When are they going to open?

[nicosnack]

Nobody has said that.

Um, yeah... you did. I quoted you. If no one is saying such things why are you implying that is the case?

what I'm saying, however, is, people are basically saying they're gonna boycott her

Is this another one of those "nobody said it, but I'm going to say people are saying it"? Because, once again, I don't see anything like this. I know you are unhappy with wait times-- you were not rude about it, simply giving feedback-- but most of us adjusted our ordering to factor in the wait times.

...this isn't the first time this has happened to me with miss ts. For one, shipping costs arent exactly cheap. Also, the wait time from time of ordering, to when it's actually shipped out, is frustrating at times. I understand that she makes her own juice, takes emails, etc etc and it can get pretty hectic. The last few orders I've made have taken more than a month to get to me. Thats too long. She's on the top of my list as far as quality juices go, but having to wait this long for a few bottles of juice, won't work. juice hunting I go, I guess..

I'm starting to think you're a troll, perhaps from a competitor, and just perhaps stirring up trouble on this forum....

 

[nicosnack]

not for all her (the Great Ms T) flavors but Copper Creek & Virgin Vapor are ok.....but they're no substitute for the
Real Ms T hand-crafted juices. (tried them b4 I found Ms T's). & please don't take this as a permanent referral, just "in case of dire need
advice". this move is a temporary deal.....& quite frankly Ms T is a giant step above quality-wise.

This is no substitute for Ms. T. It isn't the first time I've had to make do with a poor substitute, though I'm really trying to ration my remaining supply of Ms. T's...

 

[nicosnack]

And as far as all the hate mail goes, don't let it get you down guys. I guess dealing with the public is a ..... sometimes, no matter what you do.

EXACTLY! And please... if you are getting hate mail, don't take it out on us at ECF by threatening to cut out of this forum. WE didn't send any hate!

 

[panewtovaping]

I sincerely hope you complete this by early December, but I doubt that will be the case. Its a dangerous move... people will have to try other vendors, you've alienated at least some, if not many of your regular customers (including this one) and you may well lose some customers... I mean, the juice I'm vaping right now isn't that bad, was cheaper, and came withing three days. Just sayin'...

Nicosnack, If the communications bother you that much, move on. Personnaly, I see nothing but good coming out of this move. Sure, people are inconvenienced at the moment, but hiring help will improve the flow of juice. Plus Ms T may actually be able to take a day off now and then! Or maybe only work 5 or 6 days a week. I'll take this over her burning out and just shutting down!

 

[nicosnack]

Nicosnack, If the communications bother you that much, move on. Personnaly, I see nothing but good coming out of this move. Sure, people are inconvenienced at the moment, but hiring help will improve the flow of juice. Plus Ms T may actually be able to take a day off now and then! Or maybe only work 5 or 6 days a week. I'll take this over her burning out and just shutting down!

I'm not saying, implying or anything of the sort that anything bad is coming out of the move, nor have I. I've been a customer for 2 years. Given the structure of the business, there have been delays, temp closings, etc. that we are all familiar with and accepting of.... feel free to read the two years' worth of my posts in this forum, if you doubt. However, I do resent your attempt to imply otherwise and misconstrue what I've written.

I have expressed my opinions a few times regarding Ms. T's business-- all of which have always been completely supportive of how she chooses to run it: as a very exclusive "boutique" with wait times, or hiring more people, or whatever.... again, check my history.

Having said that... I do not like it when a business is rude and threatening to customers who have never done anything to deserve such treatment, such as myself, which is how I read Brandon's post... though Ms. T's own posts (one of which is personally directed towards me) had no such tone, but were laughing and excited. As said, that negative tone has come through before, is even on their web site, and it is indeed very off-putting to me... that means it probably is to others as well.

Now, it seems they have received some kind of hate-mail over the recent closing. And in this thread there is one pissy reaction, and one guy saying the waits are too long and he's going "juice hunting".... (who oddly then goes on to "defend" Ms. T by apparently some kind of rabble-rousing regarding "boycotts").

I've brought up the poor communication before, so it is not new, and that is also in this forum, and also with humor. I'd hope Ms. T and Brandon accept my comments and advice on the matter for just what it is: experience and suggestions from a long-term regular customer... and I'd hope that other customers also help Ms. T build a better, stable, long-lasting, profitable business by providing feedback, and that the business would eagerly consider such suggestions. But honestly, if people are insistent on twisting such things in order to cast them in a negative light.... well... that's kind of a lousy thing to do.

