Advice needed on dealing with online vendor

[GreekGuy]

Gents, I need your advice.

I placed an order for some pipe tobacco on the 7th of November with Compton's of Galashiels. I knew there would be some wait associated with it. According their website, an average of 4 weeks.

Monday will be 2 months since my order, and I haven't heard anything from them, much less received my order. I sent the proprietor an email on Tuesday. It is as follows:

"Mr. Engel,

I am contacting you regarding an order I placed on 11/7/12. I
understand that it is perfectly normal to have some wait time
associated with pipe tobacco orders. Since it has been nearly 2 months
since my order, I just wanted to contact you for more information as
to whether my order has been shipped and if not, when approximately I
should anticipate it to be. While I am looking forward to receiving
it, I understand that patience is an important part of the process.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration."

As of this writing I still haven't received any reply. I paid with my Visa, and I do not know what their policies are, but I imagine 60 days may be the limit for any recourse. I do not want to be impatient, but the thought of being out a significant amount of money is certainly unsettling.

What do you guys think I should do? I would still like to receive my order, but I don't want to keep waiting only to find it never to arrive and in the meantime I have no recourse with my credit card. As much as I want to try the tobacco, quite frankly if I could do it over again I would have never ordered from them. Some wait is understandable and acceptable. A 2 month wait without so much as any response from the vendor rubs me the wrong way.

I greatly appreciate your gentlemen's advice

 

[Legion]

Two months is unacceptable. Attempt to recover the money via your credit card now. If the goods do show up in the meantime you can cancel the claim, or resend the payment.

 

[Bk124tt]

Two months is unacceptable. Attempt to recover the money via your credit card now. If the goods do show up in the meantime you can cancel the claim, or resend the payment.

+1
The BST forum is the best place to purchase shaving gear. If you have a little patience just about anything will pop up for sale and usually at a great price!

 

[Commander Quan]

Here's the thing about Maxim, The guy from what I understand makes some fantastic tobaccos, the components are only available, or he only gets them in small quantities, and then hand blends then and lets the blend sit to marry. He doesn't give a rip how long this process actually takes, he's not going to send out any tobacco that he is not 100% satisfied with. That's admirable. Unfortunately he's also p!ss poor at communication. 2 months is not an uncommon length of time to wait to get his blends. I can't tell you how long it will take, just that the blends do always show up, and not one minute before he damn well pleases.

 

[Graybeard57]

I think your concerns are valid. Customer relations are the lifeblood of successful businesses. Keep the topic alive on this forum and more will question the wisdom of spending money on this man's indifference.

 

[oakeshott]

Nick,
Let's contrast your experience with one I recently had with an online vendor.

Someone mentioned a company that made jeans here in the US called Todd Shelton. Looked into them, liked what I saw and ordered a pair. The next day I got a note from the vendor apologizing but that they were out of stock (I wear a pretty common size, too). They offered me a 15% discount on the jeans once they arrived at their warehouse in about 2 weeks. The story could stop there, but it gets both worse and much better. While waiting, I looked at their site again and saw they had a few colors of a mock in cotton...a Steve Jobs look and I had one added to my delayed order. These shirts were 47 dollars, also made in the US. After a few weeks, I got another email apologizing for the delay in delivering my jeans and an offer to increase the discount to 40% and they shipped the shirt I wanted to me at no cost. By which I mean, not free shipping, but free shipping and free shirt.

This went on for a while and I won't bore you with the details but I eventually got my jeans (very nice) and even bought a second mock (which they tried to give at a discount, but I told them enough is enough and they'd given away far too much already). Throughout this, the vendor was communicative, sincere and went way above any retail obligation to make me happy. This is how people who want to build a real business behave.

Bad stuff happens to us all and what matters is you react afterwards. Whatever problem the vendor has, he owes you, at minimum, a response to your question. Your note was civil and it should have been answered. In your shoes, and I've been there before, I would cancel payment through the credit card company immediately and not do business with him again.

Good luck.

 

[global_dev]

Here's the thing about Maxim, The guy from what I understand makes some fantastic tobaccos, the components are only available, or he only gets them in small quantities, and then hand blends then and lets the blend sit to marry. He doesn't give a rip how long this process actually takes, he's not going to send out any tobacco that he is not 100% satisfied with. That's admirable. Unfortunately he's also p!ss poor at communication. 2 months is not an uncommon length of time to wait to get his blends. I can't tell you how long it will take, just that the blends do always show up, and not one minute before he damn well pleases.

interesting concept. perhaps that should be a warning before you hit the final checkout button on his site.

"Here's the thing .. components are only available, or in small quantities, I hand blends then and let the blend sit to marry. I don't give a rip how long this process actually takes, I am not going to send out any tobacco that I am not 100% satisfied with. I'm also p!ss poor at communication. 2 months is not an uncommon length of time to wait to get my blends. I can't tell you how long it will take, just that the blends do always show up, and not one minute before I damn well please. Don't email me!"

Then OP would have reasonable expectations prior to receiving the goods.

 

[oakeshott]

interesting concept. perhaps that should be a warning before you hit the final checkout button on his site.

"Here's the thing .. components are only available, or in small quantities, I hand blends then and let the blend sit to marry. I don't give a rip how long this process actually takes, I am not going to send out any tobacco that I am not 100% satisfied with. I'm also p!ss poor at communication. 2 months is not an uncommon length of time to wait to get my blends. I can't tell you how long it will take, just that the blends do always show up, and not one minute before I damn well please. Don't email me!"

Then OP would have reasonable expectations prior to receiving the goods.

The funny thing is, if a vendor actually said this on his or her site, then I would buy from them. My expectations would be set accordingly.

 

[Blade Boy]

..

 

[GreekGuy]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I do appreciate the advice

Here's the thing about Maxim, The guy from what I understand makes some fantastic tobaccos, the components are only available, or he only gets them in small quantities, and then hand blends then and lets the blend sit to marry. He doesn't give a rip how long this process actually takes, he's not going to send out any tobacco that he is not 100% satisfied with. That's admirable. Unfortunately he's also p!ss poor at communication. 2 months is not an uncommon length of time to wait to get his blends. I can't tell you how long it will take, just that the blends do always show up, and not one minute before he damn well pleases.

Derrick,

If I were 100% convinced they would show up, I would feel much better about it. I guess part of me is just uncomfortable with the situation, although I can't say that I couldn't have anticipated this going in. I do want to receive them. I feel as if pestering him or calling Visa only to find they cannot do anything would make the situation worse, in which case I may be up the creek without a paddle so to speak

 

[Graybeard57]

He took your money, so he owes you an explanation. Not sure how you could have anticipated this going in, unless we are to assume all vendors take our money and ignore us. The fact is, most vendors are responsible citizens who work hard to earn our trust and garner our repeat business. If this vendor doesn't care to address your concerns, then he forfeits the right to be indignant over public airing of his practices. Best of luck to you.

 

[puros_bran]

I've ordered from him before and always received my order... But it's never taken two months. STOP PAYMENT.

 

[Commander Quan]

I'm not defending his actions, if fact I think the whole deal is pretty rotten, but this is this guys M.O., it's part of the, uh...charm.