Tiki business gripe - anyone else? - General Tiki

M Mo-Eye Member Taboo Island, USA Joined: May 17, 2006 Posts: 646	M Mo-Eye Posted posted on Mon, Mar 2, 2009 4:20 AM Ok, here's the deal: With the current economy and retail hurting so bad, I would assume that every business would take advantage of any sale they can get and do their best to offer great customer service. I myself just started a small tiki business, which is just part time for me, but I still go out of my way to try to make everyone happy, because who knows when the next sale is coming in. However, I seem to get the worst service imaginable from some of the bigger names in the tiki world. I don't want to name names, but here are a few examples. My girlfriend and I have made over a dozen different purchases in the past 6 months from one of the big mug makers, totaling over $2500. Every time we order, it takes forever for them to be shipped out, and when we do inquire on their status, we rarely get an answer. Now, I'm not being crazy with the time frame. I'm fine with delivered in 2 weeks being acceptable. I live in Hawaii and things can sometimes take longer to get here. What I'm talking about is placing an order for something that is in stock, having my card charged at that time, then after 2-3 emails, they say they just mailed it out - over a month later. We just made another order about 3 weeks ago, and all items were one of a kind that were in stock, and so far we have only received half of that order last week. I would say over half of the past dozen orders were mailed out over 2 weeks after ordering (and I do mean mailed out past 2 weeks, not arrived in 2 weeks). And I've had the same problem with another big name in mugs. Placed an order for 2 high end mugs that were supposed to be in stock, was charged immediately, and they took almost 2 months to arrive. No response from the 3 or 4 emails asking for an update. Both of these makers sell mugs full time, but seem to run their businesses like they were some part time weekend project. Does anyone else have these same problems as a customer, or am I just having a lot of bad luck? I really want to support these people and I love their mugs, but at some point enough is enough regarding bad service. What are your thoughts? Alloha,

Ok, here's the deal:

With the current economy and retail hurting so bad, I would assume that every business would take advantage of any sale they can get and do their best to offer great customer service. I myself just started a small tiki business, which is just part time for me, but I still go out of my way to try to make everyone happy, because who knows when the next sale is coming in. However, I seem to get the worst service imaginable from some of the bigger names in the tiki world. I don't want to name names, but here are a few examples.

My girlfriend and I have made over a dozen different purchases in the past 6 months from one of the big mug makers, totaling over $2500. Every time we order, it takes forever for them to be shipped out, and when we do inquire on their status, we rarely get an answer. Now, I'm not being crazy with the time frame. I'm fine with delivered in 2 weeks being acceptable. I live in Hawaii and things can sometimes take longer to get here. What I'm talking about is placing an order for something that is in stock, having my card charged at that time, then after 2-3 emails, they say they just mailed it out - over a month later. We just made another order about 3 weeks ago, and all items were one of a kind that were in stock, and so far we have only received half of that order last week. I would say over half of the past dozen orders were mailed out over 2 weeks after ordering (and I do mean mailed out past 2 weeks, not arrived in 2 weeks).

And I've had the same problem with another big name in mugs. Placed an order for 2 high end mugs that were supposed to be in stock, was charged immediately, and they took almost 2 months to arrive. No response from the 3 or 4 emails asking for an update.

Both of these makers sell mugs full time, but seem to run their businesses like they were some part time weekend project. Does anyone else have these same problems as a customer, or am I just having a lot of bad luck? I really want to support these people and I love their mugs, but at some point enough is enough regarding bad service.

What are your thoughts?

Alloha,

Post #437279 by Mo-Eye on Mon, Mar 2, 2009 4:20 AM