Mars cigars & pipes

[fishnrust]

I know many of you have had great experiences with Mars. I, unfortunately did not. I was one of the unfortunate to receive the bum SJF.
https://www.brothersofbriar.com/the-tobacco-jar-f2/st-james-flake-from-the-new-batch-t10177.htm

Here is Mikes response when I enquired why the return shipiping was not refunded:

"We refund or replace any item that is returned. We do not refund shipping costs.
What we sold was a factory sealed item that you were not happy with, we are happy to refund the price paid. Thats our policy. Sorry if you thought otherwise, but my email clearly said we would replace or refund the item.
We do not refund shipping costs.

Mike Rutt
mars cigars & pipes
PO Box 399
628 Market Street
Lemoyne, Pa 17043 "

So I paid for a product I did not receive, and then had to pay to return the wrong product. Not exactly a great way to get return business.

Now Rich at 4Noggins, on the other hand, sent me Kendal Cream Flake instead of Kendal Plug, by mistake. He was more than happy to refund both the product and the shipping in a very timely manor. I guess I know where I'll be spending my $$$ from now on. Kudos to Rich, shame on Mike.

 

[mark]

Not to stick my nose in, but Rich made a mistake by sending the wrong product and corrected his error,,,including shipping(it was his fault)


Mike sent you what you ordered,,,, to the best of his knowlege it was SJF,,,,he got caught between a rock and a hard place by the factory,,,

But I understand your point,,,,

 

[Hermit]

Not to stick my nose in, but Rich made a mistake by sending the wrong product and corrected his error,,,including shipping(it was his fault)


Mike sent you what you ordered,,,, to the best of his knowlege it was SJF,,,,he got caught between a rock and a hard place by the factory,,,

But I understand your point,,,,

Rich told me that he was reimbursing
me for returning the "Not SJF" to him.
It was SG's error, not his fault.

I'm rather surprised at Mars' stance on this.
They may be "correct," but that's a sure
bet to piss off a customer.

 

[Buddy Springman]

Now Rich at 4Noggins, on the other hand, sent me Kendal Cream Flake instead of Kendal Plug, by mistake.

Not to detract from your point, but I think you meant GH's Kendal Flake, not SG's Kendal Plug. KP hasn't been imported to the US for more than three years.

Buddy

 

[fishnrust]

Now Rich at 4Noggins, on the other hand, sent me Kendal Cream Flake instead of Kendal Plug, by mistake.

Not to detract from your point, but I think you meant GH's Kendal Flake, not SG's Kendal Plug. KP hasn't been imported to the US for more than three years.

Buddy

I receive 3#'s, from various e-tailers of SG Kendal Plug. Three giant brownie of pure joy.

 

[Anonymous]

Mike is already sucking up a factory mistake for you -- for which he may, or may not, be compensated.

Now you want him to refund the postage for the transaction too ?

Putting this as diplomatically as possible, I think you are being unrealistic.

:face:

 

[nate560]

The etailer I bought it from said S&G was picking up the price of the tobacco and the return shipping so the etailer is not out anything. All the same why should the buyer pay for return shipping when the product was not what he ordered no matter what the box said. And I got a lb of Kenndal Plug within the last 6 months so there is still some around.

 

[Anonymous]

They might well be.

But there's no point to having a published company blanket policy if you're not going to abide by it. Really.

Disclaimer : this perspective is rooted in 20+ years of working in lockup. Where, if an exception to a policy is made for one inmate, the other 2,399 want an exception to it too, and dealing with the resulting bogus "discrimination" bitches is more trouble than it's worth.

YMMV

:face:

 

[Wet Dottle]

Fishnrust,

Mars is a very popular etailer, but the truth is there are places with better prices and better shipping rates. 4noggins is one of them. Take your losses and learn your lesson. And good luck with your fishing.

 

[Hermit]

Mike is already sucking up a factory mistake for you -- for which he may, or may not, be compensated.

Yes, he will be.

Now you want him to refund the postage for the transaction too ?

Yes.

Putting this as diplomatically as possible, I think you are being unrealistic.

If you say so

 

[Anonymous]

the truth is there are places with better prices and better shipping rates

Mike is a small operation. Not one with the kind of economy of scale that your internet megatailers like SP have.

