Major Rant

[macleay]

Warning--if all you want to read on this forum is positive things about inLife, I suggest you skip this post.  And if all I'm supposed to post on here is postive, then I guess this will get pulled.  But I wanted to post my experience with a large order I placed last week and the customer service I've received regarding it and see if I'm the only one having this problem (I hope).

I ordered $768 worth of products, including a bizpak, last Thursday and paid for two-day shipping, which was very expensive.  I needed at least one of the products by last Saturday, as I had someone wanting to buy one of the other brands direct from the mall so he'd have it right away.  I promised it to him on Saturday. 

I got an email saying it wouldn't arrive until Tuesday (yesterday).  This really upset me because I'd paid for expedited shipping, so I sent an email to customer service, not asking for anything, but just telling them of my disappointment and that they shouldn't offer the expedited shipping options if they weren't going to deliver on them.  I got no response.

They didn't come yesterday!  I checked the UPS tracking number and it gave no information.  I sent another email last night and said they didn't come yesterday and asked for a refund on my shipping costs.

I called UPS this morning because the tracking still showed nothing--THEY DO NOT HAVE THIS PACKAGE FOR SHIPPING AT ALL!!!!!

So now I was really hot.  I called customer service.  Guess what?  You can't talk to anyone.  You get a long voicemail telling you that most questions are easily answerable by logging into the back end of your website--they said this twice and basically implied don't waste our time until you've thoroughly reviewed all the material in the back of your website.  Then it said you have two options:  sending an email, which was by far the quickest, or leaving a voicemail!

I'm not happy, as you can tell.  I left a pretty scathing voicemail and told them I needed a call back right away and that I wanted overnight shipping plus a full refund of my shipping.

That was about an hour ago and I've heard nothing yet.

I know they're addressing customer service issues tonight in the phone call.  I wasn't sure what they were, but I'm getting an idea.

What would you all do from here?  Cancel the whole order?  I'm very frustrated. 

Plus, we just signed up and paid for a three-day vendor sale that starts on Friday (the day after tomorrow) and I was counting on the stuff I ordered for that. 

They're crippling my ability to sell this product.

Okay, rant over and sorry if I offended anyone.

[LiquidRage]

I have had the same problem a few times.....It pissed me off also....However a company that is doing so well it runs out of product is not a bad thing. You have to keep in mind this company and this product are brand new. Ecigs are a brand new invention....To make it short NO i wouldn't throw away this opportunity over a late shipment. I've had several and in 2 years when i'm a multi millionaire i'm gonna giggle about it.

[macleay]

I understand what you're saying.  But my own business isn't going to grow with this company if they don't meet their commitments to me.  I know they're growing fast and god knows everyone can make an error.  What I'm having problems with is:  they've ignored two emails from me beginning two days ago and they've not returned my phone call today. 

What am I supposed to tell my two people who are interested and that wanted to try out the cigarettes I bought?  I have no idea when/if this shipment will come and the company won't tell me. 

I suppose it might be funny in a few years, but I'm not laughing now. 

Anyway, thanks for your response.

[macleay]

I listened to the 5pm and 6pm calls tonight.  I think since I ranted on this earlier today it's only fair that I comment in a more positive way.

The customer service issues were discussed and explained.  As Liquid Rage explained, it's a new company and they're working out kinks.  They are short on customer service staff and they're short on products.  They just haven't been able to anticipate the growth.  On one of the calls, it was explained that a shipment was held back by customs, but they released it once they understood the product. 

The only criticism I still have is I think maybe we should have some type of communication about delays in shipping.  Maybe there has been, I'm only a week into the company, but I would have appreciated know what's going on with customer service staff (not nearly enough of them) and with shipping delays. I'm usually okay with problems if I get explanations.  The problem here is, I'm being ignored by email and by phone. 

One thing both of them said that made sense to me--if you're in a more established company and not in on the ground floor, you probably won't have these glitches.  Okay that's fair.  I'd rather make more money and put up with glitches.

