Local Shop Question - What Would You Have Done?

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by c2000

Off topic but nice to know there is another Deadwood Phile on the forum.....My role model is Al Sweragen..


Jerry in the People's Republic of Minneosta.

Yes sir!! New Season starts Sunday, you c#&*@%er!!!

AS for the shop, I wouldn't boycott, just might look around for other options...

[partagaspete]

Originally Posted by SeanGAR

If somebody pulled that crap on me I'd have walked out the door never to go back.

The customer is always right - he should be happy to make you comfortable and relax in his shop.

You end up paying a lot more for cigars there than you would online, he should understand that and realize that SERVICE is one of the few advantages that he has .... X files reruns and a pissed off customer or news and a happy customer is a no brainer...ESPECIALLY if you wanted to watch Headline News .... those girls are easy to look at....

I agree 100%. I would have said "I have been a good customer for this long and this is the service you provide...I'll take my business elsewhere" and walked out the door.

[FrankB]

I agree that that changing the channels shouldn't be an issue with the owner, but on the other hand, the last thing I want to watch when I am trying to enjoy a good cigar is the news. Ya couldn't find any naked women pole dancin' ? Frank B

[slowhand]

His shop, his lounge and his tv equals his rules. If you don't like them, move on with your money. Personally, I don't let myself get bothered with those things. I go to shops to smoke sometimes and it is fun and other times things are going on that I don't like and I go somewhere else. I have never asked the owner to change things around to suit me just because I am there.

[ProSpkr]

Update:

First off I would like to thank everyone for their opinions on what you would have done at the smoke shop. All of you made valid points and offered good suggestions.

So I decided to give the guy the benefit of doubt and return to the shop to discuss the TV incident with the owner. Yesterday afternoon I went to the shop bought a couple of sticks and said “Remember the other day when I came in and smoked a cigar here?” “Yep” he said. “So I was wondering why I wasn’t able to watch news and catch up on what was going on. I had been out of town for several days and I just wanted to relax before going home.” He said “X-Files was on when you came in and I always watch X-Files. You just came in at a bad time.” “Bad time?” I said. “What about what the customer wants?” He said “When X-Files is on, I watch it. End of story.”

I had come prepared just in case and had a Quicken printout of what I had spent in his store over the past year. I said “Do you realize how much I have spent in your shop” “Nope” he said. “Over $3500 this past year alone!” “Wow, you ARE a good customer, thanks.” He said. “Not any more!” I said. I turned and walked out. “End of story” I said as I was walking out the door!

[ProSpkr]

So Hiker, where is this store you frequent?

[Mr. White]

Originally Posted by ProSpkr

It was early in the afternoon and his "favorite" show was reruns of X-Files.

Bet he listens to Art Bell too. hehe.


Seriously, If he wants to continue selling cigars, he better start changing that channel.

If he wants to watch something else, there's nothing stopping him from getting a smaller tv. and keeping it behind the counter.

With FL laws against indoor smoking, there's no lounge.

Never thought of this, but the guy at Sosa's is always smoking in his shop. hehehe. For that matter, so was I one day.

[TheSmokingHiker]

Originally Posted by ProSpkr

So Hiker, where is this store you frequent?

Wow, that story was classic. I am sorry you lost your smoke shop, but man what a way to go out. Well, I go to a shop in Dunwoody usually. It is Dunwoody cigar Merchant. I like to go there because I am always welcomed when I want to sit down and grab a smoke. If I want a shop close to my house, I go to this place right across the street from Greater Atlanta Christian School off Indian Trail Road. The guy in there has fair prices, and he has a good knowoledge about cigars. You just cant smoke in the shop...

[dadof3illinois]

Great job, think you handled it very well prospkr. My wife bought me a nice lighter for Christmas, it was way to expensive for me so I wanted to take it back. We got to the smoke shop but I had forgot the receipt, we live over an hour and half from this place, we live deep in the sticks of southern Illinois. I told the guy my wife had bought this lighter here and that it was to expensive for me to loose....LOL. I wanted to pickup a couple cheap lighters and needed to pickup several cigars while I was there. The lighter was still in it's original box with bar codes attached and price sticker still on. He told me without a receipt he wouldn't exchange it. I shop in this place as often as I can even though they aren't the cheapest store around. I couldn't believe he wouldn't exchange the lighter.
We went across town to another store, I bought over $250 worth of singles there, then went back to the first store walked in showed him my receipt told him I'll eat the cost of the lighter just so I didn't have to do business with them again!! I know I might have over reacted a bit but this is a 3 hour round trip for me to buy cigars and I only get to do this about every other month. So now I have a nice lighter, $250 woth of smokes......I guess it's not that bad....LOL

[LastClick]

It's his store after all, but he should be a little more polite. My 2cents.

[smokinpope]

I agree that a proprietor has the right to operate their shop in any manner thet wish, but firmly believe that there must be in place a "Social Contract" if you will- the acknowledgement that the customer may freely walk away from an unwelcoming store. I always try to be courteous to shop owners, to respect the rules of the house, but in return expect an appropriate share of the owner's time- I'm entitled to no more than that unless the owner so chooses.
TheSmokingHiker has referred to two shops here in Atlanta, which itself is blessed with numerous good shops. The unnamed shop is Cigar Outlet on Indian Trail Road just off of Northbound I-85. Sammy the proprietor is a true gentleman with a tremendous sense of how to assist customers. Generous with his time as well as with his inventory, unfailingly patient and polite. He has expanded his walk-in within the past few months, and continues to stock his shelves with good sticks at very fair prices. Granted, he may not yet have a selection quite as full as Scottish Tobacco on Piedmont Rd. or Lou's Smokehouse in Lawrenceville, but the man himself more than compensates for a narrower range of offerings.

[smokinpope]

Originally Posted by TheSmokingHiker

Wow, that story was classic. I am sorry you lost your smoke shop, but man what a way to go out. Well, I go to a shop in Dunwoody usually. It is Dunwoody cigar Merchant. I like to go there because I am always welcomed when I want to sit down and grab a smoke. If I want a shop close to my house, I go to this place right across the street from Greater Atlanta Christian School off Indian Trail Road. The guy in there has fair prices, and he has a good knowoledge about cigars. You just cant smoke in the shop...

Hello SmokingHiker:

Be of good cheer- Sammy at the shop across from GACS mentioned today that he is contemplating putting a small smoking niche near the front of the store (by the pipe 'baccy)

Have you been to Cigar Connoisseur on Scenic Highway across from Lowe's?
Nice big screen telly and couches, pricy but good selection.