BEST PRICES EVER GUARANTEED

[puffstuff]

Shawn, since you're here watching. That was the easy part. The hard part is, I'm still at work at 11 pm doing invoices and I will probably be here until 1 a.m packaging these up to assure they go out first thing in the morning. To make sure I gain a customer for the long term and keep my reputation as a trusted vendor.
Shawn I'm telling you this not to attack you but because I also have several college students that work for me that I would like to see do well in business some day and I hope the same for you.

Al

 

[Seanholio]

Shawn, since you're here watching. That was the easy part. The hard part is, I'm still at work at 11 pm doing invoices and I will probably be here until 1 a.m packaging these up to assure they go out first thing in the morning. To make sure I gain a customer for the long term and keep my reputation as a trusted vendor.
Shawn I'm telling you this not to attack you but because I also have several college students that work for me that I would like to see do well in business some day and I hope the same for you.

Al

Al is one of my two favorite cigar retailers. Service like this is why. Their outstanding prices are SECOND to the excellent service I get.

Sean

 

[chris@importcigars.com]

Hey Guys,

FYI Rocky turned down my offer for $100 in free swag to offer you guys something instead. I'll put something together and post an introduction later this week. We're back logged working on holiday orders at the moment. Again my appoligies for the way my rep abused your board. I've heard how you guys can give people a ripping before and have warned all my reps never to post on this forum for that very reason. In Shawn's defense the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

With all due respect to our pricing. I'm not the owner nor do I have a lot of pull to make a price one number or another. I know like any business we're here to make money and while our prices on some things may be "over MSRP" as some have said this is something I have little control over. I'll mention this and see what can be done, unlike some online retailers we actually price boxes at what we're told to. FYI we have not yet gone Factory Direct with AF but we are working hard to do so.

Some cigar makers work with internet retailers some don't. If you can find a better delivered price somewhere else then I'd buy there too. But please give me a chance to price match.

Moving on...I came on this board for 3 reasons;

1. To justify a reason for letting Shawn go due to Rockys complaint.
2. See what was said and make clear that ImportCigars.com is a loyal and trusted merchant.
3. Protect the company's good name from a rep trying to make a quick buck.

As far as "stopping by" I don't know what Shawn said but we have no retail location except for online.
Our offices our in Franklin Indiana to which we employ about 16 people between 2 states. With high excise taxes and smoking bans
its very difficult to run a retail location in Franklin, Indiana. That's just the way they want it to be.

I have instructed Shawn to not come back on these forums. Personally I don't believe "how his firing went" is of anyone's concern other than myself and the owners.
I hope Shawn learned you can't lie and not get caught. Bottom line I'm not happy about having to fire someone this close to Christmas. No matter how you or I feel about
his conduct here the timing sucks and someone with kids to feed has lost thier job due to this very issue of poor judgement. If you get enjoyment on this then you're a sick individual.

I would hope that those of you here will allow me the ability to right his wrong's in any way I can and extend my personal appoligies for this embarrasing
and downright unprofessional display of behavior from the behalf our company and accept full responsabilities for Shawn's actions here.

I'm considering advertising on CP but that depends solely on if that is money well spent. I hope no one on this board has the fordrawn conclusion
that this rep's behavior represents this company as a whole.

Guys please understand on the Opus X I'll bend over backwards to help a customer but I won't grab my ankles.
Al it's 11am and I feel your pain, we do the same for our customers everyday. I'm still here too we have over 300 orders to ship by 8am tomorrow and we're only 50% done.

Best Regards,

Christopher McGee
Director of Sales & Operations

Import Cigars, LLC. (ImportCigars.com)
Toll Free Phone: 866-571-8919 x101

 

[BigJake6904]

I'll mention this and see what can be done, unlike some online retailers we actually price boxes at what we're told to. FYI we have not yet gone Factory Direct with AF but we are working hard to do so.

So you use a distributor, like P&K, or someone else for your fuentes. They don't have control, and cannot tell you what to sell them at. If you are using a distributor that tells you what to price them at, time to get a new one...price fixing is illegal...you're in a competitive market, and prices are always lower online than in retail shops. And since you are only based online...well, maybe whoever is in charge of pricing needs a lesson in market competition (before the store develops a bad reputation for being a rip-off), and a contact list to get in touch with better distributors.