One more question I have--are there delays in shipping the cartridges?  Because THAT could be a serious problem if you're not getting people's nicotine to them on time.

[LiquidRage]

They have 2 customer service people and 16,000 of us....Your not being ignored...I have a guy working on a 1000 unit sale and he hasn't got response yet either...As a former owner of a very large motorcycle importing exporting operation i completely understand the troubles they are having. I only had 50ish distributors and it was hard. They have 16,000

[bananahands]

Yup, Liquid is right on...whenever I get an email it's always from the same woman. She is always very polite and answers quickly but I guess this is a different circumstance. Sorry to hear you are having trouble but I'm sure it will be worked out, you'll just have to have patience as I'm sure they're doing all they can.

[macleay]

My point is, we as IDs should be advised of this stuff before we make a bunch of promises to people.  I believed when they offered me two-day shipping and charged me for it that they meant it.

I get it now.  I just wish I'd known before I starting selling gung-ho. 

I've been involved in customer service for almost 30 years.  Most people are okay if they're told ahead of time that there is a problem.  They can then make adjustments. 

There may not be a good system yet for advising all the IDs of things like this.  I get that, too. 

But to act like this isn't a big deal doesn't help people like me, who will give 150% to a company, but have to believe in them. 

I just hope they're not behind on cartridges, because then you're really going to have a bunch of pissed off customers.

[janellody]

We understand now that things will run slowly.  In fact, I ordered another ecig that was supposed to come today, and didn't.  Most people who order online often would be very annoyed by this, which is why macleay is bringing it up (she orders online often).  To me, if I were a normal customer and I paid $60 for 2 day shipping and week later it didn't come, and I could also not get a repsonse from the company, then I would be looking to the Better Business Bureau to file a complaint because it looks like a scam. 

The point is, yes we get it now, but some warning about this would have been better so we didn't make promises to people and we don't freak out and start thinking this is not a legit company.  Does that make sense?  Yes, we understand now and we know everyone else is 110% for the company and all that, it's just a suggestion and a different point of view for those people who didn't understand why we would be upset.

Also, we now have an event this weekend and only have 2 prestiges to bring, instead of 2 prestiges, 1 royale, and 6 elites.  So also, it sucks.

[bananahands]

Yeah it's a shame things like this happen. Seems like they are understaffed or perhaps running low on products...there are so many things that could have happened.

You will have these kind of hiccups and problems though with a new company with a new product, especially one that is selling so well.

I would certainly be pissed if it happened to me, so I totally understand where you're coming from. It is unfortunate to hear about this kind of thing, and you're right if they are having the same kinds of delays with autoship then that's a huge problem that is unacceptable.

Hopefully it is worked out soon and they take a hint and hire some more staff with all that money they're bringing in.

[macleay]

Okay, well rant over now.  I felt better after having heard that they know there's a problem and they're dealing with it.  Them telling me what's going on gives me something to tell customers.  The fact that it's so popular is a great thing.

It'll be interesting to see if I ever get my order tho!   

[bananahands]

haha, I sure hope you do!

[TT]

I've been on auto ship for months and have never run into a problem getting my cartridges...hope that eases your mind

[macleay]

Thank you, yes it does.  I only have one person on autoship at this point, and he's waiting for his first shipment.  I just don't want him to run out before it gets here....

[TT]

Mine has come right on time every month so you shouldn't have a problem. In fact my first order or cartridges came before my unit.

[-Chris-]

Hey guys and gals. First post for me and I just hopped on the bandwagon yesterday. Excited to be a part of this!

I've just read over this thread. Clearly the company is growing faster than they can handle at the moment. Millions are out of work, I'm sure they can find a number of customer service people in the coming weeks/months.

I live in California, about an hour from where these things are shipped from. I'm going to be placing an order today. I'll keep you all up to date on how long it takes to get here. Presumably not very long since I live so close.