cost of running a business. fasttech is essentially a distributor, so your local shop *has to* mark up that price by 50-100%, to be able to stay in business. What you get in exchange, is the convenience of local service and availability.

 

[damthisisfun]

I think they all know what they are doing - they all from China in bulk- not gonna say all of them get it from FT or HC - a vape shop that opened near me- CE4s are 8 bucks - are u kidding me?

 

[Alchemy]

Live and learn seems to be the only way to succeed in finding a device and the right juice that suits your personal needs.
Not a complete waste imho.

 

[BigBen2k]

I already have them a little ticked at me. I bought some replacement heads from them for my Vision Vivi Nova and the heads were for a clone Vivi so they didn't fit. I went back to let them know and had to explain why they didn't fit. A customer schooling a shop owner is never a good thing.

Hm yeah, well in that case... Did you buy the Vivi Nova from them?

 

[ScottP]

you could try negotiating with them. I might say; "I went and looked online and your price mister BM is over $50 higher. I would prefer to support my local store than buy online and I am willing to pay a premium but not that much, so what can we do?"
The store does need your business more than you need to use them so the convenience factor is only worth so much.

I think he should try to negotiate as well, but the reality is the price is more like $100 higher than online. A return is what I would personally do.

 

[mytsmooth]

you could try negotiating with them. I might say; "I went and looked online and your price mister BM is over $50 higher. I would prefer to support my local store than buy online and I am willing to pay a premium but not that much, so what can we do?"
The store does need your business more than you need to use them so the convenience factor is only worth so much.

It's not $50, it's $100 higher. I am waiting for my v3 from fasttech, and have been for over a week but this is what I bought it's on it's way and I don't know if we are supposed to post links to pricing https://www.fasttech.com/p/1376701 so sorry of its bad.

That being said, I gave my money to a Chinese vendor without even thinking about USA and American pride and all that jazz. The B&M have to pay for overhead the drop-shippers don't have to. Rather than thinking that you just got taken to the cleaners, consider that you supported your local vendor and helped to keep them open.

For that price I would have definitely got a pro-vari

 

[glasseye]

$150 for a Vamo??? They should be ashamed of themselves. Quoting my aunt... I hope you at least got a kiss, Honey, because you just got bleeeeeped.

 

[Hoosier]

...I head over to my local B/M shop and ...

Would you be willing to PM me the location & name of the shop?

 

[pennysmalls]

Hm yeah, well in that case... Did you buy the Vivi Nova from them?

No, the vivi nova was a gift from my sister who bought it online.

 

[pennysmalls]

It's a learning experience

You'll also find out that you should know a store's return policy, before making a purchase.


I wouldn't be in a hurry to bash this B&M; all vendors have to be aware of their clientele. In my town, half the population is made up of university students, and they know how to save a buck, by purchasing online, so the local shop carries a minimal hardware inventory, but has lots of unusual accessories.

Lots of shops get stuck with old/obsolete hardware, and would like nothing more than sell it, just so that it doesn't sit on a shelf for all to see. The business is very volatile.

My local shop sells juices for a bit more money than I pay online (for Halo!) but they have a taste bar. I don't mind the extra couple of dollars, because they come in handy when I'm in a pinch.

It seems like lots of people just don't understand the cost of running a business. Fasttech is essentially a distributor, so your local shop *has to* mark up that price by 50-100%, to be able to stay in business. What you get in exchange, is the convenience of local service and availability.

I agree with you bigben. These shops cater to those who either don't know better or to those who prefer the convenience and so are willing to pay more. But the cost of running one has got to be up there for sure.

 

[pennysmalls]

It's not $50, it's $100 higher. I am waiting for my v3 from fasttech, and have been for over a week but this is what I bought it's on it's way and I don't know if we are supposed to post links to pricing https://www.fasttech.com/p/1376701 so sorry of its bad.

That being said, I gave my money to a Chinese vendor without even thinking about USA and American pride and all that jazz. The B&M have to pay for overhead the drop-shippers don't have to. Rather than thinking that you just got taken to the cleaners, consider that you supported your local vendor and helped to keep them open.

For that price I would have definitely got a pro-vari

I think I'll just stick with my twists lol! There's a fine line in deciding to support a shop and paying the sky high prices. I'm on the fence.

 

[pennysmalls]

$150 for a Vamo??? They should be ashamed of themselves. Quoting my aunt... I hope you at least got a kiss, Honey, because you just got bleeeeeped.

That's a new one for me! LOL!

 

[pennysmalls]

Would you be willing to PM me the location & name of the shop?

pm on the way

 

[OzarkTroutBum]

Rather than thinking that you just got taken to the cleaners, consider that you supported your local vendor and helped to keep them open.

But if they are robbing people they aren't worth keeping open. Theres a difference between reasonable markup and price gouging.

 

[pennysmalls]

I agree Ozark, but this shop is in a prime area in my town. The business district. Their space rent alone has got to be huge so I'm thinking they have to mark up their products vastly in order to make the bills each month. The problem is that I don't want to have to support them to that degree. It's a catch-22.

 

[Train2]

Earlier post to an FT VAMO, here's another - top notch VAMO kit, with brand name charger and good batteries.
These are the longer 18650's, and Stainless Steel, which most people recommend for a VAMO.
Just in case you return it and want to go shopping...

 

[Train2]

It's understood a B&M has to profit, and cannot price-compete with the whole online world.
They can charge a premium for premium devices, or unique solutions (kits they assemble, or juice they make) - and can get away with perhaps 30% higher rates even on disposable stuff - you're paying for their convenience and in theory for their expertise or service.

But selling a "generic charger," and mismatched clearo in a kit that's marked up over 100%?
That pulls my loyalty... It sounds like they are NOT attempting to win your long-term business by providing great advice and good solutions...

 

[sbc83]

Edit: Nevemind you already used it.

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

Their rent and overhead is their problem. I support my local B&M because their customer service is great.

No upselling, and their prices aren't bad. They have genuine Kanger Protank II's for $25. They have Evods and MT3S tanks for $10 and $12, respectively. Coil heads are $3.00 each. They brew their own liquids and its less than $0.50/ml when you buy 30ml bottles, and they let you try before you buy.

But if they were in a high rent district, there's no way I could patronize them and justify it to myself. I'm not poor at all, but I didn't get here by throwing money away needlessly, did I?

I would take that Vamo kit back to the store. Vamo's have little quirks that you can complain about. The threads are brass and soft, and they're not machined perfectly. So a ProTank or even an Ego threaded clearo like the Evod or MT3S can screw on crooked or cross thread. The threads on the Vamo body are machined roughly, so a little Noalox thread lube is almost a necessity.

The two grey ICR batteries that came with your kit are absolute junk, and that wall mounted charger is a borderline household fire hazard. Tell them it overheated when charging your batteries and you're worried about burning the house down.

If all they offer you is store credit, then raid their juice line. That's where B&M's really have their profit centers. They buy that stuff for pennies per ml and sell it for 100x that. Especially if their juices are Dekang, Hangsen or Liqua.

Tell'em: "I'm just not happy with it. For $150, I expected much higher quality than... than... this."