Pipes and Cigars.com

[jharvard]

I have to vent if for no other reason just to vent:
Every single experience (besides the following) I have had with pipesandcigars.com has been exactly what a customer would expect (the customer places and pays for an order and the dealer supplies and ships the products as agreed etc.) As a nice bonus, they throw in a clever calendar and some matches from time to time and everyone is happy. It's pretty basic and rather simple. The site in my opinion stands out for the products they offer me and the availability of the products they sell at reasonable competitive prices. This is why I am a repeat customer.
I recently tried to restock my supply of several tobaccos; amongst them Black House and Pipesandcigars.com made an honest mistake and sent me the wrong tobacco. I notified them right away (via email they responded the next day accordingly) and unfortunately my tobacco has still not arrived. It is important to note though, it has in all fairness only been several days. The matter of time is not of importance the exchange below with the customer service representative is my primary focus and issue.
When I emailed them I was fair and told them the point of the order was to stock up on Black House and I hope this simple mistake could be rectified as soon as possible.
I found their reply to add "insult to injury" she wants me to send the incorrect tobacco back to them; Oh but wait, there is more... I responded if the correct tobacco did not arrive this afternoon (Thursday) the return would be delayed several weeks by my trip (and I would be disappointed even further with out the correct tobacco I ordered initially) but I would do so. The customer service representative's response was "As long as we get it back everything will be fine." Along with wishing me a nice trip or something of the sort. Really? Really? Fine for who?
Am I over reacting, with her response? "As long as we get it back everything will be fine." I hold customer service to be pretty high up when it comes to dealing with a company where there are other competitors that can offer the same product for a similar price with little hassle etc.
Sending me "Fusilier's Ration" instead of "Black House" is a mistake (the order had 4 or 5 tobaccos in it all of which an employee initialed on the receipt etc.), though if part of your job description is to send out orders and you "check mark and initial" the orders I would hope you don't normally make this sort of mistake. And if you do; don't ask the customer to send back the wrong tobacco you sent them accompanied with "as long as you send it back everything will be fine."
Maybe I am old fashioned? :puffpipe:

 

[mrenglish]

They probably want you to pay shipping back to them as well.
There are other threads on P&C here. They have some serious issues in their shipping department.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

I had a very similar experience with them. It only happened once but, well, frankly, it left me a bit disappointed with the level of their service. I only use them if they have something I can't get anywhere else.

 

[brian64]

Now then, this leads me to a point I'd like to make: In the last 20+ years or so, many retailers have somehow managed to turn the tables on the customer, so that we're the ones who are required to be of use to them, rather than the other way 'round.

This is symptomatic of a larger problem/phenomenon, imo. Characteristic of the "Brave New World"...Corporatization...Globalization. It is the Individual Human Being that is going extinct. We are now Consumers, not Customers...Human Resources, not Employees...Tax Payers, not Citizens.

 

[jharvard]

Rothnh-
My apologies; I failed to mention in her initial reply she did say they would send a pre-paid return postage label. It has not arrived yet but I assume along with the Black House tobacco will be the postage.
I don't want THAT to be mistaken for my point of contention. Please make sure you read my post carefully it was her response, in particular her wording and disconnect with the customer (me in this particular case).
I hope this adds some clarity.
:puffpipe:

 

[jharvard]

mikephillips-
This was to be my 2nd tin of Black House so I only ordered a 2 oz tin. They mistakenly sent me a 2 oz tin of Fusilier's Ration. We are talking maybe $10 or $12 dollars at most if I had to guess. :puffpipe:

 

[jharvard]

rothnh-
No worries. I think this is where maybe I am being "old fashioned" because I disagree with your statement that "after her apology, that's basically all she could do." I believe she could have done much more in fact and hence my displeasure with their customer service and the reason for me venting and creating this thread.
Her "As long as we get it back everything will be fine" did not sit well with me. In my head, I was thinking; "And what if I don't send the silly tobacco back AND more importantly your the one who sent me the wrong tobacco...How about as long as you send me the correct tobacco I paid for with no further hassle everything would be fine instead?"
It's not the mistake it's the handling of the mistake I suppose. That's all. Thanks for your thoughts friend. :puffpipe:

 

[dragonslayer]

