I'd like to preface this review with the fact that I rarely feel compelled to leave negative feedback. Furthermore, my expectations for customer service/retail/hospitality are all what most people would consider to be very reasonable. Also, before I begin my rant, I have had wonderful interactions at this store with all but one of the staff, and unfortunately that one interaction was such terrible business on Vape 911's part, that I will not be returning.
I had been a customer at this store for about a year until my most recent experience, spending anywhere from $100 to $200 per month. On the advice of one of the staff, I purchased a Kanger Mini tank (I had previously been using an Aspire Nautilus Mini, but was convinced that this tank would be a better product). Upon purchasing the Kanger tank, I was told to bring it back in if I experienced any issues and it would be taken care of. About two weeks into having the tank, I attempted to replace the coil only to discover that the tank was, for lack of a better word and to avoid a lengthy description, screwed up by no fault of my own or anyone else's - what appeared to be a manufacturing defect. This defect prevented me from removing the original from the factory coil.
I brought the tank into the store, explained my issue, and the staff member there at the time (not the same one that sold me tank) after some tinkering agreed that the tank was defective. (On an unrelated side note, by tinkering, I mean he went Macho Man Randy Savage on the tank with a pair of pliers in an attempt to yank the coil out. Had the tank not been a dud before, it would have probably been deformed after this traumatic attempt at a repair job/figurative suplex anyway). This is where things go downhill. I expected to be able to exchange the tank with no issues. This, of course, did not happen. I was told that the tank was outside of the 24 hr. return policy. I obviously would not have known that the tank was defective within 24 hours of purchasing it, because I, and I suspect most others, don't go through a coil a day. Nonetheless, this was cited to me as a reason that it could not be exchanged and I was pretty much met with a "sorry, tough s#@!" attitude. After some reasoning, the staff member called who I suppose was the (or one of the) store's owners. He returned and asked me to either produce a receipt or a charge on a credit card statement. Fair enough. I spent about 15 minutes combing through my Visa statement to find the charge, being sure to note that there were multiple charges on my statement from this store. When I presented the charge, the staff member called the owner again. When he returned from this second call, I was told again that I could not exchange the tank because it was outside of the window stated on the return policy. This is where it is germane to highlight that this is exactly what I was told before my fun adventure in smartphone-screen-tedious-credit-card-statement-reading land. At this point, I was, admittedly, beginning to become pretty perturbed. I was perplexed as to why I was asked to find a charge on my statement if the result of now having this information would not differ from what I was told before. I was ultimately offered a 20% discount on the purchase of another tank. Thanks, but no thanks.
I drove 30 minutes to Acworth to get what I needed, and I will never return to this store or any of its affiliates. So, in summary, my patronage and loyalty to this store was rewarded with subtly rude, indifferent, and unreasonable lack of accommodation. If my business means so little that saving probably around $25 (my guess for the ballpark wholesale cost of a Kanger mini tank) is more important than keeping around $150 in revenue monthly, then I have no desire to contribute to Vape 911's balance sheet.
My advice to Vape 911: to the rest of the staff, you're great. To the staff member who I interacted with most recently, you should try to be less of a jerk. I am not claiming that you were overtly rude or abrasive, but to meet my politely stated and perfectly understandable concerns with such indifference is a form of jerkiness. Please don't interpret that as a personal attack - I am sure you're a swell guy in your personal time. Maybe you were having a bad day, but a little goes a long way (in either direction). Additionally, you and I both know that you have the flexibility to deviate from the return policy without ownership approval in situations where it so clearly and obviously is the fair and right thing to do. To the ownership: take an economics class, or just basic arithmetic for that matter: ($150 * 12) * X is greater than $25 (X being the life of the customer relationship in years). Finally, if you sell something to someone that doesn't work, take it back and provide one that does work. Not doing so pretty much equates to deceptively taking my money in exchange for nothing (see: "Fraud").
2 stars for the good times before this crap happened. read more
