Rich's Cigar Shop and Lackluster Customer Service

[BiginV3gas]

I've been trying out blends from various blenders in the US. I recently made a purchase from Rich's in Oregon. Long and short, the package was lost by UPS. I approached the problem by contacting Rich's but was told there was nothing they could do. I contacted UPS and was told that, due to what the customer service rep saw, I needed to file a claim; however, they had to be done online and not over the phone. Unfortunately, the UPS app for filing the claim wouldn't work. I could enter data but couldn't submit it to complete the claim. I spoke with Rich's once more to let them know that trouble that I was encountering, but again, no offer to help. I'm infuriated, as presently I'm out almost $70.00 on this. I realize the shipping failure wasn't Rich's fault, but it also wasn't mine. The complete lack of assistance from Rich's and the burden of discovery and contacting UPS was placed on me. To be honest, it soured me, and I don't think I'll be attempting to business with them again. My last recourse is to file a claim with my credit card company.

 

[jpberg]

So don’t buy from them again.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I wouldn't buy from Rich's again buy I would focus additional. efforts with UPS. Based upon your info, I would never consider purchasing from Rich's.

 

[warren]

My last recourse is to file a claim with my credit card company.

That's really the obvious choice.

 

[sablebrush52]

I've been trying out blends from various blenders in the US. I recently made a purchase from Rich's in Oregon. Long and short, the package was lost by UPS. I approached the problem by contacting Rich's but was told there was nothing they could do. I contacted UPS and was told that, due to what the customer service rep saw, I needed to file a claim; however, they had to be done online and not over the phone. Unfortunately, the UPS app for filing the claim wouldn't work. I could enter data but couldn't submit it to complete the claim. I spoke with Rich's once more to let them know that trouble that I was encountering, but again, no offer to help. I'm infuriated, as presently I'm out almost $70.00 on this. I realize the shipping failure wasn't Rich's fault, but it also wasn't mine. The complete lack of assistance from Rich's and the burden of discovery and contacting UPS was placed on me. To be honest, it soured me, and I don't think I'll be attempting to business with them again. My last recourse is to file a claim with my credit card company.

File a dispute claim with your credit card company. They will investigate the situation, and possibly find in your favor, which mean that Rich's will lose the money. That might wake them up.

I had a similar situation with Estervals, filed a dispute claim, and won a refund, which was a lot more than $70.

 

[telescopes]

I often do both at the same time. I will file a dispute with the merchant and file with the credit card company at the same time if it looks like it might go sideways. It is very easy to close the case with the credit card company, but often times a shop will keep you hanging for several weeks if they aren't under pressure to do something to rectify the issue. Yes, UPS could be to blame, but I have found that the Credit Card companies are very good at getting ole UPS to suddenly "find" the shipment. Especially when it comes to Home Depot, who are notorious in my experience for loosing shipments.

 

[AJL67]

Call UPS and tell them the online process isn't working for you, get escalated to someone else, they certainly can file a claim for you over the phone, its been done before.

Also it's not the shops fault so not sure what you expect from them, well i do know you expect them to replace the tobacco and that's just not going to happen, if you file with your credit card company and in the .000001% chance they find in your favor all you're going to be doing is screwing Rich's out of their money, but whatever helps you sleep at night.

 

[mingc]

Call UPS and tell them the online process isn't working for you, get escalated to someone else, they certainly can file a claim for you over the phone, its been done before.

Also it's not the shops fault so not sure what you expect from them, well i do know you expect them to replace the tobacco and that's just not going to happen, if you file with your credit card company and in the .000001% chance they find in your favor all you're going to be doing is screwing Rich's out of their money, but whatever helps you sleep at night.

I recently found out that it's impossible to talk to a human being at UPS. About a month ago, UPS misdelivered to my porch a couple of very large boxes addressed to a business on my same street but a mile south. I found no way to inform UPS, by phone or online. I just wanted the boxes off my porch.

Ultimately, I managed to contact the company to which the packages were addressed.

Theoretically, if the cc company hits Rich's, Rich's ought to be able to recover from UPS.

 

[Andre_T]

For what it's worth their in person customer service is about the same level.

 

[blackpowderpiper]

I recently found out that it's impossible to talk to a human being at UPS.

