Never In My Life Have I Been So Offended. This Is Absolutely Ridiculous.

[bjelder]

So I'm sitting here, absolutely dumbfounded by the message that was just left for me on my cell phone, at 12:30AM. It was Neal from TDP. I was just cussed at and threatened in an unbelievably unprofessional manner.

This is absolutely insane, and never in my wildest dream would I picture a shopowner cussing at a customer on the telephone.

Ladies and gentlemen, here's the story. I ordered some items from the devils playground a few weeks ago. When I received the shipment, I noticed instead of the f-line red tea I had ordered, I received f-line cocoa. No big deal, I called them up and asked them to ship the red tea, and Holly asked that I ship back the cocoa. No problem, but I'm not doing it until I get the red tea. Well, 3 weeks later and after recieving 2 or 3 tracking numbers from Holly (NONE of which worked, and I still don't have the red tea) I decided that well, so much for that, and decided I'd share my experience with other forum members.

Bad customer service is just that- bad customer service. Neal- you know you are on a public forum, and you know opinions matter. If you mess up an order, I have every right to express my opinion with other forum members. NO I did not lie, and NO I am not trying to steal anything from you. Fact of the matter is, you freaked out and called me at 12:30 in the morning.

For those of you wondering, here is the eloquent and professional voicemail left by Neal, to me. And yes, I have it saved.

But first things first.. Neal- have I ever threatened you? No. Have I ever cussed at you? No. Have I ever yelled at you? No. Have I patiently and calmly tried to get my order straight? You betcha. Did I decide to use my right to free speech and share my story with other forum members? Yes.


"yeah dude, um, after reading the forums, what you were saying was that you had 3 uh fake tracking numbers. ironically, from what holly said, i'm just taking everybody at their word, what holly said though, was that you got the wrong item. miscommunication on our end. so, you know, i really wanna ship you that red tea if thats so damn important to ya, but guess what? you can now ship me back the cocoa first. personally, i say keep it. but after lying in the damn chat room, and kissin up to mushrat? Fuckin piece of shit? Yeah dude, you need to ship that back. I'll pay the shipping to get it back. You can priority it. When I get my shit back, you'll get yours. And believe me, I will be on the forums, and we'll be tellin people whats up. And you'll know its me when you read it. That was bullshit. You wanna put up and apology up there, I'll gladly let you keep it and give you red tea. That aint a big deal but you dont ever lie on me. As far as mushrat, I dont fuckin think so. I get 40,000 a month in my shop alone. I aint going fuckin anywhere tell mushrat I said that too."


Is this an apology? Nope. I, as the customer, have the right to receive my order that I have paid in full. I help up my end of the bargain, and so should you. I know you got stuff going on, but lashing out on a completely innocent customer is the kind of attitude that'll make you go straight down the drain.

Needless to say, I'm shocked man. I don't deserve to be treated like this, nobody does. Even so, I'm not going to sit here and threaten to have my lawyers shut your shop down, I'm not gonna threaten you with idle threats of any action whatsoever. I'm going to be the bigger person and do nothing but SHARE THE TRUTH. You have absolutely NO RIGHT in this world to cuss at a customer. What on earth are you thinking bro?

[bjelder]

And before this gets any further: I am NOT attempting to slander The Devils Playground by posting this message. I am exercising my right to free speech and sharing my story. It is all 100% truth that I have personally decided to share with the community.

[esheg4ever23]

Unprofessional...

[adike]

wow... lol i thought Devils playground was a cool place to order. what happned?

[bjelder]

Just got off the phone with him again.

After screaming and cussing at me for a good 5 minutes, he got Holly on the line and she admitted that she had given me a tracking number, lost it, and sent me another one that didn't work.

In other words, Holly screwed up but didn't tell Neal about it, and Neal cussed me out on the phone without knowing about it.

He admitted he was wrong and I was right. All I asked for was a formal apology and he got pissed off again and hung up on me.

I think Neal and Holly are gonna have a fun night....

[Dereksd]

ha yea just watched it all happen on his live feed.even if it wasnt his fault handled it way out of line i heard the way he talked to you and holly

[indian_villager]

The guy is hella stressed and in the past few weeks I have seen him get flamed to no end on this forum. Professional or not after being pushed to their limits people snap. Considering the troubles he's been having with getting robbed, starting up a business venture and the cops bugging him the man has a full plate. And every time I have talked to him on the phone the guy is running on absolute minimal sleep. I understand that message was unprofessional but think of what led to it.

[KLD]

Hey bjelder, mind uploading the message that was left on your voicemail because IMO I think that u are just trying to damage Neal/DPG/worldhookah's reputation

[JillyIsJustKidding]

Imo I understand that you felt like there was a mishap with the switch of flavors. They asked you to ship back the cocoa so they could give you the red tea.

Now, I'm thinking this from his stand point as a vendor "Would I personally give this person the right flavor when the customer has a different flavor that this person didn't pay for? How would I know if the customer will even give back the Cocoa?"

So he made a deal with you to ship out the cocoa and so he could give you the red tea. Easy to do. The reason he can't send you that red tea is because c'mon he needs that cocoa and shisha costs money for vendors obviously.

I understand your really effed off that he gave you the wrong flav. But dude? SHIT HAPPENS. He has many orders from people all over the USA and he's human and we all make mistakes.

You have every right to state your opinion but you should have straightened it out b4 you went on the forums. And please don't flame me you guys for saying this, but neal has every right to be pissed off too because people are trying to bring him down when they don't know the amount of work he has at his shop.

