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BOTL UPCOMING MAINTENANCE
Hi Everyone, as mentioned in my introduction post, BOTL needs quite a bit of updating, patching and whatever else I might come across. Over the next few weekends BOTL may be unreachable on occasion as I do migrations or updates, etc. Just be patient - we'll be back! I'll generally try to keep these maintenances until later in the evenings.
Tat Drac Track
- Thread starter BrandonJ
- Start date
Just got a call from "Christy" at Corona Cigar Company at the Dr. Phillips/Sand Lake location & the Dracs & Boris's are being sold at a limit of two eaches at MSRP + Florida tax.
So I am now the proud owner of 2 singles each. Woot!
hehe
So I am now the proud owner of 2 singles each. Woot!
hehe
Benzopyrene
BoM June 08
Not all stores have recieved them yet!
Very true. My local B&M doesn't have them yet. :closedmou
To all here at BOTL,
My name is Abe and I own the Smoke Inns in South Florida. I have been trying to post this for hours but have been swamped. Our deepest apologies to Justin in this matter as we explained to him, it was an honest mistake and as soon as it was brought to our attention we immediately took action to correct it. In his generosity, he permitted us to continue to use the image without asking for a thing. As he mentioned, after our event this Friday, I will be personally sending him a VERY nice care package for his understanding.
Furthermore, we acquired Tobacco World Cigars in Pompano Beach in August. While we have NEVER sent unsolicited emails, the list we acquired from them seem filled with unsolicited emails. In 14 Years, this has never been our practice. So if anyone here received an unsolicited email from us, PLEASE AGAIN, accept our sincerest apoligies and just unsubscribe. That should solve the problem.
As far as our lottery for Monster Series, well while I am sure I will not win any Nobel Prize for our system, it just seemed the fairest way possible with the hundreds of calls we received regarding them, mostly from smokers who had never contacted us before. We just felt that that system fairly narrowed it down to our patrons and with the swag offered, everyone goes home a winner. In retrospect, maybe not the best idea, but it is what it is now.
I hope that this will relieve any who were upset here. If anyone has any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me personally. As Justin can attest, i am very reachable.
Best Regards Gentlemen,
Abe Dababneh
Smoke Inn
My name is Abe and I own the Smoke Inns in South Florida. I have been trying to post this for hours but have been swamped. Our deepest apologies to Justin in this matter as we explained to him, it was an honest mistake and as soon as it was brought to our attention we immediately took action to correct it. In his generosity, he permitted us to continue to use the image without asking for a thing. As he mentioned, after our event this Friday, I will be personally sending him a VERY nice care package for his understanding.
Furthermore, we acquired Tobacco World Cigars in Pompano Beach in August. While we have NEVER sent unsolicited emails, the list we acquired from them seem filled with unsolicited emails. In 14 Years, this has never been our practice. So if anyone here received an unsolicited email from us, PLEASE AGAIN, accept our sincerest apoligies and just unsubscribe. That should solve the problem.
As far as our lottery for Monster Series, well while I am sure I will not win any Nobel Prize for our system, it just seemed the fairest way possible with the hundreds of calls we received regarding them, mostly from smokers who had never contacted us before. We just felt that that system fairly narrowed it down to our patrons and with the swag offered, everyone goes home a winner. In retrospect, maybe not the best idea, but it is what it is now.
I hope that this will relieve any who were upset here. If anyone has any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me personally. As Justin can attest, i am very reachable.
Best Regards Gentlemen,
Abe Dababneh
Smoke Inn
Kurtdesign1
The Thinker
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2004
- Messages
- 1,415
I've got one helluva story about my Dracs; or lack thereof.
So on the 13th I went into a local store in my area that was listed as a secondary retailer for the Monster Release. They are part of a chain of stores that undoubtedly all fall under the umbrella of the company named as the recipient of the release (basically they're a chain retailer). I explain the entire situation to the humidor manager of the branch I was at & tell him that I would take whatever he gets allocated or whatever they allow customers to purchase. I offered my credit card number as a showing of faith so he could make the purchase upon the cigars being available at the store, but he turned it down & said that it wasn't necessary. I further discussed that I didn't think each branch of their stores would get a box of this & thus asked what else I could do to make sure I secured at least a cigar or two when they were received. He assured me that things would be fine and that he would be able to get me what I wanted.
Fast forward to today. I head into the store to ask him if their allocation came in yet & to see if I could make my purchase at this time. He had said that he would let me know when to come in but knowing that the cigars had shipped out & likely arrived at their destinations, I decided it couldn't hurt. Well, after spending 15 minutes searching the humidor & checking their stock computer I ask him if he can contact the overall corporate cigar purchaser (the guy he should have reserved my cigars with) to determine if their stock had arrived yet. During that conversation it comes to my attention that the cigars were received over the weekend (perhaps Friday) and that they got 3 boxes of each of them (Apparently they said they were receiving the Drac, Boris AND some original Franks. Don't ask. I have no idea if this was the case or not. It's only what I was told). The corporate buyer says that since they didn't get enough boxes for each of their stores to get some, he just decided to put what they did get up on the internet !!! So, he was one of the few retailers who rather would cater to the internet buyer than the walk-in regular. Unbelievable! It was justified to me by saying that it wouldn't have been fair to just sell them to me & cut everyone else out of the deal. Well no Chit! I wasn't demanding I get all of them, I just wanted a couple of cigars at least.
Apparently it's one extreme or the other with these people & nothing in between. It's just so silly to me that they decided not to reserve any for me OR even notify me that they were going to be available online. I guess it just goes to show what real customer service is like. NOT THIS!
