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craig61a

Lifer
Apr 29, 2017
6,164
52,948
Minnesota USA
Oh, just saw your previous post about the Dunhill order. No need for a redundant reply.
Well, that, and there have been others over the years.

I’d say 60-70% of the time they get it right.

But when they blow it, the onus is on the consumer to get it straightened out. Their customer service staff doesn’t seem to take the initiative.

Perhaps it’s the structure being imposed by the parent company, CI. Nobody seems to be empowered to make their own decisions. And as far as shipping, there seems to be a disconnect with order fulfillment. I’ve received orders with wrong item, or missing items numerous times. Definitely a problem somewhere in that hierarchy...
 

mikefu

Lifer
Mar 28, 2018
1,976
10,506
Green Bay
I’ve had a couple issues with orders, and they have always been straightened out, usually with a replacement being shipped free and me keeping the damaged product. There have even been a couple issues that were my fault, with order additions, or a time where I accidentally removed an item, which made a coupon invalid, where they took care of me after I called and explained it. I’m a fan.
 
Oct 7, 2016
2,451
5,213
Perhaps it’s the structure being imposed by the parent company, CI. Nobody seems to be empowered to make their own decisions. And as far as shipping, there seems to be a disconnect with order fulfillment. I’ve received orders with wrong item, or missing items numerous times. Definitely a problem somewhere in that hierarchy...
Actually the parent is Scandinavian Tobacco Group. They run multiple retail operations such as Cigars International, Cigars.Com, Thompson’s, etc. off essentially the same two pieces of software which don’t play well together. A few years back, they had to take a hit to earnings because of their US fulfillment problems, which was in their annual or quarterly report. When you deal with P&C, you are not dealing with a mom and pop. Even Smoking Pipes, which looks like a giant to most of us, is a small fish compared to STG as a whole. And yes, Amazon, which gets a lot of my business, for one, has proven that it is possible for large players to provide much better customer service than P&C delivers. But two years ago I had a major - to me- issue with Amazon that took almost two months to resolve in my favor. That took more of my time cumulatively than I have spent dealing with P&C on any one issue. I still use Amazon.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
21,023
50,385
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
I guess somebody up there likes me, because I've not had any serious issues with P&C orders. There was a two week delay on one order a couple of years ago when they went through all that merry hell after installing a new tracking software. That's a minor inconvenience, not a tragedy, like being bankrupted by needing a life saving medical procedure.
I've had one shipment where they got one blend wrong and I sent it back for a credit. Nobody is perfect, not even me.
One order where a backordered blend never arrived. I just bought it from SP instead.
Their packing is poor, but nobody does a great job of packing. No dented tins.
Other than that, every order over the years has come through without issues.
 

stbruno70

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 9, 2013
580
238
P&C definitely seems to have a more antiquated/ineffective order management-fulfillment system when compared to similar-category web retailers. For me I know out of four orders, three will process absolutely fine and one will go off-rails.

Most times it's inaccurate real-time inventory management which rears its head during higher demand spots (popular blends or attractive sales), but I've some real head-scratchers. Earlier this year I ordered 16 ounces of the Russ O. birthday blend with a larger order......I got 16 1 oz. baggies labeled "Mississippi River". MR isn't a bulk blend, but darned if it sure didn't look/smell like MR. I also couldn't conceive of a situation where someone would either be pre-bagging a blend in small 1oz baggies or sitting there fulfilling an order and thinking preparing 16 separate, labeled bags was an effective use of paid labor. When I called to verify what I actually received.....I got the usual "We don't know what happened but here's a code for $10 off your next order". Three out of four orders go fine, but man on that fourth one.....

I had exactly the same problem with Russ O's birthday blend . When I telephoned to investigate, they said it was just a mix up with MR labels on the bags. And no $10 coupon for me.
 

stbruno70

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 9, 2013
580
238
Others have commented on the poor packaging of their boxes.

Here is a package from them delivered only yesterday.

7977

Ripped, no tape on the bottom and the tape on the top was so loose it practically fell off.
 

stbruno70

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 9, 2013
580
238
Despite all off P&C's problems, I order from them mainly for Russ's amazing blends. But my patience is wearing thin. Are there other online stores that reliably have have his product in stock?
 

renfield

Lifer
Oct 16, 2011
5,191
42,649
Kansas
It’ll probably never happen but I’d love to see the raw data from the vendor side for the larger outlets as to percentage of messed up orders. I’d be surprised if they didn’t track that.

For that matter I’m curious about the total number of orders each of them process in a year.
 

Casual

Lifer
Oct 3, 2019
2,579
9,444
NL, CA
For that matter I’m curious about the total number of orders each of them process in a year.

Going strictly from the order numbers in my SP.com history, it looks like they’ve had 140,000 orders in the last nine months and change. And that’s not including a Christmas season.

If that’s right, pipery is a far bigger business than I thought.
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
45,311
119,631
Going strictly from the order numbers in my SP.com history, it looks like they’ve had 140,000 orders in the last nine months and change. And that’s not including a Christmas season.

If that’s right, pipery is a far bigger business than I thought.
That was only four or five of us during sales.
 
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craig61a

Lifer
Apr 29, 2017
6,164
52,948
Minnesota USA
It’ll probably never happen but I’d love to see the raw data from the vendor side for the larger outlets as to percentage of messed up orders. I’d be surprised if they didn’t track that.

For that matter I’m curious about the total number of orders each of them process in a year.

Yes, I'm sure they do track that, and no, they would never share such information publicly...
 
Oct 7, 2016
2,451
5,213
Well, actually the Parent of CI is now Swedish Match AB. I don't know the org chart of the holdings that were under CI as a result. Probably the same...
No. From Wikipedia:

“In 2010, Swedish Match and Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) formed a new company specialized in cigars. Swedish Match brought its entire cigar business (with the exception of U.S. mass market cigars) and pipe tobacco into the new company, while STG transferred all of its tobacco business. The new company took over the name Scandinavian Tobacco Group. Swedish Match became a partner with 49 percent of the company, and the remaining shares were owned by Skandinavisk Holding A/S. In 2016, STG became publicly listed, and Swedish Match sold most of its shares in the company.”
 
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blues4goose

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 15, 2019
243
721
31
Bethlehem, PA
No. From Wikipedia:

“In 2010, Swedish Match and Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) formed a new company specialized in cigars. Swedish Match brought its entire cigar business (with the exception of U.S. mass market cigars) and pipe tobacco into the new company, while STG transferred all of its tobacco business. The new company took over the name Scandinavian Tobacco Group. Swedish Match became a partner with 49 percent of the company, and the remaining shares were owned by Skandinavisk Holding A/S. In 2016, STG became publicly listed, and Swedish Match sold most of its shares in the company.”
Can confirm, i work for CI. STG is the parent company
 

mityahicks

Part of the Furniture Now
Nov 18, 2018
616
3,310
They have some pretty killer deals, and my orders have mostly been fine. Their website is such a nightmare that even when there are good deals I mostly skip it.
 
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