I'm A Little Annoyed By Zona Tobacco And It's Owners....

[vaypourus]

After working for many, many years in the customer service industry, the most important golden rule is to make the customer experience a good one, regardless of whether they are buying something or not. This was the basis of the customer service industry in the 40's and 50's. Businesses would spend a lot of money making a customer happy if it meant retaining the business, keeping the customer promoting good things about the business, or even worse preventing the disgruntled customer from badmouthing the company. It was worth the extra cost to keep the customer happy, even if they bought nothing.

An upscale resturaunt I worked for in the 90's lost 40% of its new customer business when the manager would not eat the cost of a bad, watered down drink. The guy that demanded the free drink just happened to be the editor of the local newspaper, and bashed the resturaunt in a review 2 days later. Amazing how a $3.99 drink cost many thousands of dollars for the resturaunt.

I understand what victim is saying. If he was given a product to sample, spent his time to review it, was promised a second sample twice and never received it, I think its his right to have a rant about it. Had a second sample been sent, there would be no problem and we all wouldn't be reading this post.

What many of you don't understand is that anyone who reads this post will be less inclined to purchase Zona in the future. Power of the subconcious my friends.

[chromecarz00]

After working for many, many years in the customer service industry, the most important golden rule is to make the customer experience a good one, regardless of whether they are buying something or not. This was the basis of the customer service industry in the 40's and 50's. Businesses would spend a lot of money making a customer happy if it meant retaining the business, keeping the customer promoting good things about the business, or even worse preventing the disgruntled customer from badmouthing the company. It was worth the extra cost to keep the customer happy, even if they bought nothing.

An upscale resturaunt I worked for in the 90's lost 40% of its new customer business when the manager would not eat the cost of a bad, watered down drink. The guy that demanded the free drink just happened to be the editor of the local newspaper, and bashed the resturaunt in a review 2 days later. Amazing how a $3.99 drink cost many thousands of dollars for the resturaunt.

I understand what victim is saying. If he was given a product to sample, spent his time to review it, was promised a second sample twice and never received it, I think its his right to have a rant about it. Had a second sample been sent, there would be no problem and we all wouldn't be reading this post.

What many of you don't understand is that anyone who reads this post will be less inclined to purchase Zona in the future. Power of the subconcious my friends.

However, most are not purchasing Zona anyway, and the unconcious message may actually backfire due to the majority of the people disagreeing with what is being said may actually go against the unconcious. However I do agree about customer service, but to a beginning business, its actual sales vs. less potential sales...
Anyways some good points made in this...wierd...thread.

[Stuie]

Well at the least the thread stayed civil.

Yeah I was kind of expecting blood everywhere, but I agree with vaypourus. I mean I do a ton of stuff on eBay, and I can't tell you how often I have to bend over backwards and do things I should flat out never have to, to protect my reputation.

[SafeSearchOff]

im actually gonna have to side with victim on this one.


my grandfather always told me: a man is as good as his word.


i read all your points - theyre all valid, "its all free, get over it", "your not even a customer, its free", "you already got 1 sample", etc. however, the main focus of this problem is not that hes getting the sample, its that questions promised something, and didnt come through. think about any situation in your life, where some1 said they would do something for you, and then they didnt come through.

think about it - hell im not perfect either, but i at least try to keep my word.

[vaypourus]

...and I can't tell you how often I have to bend over backwards and do things I should flat out never have to, to protect my reputation.

For a new vendor starting here, reputation should be a pretty big concern.

[bjelder]

Although you have a good point, I hate people bitching about not getting free stuff.

[Stuie]

For a new vendor starting here, reputation should be a pretty big concern.

Reputation is everything. A personal story. When someone fist mentioned World Hookah I checked out there site, I was like....seriously.... After dealing with Neal and everyone at world hookah...they rock care about their customers and make them constantly happy!!! When purchasing I always check with world hookah first before buying! With out their good rep here, I may never have bought from them.

[vaypourus]

Although you have a good point, I hate people bitching about not getting free stuff.

I think that victim is bitching not about getting free stuff, but the principle of being promised something and that promise not being upheld.

