Help. My Stinky is... broken?

That people are inconvenienced is something I can appreciate however I do not understand why anyone is unhappy with Stinky. He trusted us as confidants of his frustration and attempted to rectify his issue by communicating with a group of enthusiasts. This is not a new phenomenon online. As a member of the customer service team I can attest to multiple people on a nearly daily basis who are almost impossible to help. I have experienced this in a few different industries.

http://www.bottlehead.com/

The site linked above is a community of audio enthusiasts who order a kit. If someone is having difficulty many enthusiast members who also have the kit will assist them. That a member of the male gender is insufficiently manually skilled to put together an ashtray is unfortunate in my opinion.

Stinky's company is small and he is most likely stretched thin for customer service duties. With certain quantity of buys in the industry he may get a very small margin from Cigar Bid and continued practice of replacement regardless of the vendor may hurt his business. Cigar Bid is known to provide steep discounts and the final price you pay may be significantly lower than he can justify a free replacement. He may also have certain agreements with his vendors regarding RMA policies and so forth. That he recommended a non-preferred process may not be convenient but it is most likely best for all concerned.

Stinky is a very pleasant man in person and he obviously is passionate about his business and wants to provide a quality product at a good price to his customers. I know it is hard to take these things into consideration as a customer, the phrase "The customer is always right" has ingrained a sense of entitlement to many people. I don't mean to offend anyone but, the customer is not always right and can sometimes be very difficult to deal with. Having someone dump their frustrations on you daily is degrading to the soul. I try to cultivate patience in my daily life, I know it's hard to detach emotional investment from material goods as we did work to acquire these things.

[pnoon]

Originally Posted by greytowhite

That people are inconvenienced is something I can appreciate however I do not understand why anyone is unhappy with Stinky. He trusted us as confidants of his frustration and attempted to rectify his issue by communicating with a group of enthusiasts. This is not a new phenomenon online. As a member of the customer service team I can attest to multiple people on a nearly daily basis who are almost impossible to help. I have experienced this in a few different industries.

http://www.bottlehead.com/

The site linked above is a community of audio enthusiasts who order a kit. If someone is having difficulty many enthusiast members who also have the kit will assist them. That a member of the male gender is insufficiently manually skilled to put together an ashtray is unfortunate in my opinion.

Stinky's company is small and he is most likely stretched thin for customer service duties. With certain quantity of buys in the industry he may get a very small margin from Cigar Bid and continued practice of replacement regardless of the vendor may hurt his business. Cigar Bid is known to provide steep discounts and the final price you pay may be significantly lower than he can justify a free replacement. He may also have certain agreements with his vendors regarding RMA policies and so forth. That he recommended a non-preferred process may not be convenient but it is most likely best for all concerned.

Stinky is a very pleasant man in person and he obviously is passionate about his business and wants to provide a quality product at a good price to his customers. I know it is hard to take these things into consideration as a customer, the phrase "The customer is always right" has ingrained a sense of entitlement to many people. I don't mean to offend anyone but, the customer is not always right and can sometimes be very difficult to deal with. Having someone dump their frustrations on you daily is degrading to the soul. I try to cultivate patience in my daily life, I know it's hard to detach emotional investment from material goods as we did work to acquire these things.

I assume from your post that you know (have met) him and you think him pleasant. Many others have as well and think otherwise.

A lot of the dissatisfaction from the members here is based on first hand experience. Not getting satisfactory customer service on defective merchandise is not a sense of entitlement. It is wanting to recieve what you paid for. If you look at a business like Palio, now THAT is how a company stands behind its merchandise.

[sevans105]

That a member of the male gender is insufficiently manually skilled to put together an ashtray is unfortunate in my opinion.

WOW. I'm almost positive that you wrote that ad hominem attack without reading the actual problem. Gender aside, I'm not sure that I know many people without access to a CNC fabricator with the ability to "put together an ashtray" when the base in question is NOT SUPPLIED.

If this is "customer service" for you, maligning the physical and mental abilities of your customers, please find another career.

Originally Posted by sevans105

WOW. I'm almost positive that you wrote that ad hominem attack without reading the actual problem. Gender aside, I'm not sure that I know many people without access to a CNC fabricator with the ability to "put together an ashtray" when the base in question is NOT SUPPLIED.

If this is "customer service" for you, maligning the physical and mental abilities of your customers, please find another career.

I was referring to the lady's son from the previously linked post when Stinky recruited a BOTL to assist one of his customers, sorry not to have made the more clear.

[Catfish]

...and he obviously is passionate about his business and wants to provide a quality product at a good price to his customers.

Of that there is no doubt.

Stinky is a very pleasant man in person

When he's playing salesman and/ or promoter of his product, he may be able to charm the balls off a brass monkey.

Speaking as someone that worked for him, I can assure you: His philosophy on certain aspects of interpersonal relationships seriously leaves something to be desired. My respect for this forum and my personal decorum places me in the position of not getting into a personal attack of his personality, regardless of the enormous arsenal of ammunition I hold in which to do so.