We never started this business under the misapprehension that we were going to be successful in pleasing everybody. And over the past year as we have grown from a client base of a few hundred to over 6,000, we knew that the number of complaints would naturally increase as well. However, the number of satisfied customers still astronomically outweighs the number of dissatisfied customers.
When we review whether a flavor should be discontinued or changed, we take into account the number of complaints against a liquid to the amount who are satisfied with the recipe. Because if we get one unhappy customer complaining about a liquid and change the recipe, we now have a LARGE amount of people complaining about whether we have changed a recipe, things tasting different, etc.
When I began this business, the clientele was small and I was VERY easily able to handle all of the e-mails, have people call me on my cell phone and give a very personal hands-on approach to everybody and everything. As I am one person and have to run a growing company, I don't have the kind of time to address all of the e-mails and phone calls myself. While I can answer about 50 e-mails a day and DO SO, I cannot answer and address 200 e-mails a day. So, I have 6 people who are readily available on the (888) number as well as on Live Help, and a
mixteam@tastyvapor.us address so that noone has to fall through the cracks. But some people are unwilling to listen or pay attention. They care more about their wants and needs rather than paying attention to the way that we can best address those needs.
I am indeed a very direct and to the point person, but I am not rude or abrupt by default unless I am approached that way. Nobody here is a corporate robot. We are all very human, run a humanistic company and have a humanitarian approach to what we do. None of us believe the best way to get things done is by adopting a corporate drone persona and sit by to readily accept verbal abuse from customers. We're happy to help if you talk to us.
As liquid is concerned. We produce liquids. We do not produce flavorings. It has been our experience that NO MATTER where we get our flavorings from, be that Capella's, Perfumer's Apprentice, Loranns, etc., the flavorings have been inconsistent. There is also no way for us to tell when they are going to be inconsistent. At times the flavorings can be spot on, and sometimes, the color is different, sometimes the flavor is different. Any DIY company that purchases bulk flavorings can confirm this too. But we do the best we can despite inconsistencies. As such, we in most cases go by smell. We know how things are supposed to smell. If something is clearly not right, we dump it out and start over.
It has also been our experience, that the FIRST INCLINATION of our customers is to assume that the liquid isn't right. The considerations are hardly ever:
"Is my atomizer bad?"
"are my tastebuds off?"
"have I let this liquid age?"
"have I stored this properly?"
"have I shaken this before I tried using it?"
"have I chosen a flavor that I wasn't sure about?"
"have I made an assumption about how I thought this flavor would taste and was wrong?"
Generally, we have to prompt people with these questions, because as I've said, the first inclination is that there is always a problem with our liquids. If 95 percent of our customers don't have a problem with it, we don't think we should upset them and go changing things.
I'm not going to go all out and delete this thread. People are entitled to their opinions and while I haven't had much time to be on the forum lately (again, I have a company to run) and am trying to make the effort. My lack of response wasn't born of ignorance or spite, it's a matter of lack of time and no lack of workload.
If someone has fallen through the cracks, I do apologize, it wasn't any direct intention of letting you do so, but we provide several means of getting in contact with our staff so that you don't have to. 6,000+ people relying solely on me to handle all of their woes....That isn't even realistic.
And it's a possibility we may have to take steps in lightening our workload so we can be more hands-on, but this would entail less specials, less miscellaneous items, etc. Realistically, that would accomplish things to a degree, but I think that even a larger degree of people would be upset as there are things that they have come to enjoy about what we do.
I'm not a bad person, and I haven't hired any bad people to work for me. I sincerely love every person that works here and we love each other, love what we do and take a great deal of pride in what we do. We're out to help people stop killing themselves and increasing their risk of cancer. And it's working, and we love that we have something to do with that. Pleasing everyone along the way is an impossibility. And a customer falling through the cracks on occasion is the tale of every single company on this planet. If some find this an unforgivable offense, we'll just have to accept that.
