Brandshopper aka Cigarpage - Never Again!

[jasonatjl]

Just wanted to share a recent experience with you BOTL about an order I recently received.

Per @Glassman and his post about 5ers at Cigarpage, I ordered a 5 pack of Dirty Rats for $55 shipped.

They arrived last night and the tails were missing / broken / smashed on all 5 cigars. I emailed them and didn't get a response so this morning I followed up via live chat - they offered some of their "cigar points" as a resolution.

Took me another 15 minutes of telling the agent that I didn't want their points, but I wanted an exchange. She asked for a photo, which I took and emailed to them. Their policy on exchanging? Mail them back the smokes via UPS, once they arrive and inspect, they resend.

Am I unrealistic to think that they should be sending the smokes upfront along with a shipping label via email and we would "mail them at the same time"? Or should I have to wait 7-10 days for an error that was on them?

Anyhow, I'm just returning them for a refund and they'll never get a dime of my business again. Too many solid vendors with good deals to piss with poor customer service.

 

[Tonyd58]

At the very least they should send and charge you again if the first pack isn't sent back.

 

[Glassman]

Eh, I think it's just kinda what you get with them. To me they're like the "big lots/odd lots" of cigars. Selling other places unsold inventory or some such thing. More of a deal site that sells cigars rather than a high quality full service cigar shop. I haven't gotten anything from them that was Terribly bad or unsmokable. But definitely some stuff that wasn't perfect. To me its worth it for the extreme degree of discount. I mean, is it primarily cosmetic?

Fwiw, In my business, I don't refund or exchange until the item in question arrives back to me. I don't have enough margin to be floating it if people "forget" to send it. I imagine it's similar for them, that said, the rare times it comes up its usually a change of mind or mistake on their part rather than a screw up on my end.
I think we just live in a time where over the top, unreasonably incredible levels of customer service has become so commonplace that we have come to expect it rather than be impressed by it.

 

[jasonatjl]

When you advertise that you have the best customer service practices in the business, our customer service agents will WOW you, etc., I feel like you've set yourself up for those expectations.

 

[Glassman]

When you advertise that you have the best customer service practices in the business, our customer service agents will WOW you, etc., I feel like you've set yourself up for those expectations.

oh, I haven't seen that marketing from them. heh, yeah, not really living up to that...

All I'm focused on there is the best rock bottom price on the things I want most. Seems like the majority of the "amazing" deals elsewhere are on Rocky, bradly, and altadis on stuff I have no interest in.

 

[StogieNinja]

Not defending cigarpage, but you don’t smoke the tails. Cut and light, they’ll smoke fine.

 

[jasonatjl]

Sure, valid points across the board.

I guess my two cents is this - it feels awfully punitive to have a customer go through a verification process, sending a photo of the cigars, etc., and then having to wait:

1.) for the company to send a shipping label via UPS, then take said package down to UPS, wait till next Monday or Tuesday for them to arrive in PA via UPS ground, and finally wait again until that following Monday or Tuesday for the replacement to be received back.

The kicker being, as a company, you swear up and down about how incredible your customer service practices are, how you're going to go above and beyond to earn my business, etc., but when push comes to shove, it's the complete opposite.

Anyhow - it is what it is. Chalking it up as a lesson learned and calling it a day.

 

[VeLoRoK]

I think that a company being willing to pay for return shipping, and then sending out a refund or replacement, is pretty good customer service. It makes sense that they'd have a protocol to protect themselves from people taking advantage of them.

If it were me, I'd keep the cigars and enjoy em and get the cigar points for next time.

 

[Boudie]

To handle such an issue in a better way would have been way beyond my expectations.

 

[Cigary43]

Not sure why things like this can be resolved easily....when you order and pay for a product and it has issues or has quality control problems you call the Company....show em pics if they want them and then the Company should credit you back the cost when you mail them back if that's what they want but the Consumer should never...EVER wait more than one day after it's been received back to the Company and that included S/H. If the Company wants to take the side of of dragging things out call your Card Company and dispute the charge and you will get your money back within 24 hours,,,,that's assuming that you used a good Credit Card. It's very easy to protective your investment....all this back and forth nonsense is ridiculous. Once a Company starts equivocating and dragging things....I put in a dispute real quick and find another Vendor to use. They don't get a second chance to F with me. JMHO

 

[havana1]

I haven't had any problems with CP at all. However, I do understand your issue with this.