[questions]

ok.. i guess I should chime in with my two cents...since it has now gotten hysterical if you ask me..I am going to just say this..I told you I would send another sample to you and you know what I did...if you didn't get another FREE sample, maybe an pm or email(since I have posted my email 100 times now) and ask anyone else, I respond to every email I get...saying, hey man, haven't gotten this yet....i would have written you back and looked into..I am to busy to look at who wrote it.."technically your not even a customer yet and the other point made about I will pay more attention to a $10,000 order from a chain store than a guy who maybe in 10 years would be buy $100 worth is correct...simply put, you didn't like my tobacco, but you posting a huge rant about what an ass of business man I am..do you think I am going to just jump through hoops to send you out another sample for free..ask nubbs, his sample didn't get to him, we corresponded back and forth and he got it..what a shock, I believe in working very hard with the little guy and getting people to re-evaluate my tobacco if they didn't like it..ask neal, he hated my tobacco, I sent him another set of sample for free, he still hates, it..ok then..that is his prerogative..I and you know what I won't go begging him to try anything again, and that is that...and he has the potential and i stress potential to buy tons of tobacco if he believed in it, you don't do you? so if you would like to speak with me, give my office a call and talk with me...520-747-5711*109...maybe after a conversation, i will send you another free sample...but writing this rant isn't doing you any good..and by all the responses, even by some people(scoop) who hates my product, i think you see you should maybe of handled this in a different matter.
do you realize how much it costs for every free sample I send out, as anyone who has gotten one knows, I use ups/fedex for 80% of them...I put it in a jar and free tobacco...do the math for what 15 reviews...do you think it was a beneficial business decision for me..I do still becuase once again, if you knew me, I take what is said to heart and work to get my product the best it can be...so there you go..I have just wasted about 6 minutes writing this..thank you and give me a call if you really want to complain tome about your free sample not arriving...

[SafeSearchOff]

no offense questions, but i agree "this situation should have been handled differently"

personally, that post lost a bit of respect for you - every customer is a customer, you should realize that. sure, maybe victim would have over the course of a year bought maybe $100 dollars of your product - but without him, thats $100 less, -1 person of rep, -1 person suggesting his friends to get it, -1 person talking about how much they love your shisha on a forum populated with hundreds of active member, willing to give their $100/yr, etc.

yes, you are doing an excellent service giving out free samples, and i commend that, but like i said earlier

a man is as good as his word.


as for what you said here: "I am to busy to look at who wrote it.."technically your not even a customer yet and the other point made about I will pay more attention to a $10,000 order from a chain store than a guy who maybe in 10 years would be buy $100 worth is correct"

well thats also a bit of a shot in the foot - you basically said you dont care about the small time customer, well, us small time customers add up. if you dont care about the smaller people, dont distribute your shisha to us directly.

[questions]

no offense questions, but i agree "this situation should have been handled differently"

personally, that post lost a bit of respect for you - every customer is a customer, you should realize that. sure, maybe victim would have over the course of a year bought maybe $100 dollars of your product - but without him, thats $100 less, -1 person of rep, -1 person suggesting his friends to get it, -1 person talking about how much they love your shisha on a forum populated with hundreds of active member, willing to give their $100/yr, etc.

yes, you are doing an excellent service giving out free samples, and i commend that, but like i said earlier

a man is as good as his word.


as for what you said here: "I am to busy to look at who wrote it.."technically your not even a customer yet and the other point made about I will pay more attention to a $10,000 order from a chain store than a guy who maybe in 10 years would be buy $100 worth is correct"

well thats also a bit of a shot in the foot - you basically said you dont care about the small time customer, well, us small time customers add up. if you dont care about the smaller people, dont distribute your shisha to us directly.

I am not saying that at all..actually quite the opposite..I am agreeing with who said those statements...and honestly I would be more than happy to send another sample to him,but he handled this so badly that now I am not sure..ask anyone who has spoken or written to me, I respond to every call/email I get personally....
the forums are great for consumer response and a good community feeling---and yes can be a huge customer base, but write me personally, call me, my info is everywhere....
so contact me...don't blast me on this type of thread that is only going to make me look like I a back peddling no matter what I say...so
take my word for what it is...and honestly right back to every person who wrote me about samples in the first place, each and every person wrote they would write a review if they got a sample and I got 15 of them...and some of them are multiple reviews from people and thanks to all who did, but a lot of the members here didn't and what is there word now?
I am willing to deal with every customer the same..my grandfather taught me one huge lesson in life
the big customers are the greatest in the world, but it is the guy who buys one that will make you...and I live this way so.....

[NickReppinThe909]

sounds like a lot of whining for free samples of flavorless tobacco

+1

Scoop, this isn't about your experience with the tobacco, this is about what he's told me. Stop being bitter that I got that Mash'al that Ilikespaceships was selling first....

that is just a retarded statement

[pingywon]

Your just another victim....kid ........your just another victim



....name that tune!?

[staygone]

Helmet & House Of Pain: Just Another Victim.

When should I be expectng my free sample pingywon?

-QM

[MrMoodz]

Well at the least the thread stayed civil.

Yes surprisingly enough!