Oh the days of customer service. Mine was dealing directly almost always face to face or by phone. No matter what the problem, even if you can’t see it. You take care of it. That I found has always paid me back, I’d say 10 fold as a cliché, but really over 20 years of dealing with people 4 fold would be accurate. Word spreads, and there’s no better thing to hear than “I was talking to such and such and they told how great you took care of them”. Right there, it’s a locked in customer and I haven’t even done anything yet.
If it was during business hours you should have called them, could have resolved it in a much faster way. Plus talking with someone is different than the impersonal email route. People lose track of how copy and paste the world has become because of emails. In a conversation she would have heard the urgency in your voice and more than likely returned with a sense of urgency.
In your situation as a repeat customer, easily checked in 15 seconds on her computer, the shipping alone is not worth the hassle. Should have been a quick “I’m sorry and let me make sure I have the right item and your address and it will go out today, and try that brand out on us, you may enjoy it. Things like this do occasionally happen but we strive to make our customers feel comfortable dealing with us.” And then the all-important “can I do anything else for you today?”

 

[wnghanglow]

Just wanted to point out, P&C gets almost 18,000 visits a day, according to Worthifweb.com, let's say 5% of those people buy something, that's 900 orders a day to process. Now I have seen a strangely high percentage of people who have complained about shipping errors this last month, but that's still less than 10 people. There still isn't a big issue. More importantly with every gripe I also hear P&C quickly contacts and quickly fixes any errors, such as In this case where tw customer is out no money and getting his baccy if it is a week late. So as far as I'm concerned there still one of the better companies out there. As far as wanting free baccy for there honest mistake, that doesn't make you old fashioned that makes you entitled. I make mistakes all the time, I never give out free product because of it, and no one expects me to. Return what you didn't pay for and get what you did. As for her comment she seems rathe friendly, I hope the equivalent is sent to me if they ever make a mistake in my order, which they have not in the year I have been using them.

 

[Perique]

I'm a frequent P&C customer. Have always thought their service excellent. And they have, IMO, the best website among pipe and tobacco retailers. The 'favorites' section is a nice touch, and even has an option to email one's list (nice around the holidays). Few house blenders have been more generous with providing samples of new blends.
That said, it sounds like they mishandled this one. Mistakes like this are a way to make a customer for life. All they should have said was sorry, enjoy the FR, the BH will be on its way today. Most customers would be thrilled. and this thread would be singing their praises instead of slamming their service.
That said, mistakes do happen. And in degrees of magnitude, this mistake doesn't seem like a barnburner. I understand OPs reaction to the rep's poorly worded comment, but life's too short to get too worked up about it. Wait a couple of days, receive your tobacco, send the other back in the pre-paid envelope, enjoy.
P&C is a great retailer and house blender that doesn't deserve to be the topic of multiple slam posts.

 

[spartan]

I think you're over-reacting. They made a small mistake (they are always super busy) and they are correcting it with a pre-paid envelope that you have to put in your mailbox for pick-up... Pretty simple.
As for the e-mail replies. They are very casual in a lot of there e-mails. Some things might rub you the wrong way but I'm sure they didn't intend the message to come across they way you interpreted it.
As a customer service rep I admit it could have been handled more elegantly, but sometimes you try talking to the customer off the cuff and you say things in the moment that you probably shouldn't.
Like, "As long as we get it back everything will be fine." That's clearly a brain fart. Haha.
I don't belive that they should be overnighting small amounts of tobacco because of a small mistake. I also don't like it when people factor in their personal trips and stuff into the calculation. It has nothing to do with the situation. If you were going on a trip then you shouldn't have placed the order so close to your leaving date. Unless you paid some sort of super rush shipping to get it to you on time. Then that's another matter entirely and they should have rushed it to you. But for standard orders. I don't think you can expect much more. They are people that make mistakes. It's life.
Besides I thought we pipe smokers were a patient bunch? haha.
Just my opinion. Nothing against you personally.
Happy Smoking. ::

 

[dervis]

I cant find the post, but I had only 1 issue with them and I order monthly. The issue was a pipe showed up with a tiny hole in the rustication. I had to even smoke it twice before I found it. Anyway emailed them they said send it back please, and I did. They then called me and asked to go online with them to their website and gave me some options if I wanted to trade (I did). Ended up sending me a pipe that cost 40 dollars more than the one I had sent back. They have me as a customer forever (or untill this is all illegal).

