SmokingPipes.com killed VIP’s

[fireground_piper]

Planning to do a psa on here soon so everyone knows.

That would go against rule #12 unless it remains unresolved.

 

[Sappspuh]

That would go against rule #12 unless it remains unresolved.

It is unresolved

 

[Sappspuh]

It is unresolved

And I do wish it was not someone who’s paying to advertise here. But just bc someone is advertising here doesn’t mean that anything goes and we should just suck it up and deal with it.

 

[jaytex1969]

Smokingpipes has supported this forum at least since I've been here.

They are raising prices and trimming expenses just like EVERY OTHER BUSINESS ENTITY ON THE PLANET.

Not unexpected. Not personal. Just life in this modern age.





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[jpberg]

Smokingpipes has supported this forum at least since I've been here.

They are raising prices and trimming expenses just like EVERY OTHER BUSINESS ENTITY ON THE PLANET.

Not unexpected. Not personal. Just life in this modern age.

View attachment 412778



View attachment 412779

We need to work on your empathy.
These people are victims, and they’re hurting.

 

[blametony]

Removed benefits.
Changed free shipping threshold.
Prices on pipes, baccy and shipping have all gone up recently.

This is what the old timers are referring to when they say “buy as much as you can as soon as you can”.

So true.

 

[blametony]

I have benefitted from the Peterson and Savinelli discounts a few times but nothing else.

Same here. I bought one Peterson and one Savinelli from them. The discount isn't huge, but it's something.

 

[blametony]

Just buy from the new guy on the block that is a paid advertiser here. Nova Pipes. Good selection and 2 orders I've placed have gone perfectly.

I've bought from Nova as well. Nice selection, good prices and prompt shipping. Can't ask for a whole lot more than that.

 

[blametony]

My recent orders from nova have not gone well. Planning to do a psa on here soon so everyone knows. First order with them went great, packaged well, everything was smooth. Second order was worse than a bad pipes and cigars order. I picked up the box and the tins were all loosely rumbling around. I thought oh no here we go. I opened the package and almost no packaging material inside and most of the tins were all dented. I reached out to the owner Kyle and he assured me that they take packaging seriously and that the package was packaged well when it went out. I told him that it is impossible that this was packaged well before it went out bc there was almost no packaging material inside. He then told me he would send replacement tins and get me tracking right away. Then he sent a follow up email saying I need to send the tins back first and once he receives them he will send out the new ones. He then tried to convince me to jar the tins up. Then he blamed it on the tins being made cheaply these days lol. He continually reassured me it was not his fault and was trying to blame it on usps (Probably so he can get them to pay for his mistake). Not once would he take responsibility for the poor packaging. Note that the box itself was in perfect shape. It’s the worst customer service experience I have had since a pipes and cigars order 2 years ago. I buy from many vendors and in 15 years of pipe smoking have not had this bad of an experience except with pipes and cigars. But even pipes and cigars made the issue right.

Interesting. This is why customer feedback is so important. Especially for a small business trying to get going. Thanks.

 

[BingBong]

From the thread title, I thought they'd wandered into Wall Street with an AR and become people's heroes. Alas, I too am disappointed.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

My recent orders from nova have not gone well. Planning to do a psa on here soon so everyone knows. First order with them went great, packaged well, everything was smooth. Second order was worse than a bad pipes and cigars order. I picked up the box and the tins were all loosely rumbling around. I thought oh no here we go. I opened the package and almost no packaging material inside and most of the tins were all dented. I reached out to the owner Kyle and he assured me that they take packaging seriously and that the package was packaged well when it went out. I told him that it is impossible that this was packaged well before it went out bc there was almost no packaging material inside. He then told me he would send replacement tins and get me tracking right away. Then he sent a follow up email saying I need to send the tins back first and once he receives them he will send out the new ones. He then tried to convince me to jar the tins up. Then he blamed it on the tins being made cheaply these days lol. He continually reassured me it was not his fault and was trying to blame it on usps (Probably so he can get them to pay for his mistake). Not once would he take responsibility for the poor packaging. Note that the box itself was in perfect shape. It’s the worst customer service experience I have had since a pipes and cigars order 2 years ago. I buy from many vendors and in 15 years of pipe smoking have not had this bad of an experience except with pipes and cigars. But even pipes and cigars made the issue right.

Kyle @Nova Pipes & Tobacco , you'd be well served to step up and fix issues like this promptly. I believe if the purchaser sent photos and a tracking number for the return shipment, that should be adequate for you to ship the replacement tins. In fact, if you really want to be top notch, provide the Customer with a paid shipping label. Sounds like they did nothing wrong here.