Not to mention, I work with and talk to many of the main distributors in the industry, and not a one has ever told me what to price a cigar at, and from the catalogs I have from them...it's impossible to believe a respected distributor with the MSRP published in the wholesale catalogs are telling you to sell cigars at those prices.


edit to add.

 

[northernmoris]

BTW who is Rocky?

 

[Charley]

WHEW!

 

[Charley]

WHEW!

I need a nap now.

 

[Holyvision]

Best.

Read.

Ever.




If this thread teaches anyone anything, it should that FOGs can strip the meat from a cow to the bone in 60 seconds:

.


You don't want to be the cow.

 

[Jinxedwarrior]

BTW who is Rocky?

I am.

 

[chris@importcigars.com]

I'll mention this and see what can be done, unlike some online retailers we actually price boxes at what we're told to. FYI we have not yet gone Factory Direct with AF but we are working hard to do so.

So you use a distributor, like P&K, or someone else for your fuentes. They don't have control, and cannot tell you what to sell them at. If you are using a distributor that tells you what to price them at, time to get a new one...price fixing is illegal...you're in a competitive market, and prices are always lower online than in retail shops. And since you are only based online...well, maybe whoever is in charge of pricing needs a lesson in market competition (before the store develops a bad reputation for being a rip-off), and a contact list to get in touch with better distributors.

Not to mention, I work with and talk to many of the main distributors in the industry, and not a one has ever told me what to price a cigar at, and from the catalogs I have from them...it's impossible to believe a respected distributor with the MSRP published in the wholesale catalogs are telling you to sell cigars at those prices.


edit to add.

Big John it seems you have it all figured out. I'll leave my keys on my desk and you can clock in at 7am. You seem much more qualified than me. After all I'd hate to work for a company that "rips people off". WTF, I've come in here to make ammends for something I didn't even do and you want to start fanning the flames again? Have you even bothered to check our pricing on any other product besides AF. Is that all everyone here smoke's is AF? If that's the case then don't buy from us we have some of the worst AF pricing out there.

What a warm welcome I'm getting here. So much for being honest and stepping to the plate I guess? I get less drama from my wife. I had a feeling coming here and being a stand up guy might bite me in the ass in the long run. I can say that from a standpoint of reputation. A few members on these boards are doing for you what Shawn has done for us. For example I've been told by every shop owner, distributor and in some cases the cigar makers themselves at the RTDA that this board has a bad reputation for being rude and very unwelcoming to anyone it meets.

From some posts I've seen and e-mails i've read by members I've known this to not be completely true. But post's like this affirm my point as two why one bad apple can spoil the bunch.
Big John I mean no offense but your remarks about price fixing are a little below the belt IMHO. I'm in no position to argue with you here I'm an employee just like everyone else so your post is falling on deaf ears.

P.S. Rocky is the guy who e-mailed me.

Can we please close this thread? I'd like to move on to a more progressive conversation of how our company could help CP members, there’s no use crying over spilt milk.

 

[JHolmes763]

Chris: Don't misinterpret advice as an accusation. BigJake was giving you some valuable advice that you might want to discuss with your boss.

 

[chris@importcigars.com]

Chris: Don't misinterpret advice as an accusation. BigJake was giving you some valuable advice that you might want to discuss with your boss.

I hear ya, I'm a bit old fashioned this chat room stuff doesn't convey emotion worth a crap. I can't tell if he's being sarcastic or helpful. These types of discussions are better left to the phone or face to face. The damn internet is destroying everything.

Like my mother used to say...."If you can't say something nice about somebody....come talk to me"

 

[Macion Grey]

I told you guys 'Ow' was not a safe word.

 

[chris@importcigars.com]

Rocky I just spoke to the owner about this situation and told him you guys needed a REAL jesuture of good faith. He's stated any cigar pass member can have 8% off thier total order and free shipping over $99 for the rest of the month. It's the best I could do i hope it will suffice, my personal offer to you stands at anytime.

 

[bfisher88]

Chris you have handled yourself and this situation extremely well imo. I'm sure Jake was just offering advice based on his experience in the business and was in no way trashing you. Sometimes we get a bad rap here at CP, but it isn't because the people that got flamed didn't deserve it or push their luck (most of the time). Stick around and learn some things, you will be glad you did.

