My SmokTek Nightmare

[thedailylunatic]

(X-Posted to another post on the subject... also plastered around the Internet... these guys REALLY pissed me off and I warned them that if they screwed me I'd go on a reviewing rampage)

After shopping around for my first APV, I settled on the VAMO. I was a little worried about some forum comments about how VAMOs apparently have quality issues (liquid leeches into electronics, central pin fails, breaks if you sneeze on it), but it sounded like the newest model had fixed those issues. Almost all the best APV features at less than half the price of most competitors? I was sold! I went with SmokTek because their website seemed the most legit and everything that mentioned the VAMO also said to get it at SmokTek.

BIG MISTAKE.

Here's a summary of my three customer service calls with them:

1) My first VAMO had unceremoniously lost its magic within DAYS of the warranty period expiring. It was still firing, but the output was WAY lower than it should have been. I had the power turned up all the way to 15 watts and it was barely enough to produce a puff of vapor. I explained this to the representative and he basically told me that I must have screwed it up by being a moron. He noticed that I had bought the Drunker RBA and told me that anyone other than an electrical engineer shouldn't be using RBA's and that's what probably did it. Other, more knowledgeable, people have told me he's full of it. He offered me a 15% discount on another VAMO and suggested I get a tank my puny mind could handle. He recommended a specific tank that he said used a special polymer fiber that would never burn under vaping. I told him that I'd go for the deal, but that if I had another issue with the new VAMO and the new tank, I would totally lose it.

2) I get my new VAMO and another month goes by before I start having problems again. Knowing about their 30-day warranty period, I made sure to call a few days before the deadline. I spoke to Justin, the manager of phone sales/customer service at SmokTek. I explained to him that I was starting to have output issues with my new VAMO and that, contrary to what the first guy said, the polymer in the new tank burned just as much as anything I've tried before. He apologized for the horrible service I'd received and told me that the guy I had spoken to had been fired. He sent me a new tank, which I like a lot, and I'm very thankful about that. He was extremely helpful and courteous. Before I got off the phone with him, I made it very clear that I was worried about continuing to use the VAMO past the warranty period because of what happened last time. He told me “Don't worry about that, AJ! Hopefully the new tank will work better for you and the output problem will be solved. If not, just call me in a week or two and I promise we'll take care of you!”

3) 2 weeks later, my new tank is amazing but my new VAMO bricks HARD. First it stopped recognizing connections with any of my tanks, then it must have popped a seal because it started bubbling liquid and the resistance meter was reading a short. Went from OK to useless in nothing flat. Again, a matter of DAYS after the warranty period ended. I call up SmokTek and get a new guy on the phone. I explain the situation to him and he tells me that he can't help me because the warranty's up. I explained to him that Justin promised to take care of me if my VAMO bricked because I had talked to him before the warranty expired. He says he'll call me back in a few minutes. He forgets. I call back the next day and he apologizes and says that, again, he'll call me back in a few minutes. He actually does this time and says he'll give me a 50% discount on a new one. I'm back and forth with them for a few hours on this and he tells me that the owner decided the problem was probably my fault. No explanation of HOW I could have messed up my 2 VAMOs or, if they're so easy to screw up, how to take care of them properly. This is also after he admits that they're sending replacement VAMOs out EVERY DAY to people who are within the warranty period. I didn't have the nerve to point out that maybe they're spending a lot of money on replacements because they're not very good products to begin with.

YMMV, but I think these guys are complete snakes. They have several hundred dollars of my money and every single call I've had with them they've fed me a line of lies. Will never buy from them again. Will tell all my friends to avoid them like the plague.

[CigarMan]

At SmokTek.Com, we strive to provide customers with great products and unparalleled customer service. We are always disappointed when a customer reports issues with an order or our service. We would like to address this issue to ensure that our customers know that we are always dedicated to good service.

It seems that some customers place higher expectations on the E-cig industry than they would on any other industry. For example, if you purchased a headset from Tiger Direct that has a one year warranty and after that year is expired you attempt to return your headset to TigerDirect, they will tell you that it is out of warranty and to purchase a new one. The customers don’t run to forums and complain that Tiger Direct wouldn’t replace their headset out of warranty do they? It seems like some customers take advantage of the tight-knit e-cig community (forums, meets, etc.) to exploit vendors.

Now with that being said, SmokTek does try to go above and beyond to handle every issue a customer may have, out of warranty or not. But exploits like this are unfortunately common in the e-cigarette world.

We feel that we went above and beyond for "Dailylunatic," who posted his “My SmokTek Nightmare” here on the forums. He purchased a Vamo, which developed issues after the warranty expired. He was offered a 15% discount for a new Vamo. He agreed, and purchased a new Vamo at discount. A month later he contacts us with the same issue. Again, we told him it was out of warranty. He pushed and pushed for a replacement. This was not an option as it was out of warranty. He was offered another discount. Not satisfied, he then threatened to give us a bad name, promising to do so even after we offered a new Vamo at cost. This is the "exploitation" we are talking about.

I don’t see how SmokTek failed in customer support when we went above and beyond for the customer trying to handle this issue. We did not have to offer any discounts for an out of warranty item, but we did. SmokTek has a 96% customer referral rating. We know that we will have customers that are not happy, but we do try to handle every issue that comes up. I see this is his first post here on VapeAtron just to say that he didn’t get a replacement for a product that was out of warranty.

As "Steampunk" said,

Quote:

Nobody is going to be 100% 100% of the time... a seller certainly is not responsible for what a manufacturer does, but a LOT of the sellers, esp the ones who are here make good when something goes bad.

Still, someone will be unhappy about something sometime.

I believe this to be true: no matter how hard a vendor tries to please every customer, you will not accomplish this 100% of the time.

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[IMEDICx90]

cigarman are you an affiliate with smoktech? or did you personally handle this claim? im just wondering bc this isnt the first negative review about the VAMO's that i have read when they are purchased from you guys. I have also read a few good reviews as well. So just to set the record straight on this transaction... was it you who personally handled this claim or was it someone else and you a higher up trying to do PR control?