Vendor warning from my observations.

[Tersur]

First off id like to state I don't think talking bad about a vendor is strictly against the rules here. If so i apologize to the moderator and accept a post delete. However the reason this post isn't in the bad vendor reviews section is that its not what im posting about. Im speaking about Gotvapes. Ive never ordered from them and never will. Please allow me to explain. The bad vendor review section is for posting bad interactions you have had with a particular vendor. And since ive never done business with them my post dose not belong there. I do see alot of new vapors in this forum posting asking about good places to get this or that and its my strong opinion they should avoid Gotvapes. Here is why. I watch the vendor review sections closely. I am always happy when i see a customer post a bad review and a vendor make a response. Things happen there are mistakes or miscomunications that can happen where the vendors normal customer service procedures may miss something and the ECF forums end up as the arena where it gets hashed out. However what im seeing with Gotvapes is totaly diffrent. First off just on the first 3 pages i find 6 bad reviews of them. That in itself is an eye catcher. 1 post a customer relates a complaint that he sent them and the vendor responds positively and the customer seems pleased. 2 are simmilar except the customer issue is not resolved and the vendor quotes reasons from there policy why in a slightly combative manner. I also agree stongly with one of the customers issue that they never should have had to post on ECF and should have been resolved by Gotvapes internally. The Remaining two posts where what made me decide to NEVER use this vendor. They are both locked for post after post of back and forth nastyness. name calling and finger pointing between the vendor and customer. Ive delt with nasty customers before. There comes a point where you either give the customer what they want or close the discussion. Seeing HOW the vendor was speaking to and handling the customer has throughly convinced me i don't want these guys solving any issues i might have with service.
Im sure they have many happy customers. Id just like to be sure you new vapers know that these guys are not looking like they are going to be helpful for someone new to vapeing that may need personal attention and issue resolution.

 

[Jackiej5407]

Interesting! I will certainly post back in General Discussion and reply to your thread after/if Got Vapes responds to my email of frustration over their ce2. Thanks for your post.

 

[swedishfish]

I'm one of those people that over-analyze everything. I think I read here for about 6 months before purchasing a pv. No joke. Except for the outside off-topic stuff that doesn't really interest me, I think I've read most of the sections on this board including the vendor subforums. Hay, don't judge- I'm a bit (OK, a lot) OCD.

I have noticed a lot of back and forth with vendors. Who's to blame? It's hard to know really. Maybe the vendor is wrong, maybe the customer got on their last nerve and they've exhausted all posibilities for making the customer happy - it's hard to say.

I have dealt with Got Vapes. I did have a question, and they got back to me right away in a very nice manner and they were pretty helpful.

You have to deal with who you're comfortable with, it's your money.

 

[dormouse]

For the sake of argument -

Perfect example. CE2 cartos crack, break, sometimes need mods to work right. Everyone who has been on this forum for any amount of time KNOWS that. Gotvapes likes to make things look like they invented them - but they didn't invent CE2 and it's not their fault CE2 cartos need skill to use. Things like CE2 attract newbs - but are not for beginners - they are for people who are tinkerers and are willing to screw with them, mod them for better flow, replace the tube if it cracks. Many people who KNOW how to use CE2's love them. Many people who use CE2 tank mods depend on them. Gotvape carries some leading edge stuff and experienced vapers appreciate that but IMO maybe some of that stuff should be stamped NOT FOR NEWBS or EXPERIMENTAL because newbs don't understand that not everything in ecigs works by itself.

There are also many things new vapers do wrong - using the wrong thickness of juice in things, buying auto batteries and killing them with juice leaks, sticking very low ohm attachments on batteries they don't belong on. I truly cannot imagine what a vendor has to deal with.

 

[Tersur]

I totally agree there are alot of times the customer is just beeing too picky or is at fault. What had me concerned is the "tone" and manner the Gotvapes guys were responding. It just struck me as very unprofessional and put my red flag up.

 

[swedishfish]

For the sake of argument -

Perfect example. CE2 cartos crack, break, sometimes need mods to work right. Everyone who has been on this forum for any amount of time KNOWS that. Gotvapes likes to make things look like they invented them - but they didn't invent CE2 and it's not their fault CE2 cartos need skill to use. Things like CE2 attract newbs - but are not for beginners - they are for people who are tinkerers and are willing to screw with them, mod them for better flow, replace the tube if it cracks. Many people who KNOW how to use CE2's love them. Many people who use CE2 tank mods depend on them. Gotvape carries some leading edge stuff and experienced vapers appreciate that but IMO maybe some of that stuff should be stamped NOT FOR NEWBS or EXPERIMENTAL because newbs don't understand that not everything in ecigs works by itself.