So, for all of you inquiring minds, steer clear of Binny's Beverage Depot in the Chicago area. A usually stellar company for customer experiences & help has turned into a poorly communicating, self serving corporate monster. Perhaps it's fitting judging by the release of cigars that this is?
Grumble grumble grumble!
So on the 13th I went into a local store in my area that was listed as a secondary retailer for the Monster Release. They are part of a chain of stores that undoubtedly all fall under the umbrella of the company named as the recipient of the release (basically they're a chain retailer). I explain the entire situation to the humidor manager of the branch I was at & tell him that I would take whatever he gets allocated or whatever they allow customers to purchase. I offered my credit card number as a showing of faith so he could make the purchase upon the cigars being available at the store, but he turned it down & said that it wasn't necessary. I further discussed that I didn't think each branch of their stores would get a box of this & thus asked what else I could do to make sure I secured at least a cigar or two when they were received. He assured me that things would be fine and that he would be able to get me what I wanted.
Fast forward to today. I head into the store to ask him if their allocation came in yet & to see if I could make my purchase at this time. He had said that he would let me know when to come in but knowing that the cigars had shipped out & likely arrived at their destinations, I decided it couldn't hurt. Well, after spending 15 minutes searching the humidor & checking their stock computer I ask him if he can contact the overall corporate cigar purchaser (the guy he should have reserved my cigars with) to determine if their stock had arrived yet. During that conversation it comes to my attention that the cigars were received over the weekend (perhaps Friday) and that they got 3 boxes of each of them (Apparently they said they were receiving the Drac, Boris AND some original Franks. Don't ask. I have no idea if this was the case or not. It's only what I was told). The corporate buyer says that since they didn't get enough boxes for each of their stores to get some, he just decided to put what they did get up on the internet !!! So, he was one of the few retailers who rather would cater to the internet buyer than the walk-in regular. Unbelievable! It was justified to me by saying that it wouldn't have been fair to just sell them to me & cut everyone else out of the deal. Well no Chit! I wasn't demanding I get all of them, I just wanted a couple of cigars at least.
Apparently it's one extreme or the other with these people & nothing in between. It's just so silly to me that they decided not to reserve any for me OR even notify me that they were going to be available online. I guess it just goes to show what real customer service is like. NOT THIS!
So, for all of you inquiring minds, steer clear of Binny's Beverage Depot in the Chicago area. A usually stellar company for customer experiences & help has turned into a poorly communicating, self serving corporate monster. Perhaps it's fitting judging by the release of cigars that this is?
Grumble grumble grumble!
MP.
Doesn't buy Altadis
For my fellow Detroit area BOTLs, Churchill's in Birmingham just cracked open their only box of Drac and Boris. They are selling singles only, so I grabbed one of each.
I'll probably try heading back up there tonight to try to grab some more.
Good luck!
I'll probably try heading back up there tonight to try to grab some more.
Good luck!
Thanks for clearing these issues up for us. :clap: I may not like your way of doing the lottery but I know all retailers involved with this have had to make some tough decisions regarding this release and you obviously did what was best for you.
Thanks pmf721.
It really was not easy. As most of our patrons come to our events and even our mail order guys take advantage of our event promotions, we just figured it was the best way to keep it in the family. Odds are if you r not a customer of ours, you will find another venue to get them. We literally received hundreds of requests from smokers who have never contacted us before.
-Abe
It really was not easy. As most of our patrons come to our events and even our mail order guys take advantage of our event promotions, we just figured it was the best way to keep it in the family. Odds are if you r not a customer of ours, you will find another venue to get them. We literally received hundreds of requests from smokers who have never contacted us before.
-Abe
SkinsFanLarry
Craft Beer Addict!
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2008
- Messages
- 14,355
Abe,
I know it's not what alot of people wanted, to have to buy something else just to get a "chance" to buy the Drac and Boris but, those "swag" deals look pretty damn sweet to me.
I think you did the best you could do with a tough situation....just my opinion.
....and thank you for looking out for my brother & friend Justin! :thumbsup:
I know it's not what alot of people wanted, to have to buy something else just to get a "chance" to buy the Drac and Boris but, those "swag" deals look pretty damn sweet to me.
I think you did the best you could do with a tough situation....just my opinion.
....and thank you for looking out for my brother & friend Justin! :thumbsup:
Abe is a good guy and by no means is he a schiller like many others I can think of:hanghead:
Skins,
Believe me when I tell you...the was NO real way to do this without upsetting someone. Pete and I both spent 40 minutes on the phone last week discussing this.
You guys need to really understand this when dealing with retailers on this specific topic. This was our first year dealing with this and it was what we came up with. As I look and see what other stores have done, there are ideas now i think I may implement if put in this predicament again. It was kind of like saying "Here is the ball, you have 2 blockers...now go score a touchdown!"
If retailers had it their way, they would sell a box to evryone they could. Remember that the next time your dealing with a retailer.
-Abe
Believe me when I tell you...the was NO real way to do this without upsetting someone. Pete and I both spent 40 minutes on the phone last week discussing this.
You guys need to really understand this when dealing with retailers on this specific topic. This was our first year dealing with this and it was what we came up with. As I look and see what other stores have done, there are ideas now i think I may implement if put in this predicament again. It was kind of like saying "Here is the ball, you have 2 blockers...now go score a touchdown!"
If retailers had it their way, they would sell a box to evryone they could. Remember that the next time your dealing with a retailer.
-Abe
I think Abe's deals are very good! Abe did you get my message about a week ago? It's no matter now but I had left one at the shop. Norton told me to call you from CF.