And in many cases he goes above and beyond to stock obscure Lakelands and such for those who love them. With profit relating directly to turnover, he's doing this essentially as a public service for pipe smokers, leaving capital tied up in slow-moving tobaccos that won't sell quickly.

And he's done this for years. He's famous for it in the pipe world.

Go get your stuff at some tobacco equivalent of wallmart then. Put another American out of business because something's twenty cents cheaper there.

And ## %%%% &&&&&&&& :twisted:

:face:

 

[puros_bran]

I'll admit I've been more than a little pissed off over this thread. Contrary to the spirit of Bob I've almost deleted it several times..
I'm a huge fan of Mars....


I went and read the return policy... Mike is in the wrong this time...

 

[Zeno Marx]

Retailers take responsibility for the product they sell. It becomes THEIR product. Yeah, I know. Service and assumed responsibility are antiquities in the business world of today, but I don't see it any other way.

If I was a regular customer and this happened, with this response, I'd weigh how much I save by shopping at this establishment. If the retailer wants to make it a purely numbers game with a repeat customer, so be it. Then I would return the ugly flavor. I might shop elsewhere for a bit and see how that worked out for me. There was an old auto body shop in the town I grew up. They had a great motto: "If you want a friend, be one."

If I was a new customer and this happened, I'd quickly become a bygone customer. I wouldn't give them my repeat business. It really doesn't matter to me if it was the shopkeeper's help shipping the wrong tobacco or if it was the factory mislabeling some tobacco. The retailer should make it right with the customer. Period. Any expenses incurred during that righting of the ship can be argued with the factory that made the mistake. In my eyes, this scenario is a problem between the retailer and the manufacturer. They can hash it out. There is no hashing out to be done with the customer. They pay the cost a single time. They pay the shipping a single time. All other expenses should be absorbed by another party.

I worked in a high-end tobacco shop. We would have NEVER handled business like this. The customer was ALWAYS right. No questions to be asked. Never would occur to us to ask the questions. "We will credit your account the amount shown on the post office meter tape." Done.

 

[Anonymous]

So a customer brought in the replacement Dunhill you gave him when he'd burnt out the first one, claiming this one was defective too. And you gave him a third one. Right ?

:face:

 

[puros_bran]

I think your loyalty to Mike is admirable .. but his return policy says "if its our error we will pay the return shipping cost".. by default shipping mislabled product is his error...
I know its really not, he has no way of knowing..but it is his baby to sort out with the supplier.

If you bought that Dunghill and got home and there was a Comoy in the box would you not expect a refund?

Post Five thousand, Five hundred, and Fifty Five... that seems like a good number.

 

[Falconer]

I worked retail for 35 years and one thing I was taught from the get go is. . . for every customer you leave unsatisfied there will be a hundred that hear about it.

The three A's of satisfaction for unhappy cusomters in retail....Ask/Apologize/Act

have the customer clearly define their concern
genuinley listen then apologize.
ask them what you can do to remedy the problem
do it!

 

[Zeno Marx]

for every customer you leave unsatisfied there will be a hundred that hear about it.

sage words

 

[sundevil73]

Smoke what ya got and do not pay the return shipping... simple
Maybe ask for a little sample of something for your troubles, on next order. :twisted:

 

[Buddy Springman]

Now Rich at 4Noggins, on the other hand, sent me Kendal Cream Flake instead of Kendal Plug, by mistake.

Not to detract from your point, but I think you meant GH's Kendal Flake, not SG's Kendal Plug. KP hasn't been imported to the US for more than three years.

Buddy

I receive 3#'s, from various e-tailers of SG Kendal Plug. Three giant brownie of pure joy.

Maybe I've been asleep at the helm. I did just see some at Pipes & Cigars. Great stuff - uncut BBF. Have to grab some.

Buddy

 

[Maduro Man WCP]

I worked retail for 35 years and one thing I was taught from the get go is. . . for every customer you leave unsatisfied there will be a hundred that hear about it.

The three A's of satisfaction for unhappy cusomters in retail....Ask/Apologize/Act

have the customer clearly define their concern
genuinley listen then apologize.
ask them what you can do to remedy the problem
do it!

because of several complaints that i have heard about mars, they are off my list of e-tailers. i have no want or need of the aggrivation of a screwed up order and trying to sort it out. i have heard of 2 with mars now.

sorry, just the way i see it.