What is happening to V4L?!
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V4L I think initially profits from a lot of beginner vapers. I went with them, and had positive experiences, despite paying a premium for their ecosystem. I didnt mind paying a bit more, their forum seemed very useful and had friendly staff. But their pricing now is just quite too high compared with alternatives ($150 for an enhanced basic battery kit is crazy - and $8 cartomizers??), and they are also not keeping up with the vaping world. I wager most Cigalike users who take a liking to the technology wont stay cigalike users for very long once they see what else is out there, especially finding that better hardware can be had for far less. The dual mode zeus is a great product, but mine broke, got a new one, and it broke again. Bought one on a promo they had, and it came DOA, and my email was left unanswered. I do miss my zeus, but not the cartos/smileos.
Same here. I have a couple Zeus dual mode batteries, a Dial-A-Volt, a bunch of smileo's and a bunch of tank replacement cartos, but I just got an Aspire Naultius and a smaller iStick and really enjoy it. The cost to own is a lot less in the long run and the performance is unbelievable.
I enjoy V4L's Smileo's but after burning through 4 straight on that bad batch thinking I did something wrong, I'd decided I'm done. I'll probably still use the Zeus batteries with the tanks and Smileo's but then move onto other products.
They got way to expensive way too fast and took away what made them awesome: the reward points.
Thanks for getting me through a year without analogs!
DaveyP,
I would like to replace your dual mode Zeus and give you one of our new Smileomizers. As I mentioned in another thread, we discovered some component problems with both our Zeus batteries and our Smileomizers in a recent trip to China. Our manufacturer switched some components in the manufacturing process on batteries and Smileomizers about a year ago, and we are replacing our inventory. The sample Smileomizer is a from a pre-production batch, and the production runs will arrive in the next three weeks. The battery problem was not as widespread, and we can test each one individually before we ship until the new production arrives.
If you would like to give us another chance, please send me an e-mail at John@Vapor4life.com. I am the CEO.
Thanks,
John
I would like to replace your dual mode Zeus and give you one of our new Smileomizers. As I mentioned in another thread, we discovered some component problems with both our Zeus batteries and our Smileomizers in a recent trip to China. Our manufacturer switched some components in the manufacturing process on batteries and Smileomizers about a year ago, and we are replacing our inventory. The sample Smileomizer is a from a pre-production batch, and the production runs will arrive in the next three weeks. The battery problem was not as widespread, and we can test each one individually before we ship until the new production arrives.
If you would like to give us another chance, please send me an e-mail at John@Vapor4life.com. I am the CEO.
Thanks,
John
V4L provided the products I needed early in my vaping journey to kick the stinkies for good. Without their products AND the great people here, it would not have been possible for me.
It really is sad to see a company spiral as badly as this one, considering the products and once outstanding customer service they provided. As stated earlier, a company cannot survive without innovation, and sadly I haven't seen any of that around V4L for a long time.
It really is sad to see a company spiral as badly as this one, considering the products and once outstanding customer service they provided. As stated earlier, a company cannot survive without innovation, and sadly I haven't seen any of that around V4L for a long time.
Too true KY_Rob sir... And once again we see a complete disappearance from those who work at V4L....
Hi everyone! It was with great sadness that I left V4L about 3 months back - my go to nirvana was the Dial a Volt with Smilomizer. After getting several bad batches of them that had them lasting from 1/2 day to 2 or 3 days max after they had been lasting 2 weeks, (and with customer service being on the snarky side of it when I contacted them) I finally had to call it a day. Sad, because I loved V4L and Steve and all the wonderful people there. I needed assurance that when I filled up a smilomizer I wasn't wasting all the juice when the smilomizer failed and it was just getting too expensive to vape. I also ordered several batteries that just died after less than 2 weeks of use and I just said forget it - bad enough that my beloved smilomizers were not reliable, now the batteries are crap! After much trial and error I did find something comparable that I enjoy vaping but it meant changing from the KR 808 style and starting over equipment wise. 
I do miss the good times we had here and all the great people, and for Steve's sake - I do hope they can get it back together. They were the company that got me off the smokes and I will always love them for that...
I do miss the good times we had here and all the great people, and for Steve's sake - I do hope they can get it back together. They were the company that got me off the smokes and I will always love them for that...