^^^^^I have found this to indeed be the case.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

The shop didn't lose the package, but bears the risk of you not receiving it. The shop should be refunding your money, if it's 100% sure the package won't be showing up at your door, and taking the UPS claims route, but I guess you can't make them. I can think of a couple of times that things shipped with various sources have appeared to be lost, tracking not filled in by someone, etc. but shown up eventually, so I'm also assuming this isn't just a case of some tracking not getting picked up for just a day or two and jumping the gun on whether it's lost. Anyway, if they won't make good, and there isn't more to the story, the options have been outlined and you'll have to decide how you want to go from here.

 

[greysmoke]

FWIW, if you have difficulty submitting a web form, *sometimes* it helps to try a different web browser. So if you’re having trouble in Chrome you may have less trouble in Firefox or Edge, at least if you’re using a windows machine. Copy and paste the URL (website address) to the new browser.

 

[BiginV3gas]

The shop didn't lose the package, but bears the risk of you not receiving it. The shop should be refunding your money, if it's 100% sure the package won't be showing up at your door, and taking the UPS claims route, but I guess you can't make them. I can think of a couple of times that things shipped with various sources have appeared to be lost, tracking not filled in by someone, etc. but shown up eventually, so I'm also assuming this isn't just a case of some tracking not getting picked up for just a day or two and jumping the gun on whether it's lost. Anyway, if they won't make good, and there isn't more to the story, the options have been outlined and you'll have to decide how you want to go from here.

Yeah, the tracking was halted for about a week. The UPS rep that I was finally able to connect with advised me to use the online claim form (since they couldn't initiate it by phone), but the website kept claiming that my description wasn't thorough enough (even though I tried many ways over to describe a shipment of pipe tobacco in a way that their algorithm could understand). With the store not taking the matter up directly with UPS and the UPS website failing me, I emailed them and told them that I was following my last avenue for recourse by filing a claim with my credit card company. There was a 24-hour period of silence and then, today, I received a terse response informing me that my credit card was being refunded. At least it was taken care of, but I wish that UPS would have stepped up or been held accountable.

 

[BiginV3gas]

For what it's worth their in person customer service is about the same level.

UPS or the tobacco shop?

 

[mingc]

Yeah, the tracking was halted for about a week. The UPS rep that I was finally able to connect with advised me to use the online claim form (since they couldn't initiate it by phone), but the website kept claiming that my description wasn't thorough enough (even though I tried many ways over to describe a shipment of pipe tobacco in a way that their algorithm could understand). With the store not taking the matter up directly with UPS and the UPS website failing me, I emailed them and told them that I was following my last avenue for recourse by filing a claim with my credit card company. There was a 24-hour period of silence and then, today, I received a terse response informing me that my credit card was being refunded. At least it was taken care of, but I wish that UPS would have stepped up or been held accountable.

Hopefully, now that Rich's has refunded you, it will be going after UPS.

What did you order from Rich's anyway? It has to pay 65% of wholesale for state tobacco excise taxes, so its prices aren't cheap.

 

[kcghost]

This shop isn't in anyway affiliated with Rich Lewis in Minneapolis is it??

 

[FHlight]

The seller should provide necessary help.

 

[stearmandriver]

I guess I'll be the outlier here; I don't understand why the seller would be on the hook for this. They were paid to ship a product, which it sounds like they did. The shipper lost it and therefore should be the one on the hook. It wouldn't really have occurred to me to go after the shop, but I guess just a matter of perspective.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

I guess I'll be the outlier here; I don't understand why the seller would be on the hook for this. They were paid to ship a product, which it sounds like they did. The shipper lost it and therefore should be the one on the hook. It wouldn't really have occurred to me to go after the shop, but I guess just a matter of perspective.

The issue is between seller and buyer - seller got paid and had the responsibility to put the product in the hands of the buyer. You think the seller gets to keep the money for product it doesn’t deliver? UPS may have to reimburse the seller, but that’s not the buyer’s issue or risk.

 

[BiginV3gas]

Hopefully, now that Rich's has refunded you, it will be going after UPS.

What did you order from Rich's anyway? It has to pay 65% of wholesale for state tobacco excise taxes, so its prices aren't cheap.

I ordered about 8 oz of Old Fashioned 759 and some Hound's Tooth.