Customer Service - A fair recompense.

[Bleedingshrimp]

Between cigars.com, cigarbid.com, and cigarsinternational.com ,which are all related I'm told, I've spent hundreds of dollars in the last 4 or 5 months that I've been smoking cigars. I've always previously got what I would consider good service. I recently placed an order on CI for 20 IT Super Fuerte on 3/30. My order failed to show up. I contacted them via Customer Service message on 4/6/07.

They informed me as follows:

"I do apologize about the delay, there was a malfunction in the wharehouse which caused your order not to be shipped. I reordered your package to ship today 4/06/07. You should receive the order in 2 to 3 business days."

No bid deal....also no cigars. I call them on 4/11 and speak with a lady who informs me that for some unknown reason my order was on hold and that she would release it and check the warehouse personally the next day to make sure my order would go out. She also waived my shipping cost of $5.

The cigars still didn't arrive. I contacted them again today 4/18. The gentleman apologized, claimed that the order had a scanning malfunction of some sort and he would overnight them on Thurs and I should receive them on Fri. I was in a hurry so thanked him and got on with my day.

The more that I think about it now, I'm not sure that free shipping is really a fair recompense for this situation. After all, had I known that it would take nearly a month to get my order, i would have gone with the Famous Nic 3000's I was looking at around the same time. I had to contact them on 3 separate occasions about what should have been a routine transaction. The transaction on my end with my credit card sure went off without a hitch.

I'm not "outing" a vendor, as I have had good service in the past and will continue to order from them. READ: I like CI alot and would still recommend them. I'm sure my cigars will arrive on Friday. At the same time I'm interested in what you BOTL's think of this one instance and whether I was fairly compensated for my troubles?

[erictheobscure]

I understand your frustration, and I'd be annoyed too if I were anxiously waiting by the mailbox every day.

On the other hand, I do feel that CI's done what they're obligated to do. I don't think they can be expected come up with hypothetical situations (if this customer had known this order was going to be delayed, s/he would've done X) and compensate customers accordingly.

Just my two cents.

[duckmanco]

to some extent, however, it wouldn't be wrong for them to throw in a 5 pack of something of the same quality level as what you were purchasing, as a "sorry about that". Almost everyone's prices are pretty good nowadays, customer service is all they have left, and just fixing the problem often times isnt good enough, they need to make you happier.

[Bleedingshrimp]

Originally Posted by erictheobscure

I understand your frustration, and I'd be annoyed too if I were anxiously waiting by the mailbox every day.

On the other hand, I do feel that CI's done what they're obligated to do. I don't think they can be expected come up with hypothetical situations (if this customer had known this order was going to be delayed, s/he would've done X) and compensate customers accordingly.

Just my two cents.

I don't expect them to take any hypothetical situations into account. I mentioned the other cigars i would've gotten as a rhetorical. As in "..had I known I-64 was backed up, I would've taken 664", just to express my personal frustration. A hypothetical situation is not needed in this situation...I order cigars - they come (hopefully) 21 days later...that's the reality. This was due directly to their error, as the order never made it to a courier.

[No1der]

Well, if it were me I would call them up again and ask to talk to someone in some sort of management position and tell them what has happened.

Finally, in a mildish way I would tell them that I may have to reconsider doing business with them in the future if this is the kind of service you are expected to recieve.

I'd bet that they will toss in something to make it up to you. I don't want to come across as harsh but it is a business and they did screw up.

Rob

[pnoon]

Here is my , fwiw.

Flame suit on.

First, I share your frustration. And I would not have been happy either. I might have even cancelled my order. However, your question is "was the transaction fair"?

IMHO - No. "Fair" would have been to charge you for the cigars and shipping. You purchased both and both were provided. Now, the REAL question I think you are asking is "Was it good business?" or "What would you have done?"
To that I answer "No" and like CI, I would have waived shipping and, like duckmanco suggested, thrown in a little something extra.