There are also many things new vapers do wrong - using the wrong thickness of juice in things, buying auto batteries and killing them with juice leaks, sticking very low ohm attachments on batteries they don't belong on. I truly cannot imagine what a vendor has to deal with.

Excellent point.

 

[Vchick]

I need to add on this, I went to their subforum to gain some insight on items to purchase for one of their customers, as I've not ever ordered from them.

I agree that some items should be labeled for experienced vapers, however calling their participants in their own contest "losers" and some other comments from the partner, I found this is not a place I want to order from.

Business, like respect, is earned not a given

 

[swedishfish]

I totally agree there are alot of times the customer is just beeing too picky or is at fault. What had me concerned is the "tone" and manner the Gotvapes guys were responding. It just struck me as very unprofessional and put my red flag up.

You may be right, I've didn't see that. The one time I had an issue they helped me. It doesn't mean everyone had the same experience. I am aware of what you're talking about though (not GotVapes, a different vendor). The thread got pretty nasty, I even posted in it and they deleted the whole thread. I would never purchase from them.

On the other side of the coin, someone here complained about a vendor and I sort of sided with the poster. After a few more posts and more information came out, I realized it was the poster at fault and not the vendor. I contacted the vendor because I felt bad. They responded to me and told me everything they did to try to help this person and they were really upset by the whole issue.

You know how the saying goes, Three sides to every story- her side, his side, and the truth.

I have to say though, I've dealt with a lot of vendors here and there hasn't been one that I wouldn't go back to.

 

[AndAllThingsWillEnd]

I have ordered from GotVapes multiple times and have never had an issue, however I do agree with dormouse on the fact that they need not for newbs signs everywhere. The main reason people like them is because they have a close relation with the manufacturers and can influence design changes to better suit their customers. Also, they are almost always the first one's to get the new and improved versions. That in and of itself brings tons of people back.

 

[Renzuli]

Well there are other "great" vendors , that drop the ball , once in awhile . Madvapes totally blew one of my orders , and it took several calls and messages to fix . But other times , I ordered something that turn out to be out of stock , and they called me on the phone to ask if I wanted to try a different one , or just take it off the order . That , my friend is what good vendors do . They messed up one time . I got over it fairly quick , considering the 100's of transactions that went off without a hitch . As said earlier , deal with who your comfortable with .

 

[kabonk]

I never order from gotvapes its seems like they sell a lot of the novelty items they're like the acme company of vaping, but I only buy hardware from a hand full of vendors I always go for the cheapest price

 

[capnbang]

Gotvapes has been my main vendor ever since they opened their doors.I've placed multiple orders there and never had a problem.When people have had problems if you pm one of the guys it gets taken care of pronto.You site 6 complaints out of thousands of orders as your reference for badmouthing a good vendor.Cmon man!I suggest you place an order yourself then come back and apologise.Novelty items?This company brings us the newest of the new.Its called vaping evolution.You may be ok with a cartridge and atomizer but I'm not.

 

[mooreted]

It's all about professionalism which can be hard to pull off. I'm a computer technician and I have to deal with customers every day. It's quite a challenge.

Yesterday I had this interesting conversation:

Customer: I had you guys work on my computer a couple of months ago and now I'm getting popups and it's running bad.
Me: Sounds like you might have caught some spyware.
Customer: I thought you guys put anti-virus software on my computer.
Me: We did; AVG, SpyBot and MalwareBytes
Customer: Then how could I get spyware?
Me: No anti-malware product is perfect. You might have caught something they don't detect.
Customer: Then why did I pay you $30 to put anti virus software on my computer?
Me: Because it will help with about 60% of what's out there, but it's not perfect.
Customer: You guys said this stuff would work and I'd never have a problem with my computer.
Me: It's impossible to block everything. It's also impossible to have a computer that never has a problem. I know we wouldn't say something like that. Why don't you bring it down and let us take a look at it?
Customer: I paid you guys $30 to fix my computer and now it's screwed up! I'm coming down there!!! (slams the phone in my ear)

There are other things I would rather have said, believe me. No matter how bad it gets, you can't call your customers names and fight with them.

 

[El Diablo Marrón]

Yeah, i work retail, and i just wait till my vape break and talk about the crazy customers to my work friends.

There are other things I would rather have said, believe me. No matter how bad it gets, you can't call your customers names and fight with them.

 

[Tersur]

My reason for posting the thread wasent about issues or customer complaints. It was how i percieved them talking to there customers in the threads. It was very unprofessional. Im sure i could order several times with no problems. but i wont becouse IF there was an issue i cant trust these guys to resolve it based on how ive seen them speak to there customers in public forums.

