It looks as if most members understand the new rule, but it seems like some may be a little confused and unsure about it. I will attempt to explain a little more in depth and give some examples. But in no way will I be able to cover all scenarios, to attempt to do so would be an exercise in futility.
For the sake of clarity, this will be a lengthy and long winded post. So please bear with me.
We are not saying that negative reviews are not allowed. All honest reviews, both positive and negative, are valuable to everyone, including the retailer/vendor. Negative reviews can be helpful to retailers as it shows them areas that they may improve.
What we want is that if there is a negative review, for it to be a legitimate negative review. Not an emotional, fly off the cuff, review that maybe could have been resolved before posting about it.
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Here is an example of a legitimate negative review:
"I made a purchase at X,Y,Z, retailer. When I placed my order I ordered 15 tins of XX along with 10 tins of XXX and I also purchased a new pipe. When I received the package in the mail 5 tins of the XX was missing, 3 tins of the XXX was missing and the pipe had a big scratch down the side of it that wasn't in the pictures on their site. This pipe was advertised as new. I checked my account and indeed I was charged for the entire order.
I called and emailed them several times with no success over the course of three days. The fourth day I was finally able to get hold of someone and they were very rude to me. They accused me of lying about the missing tins and after arguing with them for over 30 minutes, they finally agreed to refund me for the missing tins. But they said that they wouldn't take the pipe back because they said that I could have damaged it and that there was no way for them to know. So now I am stuck with a damaged pipe that I paid full price for. I was left feeling very upset with the whole experience and would suggest being careful dealing with this retailer."
Now here is an example of a not so legitimate negative review:
"I placed an order with X, Y, Z retailer 2 weeks ago. The package was shipped the day after I placed my order, but it took 10 days to get to me and I only live one state over! When I opened the package 2 tins of my tobacco was dented and the stem of the pipe that I ordered doesn't look like it lines up properly.
This is ridiculious that it took so long to receive the package and that they didn't catch the problem with the pipe! Should I call them and complain or just keep the stuff? What would you guys do? I am so angry right now. I will never do business with them again and I suggest all of you to never buy anything from them either!"
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See the difference? The second reviewer never even attempted to contact the retailer to resolve the situation before going ballistic and blasting them. Unfortunately, this happens a lot.
Also, in my opinion, you shouldn't ask other people what they would do because everyone does things different. What is a big deal to you, others may not notice or care about. So if you get a pipe for example and something bugs you about it, send it back, because more than likely it will always bug you and you will never be happy with said pipe.
Questions, (especially ones about what you may think is a defect), are perfectly fine and valid if done in the proper way. They help to spread the wealth of knowledge on our site and helps to educate others on things that they may have previously not known. Some pipes may have specific idiosyncrasies that are specific for that particular manufacturer and are quite common and normal in that brand.
For example, (and I'm not bashing them as I have a few of them and smoke them myself), Dr. Grabow pipes. Pretty much every one of their bent pipes that I have seen has what I would call a "well" in the bottom of the chamber. I will attempt to explain what this is; there is a space between the bottom of the chamber and the draft hole where tobacco will sit and never be able to be burned. Actually this happens with a lot of lesser expensive, machine made pipes. It is a normal occurrence that some may be unaware of.
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Here is an example of how I would ask about it on the forums:
"Hey guys, I just bought this new Dr. Grabow pipe and I was looking it over and noticed that the draft hole isn't all the way at the bottom of the chamber. Is this normal for this brand of pipe or is it a defect? Should I return it to where I purchased it?"
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In that example the retailer was never mentioned. There was no bashing going on of a retailer and no irate rants happening. It was a question about a specific brand of pipe and if they received a defective pipe. There was no blaming of the retailer for something without first contacting them.
I would also like to add that to please keep in mind that blaming a retailer/vendor for a manufacturer's defect is just not right. defects happen. People make mistakes and have bad days. In a perfect world it wouldn't happen., but this isn't a perfect world. It never has been and it never will be.
There is no way that a retailer can check every single item that they sell. That is the entire point of a return policy. So that if there is a manufacturer's defect, you can return it to the retailer for a replacement or refund.
In this day and age of buying pipes on the internet, every online retailer that I have seen offer a specific amount of days that you can return a purchased pipe for a refund if you don't like it when you get it or there is something wrong with it. As long as you don't violate the warranty. Which is very simple, don't smoke or modify the pipe if you are unsure if you want to keep it.
It's the same as other warranties for other products. If you buy a TV and something is wrong, you can take it back to the store for an exchange or refund. You open it up to try and "fix" it first, well you just violated the warranty.
So please don't leave a negative review if you smoked a pipe or did something else to it that voided the warranty and the retailer refused to take it back.
And as I said in a previous post, this goes for all retailers; not just site sponsors.
Like I said at the beginning, I couldn't cover every situation and circumstance. But hopefully this clears up some stuff.
P.S. Be sure to post the reviews of when something negative happens and the retailer goes out of their way to make it right as well. ?