Bad Experience With Smoking Pipes

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Jan 28, 2018
13,051
136,502
67
Sarasota, FL
I think they were fair to start with. If smoking pipes offered more than that, good for them, good for you. All in all, they're pretty good folks to buy from.

 

shayde

Can't Leave
Oct 4, 2013
387
10
I’ve never had any dealings with them. But this hasn’t dissuaded me. I understand the frustration, but the pipe market and pipe tobacco market isn’t as booming as something like amazon. Amazon makes ungodly amounts of money everyday and can afford to bite the bullet whereas I can’t imagine anyone who is selling pipes is making a killing and can afford to take a loss on inventory. I’m not saying that people in this industry don’t make a lot of money or are unsuccessful, there is just not as much of a demand and the target audience is rather small.
I’ll definitely have to place an order or two with these guys in the future. Even if they were completely terrible (I’ve seen mention of people not liking P&C anymore, I don’t know why. I’m not going to limit myself on where I can get tobacco from, it’s already an ever shrinking pond.) I would still give them my money :puffy:

 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,747
45,289
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Amazon makes ungodly amounts of money everyday and can afford to bite the bullet whereas I can’t imagine anyone who is selling pipes is making a killing and can afford to take a loss on inventory.
Actually, Amazon isn't terribly profitable, given its size. For example, it loses money on its Marketplace and Prime operations. What keeps them afloat are huge cloud computing and storage contracts with Uncle Sam, the stuff you never hear about. But the goal is to undercut the competition, drive it out of business, and then raise prices.

 

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
9,622
14,724
Actually, Amazon isn't terribly profitable, given its size. For example, it loses money on its Marketplace and Prime operations. What keeps them afloat are huge cloud computing and storage contracts with Uncle Sam, the stuff you never hear about. But the goal is to undercut the competition, drive it out of business, and then raise prices.
That's exactly what it is.

 
P

pipebuddy

Guest
I am surprised that people would even side with the vendor?

The law is clear, you have to sell the listed item (and not a different one) at the price it was listed.

This is in order to protect the customer from false advertising.

SPC made a mistake. Yes, it happens. But they are aware of the rules.

They had to send this specific pipe to the customer at the price advertised!

That they first refused to do so and then tried to work their way out of it is something I consider simply unacceptable.

Especially coming from such an established business.

 
Jun 27, 2016
1,273
117
Pricing errors are not "Bait & Switch" or "False Advertising", & they didn't have to send that specific pipe to the customer at the price advertised. No laws were broken. Nor is it "weird" that they wanted the customer to pay shipping when he wanted to send his Peterson back for a return or warranty claim. Where does SmokingPipes claim to pay for shipping for situations such as that, or any situation, for that matter? If it doesn't say so up front, the customer should expect to be paying return shipping. All of these "complaints" are simply consumerist bullshit. You guys left out my favorite part, where you claim to 'NEVER be shopping there AGAIN!' lol.

 

scloyd

Lifer
May 23, 2018
5,948
12,064
Smoking Pipes replied and said that they made a mistake yet they would not be shipping the pipe, but they did offer me a 15% discount. This only brought the pipe down to $182.79. The same pipe is on Tobaccopipes.com for $172.05.

Did the original poster (americaman) know it was a mistake when he placed the order and was hoping to get a $200 pipe for $57? Only he knows for sure. I think SPC was correct in not sending the pipe and offering a 15% discount.

 

scloyd

Lifer
May 23, 2018
5,948
12,064
After thinking about my last comment. If I saw a $200 pipe listed for $57, I'd probably order it too. I think most of us would. Me knowing it was a mistake...I wouldn't fret over not receiving it.

 

hugodrax

Can't Leave
Jan 24, 2013
448
669
You know, both buyer and seller in this instance acted with a lot of class. We could probably do that, too.

 

gatorlope

Part of the Furniture Now
Feb 5, 2019
503
196
South Florida
Shane Ireland is doubtless following this conversation with great interest.

I was trying to make a tobacco purchase yesterday with them, but gave up on it after repeated frustrations with my ID & Password..

Not their fault, though, because I’d not made a note of my ID & password when I’d dealt with them before and was trying to start over, causing some confusion.

I wound up zeroing out my cart and deciding to tackle it on another day.
This time, the customer wasn’t right- just frustrated!

 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,747
45,289
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
I am surprised that people would even side with the vendor?

The law is clear, you have to sell the listed item (and not a different one) at the price it was listed.

This is in order to protect the customer from false advertising.

SPC made a mistake. Yes, it happens. But they are aware of the rules.

They had to send this specific pipe to the customer at the price advertised!

That they first refused to do so and then tried to work their way out of it is something I consider simply unacceptable.

Especially coming from such an established business.
I don't know it this is true with all states, but, SURPRISE!, it's true in a great many of them. You list something for sale at a certain price, you are legally obligated to sell it at that price.
I realize this will come as a surprise to some of you and you may want to grab your pacifiers before I tell you this, but there are very very naughty people in the world.
Naughty, naughty, naughty.
And these naughty people used to pretend that they were selling something for an unbelievably low price and advertise it. And then when your mommy or your daddy went to buy it the naughty person would say, "Oh, we made a mistake. We can't sell it to you, but we can offer you this great deal instead."
And your mommy or your daddy would feel real sad, but they'd buy something anyway because they'd already been set up to expect to make a great deal.
There's this thing called psy - psychology and I won't explain it to you because it's only going to make your head hurt, but it plays a role in why this naughtiness works.
And believe it or not, this happened a LOT, because there are a lot of naughty people out there. Naughty, naughty, naughty.
It happened so often that laws were finally passed in many states, saying that if you advertise something for a certain price, you have to sell it for that price, even if it's an honest mistake, because there's really no way to prove whether it's an honest mistake or not. And that took away all of the naughty people's fun, well, some of it, anyway.
And now your mommy and daddy don't need to feel so bad, and you don't have to drink lead in your hot cocoa.
Isn't that nice?

 

hugodrax

Can't Leave
Jan 24, 2013
448
669
Terrible tone. When you mix sneering condescension with a complete misunderstanding of the law, nobody really wins.

 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,530
14,179
Among honorable men, good intentions are assumed.
Rules lawyering---by either side---is the worst sort of bad form.
The end.

 

alaskanpiper

Enabler in Chief
May 23, 2019
9,368
42,473
Alaska
After thinking about my last comment. If I saw a $200 pipe listed for $57, I'd probably order it too. I think most of us would. Me knowing it was a mistake...I wouldn't fret over not receiving it.
There are $300 and $400 pipes listed on SP right now for $115 and $140 respectively. Many of them. And it's not even a mistake!
Here are just a few:
https://www.smokingpipes.com/search/the-pipe-locator.cfm?special=sale&category=33&price=100&shape=19&shape=8&shape=32&shape=16&sortOpt=priceDesc&displayNum=24

 

americaman

Part of the Furniture Now
May 1, 2019
943
3,101
Los Angeles, CA
Shane was definitely a class act. I just ordered some Bothy Flake from Smoking Pipes on their Samuel Gawith drop this morning, so let’s just say I am already back at supporting them. It was just a minor mistake and brief let down. I lost nothing except some time, and like someone in this thread said, we should be supporting tobacco businesses when possible.
Looking forward to trying Bothy Flake.

 
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