 

[kabonk]

one of my favorites is when they blame thier ISP for the malware I hear this all the time " I didn't have this problem when I had cable AT&T gave me a virus"

It's all about professionalism which can be hard to pull off. I'm a computer technician and I have to deal with customers every day. It's quite a challenge.

Yesterday I had this interesting conversation:

Customer: I had you guys work on my computer a couple of months ago and now I'm getting popups and it's running bad.
Me: Sounds like you might have caught some spyware.
Customer: I thought you guys put anti-virus software on my computer.
Me: We did; AVG, SpyBot and MalwareBytes
Customer: Then how could I get spyware?
Me: No anti-malware product is perfect. You might have caught something they don't detect.
Customer: Then why did I pay you $30 to put anti virus software on my computer?
Me: Because it will help with about 60% of what's out there, but it's not perfect.
Customer: You guys said this stuff would work and I'd never have a problem with my computer.
Me: It's impossible to block everything. It's also impossible to have a computer that never has a problem. I know we wouldn't say something like that. Why don't you bring it down and let us take a look at it?
Customer: I paid you guys $30 to fix my computer and now it's screwed up! I'm coming down there!!! (slams the phone in my ear)

There are other things I would rather have said, believe me. No matter how bad it gets, you can't call your customers names and fight with them.

 

[Jcash]

I’ve ordered from gotvapes a lot and I’ve only ran in to one problem and it was a bad atty that was part of a cart kit. I emailed them and told them what it was doing and that I wanted a new one sent to me and there response was "np will get it in the mail tomorrow". The reason I started with this was because I have read the post you are talking about and the customers normally don't just say hey this is the issue can you take care of it for me please. I think professionalism should go both ways but sometimes we let are emotions get the best of us and we lose sight of that I guess. That’s what just being human is all about.

 

[Lambch3p]

I have purchased from GotVapes a lot. They carry lots of new and UNTESTED products. I happen to enjoy trying the newest stuff as it comes out. But I agree most are not for beginners. Some once you figure them out work great, some never will. When ordering experimental products you have to put the time in to learn how to use them, either by tinkering, utube or ECF. You also have to realize them some of the stuff you order will not work for you, it's a risk you assume. I have had good experiences with their customer service, personally. They seem to be one of the more popular vendors. If you have more customers, of course you will also have more complaints and more unreasonable people to deal with. Everyone has bad days and everyone looses their temper when they know they shouldn't. Sometimes the customer is right and sometimes they are just want free suff for someting that was their fault. Unless you're personally involved it's hard to know the whole story behind these complaints.

 

[Olef]

I buy from GotVapes even though it takes almost two weeks for anything to get to me in the UK. I found Chris and Dan to be approachable and helpful and their products are leading edge in the vaping world. They are dedicated in what they do and they believe in their product and that sometimes results in things being said that perhaps should not be. But they are human and fallible just like you and me and they offer the newest and best products and they stand by them.

Perhaps some of their products, like the fluxomisers, are not for the newb or the hamfisted, but for those who can make them work they are an outstanding product and offer a marvelous vaping experience at unrivaled value.

I have ordered from GotVapes and will continue to do so. OP, you admit you have never ordered from them and never will and I have to say I think you would have been far better to keep your observations to yourself. You have highlighted a few less than satisfactory interactions with dissatisfied customers but you have not 'observed' the countless successful transactions with entirely satisfied customers like me.

Posting negatively about a vendor you have never dealt with on an open forum is, in my opinion, ill-informed and distasteful.

 

[ambientech]

I have only had great dealings with gotvapes. I posted in their sub forum about my VV ego I purchased from them broke about a month old. I took it apart and found a wire broke I soldered it up and it works good as new. Within minutes I got a pm from GV and they said they would send me a new one just needed my info.

I would say that is great customer service.

I know you were talking about how they treated their customer in a forum. Well I have a buddy that sales rc airplanes and he lives on the rc forums. He sales the best RC planes around and he too sometimes loses his temper. Yes he shouldn't do it but it happens. If someone has a problem he will be spend as much time with them as needed to help them. It is those that are trying to stir up trouble that sets him off. I see GV the same way as my buddy. If you need help with something they will help you. If you are looking to stir up trouble it will set them off. Just my 2 cents...

I also wanted to say those that haven't tried the newer ce2 that GV sales you have no idea how far ce2 have come from the cracking tubes. The fluxes only need a 2 minute mod and they vape like a freight train!! If someone has a problem with taking 2 minutes to mod them than they aren't for them. If someone wants a cheap disposable that will last a month with periodic cleaning then 2 minutes isn't that bad a trade off IMO