[Bigwaved]

I usually find much better responses in these situations when I continue to use my manners and maintain a calm demeanor. I am not suggesting you have or will not, but if you find yourself becoming frustrated, remember not to shoot the messenger. That is my

[No1der]

Originally Posted by Bigwaved

I usually find much better responses in these situations when I continue to use my manners and maintain a calm demeanor. I am not suggesting you have or will not, but if you find yourself becoming frustrated, remember not to shoot the messenger. That is my

I agree completely that you should explain things in a calm and pleasant way. Just tell them that you are upset with what has happened, simply explain it to someone with some power to do something about it. Those are my two cents.

Rob

[Bleedingshrimp]

Originally Posted by pnoon

Here is my , fwiw.

Flame suit on.

First, I share your frustration. And I would not have been happy either. I might have even cancelled my order. However, your question is "was the transaction fair"?

IMHO - No. "Fair" would have been to charge you for the cigars and shipping. You purchased both and both were provided. Now, the REAL question I think you are asking is "Was it good business?" or "What would you have done?"
To that I answer "No" and like CI, I would have waived shipping and, like duckmanco suggested, thrown in a little something extra.

No flamesuit needed. But by that logic, as long as I receive the shipment before I die, it's a "fair" transaction? In a transaction as I see it, besides what is actually agreed upon and payed for, there is a general expectation as to the delivery or execution of a good or service.

Originally Posted by Bigwaved

I usually find much better responses in these situations when I continue to use my manners and maintain a calm demeanor. I am not suggesting you have or will not, but if you find yourself becoming frustrated, remember not to shoot the messenger. That is my

Definitely. No reason to blow up on somebody over the phone. I've worked in customer service oriented positions long enough to know that you catch more flies with honey.

[TheDirector]

Sounds like they were yankin' your chain Bro

[havana_lover]

I would call them, say "ok the norm is 5 day to my door, I want a 1% discount everyday after the norm.. ruffly 25% off" then see what you get..

goodluck

[Mr. White]

Originally Posted by duckmanco

to some extent, however, it wouldn't be wrong for them to throw in a 5 pack of something of the same quality level as what you were purchasing, as a "sorry about that". Almost everyone's prices are pretty good nowadays, customer service is all they have left, and just fixing the problem often times isnt good enough, they need to make you happier.

And that's the problem with big businesses, their employees don't traditionally have the power to compensate in the way you are looking to be compensated. It's the smaller businesses that will compensate like that in order to keep you from going somewhere else to buy next time. The refund on the shipping is about all you could hope for, and you got that.

That said after the 2nd problem I would have canceled the order and bought from somewhere else. Not out of spite, but just because at that point I would have felt I had paid too much for the cigars both in dollars and time.

Big Businesses like that just aren't set up to take a more personal approach to dealing with customers, that is why a lot of people prefer to do business with smaller companies. I usually do, as I tend to get better service and am normally treated better. (and if I'm not treated better, I don't purchase from them anymore. Such is the case with one small vendor out in California that does it's online business out of a warehouse in Arizona).

[carni]

nothing more frustrating than delayed cigars, good to see you stayed civil through it all.

[pnoon]

Originally Posted by Bleedingshrimp

No flamesuit needed. But by that logic, as long as I receive the shipment before I die, it's a "fair" transaction? In a transaction as I see it, besides what is actually agreed upon and payed for, there is a general expectation as to the delivery or execution of a good or service.

Good point. But you DO have options. Mr. White's suggestion below is a good one. At SOME point, you can say the heck with it and cancel the order.

Originally Posted by Mr. White

That said after the 2nd problem I would have canceled the order and bought from somewhere else. Not out of spite, but just because at that point I would have felt I had paid too much for the cigars both in dollars and time.

[The Mum]

I guess I would wait until you finally get the stogies and then send an e mail to customer service outlining everything and see what happens.