 

[Nova Pipes & Tobacco]

My recent orders from nova have not gone well. Planning to do a psa on here soon so everyone knows. First order with them went great, packaged well, everything was smooth. Second order was worse than a bad pipes and cigars order. I picked up the box and the tins were all loosely rumbling around. I thought oh no here we go. I opened the package and almost no packaging material inside and most of the tins were all dented. I reached out to the owner Kyle and he assured me that they take packaging seriously and that the package was packaged well when it went out. I told him that it is impossible that this was packaged well before it went out bc there was almost no packaging material inside. He then told me he would send replacement tins and get me tracking right away. Then he sent a follow up email saying I need to send the tins back first and once he receives them he will send out the new ones. He then tried to convince me to jar the tins up. Then he blamed it on the tins being made cheaply these days lol. He continually reassured me it was not his fault and was trying to blame it on usps (Probably so he can get them to pay for his mistake). Not once would he take responsibility for the poor packaging. Note that the box itself was in perfect shape. It’s the worst customer service experience I have had since a pipes and cigars order 2 years ago. I buy from many vendors and in 15 years of pipe smoking have not had this bad of an experience except with pipes and cigars. But even pipes and cigars made the issue right.

Hey Sappspuh,

I’m sorry to hear that you weren’t happy with your order. I want to clarify a few things for the community here since I take feedback seriously and want people to understand how I handle these situations.

The tins you received did have some minor denting, but the seals were intact and there was no damage around the seal area itself. Modern tins dent very easily — sometimes during vacuum sealing at the factory, sometimes in transit — and it’s something every retailer in our industry has to deal with. Even Watch City mentions in their FAQ: “Buckling and denting are part of the deal now.” I'm not from up north and don't have the ability to type something up like that and slap it in my Terms and Conditions.

Now if the denting had occurred around the seal area, or if the seal was broken. Oh yeah, I would have shipped out replacements immediately free of charge! When the tins leave my shop I make sure every single one doesn't have any major denting, denting around the seal area, or a broken seal.

That said, I offered and emailed you a prepaid return label so we could do an exchange, in which you declined. This is our standard policy which keeps things fair and consistent for all customers. Since you didn't want to go through with an exchange, I suggested jarring them as an alternative.

I regret that this didn’t meet your expectations, and I’ll always take feedback like this as an opportunity to improve. At the end of the day, my goal is to make sure customers are taken care of and that the tobacco you buy arrives sealed and fresh.

- Kyle

 

[blametony]

Hey Sappspuh,

I’m sorry to hear that you weren’t happy with your order. I want to clarify a few things for the community here since I take feedback seriously and want people to understand how I handle these situations.

The tins you received did have some minor denting, but the seals were intact and there was no damage around the seal area itself. Modern tins dent very easily — sometimes during vacuum sealing at the factory, sometimes in transit — and it’s something every retailer in our industry has to deal with. Even Watch City mentions in their FAQ: “Buckling and denting are part of the deal now.” I'm not from up north and don't have the ability to type something up like that and slap it in my Terms and Conditions.

Now if the denting had occurred around the seal area, or if the seal was broken. Oh yeah, I would have shipped out replacements immediately free of charge! When the tins leave my shop I make sure every single one doesn't have any major denting, denting around the seal area, or a broken seal.

That said, I offered and emailed you a prepaid return label so we could do an exchange, in which you declined. This is our standard policy which keeps things fair and consistent for all customers. Since you didn't want to go through with an exchange, I suggested jarring them as an alternative.

I regret that this didn’t meet your expectations, and I’ll always take feedback like this as an opportunity to improve. At the end of the day, my goal is to make sure customers are taken care of and that the tobacco you buy arrives sealed and fresh.

- Kyle

That sounds very fair Kyle. I’ve had dented tins from Watch City and from BnB. Both sent replacement tins after receiving my dented returned tin. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Merton]

As a longtime pipesmoker and frequent and very satisfied customer of Smokingpipes.com I can certainly understand the necessity of the business to make some changes in their price structure and customer recognition programs. Smokingpipes has enormous goodwill from its customer base and it is certainly well earned and deserved. These changes will not change my allegiance to the company. Notwithstanding this, it might be prudent for someone in authority (Sykes, Shane or Andy) there to take a moment to address the issues raised and explain the reasoning behind the changes. Obviously this is not required but a brief explanation might assuage any concerns of their very, very loyal customer base. They have a lot of goodwill currency with their customers and such an expalntion would, in all likelihood, be met with understanding rather than disappointment and even unhappiness. A respectful suggestion to a business which we all hold in very high regard.

