Hello All,
So I finally get the time to do some posting on the ECF again and it's afforded to me because of our shutdown!
First off I just want to thank everyone for the unbelievable feedback we have been receiving! Both to our products and especially your understanding of the current situation with our payment processing. Everyone who had a pending order with us should have received an e-mail from me personally however I wanted to make sure I keep you informed here as well for those that are as of yet unaware. Know this first and foremost....WE WILL BE BACK SHORTLY!
Reason for shutdown
On Monday 3/15/10 our merchant services company decided to close our account without any advance notice due to our affiliation with electronic cigarettes. They did so without so much as an e-mail or phone call. This was done despite the fact that these people were given our product information upon application, the ability to review our website, approved our application and conducted one month of very lucrative business with us. This left us in quite a lurch as Viking Vapor has been growing at an exponential rate and we had MANY pending orders. I have since been informed by another company that the provider I was using is in the process of identifying and closing all of their e-cigarette accounts in this manner. (hear say...but it seems accurate enough to me!)
What's being done now
Thanks to help from many sources within the vaping community, both fellow vendors and consumers, we have identified a few sources for our merchant services. One in particular seems well informed on our products and suited to our software needs and therefore we have begun the process with them of getting things rolling again. It may take a little longer than it would normally have to however because we are using this unscheduled closure to improve in other ways as well. Currently I expect to be open again by the end of next week (around Friday 3/26) and will send out a newsletter to all existing customers as well as posting here.
Improvements in the works to better serve you
Due to the fact that Viking Vapor is clearly going to grow at a rate far beyond our wildest dreams I have decided to take on a silent partner. In doing so we are receiving a new facility which is to be renovated specifically to our needs! A meeting was actually held last night (3/17/10) regarding this renovation and work is to begin immediately. In fact I will be spending a great deal of my weekend going over the layout and design. While we obviously will not be waiting for completion in order to re-open we will be working through all the necessary paperwork over the next week in addition to the merchant services issue.
The gentleman who is to partner with us is a non-smoker who shares my level of passion and belief in our products. NOT because he shares my personal lifelong battle with tobacco but because he has seen six of his closest friends....people he believed would die with a cigarette in their mouths...now turn solely to vaping. This includes myself, my fiance and now four of our closest friends. (Technical disclaimer: Viking Vapor makes no health or cessation claims regarding the use of electronic cigarette's. I say this only as an admission of personal experience and your results may vary!)
In addition, as many of you know, I still have yet to have found the time to get the website up to the standards I desire. With any luck I'll be able to squeeze in enough time while we are down to get some or all of the product photo's and descriptions up. I also realize that my instructions for how to place custom orders has become quite cluttered and will be working on a way to streamline that as well.
As always feel free to contact me directly with any questions or concerns you may have at info@vikingvapor.com or simply post here and I'll do my best to keep checking in.
Larry Knudson
Owner / Operator
Viking Vapor
So I finally get the time to do some posting on the ECF again and it's afforded to me because of our shutdown!
First off I just want to thank everyone for the unbelievable feedback we have been receiving! Both to our products and especially your understanding of the current situation with our payment processing. Everyone who had a pending order with us should have received an e-mail from me personally however I wanted to make sure I keep you informed here as well for those that are as of yet unaware. Know this first and foremost....WE WILL BE BACK SHORTLY!
Reason for shutdown
On Monday 3/15/10 our merchant services company decided to close our account without any advance notice due to our affiliation with electronic cigarettes. They did so without so much as an e-mail or phone call. This was done despite the fact that these people were given our product information upon application, the ability to review our website, approved our application and conducted one month of very lucrative business with us. This left us in quite a lurch as Viking Vapor has been growing at an exponential rate and we had MANY pending orders. I have since been informed by another company that the provider I was using is in the process of identifying and closing all of their e-cigarette accounts in this manner. (hear say...but it seems accurate enough to me!)
What's being done now
Thanks to help from many sources within the vaping community, both fellow vendors and consumers, we have identified a few sources for our merchant services. One in particular seems well informed on our products and suited to our software needs and therefore we have begun the process with them of getting things rolling again. It may take a little longer than it would normally have to however because we are using this unscheduled closure to improve in other ways as well. Currently I expect to be open again by the end of next week (around Friday 3/26) and will send out a newsletter to all existing customers as well as posting here.
Improvements in the works to better serve you
Due to the fact that Viking Vapor is clearly going to grow at a rate far beyond our wildest dreams I have decided to take on a silent partner. In doing so we are receiving a new facility which is to be renovated specifically to our needs! A meeting was actually held last night (3/17/10) regarding this renovation and work is to begin immediately. In fact I will be spending a great deal of my weekend going over the layout and design. While we obviously will not be waiting for completion in order to re-open we will be working through all the necessary paperwork over the next week in addition to the merchant services issue.
The gentleman who is to partner with us is a non-smoker who shares my level of passion and belief in our products. NOT because he shares my personal lifelong battle with tobacco but because he has seen six of his closest friends....people he believed would die with a cigarette in their mouths...now turn solely to vaping. This includes myself, my fiance and now four of our closest friends. (Technical disclaimer: Viking Vapor makes no health or cessation claims regarding the use of electronic cigarette's. I say this only as an admission of personal experience and your results may vary!)
In addition, as many of you know, I still have yet to have found the time to get the website up to the standards I desire. With any luck I'll be able to squeeze in enough time while we are down to get some or all of the product photo's and descriptions up. I also realize that my instructions for how to place custom orders has become quite cluttered and will be working on a way to streamline that as well.
As always feel free to contact me directly with any questions or concerns you may have at info@vikingvapor.com or simply post here and I'll do my best to keep checking in.
Larry Knudson
Owner / Operator
Viking Vapor
I've been checking out a list of American suppliers and had finally settled on trying out some juice from Viking, clicked the link and... 
Shoot... silly merchant services. Another reason for loving this forum though, thanks for the updates!