A number of years ago I was fortunate to work with a trained, experienced Public Relations professional. She was very interesting and I learned much. One of the things I learned is that there is a very common mistake made by small and new businesses, and that is ignoring PR... i.e. your communications and messaging. Timely, appropriate communications from a business go a loooong way towards heading off any kinds of problems such as what seems to have happened here, such that there is, apparently, hate mail over it and the loss of customers. Poor communications/PR can, all by themselves, sink a business regardless of how excellent is thier product.

Good PR is especially key these days, when communication is expected to be almost instantaneous. Honestly, at one point I wondered if Ms. T's had folded. Given her extreme work schedule--- I've suggested in the past it was fine-- even better-- not to work so much, and increase the wait times. (Why? Afraid of her burning out and the business collapsing because of it. I want my juice! Forever!) When almost a week had passed and still no updates-- communication-- I wondered if they had closed their doors.

When I first went to the site to order, and saw it was temp closed for a few days I didn't even think anything of it. We all know things can come up in Ms. T's life and her business has to be on hold. After almost a week I came here to see what was up... you'll find no .....ing from me here, you will find some humor in response....

And let's get one thing straight: Ms. T loves me. After all, she has sent me not only Sea Monkeys, but kittens too.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/ms-ts-bakery/220712-wow-look-what-i-got-my-package-3.html

Can anyone else here say the same? I don't think so!

 

[Penemue]

Well I was frustrated that I couldn't make it on in time...lol...I tried to log in at 10:08 and it was already closed. My last order from Ms T's arrives yesterday, so I'm trying...really trying to just let it steep, but of course I'm sampling a bit here and there and trying to just vape my older stuff. If Ms T does another opening great, I'll try to make it. If she doesn't...well then I hope it speeds up her permanent re-opening. Congratulations on your move, Ms T and I hope that things go as well as you plan. Having moved across the country more than once, I wont be surprised if it takes a few days longer than you've planned to re-open for business. Do what you've got to do. People will either come around or they wont. They will either try new vendors or they wont. If they prefer those vendors...well that's your competition anyways. HOWEVER, the quality that I've experienced from Ms T's has been second to none. I expect that I'll find flavors that I like from other vendors and order from them, but I'll always be coming back to Ms T for my favorites. Her temporary closing wont affect that and by the way, the espresso cookies that I just received is simply amazing. I'll be doing another review of the flavors I ordered shortly as well as reviews of some of the other vendors that I've tried. But damn....lol...LOVE those espresso cookies! Going to reorder a big bottle as soon as you're back up and running!

 

[nicosnack]

Well I was frustrated that I couldn't make it on in time...lol...I tried to log in at 10:08 and it was already closed.

For THREE DAYS I told myself "10 pm Sunday, 10 pm Sunday, 10 pm Sunday." Should I put a post-it on my computer? Nah! I'll remember. "10 pm Sunday, 10 pm Sunday, 10 pm Sunday." Did I remember? Nah. I forgot. D'oh!

 

[Tempus Fugit]

I will clear up a couple of things here since I guess I am the "horses mouth" in this case. There have been quite a few angry emails lately. Some of those people are associated with ECF, some are not. Remember, we were closed for a week with orders in queue. Ms T was nowhere near her stuff to be able to create. Those folks were all emailed and provided with a courtesy. Most were very understanding, a few became not so understanding. Then, we opened the site to take 40 orders. We didn't realize that it would take less than four minutes to exceed that number. I am certain that at least 50 people got cut off in the middle of placing their order when T had to shut down the site. I did not hear from all of them, but I did hear from several. I also heard from people who logged on at 10:15 thinking they could get in. Those emails were not particularly nice. That frustration is understandable because of the short amount of time that passed, and the fact that they obviously got there in time. No one realized that taking a couple of minutes to enter an order would mean that order would likely get cut off. We have no way to just allow 40 people on the site or to manage who gets to place an order based on when they logged in. Some of those affected emailed me simply out of frustration. Others became threatening when I told them I could not make a special exception and take their order anyway. Some then became talkative online on ECF and elsewhere. I get the frustration. I do. It was a first-come-first-served thing, and apparently it was a race. So, here are the things we are seeing:
1. the email torrents - started when we had to shut the site. Continued when orders were waiting to be filled. Went on before and after the 4 minute opening.
2. the ECF and other forum threats of dumping Ms T permanently or reverting to tobacco because she can't take orders for a week or two. Got these in email too.
3. the general acrimony of some posters online and in emails (granted this is how it is on almost any forum these days).
4. even a few phone calls I got - not many, but a handful.
5. the questioning of information sharing and the handling of a completely unexpected situation