 

[Nova Pipes & Tobacco]

That sounds very fair Kyle. I’ve had dented tins from Watch City and from BnB. Both sent replacement tins after receiving my dented returned tin. Thanks for clarifying.

That's interesting, I'm surprised Watch City sent you replacements for the tins! Their FAQ is pretty brutal, but hey, it comes with their northern territory! Good for them on making it right though!

Taken from their FAQ (they are true wordsmiths) —

"Q: I ordered some tobacco tins. One or two are dented on the bottom. I want my money back or a replacement.

A: Yeah, no. Watch City is in the business of selling tobacco for and to people who intend to smoke it. If you want to frame a tin and put it under your pillow, good on you. Today's tins lack the stabilizing "ridge" on the bottom that tins of just 5 years ago had. The old tins are no longer made. These new tins hold a vacuum seal extremely well but lacking the ridge, they can easily "Buckle" in on themselves while retaining the seal. It's just the way things are now. Our responsibility ends when you accept delivery of a sealed tin. Buckling and denting are part of the deal now. If you want to frame a tin and put it under your pillow for 20 years, feel free, but we aren't gonna replace crap that doesn't need replacing."

 

[blametony]

Wow, th

That's interesting, I'm surprised Watch City sent you replacements for the tins! Their FAQ is pretty brutal, but hey, it comes with their northern territory! Good for them on making it right though!

Taken from their FAQ (they are true wordsmiths) —

"Q: I ordered some tobacco tins. One or two are dented on the bottom. I want my money back or a replacement.

A: Yeah, no. Watch City is in the business of selling tobacco for and to people who intend to smoke it. If you want to frame a tin and put it under your pillow, good on you. Today's tins lack the stabilizing "ridge" on the bottom that tins of just 5 years ago had. The old tins are no longer made. These new tins hold a vacuum seal extremely well but lacking the ridge, they can easily "Buckle" in on themselves while retaining the seal. It's just the way things are now. Our responsibility ends when you accept delivery of a sealed tin. Buckling and denting are part of the deal now. If you want to frame a tin and put it under your pillow for 20 years, feel free, but we aren't gonna replace crap that doesn't need replacing."

Wow, that is pretty direct. I guess I’m lucky they replaced it. It was dented pretty badly and I mentioned that I was concerned about the seal.

 

[sablebrush52]

Been saying it for years. Thankfully I'll never have to buy tobacco again especially at modern pricing.

Yep. Same here.

 

[sablebrush52]

My recent orders from nova have not gone well. Planning to do a psa on here soon so everyone knows. First order with them went great, packaged well, everything was smooth. Second order was worse than a bad pipes and cigars order. I picked up the box and the tins were all loosely rumbling around. I thought oh no here we go. I opened the package and almost no packaging material inside and most of the tins were all dented. I reached out to the owner Kyle and he assured me that they take packaging seriously and that the package was packaged well when it went out. I told him that it is impossible that this was packaged well before it went out bc there was almost no packaging material inside. He then told me he would send replacement tins and get me tracking right away. Then he sent a follow up email saying I need to send the tins back first and once he receives them he will send out the new ones. He then tried to convince me to jar the tins up. Then he blamed it on the tins being made cheaply these days lol. He continually reassured me it was not his fault and was trying to blame it on usps (Probably so he can get them to pay for his mistake). Not once would he take responsibility for the poor packaging. Note that the box itself was in perfect shape. It’s the worst customer service experience I have had since a pipes and cigars order 2 years ago. I buy from many vendors and in 15 years of pipe smoking have not had this bad of an experience except with pipes and cigars. But even pipes and cigars made the issue right.

Reads like you just did the PSA.

 

[Auxsender]

Removed benefits.
Changed free shipping threshold.
Prices on pipes, baccy and shipping have all gone up recently.

This is what the old timers are referring to when they say “buy as much as you can as soon as you can”.

I’d like to say publicly for the record that I love smokingpipes and this post was not meant to be disparaging in any way. I assume smokingpipes has done these things in order to survive and I don’t begrudge them in the least for it. They are responding to market conditions and I respect that.
I’m also glad I bought when I did.

 

[sablebrush52]

Wow, th

Wow, that is pretty direct. I guess I’m lucky they replaced it. It was dented pretty badly and I mentioned that I was concerned about the seal.

Boston nice.