 

[chris@importcigars.com]

Chris you have handled yourself and this situation extremely well imo. I'm sure Jake was just offering advice based on his experience in the business and was in no way trashing you. Sometimes we get a bad rap here at CP, but it isn't because the people that got flamed didn't deserve it or push their luck (most of the time). Stick around and learn some things, you will be glad you did.

Thanks for the encouragement. We did deserve every bit of what we got here no doubt in my mind. I just hope moving forward you guys realize I want a relationship with all of you to be on a good level going in. I'm not known on boards but I've been in tobacco all my life. My name means a lot to me and I wan't to show everyone here are Cigar Pass we're a good company and I'm an old fashioned kind of guy who means and does what he say's he'll do, ALWAYS...period. I believe your word is your bond and I stake my very being on that principal.

 

[moki]

Someone told me to try out the whole MikeJ thing. My business admin teacher actually, said it was a good idea, obviously not. Said do to the failing economy you have to be more aggresive in today's market. Like I said be4 I apologize if I offended anyone just trying to keep the edge and not get complacient. But seriously we do have some pretty good deals and I wanted to get some attention for it.

So your clueless business admin. teacher heard something about "viral marketing" and told you to drum up business by shilling for your product online forums, and lie about it when you were caught?

It is to laugh. Good luck convincing people to patronize your business after you started off your introduction with deception, and then lied to cover it up.

Yeah sounds like a business I'd like to send my $$ to.

On second thought... pass.

 

[BlindedByScience]

.....I've heard how you guys can give people a ripping before and have warned all my reps never to post on this forum for that very reason.

We're not really a bunch of complete hard asses but we have a funny way of demanding this thing called "the truth". Also this is a large group of very sharp guys that can figure out when "the truth" isn't being fully disclosed.

Not that it's hard to get along, but B.S. doesn't fly far here. Simple as that.

Good Luck - B.B.S.

 

[Jinxedwarrior]

Rocky I just spoke to the owner about this situation and told him you guys needed a REAL jesuture of good faith. He's stated any cigar pass member can have 8% off thier total order and free shipping over $99 for the rest of the month. It's the best I could do i hope it will suffice, my personal offer to you stands at anytime.

I appreciate the discount and free shipping for CP members, and since I believe you tried with your boss, it will suffice for me!

Rocky

 

[souldog]

I had a feeling coming here and being a stand up guy might bite me in the ass in the long run. I can say that from a standpoint of reputation. A few members on these boards are doing for you what Shawn has done for us. For example I've been told by every shop owner, distributor and in some cases the cigar makers themselves at the RTDA that this board has a bad reputation for being rude and very unwelcoming to anyone it meets.

I've been quietly watching this situation unfold, and I am really just trying to wrap my head around this statement. I haven't been here at CigarPass very long, so I can't speak to being one of the founding members of this fine community and assisting Rod in shaping how it is ran today. I can't tell you how this community ran itself 2 years ago, 3 years, 4 or 5 years ago. I can only speak to what I've searched through the archives, my daily interactions with the upstanding members on this website, and the friendships I've made.

I'm trying to understand why CigarPass has a "reputation" as being a community that is "rude" to anyone it meets, when Member #9205 (AKA SL#3) joins, posts an introduction, and is warmly greeted by a majority of CP's finest. I believe Member #9206 will be treated with the same respect, as will Member #10000. I'm trying to understand why CP has a reputation as being "unwelcoming," when you have gentlemen who joined several years ago like AVB, Nullsmurf, GGiese, and DevilDoc in the rank and file who still come back day after day to participate.

If this community has a reputation that precedes itself and is spoken of at mainstay cigar-related events such as the RTDA, then why are there so many active members who devote their time, resources, and even their own cigars at the behest of no man save themselves?

Maybe I just don't "get it," (as BlindedByScience is wont to say) but it seems to me that all of this evidence and more flies in the face of CP's so-called "reputation." This is the greatest online community in my opinion, and others pale in comparison in terms of generosity; friendliness, and overall integrity. This place is easy to become involved in, we protect our own from scammers like your ex-employee Shawn, and police one another should someone get out of line.


But who knows? This is just one man's opinion.