All of the above combined can be very disappointing to T because she knows that what she is doing is for everyone's benefit. Some want to hold the past against her, even though those things were emergencies, and had nothing to do with expansion. We don't normally have to deal with this much negativity at one time, and I'm sure you can see how it would be hard for someone who takes things personally to read this stuff during her life changing event. I hope this clears up why I said that Ms T may not come around ECF much in the coming days. That of course combined with the fact that she is busy moving... She will check it as time allows, but she may not post much. She does see what everyone writes.

Alternatively, she is encouraged by those who are saying nice things online and in email. She prefers keeping the positive vibes in mind to fuel her for this transition. This is occurring online and in email, where folks are showing understanding and empathy of the situation. This kind of stuff makes T realize that she does have people behind her who want to see things improve for their benefit and hers. The more who see the big picture the better. This type of encouragement I suspect, is why football teams have cheerleaders instead of a squad of roasters on the sidelines.

I'm not going to go too deeply into the dissemination of info during her trip because the details are moot at this point. The problem was that T was not able to make her own schedule. She was at the mercy of other people's schedules, at least one of which was a complete idiot and was solely responsible for adding two days to the trip (two days that T couldn't create orders for everyone waiting). I was not able to talk to her much during that time and any new developments were more or less on the spot. We tried to give useful info when we had it but essentially, no orders statuses were changing, the website was not coming back on, and even we had no idea how long it would take. We had no forewarning that this was coming, and when it did it required immediate reaction. That's why no one knew weeks or even days ahead of time. We didn't know either. I guess you could say it was sort of an emergency situation, but a good emergency.

Here is the long and the short about how things are right now.
1. Ms T is not currently accepting orders. Everything has gone out with the exception of two that will ship tomorrow. I don't think she is going to do another short opening because she is trying to be in the new place by December 3rd. That is one week from now. One week to move an entire home, family, and business to a new state. Personally, I have taken a month or more to plan and execute similar moves. We don't know yet though. If she is able to do another opening, she will.
2. Asking us right now if there is a way to get an order in, or when the website is going to reopen is not going to get you much of an answer. Bear with us, the first week of December is only a week away!
3. To be blunt, this is happening whether anyone likes it or not. We are in the middle of it now. If you are frustrated about it, we understand, we are sorry, and we truly hate to make you feel that way. But any negative discussion on the forums or emails is just starting to feel like whining. Nothing more can be done about the frustration right now, it is time for everyone to just brace for a few days and give her time to move, set up, and breathe for a minute. Posting all about one's anger only indicates to us that they want to try to hurt us for trying to improve, and of course that sounds ridiculous. We aren't going to have much to do with these kinds of posts or emails right now because it is completely pointless and adds no value to the conversations.
4. Aside from the negative (but aided by the positive), Ms T is completely stoked about this move. It is the right place for her to be in so many ways. She's already tossing around other future improvements she can make as we expand. She's feeling reassured and hopeful about the future. She loves what she does but she needed a change. Vaping has created quite a following in the last couple of years and Ms T has wanted and needed to grow. Her popularity kept her creating all the time with no chance to plan for or start expanding. She is now able to make that leap into a place she is excited about. A happy T is a productive T.

So that's it for now. Sorry, I don't have a word count filter in my brain. That's why I won't be posting this much on this topic anymore. Even if nothing above made any sense, there is only one thing you really need to remember. Check back with us in a week or two. We'll know more then.

Brandon
Ms T's Bakery

 

[Samie]

I'm starting to think you're a troll

Funny... that's what I've been thinking about you. You happen to be the one who's TRYING to cause problems.

I don't even know what to say about your "kitten" thing. That was a very horrible photoshop job. Yeah it was cute when you did it, but you're acting like it really happened... It was over a year ago, let it go.

Brandon's post isn't negative. IF you didn't send the hate mail, then it isn't about you.

 

[jdrewry]

Checking back in a week or two--no problem.

And, unfortunately, every business on the planet has to deal with negativity of some kind. It's the nature of people to complain, even if the long term benefits are greater than current conditions could ever provide.