[Victim026]

ok.. i guess I should chime in with my two cents...since it has now gotten hysterical if you ask me..I am going to just say this..I told you I would send another sample to you and you know what I did...if you didn't get another FREE sample, maybe an pm or email(since I have posted my email 100 times now) and ask anyone else, I respond to every email I get...saying, hey man, haven't gotten this yet....i would have written you back and looked into..I am to busy to look at who wrote it.."technically your not even a customer yet and the other point made about I will pay more attention to a $10,000 order from a chain store than a guy who maybe in 10 years would be buy $100 worth is correct...simply put, you didn't like my tobacco, but you posting a huge rant about what an ass of business man I am..do you think I am going to just jump through hoops to send you out another sample for free..ask nubbs, his sample didn't get to him, we corresponded back and forth and he got it..what a shock, I believe in working very hard with the little guy and getting people to re-evaluate my tobacco if they didn't like it..ask neal, he hated my tobacco, I sent him another set of sample for free, he still hates, it..ok then..that is his prerogative..I and you know what I won't go begging him to try anything again, and that is that...and he has the potential and i stress potential to buy tons of tobacco if he believed in it, you don't do you? so if you would like to speak with me, give my office a call and talk with me...520-747-5711*109...maybe after a conversation, i will send you another free sample...but writing this rant isn't doing you any good..and by all the responses, even by some people(scoop) who hates my product, i think you see you should maybe of handled this in a different matter.
do you realize how much it costs for every free sample I send out, as anyone who has gotten one knows, I use ups/fedex for 80% of them...I put it in a jar and free tobacco...do the math for what 15 reviews...do you think it was a beneficial business decision for me..I do still becuase once again, if you knew me, I take what is said to heart and work to get my product the best it can be...so there you go..I have just wasted about 6 minutes writing this..thank you and give me a call if you really want to complain tome about your free sample not arriving...

I'll address this part by part just so it all get's explained well...

"I told you I would send another sample to you and you know what I did..."

Please please tell me why I should believe that you sent me a second sample, only for it to be lost? UPS/Fedex/USPS don't lose that many packages, I ship plenty of items to know that and was raised in a family that owned a Advertising/Fulfillment/Distribution company we shipped 1000's of packages each week. And to be honest UPS/Fedex only lost maybe 1 in every 2000-3000 packages, Damaged I could believed, but lost? Compound that by the fact that Nubbs package was lost as well? What are the odds on that....

"if you didn't get another FREE sample, maybe an pm or email(since I have posted my email 100 times now) and ask anyone else, I respond to every email I get...saying, hey man, haven't gotten this yet....i would have written you back and looked into..I am to busy to look at who wrote it.."

If you supposedly respond to every pm and email then why did I not get a reply from you the first two messages I sent with my shipping info? Seems to me like you would have sent a reply to those as well letting me know you got them, that they shipped, etc.

"technically your not even a customer yet and the other point made about I will pay more attention to a $10,000 order from a chain store than a guy who maybe in 10 years would be buy $100 worth is correct..."

Good for you that you put the little people last in line, what you fail to realize is that not every little person is actually a little person. I've worked at 2 different Hookah Bars and have 2 different owners that still depend on me for advice when it comes to what they should carry. Top off that fact that I've got everything in place to open my own Hookah Bar(Just waiting for Spring to open it) and I'm not just some small time piece of crap who would only be ordering $100 over the course of a few months. Just in personal stash alone I spend $200 a month, usually it's closer to $300. Sounds like I'm a potential $1000+ Customer just based on personal usage, not counting the other business I could bring.

"simply put, you didn't like my tobacco, but you posting a huge rant about what an ass of business man I am..do you think I am going to just jump through hoops to send you out another sample for free.."

Where did I say I didn't like your tobacco? On the contrary I said I thought it had tons of potential with a few small tweaks to the flavoring. And I never said you were an ass of a business man either, so stop putting words in my mouth. As for the sample I could give two shits if you send another sample I don't need 50g, but I do think that people need to see that you make promises and then don't follow through.

"ask nubbs, his sample didn't get to him, we corresponded back and forth and he got it.."

Didn't Nubbs have to bring his issue out into the middle of the forum as well to get you to acknowledge him? I believe he did it in the same thread that I brought up the sample in last time...

"ask neal, he hated my tobacco, I sent him another set of sample for free, he still hates, it..ok then..that is his prerogative..I and you know what I won't go begging him to try anything again, and that is that...and he has the potential and i stress potential to buy tons of tobacco if he believed in it, you don't do you?"