 

[piperl12]

Sorry guys I have to side with the school of thought that if you make a mistake you make it right. The point wasn't the giving out of free tobacco. The point is they made a mistake. The transaction was simple they supply what you want, you recieve what you want and you pay accordingly. In this transaction the product that was ordered was not received, plain and simple. To add further insult to injury that their customer now has to package up, and return a $10.00 tin of tobacco and take it to the post office is incrdulous to me. Sorry if it were me I would tell them if they wanted my continued business they were eating this one. Course as I get older by BS tolerance is much lower than it used to be.

 

[taerin]

@Jharvard This is rather to the point, but said with much respect towards you, just my two cents
Looks like your over-reacting, they made a simple mistake and the poor customer service person said something to you most likely without the intent to upset you. I work in customer service, I can attest that when your doing many things at once, sometimes you don't think enough about how something you say will impact someone else and it does rub them the wrong way. Most companies will require you to ship the product back before replacement to prevent people from taking advantage of them, which happends! If you want a level of customer service above the basics, then you really need to scout around for a company that provides it.
It was not their fault that you had a trip comming up, although it certainly would have been nice if they had shipped it out immediatley, before they recieved the incorrect tobacco. If I was the manager there, I would have definatley done that for you, but the rep was going by the standard rulebook and saying the standard lines they were trained to say/do and probabley did not consult a manager for special treatment (like they should have).
If your this upset about it still, you should contact P&C and explain that this communication upset you and why. Something good may come from it.

 

[dervis]

They made a mistake and they are making it right (hopefully) However they need their product back. And companies dont eat anything, the cost if they let people keep the things is passed onto everyone else that orders. Granted $10.00 spread out over everyone is nothing to even blink at. However if rumor gets out that all you have to do is call and say I got the wrong thing, and they say oh well keep it we will send you another. (I AM NOT SAYING JHARVARD IS DOING THIS). But when the rumor gets out that you can get 2 for 1 price people will take advantage. They made a mistake as I imagine they employee humans. The issue is the dishonesty of people in general (AGAIN NOT JHARVARD).

 

[piperl12]

Strongly but respectfully disagree @dervis, cost to the company to make this right was next to nothing after you subtract the cost of shipping. If a customer has a repeated habit of this they should be flagged as such in the order software. In this case JHARVARD did not order the tobacco he was sent. But somehow it becomes his responsibility to send it back. My time is valuable, people pay me for my time. I don't volunteer it to companies that make order errors. If I were JHARVARD at this point I would call them and tell them not to bother to send out what I ordered I will be taking my business elsewhere. I bet he would be amazed at how the offer to overnight his actual order would be forthwith. Customer service is a moving scale of who complains the loudest. To those that don't, expect to get crappy customer service. I will focus my time and attention dealing with companies that go above and beyond and for their trouble will remain loyal.

 

[dervis]

Looks like Pipes and Cigars will have less customers now. Sad for them, but if it means they will have more stock for me. I can get on board with this actually.

 

[jharvard]

Thanks for sharing your opinions guys.
Just to clean up a bit of the confusion:
I was venting about an issue that really was all. No more and no less than that.
I will do business with Pipes and Cigars in the future.
This was not about entitlement or free tobacco as some have suggested, if you read my comments you would have seen I initiated returning the incorrect tobacco not them.
My trip never factored into my communications with the customer service agent I shared missing the delivery ONLY with you on this thread. My trip only came up when I told her the return could be delayed several weeks because I have to leave town etc. I told her this only so she would know I wasn't intending to keep the wrong tin.
That prompted her response "As long as we get it back everything will be fine." This was the reason for me becoming disappointed and venting to you. Not the honest mistake.
I was disappointed with the disconnect between the customer (me) and the customer service agent.
That's all. Thanks again for all your thoughts and opinions.
Cheers! :puffpipe:

 

[piperl12]

See this is why I love the brotherhood of the briar. We can have healthy disagreements, great banter, and someone always finds the humour and the silver lining in everything. I am blessed to be part of such a fraternity. Thanks for the laugh @dervis and the perspective. I might not always agree with everything I read but I believe its important to be respectful and hear other people out. If my wife only could see how civilized we can all be! ::

 

[mrenglish]

There is no justification for crappy customer service.