Huge Disappointment

dutyje

So I won a 100-ct humidor on auction last week, and it arrived today. I opened the box and pulled out the humidor, and discovered that the finish is covered in stains on all faces. The stains are so readily apparent that I would be embarrassed to have this humidor anywhere in my house. It's horrible. I have contacted the rather well-known company that sold the humidor, and I will keep you all posted with respected to the resolution of the issue. I frankly can't afford the fancy, pricey humidors y'all are using, but I thought I'd stumbled into a good deal here, and was very excited. This has been a huge letdown.

rwheelwright

Sorry to hear that man. Hopefully they will make good on it. If things don't work out, you could always keep it hidden in a closet.

madurofan

That sucks duty. Let us know how it works out.

dutyje

Customer Service turned around a response in under an hour. They are shipping a new humidor and a return label for the original. Hopefully the new one doesn't have the same issues, but so far, the service is very promising and satisfactory.

rwheelwright

Glad to hear. As Maddy said, keep us posted.

phobicsquirrel

That is good news. I don't pay high prices either, I've found a few places that give good quality at a low price.

madurofan

dutyje:

Customer Service turned around a response in under an hour. They are shipping a new humidor and a return label for the original. Hopefully the new one doesn't have the same issues, but so far, the service is very promising and satisfactory.

Good to hear. I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya.

Luko

phobicsquirrel:

That is good news. I don't pay high prices either, I've found a few places that give good quality at a low price.

Mr. Squirrel, you mind PMing me that info at some point? I'm soon to be in the market.

urbino

Ick. That sucks, doody. Maybe they'll come through on the second try, though. Sounds like they're making a good effort at fixing it, so far.

gmill880

Glad to hear their on top of it and hopefully you get a good one this time, You would think some type of quality control was in place since a person had to pack and send it though...

j0z3r

gmill880:

You would think some type of quality control was in place since a person had to pack and send it though...

You would think...Though in their defense, if the factory did not properly check it and boxed it in such a condition, how was the retailer to know? Still and all, it sucks...hope everything works out well doody.

mustluvcigars

j0z3r:

gmill880:

You would think some type of quality control was in place since a person had to pack and send it though...

You would think...Though in their defense, if the factory did not properly check it and boxed it in such a condition, how was the retailer to know? Still and all, it sucks...hope everything works out well doody.

yes, I would agree, I got one recently and it appeared to factory packaged, hopefully the retailer checks the replacement before they re-ship.
Which one did you you get?

dutyje

This was most certainly a factory issue, not a retailer issue. The factory box came packaged inside another shipping box. I am 100% positive the retailer had no idea that the item was defective. This speaks to quality control issues at the manufacturer. Based on my understanding, this is one of the biggest manufacturers, and I really have no data to determine whether or not this is an exception or regular occurrence.

With respect to this particular retailer, I can say that I have, on multiple occassions, received less-than-satisfactory merchandise. They've always been super-responsive to handle any issues, but I've been hit with them on many occassions.

madurofan

Would you mind disclosing this manufacturer and retailer in a PM?

dutyje

sure

JKTex

madurofan:

Would you mind disclosing this manufacturer and retailer in a PM?

I'm guessing, and hoping it can be confirmed here, that it's the primary, big importer of a bunch of items like this including most that are branded for others.

Stuff happens, especially when we want cheap stuff fast.   Sometimes the "cheap and fast" takes a little extra work and/or patience.

At least the retailer stepped up!  That's always good to hear.  I've found, a lot of the on-line retailers that have an appearance of being a big dog, are usually home or very small business that relies on these big importers to be able to move inventory for them quickly.  It works out well but not always perfect.

dutyje

As an update on this, the new humi is on its way and should be here tomorrow afternoon. Excellent turnaround.

madurofan

Sweet. We want pics. New humis are like porn.

kuzi16

madurofan:

Sweet. We want pics. New humis are like porn.

post on the new humi thread?

its like having a baby.... i want pictures

PuroFreak

kuzi16:

madurofan:

Sweet. We want pics. New humis are like porn.

post on the new humi thread?

its like having a baby.... i want pictures

I carry pics of my Humi all stocked full of smokes in my wallet! Of course there are pics of my son in there too... He was playing next to the humidor... haha

dutyje

PuroFreak:

kuzi16:

madurofan:

Sweet. We want pics. New humis are like porn.

post on the new humi thread?

its like having a baby.... i want pictures

I carry pics of my Humi all stocked full of smokes in my wallet! Of course there are pics of my son in there too... He was playing next to the humidor... haha

LOL!!

dutyje

OK.. so the replacement humi just arrived via UPS. It was packed very nicely, and the finish is flawless. However, here are some observations:

1. While it is definitely the same "model" I would have to say it's perhaps a different "model year" ... or a newer or older version or something.
2. The finish is a different color, but still very attractive
3. The hygrometer is much uglier and got shot out of its mounting hole when I did the seal test (perhaps a new way to verify a good seal? LOL)
4. The humidor itself is smaller in every dimension by about .5". This isn't huge, but may make a big difference in the way I stock it, and will reduce its capacity by probably 6-10 cigars.
5. The keys didn't come with those pretty yellow tassle thingies
6. The humidifier doesn't have the nice-looking spanish cedar case, but instead has a pair of self-adhesive magnets for attachment

My only real complaint is that the new one is smaller. Naturally, I had already sized up the old one and formulated a stocking plan which will have to be totally re-done. *sigh* My work is never finished. This actually isn't a huge deal, but in the old one, two 4" Nubs would fit end-to-end in the section I was reserving for cigars over 6" in length. Now this nifty plan won't work.

It is still plenty of humi for my needs. I intend to keep the old one for "special occassion" cigars and things I want to age. Also, my wife is aware that the new one is smaller, so in the distant future when I order a 250-ct, I'll be able to remind her of that

It's undergoing its seasoning now. Pics will be up some other time.

urbino

I will happily send you the pretty yellow tassle thingies off the key to my old humi.

dutyje

urbino:

I will happily send you the pretty yellow tassle thingies off the key to my old humi.

LOL thanks, but I really think they're pretty ghey. I won't even be using the keys, and they'll probably be lost within the next 6 months.

I think the new finish is more attractive than the old finish, but they both look nice (or would if the old one wasn't all stained). I did like the old hygrometer better, because it was small and metal, rather than plastic. If they were the same size, I would have swapped them.

The size difference between the humidors will bug me. In particular, the wimpy size and weight of the new tray is a bit frustrating. I know someday I'll fill it, and on that day I'll wish I'd received the larger humidor. The lack of a nice cedar case for the humidifier is inconsequential, as it would have just been dumped in a drawer and forgotten.

urbino

Yeah, I know I'd feel bait-and-switched. You didn't get what you ordered. Not even on the second try. It'd piss me off that it ever crossed their minds that this would be a suitable outcome: "Hey, we screwed up your order, but to make it up to you we're sending this smaller, lesser product in lieu of the one you paid for."

You should do us all a favor and tell us the name of this retailer. I don't want to do business with them.

cheyman

urbino:

Yeah, I know I'd feel bait-and-switched. You didn't get what you ordered. Not even on the second try. It'd piss me off that it ever crossed their minds that this would be a suitable outcome: "Hey, we screwed up your order, but to make it up to you we're sending this smaller, lesser product in lieu of the one you paid for."

You should do us all a favor and tell us the name of this retailer. I don't want to do business with them.

Second that.

dutyje

urbino:

Yeah, I know I'd feel bait-and-switched. You didn't get what you ordered. Not even on the second try. It'd piss me off that it ever crossed their minds that this would be a suitable outcome: "Hey, we screwed up your order, but to make it up to you we're sending this smaller, lesser product in lieu of the one you paid for."

You should do us all a favor and tell us the name of this retailer. I don't want to do business with them.

But I did get the same humidor. Seriously... it's very apparent that they are the same model (not just the name on the box). The design itself is rather distinctive, and it was immediately recognizable as the same model. It was also recognizably a different "version" of that model. I really don't feel cheated in that regard. If the second humidor had been the first to arrive, I would have been delighted and would have chalked up the difference in appearance to the likelihood that they use a selection of different colored finishes on their product.

If anyone wants to know the name of the company, I will share through PM.

urbino

You're the customer, so your opinion is the only one that counts. I still think it'd chap my sack, though. (Or leave me mule-lipped, as gm would say.)

dutyje

urbino:

You're the customer, so your opinion is the only one that counts. I still think it'd chap my sack, though. (Or leave me mule-lipped, as gm would say.)

mule-lipped, eh? be careful with that.. it's lonely here on the other side of the glass

madurofan

dutyje:

urbino:

You're the customer, so your opinion is the only one that counts. I still think it'd chap my sack, though. (Or leave me mule-lipped, as gm would say.)

mule-lipped, eh? be careful with that.. it's lonely here on the other side of the glass

LMAO.

dutyje

Before I box up the old humi and send it back, I thought I'd take a few pictures to give y'all some context:

First, here's the front view of the two humidors. The one on the left is the one with the bad finish (if that wasn't obvious). The size difference between the two is obvious, as is the consistency in the overall design theme.


Second, here's the left side view of both humidors. The cloudy finish is that way around the entire humidor.


Last, here's the top view. You can see my double-dish seasoning method in action I've got one dish in the tray and one dish in the bottom. After 48 hours, I'll swap each dish to right/left and close it up for another 48 hours.