Yes that's his choice as a retailer, but what would it matter if you sent him two samples? If I was a tobacco manufacturer I would be sending enormous amounts of everything to big retailers for free. I would want to do whatever I needed to, to get them to carry my brand because they'll make me the big money. And as stated before, I have tons of potential to make you all sorts of money if I so pleased. And if retailers were turning you away, such as Neal did, wouldn't the smaller consumers be that much more important? I mean at the end of the day whether you sell to a hookah bar/hookah retailer/the little guy, it's the little guys that make up your business no matter where they are buying from. If you don't keep them happy then what's the point?

"do you realize how much it costs for every free sample I send out, as anyone who has gotten one knows, I use ups/fedex for 80% of them...I put it in a jar and free tobacco...do the math for what 15 reviews...do you think it was a beneficial business decision for me..I do still becuase once again, if you knew me, I take what is said to heart and work to get my product the best it can be...so there you go.."

Yes I actually do realize it costs you probably about $7-$8 per sample, and if I remember right you sent out 100 samples originally correct? So you spent about $800-$1000 on building a customer base... Seems like a fairly small contribution for a business plan. And based on my knowledge of advertising your way ahead of the game if you got 15 reviews on 100 samples, most companys are lucky to get a 3%-5% return on any promotion they put out there like that.


I'm sorry if you don't think i handled this the right way, maybe I didn't, maybe I did... If you'd like to send a sample then your more then welcome too(I'll give it a fair and unbiased review agian and if it's good you'd probably have an order from me), and if you'd like to contact me then you can reach me through PM. I'm not going to go out of my way to contact you as the customer shouldn't have to do all the work here, you should have to earn my business and my money. Good luck in your business venture. Edited June 5, 2008 by Victim026

[Khronokai]

You're complaining about free samples?

[Johnny_D]

You're complaining about free samples?

It wouldn't be the first time

[MrMoodz]

You're complaining about free samples?

It wouldn't be the first time

[Victim026]

I'll say it for like the 10th time, I'm not complaing about free samples, I was complaing about a vendor not doing what they said they were gonna do. If they are unwilling to pay attention to small details, why would they pay attention to the big details either? I will say that Questions has contacted me and offered to try and fix this, so he's at least making an effort now, it's just sad I had to bring things out into the light. No one deserves to be pushed off as if they don't matter, small customer or not....

[questions]

I'll say it for like the 10th time, I'm not complaing about free samples, I was complaing about a vendor not doing what they said they were gonna do. If they are unwilling to pay attention to small details, why would they pay attention to the big details either? I will say that Questions has contacted me and offered to try and fix this, so he's at least making an effort now, it's just sad I had to bring things out into the light. No one deserves to be pushed off as if they don't matter, small customer or not....

you know what, I said from minute one, if you wrote me, I would have responded, but you didn't...
you decided to attack me in public so this is all out in the open when none of this needed to happen.
like i said in my email, I will send out another sample fedex with a tracking #...just send my your address.....again....and I hope you have the same level of committent to your word as you expect from others and we shall see in about 5 days when you get your package and write a review..
all I am saying yet again, is your method was completely out of line..you could have written me, or even called me but you wanted to pick my response back pc by pc, my phone is right there..call me now..sitting at my desk

[MrMoodz]

I can't imagine the amount of time and money hookah vendors spend on sending out free samples. Kudos to you all!!!!!!!!!!

[questions]

I can't imagine the amount of time and money hookah vendors spend on sending out free samples. Kudos to you all!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you...i send out on average 20 samples a day right now..sorry if a couple get lost in the mail..it does happen..with stores/distributors/online vendors, all of these go fedex or ups so i can track it..and yes more than 5% get lost still...thankfully if lost, I don't pay it...but usps..not the best in the world...
and that all depends on if they know what they are shipping..with a company name such as zona tobacco...it isn't that hard to figure out...so I lose a good amount of my packs..
i am not complaining as this is what gets my product out there.....

[Victim026]

I'm not in a position to call you right now, cell phones and college classes usually don't fly with professors, laptops however do. And as I said before I'm sorry if you think this was the wrong way to go about this, I prolly shouldn't have done it this way, but I wasn't exactly sober last nite(which is no excuse). And by this morning it was already done, I'm not just gonna hide behind some excuse, I'm gonna stick behind what I said. Expect a pm from me in a few.

[questions]

I'm not in a position to call you right now, cell phones and college classes usually don't fly with professors, laptops however do. And as I said before I'm sorry if you think this was the wrong way to go about this, I prolly shouldn't have done it this way, but I wasn't exactly sober last nite(which is no excuse). And by this morning it was already done, I'm not just gonna hide behind some excuse, I'm gonna stick behind what I said. Expect a pm from me in a few.

great to know my morning has been full of responses due to you drinking last night...i thank you for that..my offer still stands...we shall see