Is poor customer service a deal breaker for you?

After having the best customer service I've ever experienced with the folks on CCOM (I am head over heels in love with this site), I have raised my bar of what good service should be.

Now, I want to buy the Room101 OSOK that is coming out in a couple weeks, and there is a store near me that will have them. HOWEVER, when I called to ask about them, the people in the store (Cigar Connection in Arlington, Va) were incredibly rude - the guy actually hung up on me. I read reviews online and they all echo the same sentiments: that the people in the store are the worst in the biz.

So, I have an issue: do I bite the bullet and give these assholes my money, or do I walk the higher road because regardless of how much I want a cigar, I want to be treated with decency even more?

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Comments

phobicsquirrel

Direwolf:
I'm a very respectful person , if you treat me right I'll do the same..If you disrespect me I'll stomp a mudhole in your ass and walk it dry.You don't have to feign friendship just take my money and be polite

ouch... btw where's that cute little avatar of yours...

kaspera79

RBeckom:
Customer service should be priority one. I have no patience for bad service. Someone else will always be happy to have your business.

My thoughts exactly...

sol1821

I've raised my bar after dealing with ccom to.
only problem is noone in the uk can even come close, so more often than not i have to suck it up.

stephen_hannibal

xIcedGuardianx:
depends..if there is an expectation of service than I..expect it. If it is Wal-mart, I don't care when they don't want to help me and they can't find anything or just plain tell me it is out-of-stock without looking. I go there to pay 8.88 for a dozen tee-shirts- not to be treated like a king. Although in the case of dealing with items that require expertise ( someone knowing what they are doing and takes pride in it) It is very important. Electronic stores, car lots, and definitely Tobacconists, I expect good customer service and product knowledgability (might not be a word?). If I am treated poorly or feel like I am being judged when i walk in, I won't go back there unless I have to. I find that many B&Ms around Northern VA are plagued with jerks and it makes no sense to me. Only places I go is Saylor's, John B. Hayes and Leesburg Cigar and Pipe. Sorry for ranting btw lol

Gray4lines

I agree with ace... I'd go so far as to pay a little more if the customer service was great. And that doesn't mean kiss my butt when I walk in or anything, haha but just as long as they're helpful and know what they are talking about, being friendly doesn't hurt too. I wont deal with a holes though!

oldsoulrevival

I live in Northern Va, and John B. Hayes is the only tobacco store I will go to any more. Those guys are so helpful and kind every time I go in. One guy walked me through the whole first humidor setup thing, even though he knew I was not buying it from them.

kuzi16

poor service is a deal breaker for me.
... and not just with tobacco products.
i wont eat a a restaurant that treats me like crap no matter how good the food is.

service is HUGE.

Ken Light

kuzi16:
poor service is a deal breaker for me.
... and not just with tobacco products.
i wont eat a a restaurant that treats me like crap no matter how good the food is.

service is HUGE.

THAT I agree with 100% There are very few restaurants that are so unique and amazing that I can't get the same or similar food elsewhere. And the few that are that good always have great service. I do try to separate the individual server from the establishment though, by speaking to a manager when I receive really terrible service. If the manager doesn't care, that place is off-limits to me.

As for the individual servers...I like to take the idea of a "tip" creatively, and leave them life advice when they clearly hate their jobs, such as "Quit."

Lasabar

I work in retail.... and I do, myself, live by 1 person that has a bad review tells 100 people, when a person with a glowing review will tell maybe 1 or 2 people.

That being said, the number one thing I hate as a retailer is wasted time.

So I'd walk into your local B&M and flash a CRAZY amount of cash, bring in an Opus X to smoke (ask them if they have a cutting fee, but intend to spends a SICK amount of money so they waive it) then proceed to fawn over high end cigars, smoke in the Humidor (most places let you if you are going to drop some COIN) and just plainly rack up a high bill... then, just say you have appreciated their time, and maybe will come back to purchase... This is a *** move, so only do it if you are truly distraught over this, but it is effective!

Lasabar

kuzi16:
poor service is a deal breaker for me.
... and not just with tobacco products.
i wont eat a a restaurant that treats me like crap no matter how good the food is.

service is HUGE.

