I'm not a connoisseur, am new to vaping, but wanted to replace my pack-a-day habit with something that wouldn't be frustrating. I am done with the cycle of buying MarkTen, batteries dying, buying another battery to have one on standby, cartridges dying, trying Vuse, being more satisfied with them when they worked but with a 50/50 DOA rate, giving up, buying cigarettes, going back to Vuse and trying to stick with it, but never saving money nor kicking tar (I'm fine with nicotine) entirely anyway.
I asked some friends on FB, and Primo was the most mentioned name. Actually, it was the only name mentioned until I said I couldn't make it (they were closing in under an hour, and I hadn't showered or eaten).
Vaping is fashionable. I almost eyeroll when people say the word "vaping." Big tanks, people puffing up a spectacle, "car club" like elitism... It's kind of a "scene." I expected to encounter subtly-obnoxious behavior at Primo.
Fortunately, I left much more pleased than I expected.
Starting out was a bit awkward. There were several employees behind a long L-shaped counter, and I got the impression that every station was for one purpose. I wasn't sure whether I should talk to one particular person to start, but no one tried to pawn me off on anyone. I talked to the youngest guy there first about getting set up, telling him that I wanted something basic. He didn't try to push anything extra, and from a customer perspective, that's easier to deal with, much more comfortable than the alternatives; I worry when bosses push employees to push customers, especially because that trains salespeople to be pushy. Neither was there a "I don't care if you buy" attitude -- not pushy, but not helpful.
I asked for a flavor catalog, partly because I figured that was the next step, but largely to give me time to think. Like anyone, I don't follow processes well that I don't know anything about, but I may be a little more nervous when I don't know what I'm doing than some other people are. Aforementioned Youngest Guy (YG) indicated the flavor wall, where you can try out the flavors they carry, and Next Guy Over (NGO) handed me actual paper, a nice laminated sheet with their list of flavors (possibly, he sensed that I wanted to look at a sheet of paper for a while; you're a lifesaver, dude).
I took my time with that, thankfully with no one over my shoulder pressuring me to decide quickly (note to other salespeople: neither ditch people with materials and make yourself unavailable if they should decide more quickly than you want, nor stand over them; you can ask "should I leave you with that for a little bit?" and clarify "when you're ready, ask any of us for help", and customers will neither feel pressured nor abandoned). The store got a little busy while I wasn't paying attention, so I lost track of YG.
I spoke with My Age Woman (MAW), asking her if she used to smoke and was using or had already used vapor to switch from cigarettes to something with less harmful health effects. She said that was the case. I had found someone to relate to. (No offense to YG, but I suspect vapor was big before he had even turned 18 -- you can't help when you were born!) We talked in depth about flavors, how the nicotine-free flavor test set is accurate to a point but that the nicotine itself has some flavor, how voltage settings affect output and how hard the user must draw, cautioned against going too high for battery life and coil life reasons, showed me how to operate, switch on and off, disassemble, refill, and swap my coil when it's done. She gave me a good starting point to set my nicotine level at as a pack-a-day smoker. There was never a rush to the register or any subtle "we're done talking" sign. (Actually a good sales strategy, as I prompted to add on replacement coils and an extra refill bottle, besides the one included with my purchase, of my own volition.)
I'm sure I could have figured all this out -- eventually -- but if left to my own devices, how many burned out coils and empty unsatisfying refill bottles would that take? They helped me avoid all that, or worse, helped me avoid giving up on a better alternative to smoking.
A first-day-review of a product that I can't know with certainty will be perfect may seem like an uninformed review, but the purpose of this is to demonstrate one thing above all: I left confident that I bought what I wanted, and that is a salesperson's real goal. If a customer leaves your store with a "wait and see" attitude, once they get away and start using the product, they will be subjecting it to high scrutiny and will amplify small problems in their minds into big ones.
I don't know whether they have the best products and lowest prices -- that would require a lot of research. *Service* is how to stay afloat. I can't see Primo disappearing any time soon. I don't feel a need to try their competitors.
YG, NGO, and MAW: You're superstars. See if you can get a raise! read more
