Order Problems with Pipes2smoke.com......
Jim Murray
I am generally a very tolerant person, preferring to give the benefit of
doubt. However, a recent situation regarding an order I placed with
Pipe2smoke.com pushed my level of patience beyond the limit of reason.
On June 8th I called the shop and placed an order for three tins of PCCA
Full Balkan Reserve (1994) and 16 oz. of their Macedonian Mixture and
was told I could expect to receive the order the following week. Now,
keep in mind I live in upstate New York and Pipes2smoke.com is in
Toronto, Canada.
When the order didn't show up, I called on June 16th to find out the
status of the order. When I reached someone, they said "Oh, we've been
meaning to call you...your US credit card would not process". We
discussed payment options and settled on using a PayPal
Invoice.....sounded good. They said they would send the Invoice. Several
days went by and not sign of the Invoice. I called a third time on June
22nd and was told they had been busy and the Invoice you be sent on the
25th or 28th. So, I waited AGAIN and still no Invoice.
On June 29th I sent an email outlining the time line of events and told
them if a PayPal Invoice didn't get issued within 24 hours, they could
cancel my order. The following day I received a response from Maxim
himself. He explained that they have a lot of "government hassles"
dealing with tobacco and that he had just arrived home from the Kansas
City Pipe Show. He also said "people don’t understand that hand blended
means it doesn’t necessarily go out that day. When its ready it ready
and not before"...I didn't fall of the the turnip truck
yesterday.....I've been hand blending pipe tobacco for years and even
the most complicated blends don't take three weeks to mix. He also said
he would invoice me that day...June 30th....of course this didn't
happen. Par for the course......
I sent several more emails to Maxim regarding the order without
response. Finally on July 6th (nearly a month after my initial call to
place an order) , I sent yet another email to Maxim stating at this
point my patients had run out and so had his opportunity to get his act
together.....cancel my order!! He responded quickly...saying he was in
the process of filling my order, BUT he didn't have three tins of the
PCCA Full Balkan Reserve, only one. It took them nearly a month to
figure out that they didn't have enough to complete the order....what
the hell kind of inventory control do they have??
I ended up selecting two other tins of vintage tobacco, which was fine,
but really wanted the three tins of Full Balkan Reserve. I finally
received the PayPal Invoice on June 6th and paid it promptly. The order
didn't get shipped until June 8th and didn't receive the tracking number
until June 13th. I would have not got it then if I hadn't email Maxim
asking for it. The package finally arrive in July 15th...only to find
yet another disappointment. I ordered 16 oz. of the Macedonian Mixture
and only got a 100 gram (3.5 oz) pouch. Plus, one of the vintage tobacco
tins was missing the plastic lid. One positive thing...Maxim covered the
cost of shipping, which was nice, but the competent customer service was
to little, to late.
Overall, my experience with Pipes2smoke.com and Maxim was _less_ than
pleasant, especially when my dealing with other Internet based
companies, such as smokingpipes.com, altanticCigar,com and many others
has been excellent. Orders are placed online and shipped quickly. If
there is a problem, I've been contacted quickly and given
options......nothing like this happened with Pipes2smoke.com and Maxim.
As a result, I am not planning on ordering from them again.
I'm sure others have had good experiences with Pipes2smoke.com, but as
for me...not so much. Just thought you'd like to know....make your own
decisions about doing business with them.
Happy Puffing...
Jim
--
Jim Murray
Email: jim.m...@verizon.net
Web Site: http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze43wza/
Longrifle3006
> Greetings Brothers of the Briar,
>
> I am generally a very tolerant person, preferring to give the benefit of
>
> Happy Puffing...
>
> Jim
>
I understand your frustration with this particular merchant, but I have
a feeling that things are not entirely their fault. It is my
understanding that the PC crowd in Canada has adapted a rather draconian
view of pipes, tobacco, and smoking in general. The result is more
government (read busybody) oversight to the entire tobacco industry,
resulting in delays and shortages and more taxes. I get the impression
that much of Canada's government couldn't be happier if every tobacco
merchant went belly-up.
My personal experience with this is in the form of a lot of estate pipes
purchased on "that" auction site from a Canadian seller. I received a
CanadaPost tracking number almost immediately after payment and then no
movement for over 2 weeks. I have a feeling that the package is
languishing in some government warehouse awaiting inspection so it can
be released to go across the border. Apparently smoking accessories are
not a high priority. I still await the package, and you can be damn sure
that I won't be buying from Canadian sellers any more. I apologise if
there are any Canadian brothers on this list, but if it's a problem for
them then they should make sure the offending politicians do not get
back into office.
Regards...
--
~Phil
Pacosito
blamed on the government. Maxim has a long history of making things up
as he goes along. Caveat Emptor.
max
> Web Site:http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze43wza/
I have never had a good experience with them and will never order from
them again.
max
murp
Ordering tobacco from Maxim does tend to take a while; I just stay
relaxed about it, it comes when it comes. The Compton's tobaccos are
really good and are worth the wait (and the price, imho). I have a
huge inventory of many kinds of tobacco and am never in a hurry to
receive the stuff. I don't think he's at all dishonest, maybe just
disorganized. Things often take longer than you think they will,
including making and sending tobacco. Waiting for Maxim should be the
biggest problem I have in life :-)
--tim
Pacosito
So what if things take time? Shouldn't one be given the common
courtesy of communication? At least let the customer know that things
are going to take a while? How about just plain making things up as he
goes along? How about fraud and deceit? Or should we just accept those
because the tobacco tastes good to you?
Mike Stanley
Seems to me your story should have ended on June 30th. You are more
patient than I my friend.
Mike Stanley