I agree... I have many a shop that is mediocre for food or other that I frequent regularly because of the service/owner of said business.... You win or lose by the people that walk in your door!

jgibv

Lasabar:
kuzi16:
poor service is a deal breaker for me.
... and not just with tobacco products.
i wont eat a a restaurant that treats me like crap no matter how good the food is.

service is HUGE.
I agree... I have many a shop that is mediocre for food or other that I frequent regularly because of the service/owner of said business.... You win or lose by the people that walk in your door!

I couldn't have said it better myself. There's a number of restaurants and stores I will no longer go to due to poor service.
It especially frustrates me when the staff at some of our local, nicer restaurants (who serve mostly older, wealthy people) seem to look down upon my fiance and I due to our age.
This frustrates me to no end but my fiance and I will not put up being treated poorly and on multiple occasions we have got up and left a restaurant before even ordering drinks due to poor service and negative attitudes from the staff.

YankeeMan

It is for me. I used to split my business between ccom and the evil twin. They jerked me over a return which involved a small amount of money, but they wouldn't make it right. So they lost a lot of business, I had done a little over $2,000 at that time, and now I deal exclusively with ccom for my online stuff.

Besides, I don't think they had anyone as nice as Kelly. OK, Tim too.

catfishbluezz

I run a B&M retail store for a rather large retailer. Perception of the customer is everything... It takes time and effort to build a team that understands the concept and is bought in, but when you do it makes a huge difference. Some people just cannot understand the body language, or the reason why someone might get pissed. To be honest, most times...it is stupid and they have no right, but their perception is paramount in that instance. I've found in my days that agreeing with the person and making it right works everytime. I deal with these situations all the time, maybe twice a month now that my crew is well trained. However, when dealing with any retailer, I have come to expect less as I am rarely treated with the personal treatment we give and quality of service with a smile. In this day and age, it is rare to find anyone who gives a crap about the consumer anymore. When I find someone who does, I end up spending ALOT more than I woudl have otherwise. I explain this concept to my people all the time, and specifically explained that to my management team as I handed them all cigars for Christmas and explained what happened to me here. You know you've done business with a great company, when you feel guilty spending your money elsewhere. I've since ordere elsewhere once... The next time, I emailed Tim and he beat it... The only problem is now I spend WAY too much $$$ here...

catfishbluezz

And my 3rd order this month just went down....

zoom6zoom

The only money I would spend on them is for a stamp... to send a copy of my receipt from one of their competitors to the owner, with a letter explaining WHY they didn't get my business.

xIcedGuardianx

zoom6zoom:
The only money I would spend on them is for a stamp... to send a copy of my receipt from one of their competitors to the owner, with a letter explaining WHY they didn't get my business.

amazing idea.. Love it!

oldsoulrevival

I really like this - I might do it, if I can find someone else who sells it.

jsnake

You can find these. If you belong to any other cigar forums it is pretty easy to pick up HTF stuff from brothers who take care of each other. I got tired of hunting down Viaje so I have had brothers here snag them for me as well as a couple regular guys I buy from on other forums. Put the word out here and I am sure someone will help you out.

Alex Svenson

For me quality of service is the most important thing when making my purchasing decisions. Of course this is balanced by having a fair price and any number of other things, but it definitely ranks high on my list. I travel a lot and I use enterprise Rent-A-Car almost exclusively because of their customer service. I just got so sick of the poor experiences with their competitors. I just wish in most industries there were more choices. I sat on the phone three times this weekend with Comcast cable because of a problem with my service and each time the whole time was 20 minutes. Every time when I finally got transferred to a representative I got disconnected during the transfer. After waiting 20 minutes! I almost turn my phone into a frisbee. Unfortunately, where I live, it is Comcast or bust.

Alex Svenson

What is interesting in the technology age is the quality of service does not necessarily come down to person-to-person interaction. take Amazon for example. I don't think I've ever spoken to a representative there but I absolutely love their service.