You could look at it this way--better to have people be that passionate about your product, than no one commenting at all

 

[freeall]

Y'know, I have real mixed feelings about all this, particularly how communications have been managed, and your own attitude. First, as was posted in another thread: couldn't you guys have sent out an email to your regulars weeks ago, with a head's up? As another said, some of us only go to order. We're not on Facebook, nor checking in here every week. Second, your web site goes down, says something about being back in a few days, but doesn't have a date on the message. A customer frustration experience that was totally due to carelessness on your part.

You are dealing with nicotine addicts. So, you're "astounded" that your customers are relying upon you, and might freak if their supply is low and their dealer unobtainable, and is communicating poorly? Really?? Don't ever blame your angry, frustrated customers, when their anger and frustration is justified. And no, I've not written any angry missives... I completely forgot about the 10:00 pm window of opportunity, but this really shows bad customer relations.

Ms. T might not come back to this Forum becuase she herself angered much of her customer base? You guys really need to rethink your PR and relationship with your customers. No offense, but this isn't the first time you guys have, in essence, attacked and blamed your customers, and, frankly, whined like children over your poor communication skills: "I just won't go on that forum! So there!" I mean really... rethink this attitude. It has also shown repeatedly in the past when new people freak over the unusual wait times. Your messages about this on your site are off-putting, with the negative attitude towards your customers, it should also be in multiple places. Again, poor communication on your part... not the customer's fault.

I sincerely hope you complete this by early December, but I doubt that will be the case. Its a dangerous move... people will have to try other vendors, you've alienated at least some, if not many of your regular customers (including this one) and you may well lose some customers... I mean, the juice I'm vaping right now isn't that bad, was cheaper, and came withing three days. Just sayin'...

I'm starting to think you're a troll, perhaps from a competitor, and just perhaps stirring up trouble on this forum....

Speaking of trolling, mr. long winded hypocritical postman.

First you say you're done as a customer, then go on to start saying other people are the trolls? Open your eyes, man.

If you're done with miss t, then move on. Anyone who isnt associated with someone anymore, moves on. Instead, you're writing these long winded posts, as if your opinions matter.

Talking about how miss t and crew "whined like children" and "blamed their customers". It's childish.

I rest my case.

 

[nicosnack]

First you say you're done as a customer,

I said no such thing. I said what I wrote: I felt alienated by the threats that have absolutely nothing to do with my behavior but that stem from other people sending hate-mail-- which Brandon has now detailed in greater sadness.

Are we allowed profanity here? 'Cause a couple you deserve a healthy dose of it... a very healthy dose of it.

 

[nicosnack]

Funny... that's what I've been thinking about you. You happen to be the one who's TRYING to cause problems.

I don't even know what to say about your "kitten" thing. That was a very horrible photoshop job. Yeah it was cute when you did it, but you're acting like it really happened... It was over a year ago, let it go.

Brandon's post isn't negative. IF you didn't send the hate mail, then it isn't about you.

My only response to you is profane.

 

[nicosnack]

Don't you have some "juice hunting" to do?

 

[Scottitude]

Wow.

Clearly emotions are high but can we take a breather?

We're all in this together whether we like it or not and when Ms. T. gets settled in a week or two and adds staff we'll all be much better off than we are now.

 

[freeall]

Are we allowed profanity here? 'Cause a couple you deserve a healthy dose of it... a very healthy dose of it.

Let me guess; you also wanna use CAPITAL LETTERS while you swear, right? Gives off the 'yelling' affect? I see how it is.

I've wasted too much time on this already. I've said it before and I'll say it again..

The people who matter won't mind and the people who mind don't matter.

Now, excuse me while I fill my tank with cake batter.

 

[nicosnack]

Let me guess; you also wanna use CAPITAL LETTERS while you swear, right?

Well.... that's not quite so much as capitals and bold... and 56 pt fonts...

 

[nicosnack]

Wow.

Clearly emotions are high but can we take a breather?

We're all in this together whether we like it or not and when Ms. T. gets settled in a week or two and adds staff we'll all be much better off than we are now.

Thanks man. We are all, after all, Ms. T junkies...

 

[stomkat]

Went to Ms. T's to order my Banana Fosters Coffee... Boy do I have bad timing. LOL!
I'll be patiently waiting again! Hope your move goes smoothly and you love your new place!

 

[kuklaki]

Went to Ms. T's to order my Banana Fosters Coffee... Boy do I have bad timing. LOL!
I'll be patiently waiting again! Hope your move goes smoothly and you love your new place!

Haha you and me both. I squeezed out the last drops of my Banana Fosters coffee this morning...is it bad when I got the urge to lick the bottle?

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