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Hi everyone! It was with great sadness that I left V4L about 3 months back - my go to nirvana was the Dial a Volt with Smilomizer. After getting several bad batches of them that had them lasting from 1/2 day to 2 or 3 days max after they had been lasting 2 weeks, (and with customer service being on the snarky side of it when I contacted them) I finally had to call it a day. Sad, because I loved V4L and Steve and all the wonderful people there. I needed assurance that when I filled up a smilomizer I wasn't wasting all the juice when the smilomizer failed and it was just getting too expensive to vape. I also ordered several batteries that just died after less than 2 weeks of use and I just said forget it - bad enough that my beloved smilomizers were not reliable, now the batteries are crap! After much trial and error I did find something comparable that I enjoy vaping but it meant changing from the KR 808 style and starting over equipment wise.
I do miss the good times we had here and all the great people, and for Steve's sake - I do hope they can get it back together. They were the company that got me off the smokes and I will always love them for that...
Hi JJ,
Great to hear from you. Sadly your story is "Legend", many of us long-time V4L users have had the same experience; I too have moved on to different hardware, altho I still purchase some of my favorite juices from them. They will always hold a special place in my heart because they were able to help me quit smoking!
It is sad to see many loyal long time users reporting what has been my experience also.
I loved the Zeus (dual mode) and the dial a volt, even a smileomizer when it worked.
It just got too frustrating to go through the RMA return process and eventually be told
" no more replacements " user error...some juice was in battery, or you didn't put enough juice in and wait long enough
Before using it.
I've got 5 years experience using these products, I know how to properly fill a carto, and daily clean battery connection.
Every carto in the world leaks some into that connection, but that was their final answer so I gave them mine,..
So long and good luck!
I loved the Zeus (dual mode) and the dial a volt, even a smileomizer when it worked.
It just got too frustrating to go through the RMA return process and eventually be told
" no more replacements " user error...some juice was in battery, or you didn't put enough juice in and wait long enough
Before using it.
I've got 5 years experience using these products, I know how to properly fill a carto, and daily clean battery connection.
Every carto in the world leaks some into that connection, but that was their final answer so I gave them mine,..
So long and good luck!
Hi everyone! It was with great sadness that I left V4L about 3 months back - my go to nirvana was the Dial a Volt with Smilomizer. After getting several bad batches of them that had them lasting from 1/2 day to 2 or 3 days max after they had been lasting 2 weeks, (and with customer service being on the snarky side of it when I contacted them) I finally had to call it a day. Sad, because I loved V4L and Steve and all the wonderful people there. I needed assurance that when I filled up a smilomizer I wasn't wasting all the juice when the smilomizer failed and it was just getting too expensive to vape. I also ordered several batteries that just died after less than 2 weeks of use and I just said forget it - bad enough that my beloved smilomizers were not reliable, now the batteries are crap! After much trial and error I did find something comparable that I enjoy vaping but it meant changing from the KR 808 style and starting over equipment wise.
I do miss the good times we had here and all the great people, and for Steve's sake - I do hope they can get it back together. They were the company that got me off the smokes and I will always love them for that...
I had almost exactly the same experience. I just had to quit V4L and find new hardware after about 4 years of business because of the Smileo quality crash. I would get a few duds here and there but didn't worry about it much. Then 4 out of a 5 pack went bad on me within a day or two. I called CS and the guy was actually pretty nice. He sent me another 5 pack without much question. Then the same thing happened with all 5 replacements so I called again. The next guy wasn't outright rude, but said he couldn't replace those and didn't seem to care much.
He said that if I sent them all back and they could prove they were faulty, they'd send me new ones. I told him I wasn't going to go to all that trouble since it wasn't my error but that I'd gladly mail them if the company wanted to send me a paid envelope to ship them in. He said he wouldn't do that and I politely informed him that I had no choice but to find a new product since V4L couldn't be relied upon anymore.
I'm currently using a Kanger Aerotank Mini and Spinner II (not ready to jump to a handle type. Not maybe ever). Had good luck so far and the tank fill is so much faster than a Smileo, plus the minimal price of replacement atomizers.
Like those above, I'll always be grateful for V4L and the community here helping me to quit smoking forever. All good things must end, I guess.
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