ENFIDL

I'm waiting on some scoop for where else to get them and will keep you posted. Really excited for the OSOK

borisa

I agree, Alex. I've bought a number of different things from amazon and the service is wonderful. On another note, I work in retail and at the store I work at, it's all about customer service. We take care of our customers. They come in complaining about our competition
or even another store and we get them taken care of so they are a customer with our store for life. I'm trying to get out of my store, though. I would love to do something in the cigar industry. Combine my love of customer service and my love of cigars.

DSWarmack

JDH:
Poor customer service is not a deal breaker for me, if they have something I really want at a good price, I'll put up with it. After all, I'm not perfect, nor am I the center of the world, and I don't believe the customer is always right. Sometimes, (and I mean a LOT of sometimes) the customer is just an asshat.

+1, bit it's got to be an awesome price. I kick in doors and shoot people in the face for a living, the least you can do is have common courtesy. I have gone into a place before and gotten all my stuff together at the register, the employee pissed me off, out I went with nothing. But I will say that if im having a bad day I try to grin and bear it. Everyone has a crappy day once in a while, but consistency is the key. If you are consistently an @$$hole, I will consistently refuse to shop with you!

DSWarmack

Alex Svenson:
...Unfortunately, where I live, it is Comcast or bust.

My family went almost a year without cable because I refuse to use them!

kuzi16

JDH:
Poor customer service is not a deal breaker for me, if they have something I really want at a good price, I'll put up with it. After all, I'm not perfect, nor am I the center of the world, and I don't believe the customer is always right. Sometimes, (and I mean a LOT of sometimes) the customer is just an asshat.

you are right. the customer isnt always right. in fact, the customer is almost never the expert on he subject. the people selling the product that they deal with on a daily basis, have training in, etc. knows way more than the customer. i deal with that BS every day as a manager in a restaurant.
i walk up to a table and ask "how is your steak today? is it cooked correctly?"
"no, it isnt cooked enough"
looking down i see it is medium rare. "how did you want that cooked?"
"medium rare"
"would you like me to cook it a little more for you?"
"yes"
"what would you like it brought up to?"
"medium rare"
"uhhh.... could you describe how you would like the center to look when we are done?"
"no pink at all, just make sure it is Medium rare"
i just smile... "ok, what you are describing to me, we describe as well done. if you want no pink in your steak here you need to order it well done"

yeah, they have no clue.
however, good customer service is not defined by "the customer always being right"
good customer service will not only be warm and welcoming, but they will also educate. and fix any legitimate mistakes. most importantly, they will be honest. good customer service isnt perfection, it is admitting that they are not perfect and going out of their way to ma it right when things are wrong.

CaptainSmoke

Customer service is a great test of a company. I do not purchase anything from a company I dont review and that doesn't have stellar feedback on, but in this case I was doing last minute shopping for a buddy's birthday and I didn't have time to look around too much or research. PremiumHumidors popped up when I was looking up a humidor company and they were offering free shipping. I figured that worse case sinerio, my credit card company would resolve any issues that could arise. I called in my order and was given some helpful recommendations to put together a nice cigar sampler and humidor with a cutter and nice inexpensive lighter. After placing the order I was mentioning the company and free shipping with another friend. They mentioned seeing a bit of negative reviews and I got a little concerned. I called back and a representative assured me my order would arrive on time. Thankfully I got it three days after ordering it and in time for my friends birthday.

SleevePlz

CaptainSmoke, great job repping a competing company on a commercial website's forum. Well done.

ddubridge

SleevePlz:
CaptainSmoke, great job repping a competing company on a commercial website's forum. Well done.

...on your first post. Awesome!

curtpick

ddubridge:
SleevePlz:
CaptainSmoke, great job repping a competing company on a commercial website's forum. Well done.
...on your first post. Awesome!

Seeing to much of this as of late. Benefit of the doubt, but first post ? Hmmmmm

ddubridge

curtpick:
ddubridge:
SleevePlz:
CaptainSmoke, great job repping a competing company on a commercial website's forum. Well done.
...on your first post. Awesome!
Seeing to much of this as of late. Benefit of the doubt, but first post ? Hmmmmm

I suspect a...