He probably had a bad day that day too and maybe other people are yelling at him and he couldn't take it anymore. Edited June 13, 2008 by JillyIsJustKidding

[bjelder]

Either way, it doesn't matter. I, as a human freakin being, don't deserve to be called a "fuckin piece of shit" by some guy on the internet when I have done absolutely nothing wrong. It was Holly's mistake, not mine.

I've already texted him and said that I understand he's been having a rough time.

I really don't have any hard feelings against the guy, hell I've been stressed out before too. Holly screwed up, he took it out on the wrong person. Mistakes happen.

I'm not gonna be childish and try to 'get him back' and slander him on the forums or call the better business bureau, all I'm doing is sharing my personal story.

[bjelder]

Upon further conversation with Neal, all my issues have been resolved.

He got mad at me for Holly's mistake, found out what was wrong and IMMEDIATELY apologized like a gentlemen.

No hard feelings whatsoever. Edited June 13, 2008 by bjelder

[indian_villager]

Good to hear!

[Jeff_T]

Isn't neal/TDP now banned here? I understand the stress coming with a new(er) small business, etc. But that type of verbage is uncalled for in any circumstance. Customer service, like some one stated, is about serving the customer... Needless to say I've placed one order with TDP and it was fine and all, but I'm never doing business with them again. The actions of them in the past few weeks are unfathomable from any business. Anywho, I recommend to them reading/glancing at any type of Beginning Business textbook, then cleaning up their act... Sorry if this is miscalled for or seems out of place, but my $.02.

[adike]

Neal was robbed? lol I need to visit this forum more often.
I totally agree with a person above, that we all snap once in a while. I went out to a dinner just yesterday with my gf and her aunt who I just met, and her aunt was treating this poor waiter so badly...
I wanted to punch her in the face...and I can only imagine what the waiter was thinking...

Lol a little bit off here, but yeah... we all have our problems and handle them differently... and of course take it out on other people...

the way I usually return stuff is that I tell them I will ship out the item "later today", please do so too..... that way both items go out the same time.... lol but i never ship out before I know that they did...

[MatthewLee]

I'm not surprised.
Place looks mad shady from the pics they have on their website.

And I love this line :
"Holly screwed up, he took it out on the wrong person."

Great, so now I have visons of some female getting verbally destroyed by this character.
Guy sounds like a real piece of work.

p.s.
I've already read all the 'dick riders' excuses for this guy, so please don't repost and try to convince me otherwise.

[MatthewLee]

Isn't neal/TDP now banned here? I understand the stress coming with a new(er) small business, etc. But that type of verbage is uncalled for in any circumstance. Customer service, like some one stated, is about serving the customer... Needless to say I've placed one order with TDP and it was fine and all, but I'm never doing business with them again. The actions of them in the past few weeks are unfathomable from any business. Anywho, I recommend to them reading/glancing at any type of Beginning Business textbook, then cleaning up their act... Sorry if this is miscalled for or seems out of place, but my $.02.

Bravo...finally someone with some sense.

[Big Boss]

Neal was robbed?

He wasn't robbed, he was raided.

[Nirguna]

I'm not surprised.
Place looks mad shady from the pics they have on their website.

And I love this line :
"Holly screwed up, he took it out on the wrong person."

Great, so now I have visons of some female getting verbally destroyed by this character.
Guy sounds like a real piece of work.

p.s.
I've already read all the 'dick riders' excuses for this guy, so please don't repost and try to convince me otherwise.

And you seem to have made up your mind without considering the other people who have had nothing but great dealings with Neal. The OP has had his issues resolved, Neal has apologised for his conduct to the OP. Move on.
Yes it was unprofessional - however - unless you know the whole story, I'd suggest you just keep your opinions to yourself.

Want to purchase your supplies elsewhere? Fine. Do so. It's a free country. You however seem like you have your own agenda against him.

@ Big Boss - this time (as far as I know) yes, he was raided. He's also been robbed recently (by a previously trusted party) of a few thousand dollars Edited June 13, 2008 by Nirguna

[MatthewLee]

I don't buy my supplies from 'head shops'....'nuff said.

[indian_villager]

He actually was robbed a little bit ago.

[Big Boss]

He actually was robbed a little bit ago.

Well then, thats a double kick in the nuts...

[nitrousconsumed]

I'm not surprised.
Place looks mad shady from the pics they have on their website.

And I love this line :
"Holly screwed up, he took it out on the wrong person."

Great, so now I have visons of some female getting verbally destroyed by this character.
Guy sounds like a real piece of work.

p.s.
I've already read all the 'dick riders' excuses for this guy, so please don't repost and try to convince me otherwise.

And you seem to have made up your mind without considering the other people who have had nothing but great dealings with Neal. The OP has had his issues resolved, Neal has apologised for his conduct to the OP. Move on.
Yes it was unprofessional - however - unless you know the whole story, I'd suggest you just keep your opinions to yourself.

Want to purchase your supplies elsewhere? Fine. Do so. It's a free country. You however seem like you have your own agenda against him.

@ Big Boss - this time (as far as I know) yes, he was raided. He's also been robbed recently (by a previously trusted party) of a few thousand dollars

i was there both times and it hella sucked.

[Voski]

He was robbed when he first opened the lounge. I think it was five grand in cash at his lounge.

[Frank]

I heard he was robbed when he first opened and raided recently....that is unfortunate.

I don't think he'll be gone anytime soon though he is doing alot of business and has alot of happy customers.

He should prolly hire another person to assist in shipping tho so these screwups don't happen again

[antouwan]

raided?

what was the pretext?