Tat Drac: Shipping Date

[poriggity]

So I worded it wrong. Still seems like a seriously botched up execution of the scavenger hunt. Answer me this, If you were waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store, with the last case of beer they had in your hands, and someone walked up to you while you were in line, took the beer you were holding, and bought it, then left... How would you feel? IMHO, If the box was IN your cart, and you were proceeding to check out, there should have been NO way for that customer to lose a box. Just my personal opinion. IMHO, Dan also should have known that he would need to change the product code, in order to keep the links from working for EVERYONE. Its only common sense that the internet cigar smokers will share those links.
Scott

EDIT:
I am sure Dan and Pete are both good people. I have met Pete, and can say he is a good guy. That being said, the way the scavenger hunt was executed was poor form. Again, this is just my opinion, and my opinion only. That being said, it is also my perogotive to shop where I choose, and based upon my own decisions, I have chosen to not buy from NHC, and probably won't buy tatuaje products either. Again these are all my own personal decisions, and while I know they won't make a difference to Pete or Dan, its just my convictions.

Originally Posted by Starz26

For the record NHC did not PULL THEM OUT of the carts. The goal of the hunt was to randomly place them within other Tat products. Inventory of 1 box at a time. It would appear for a minute or so and then dissapear and reappear somewhere else.

The site has real time inventory. What happened is people posted the link to the product thus bypassing the need to Hunt for it. The allowed many people to get them at the same time. the real time inventory took over and ensured that you did not place and order for something that was not available.

The idea for this hunt gave everyone a fair shot and was supposed to make it fun. Of all the ideas that are out there with the current release, I think this was the most creative. I give Dan props for that. Also, one he realized what was going on he took steps to fix it by changing the product code so that you could not just refresh your screen.

So before you go spreading bad blood toward a retailer that has a great reputation, please think a little about what may be going on. Dan and Pete both had the best interests in mind. The fast moving resources of the internet forums took over and botched the execution.

[chenvt]

Originally Posted by poriggity

So I worded it wrong. Still seems like a seriously botched up execution of the scavenger hunt. Answer me this, If you were waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store, with the last case of beer they had in your hands, and someone walked up to you while you were in line, took the beer you were holding, and bought it, then left... How would you feel? IMHO, If the box was IN your cart, and you were proceeding to check out, there should have been NO way for that customer to lose a box. Just my personal opinion. IMHO, Dan also should have known that he would need to change the product code, in order to keep the links from working for EVERYONE. Its only common sense that the internet cigar smokers will share those links.
Scott

Botched execution.. I don't think you should expect someone to think of EVERY scenario of folks being dishonest if I read the post that you're responding to correctly

[poriggity]

Originally Posted by chenvt

Botched execution.. I don't think you should expect someone to think of EVERY scenario of folks being dishonest if I read the post that you're responding to correctly

I don't think its dishonest for someone who has a link to a box of cigars to share said link with his internet friends. Its not like the link was emailed just to one person, and that one person is sharing it with 1000 people. There are ways to make it so that the link to a product code changes every few minutes. Simply put, my biggest gripe is not with the link being shared issue, its that I don't think its right that someone who is IN THE CHECKOUT PROCESS can have the stuff they are buying taken out of thier cart. I'm probably wrong, but this seems like a big oversight on NHC's part, and something should have been done to prevent things like that from happening. Just my opinion.

[Starz26]

Originally Posted by chenvt

botched execution seems to be a theme..

Caused by the customers, not the original plan of the retailer like so many others...

And was the "scavenger hunt" based on random luck whether or not one would appear?

Yes, it was supposed to be

Why not do a lottery and save people the time?

I think because he wanted to make it a little more fun than putting a name in the hat and waiting. Also, the honesty of it all was a little more transparent. I am not even sure that the lotteries / list are no just ploy's to gather contact info....

Oh yeah, so there can be some additional sales from folks looking around.. Smart from a business standpoint

Yes. But the big difference here was that no one had to buy anything else. You never had to be nor will need to continue to be a customer. Everyone was supposed to have the same shot. The added exposure was no harm no foul to the visitor / customer.

[chenvt]

Originally Posted by poriggity

I don't think its dishonest for someone who has a link to a box of cigars to share said link with his internet friends. Its not like the link was emailed just to one person, and that one person is sharing it with 1000 people. There are ways to make it so that the link to a product code changes every few minutes. Simply put, my biggest gripe is not with the link being shared issue, its that I don't think its right that someone who is IN THE CHECKOUT PROCESS can have the stuff they are buying taken out of thier cart. I'm probably wrong, but this seems like a big oversight on NHC's part, and something should have been done to prevent things like that from happening. Just my opinion.

I think Starz was saying that people were getting the link to the tat dracs themselves when they found the item and sending it to friends.. that's where things fell apart

Originally Posted by poriggity

So I worded it wrong. Still seems like a seriously botched up execution of the scavenger hunt. Answer me this, If you were waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store, with the last case of beer they had in your hands, and someone walked up to you while you were in line, took the beer you were holding, and bought it, then left... How would you feel? IMHO, If the box was IN your cart, and you were proceeding to check out, there should have been NO way for that customer to lose a box. Just my personal opinion. IMHO, Dan also should have known that he would need to change the product code, in order to keep the links from working for EVERYONE. Its only common sense that the internet cigar smokers will share those links.
Scott

EDIT:
I am sure Dan and Pete are both good people. I have met Pete, and can say he is a good guy. That being said, the way the scavenger hunt was executed was poor form. Again, this is just my opinion, and my opinion only. That being said, it is also my perogotive to shop where I choose, and based upon my own decisions, I have chosen to not buy from NHC, and probably won't buy tatuaje products either. Again these are all my own personal decisions, and while I know they won't make a difference to Pete or Dan, its just my convictions.

I do understand your frustrations. I had a box of Dracs in my cart ... TWICE ... and didn't get one! That was very frustrating. I do understand the problem, though ... someone else got it faster than I could. That's they way contests work.

Personally, even though I was frustrated at the cart problem, I thought the Scavenger Hunt was very fun. It was the only thing of it's kind in the Drac/Boris release and it did give everyone a chance, from a certian point of view. Other people were doing lotteries already, so this was something different. I thought it was a cool idea. Dan is good people.

That being said, I was also very frustrated that NHC was literally the ONLY "13" shop that did not sell to locals ... because I'm a local, lol.

EDIT: Oh, and by the way Dan was selling them at MSRP, not even adding in state taxes or anything like that, just sales tax for in-state people and shipping. It seems like many shops are gouging these, so this is a big in my book!

[doctorcue]

Damn, this is still going eh?

I had the Drac in my cart 9 times only to have it removed. It's all good though since I got my box of Drac and Boris in the end.

With the way that online inventory and checkout systems usually work, something isn't yours until you pay for it...

Basically it doesn't pull something from inventory until it is actually sold. It works great 99% of the time unless it is a high demand low supply item.

The stores would have to get a different checkout system to make it work like Dell's outlet, where you can put something in your cart and hold it for 15 minutes before it gets dumped again.