Backstory
I like to enjoy a cigar every once and a while. Typically I will just go to a local shop and pick a few up. However, I have ordered them online once or twice so I decided to put in an order for a few combo deals from famous-smoke.com.
My order came in on Friday, I opened the box and started checking out all the sticks. One of the combos was a 6 pack of Tubos. 3 Different brands, 2 each. One of the brands, Romeo Y Julieta, had mold on both cigars (not plume). Pretty Nasty...
I also had a 5 pack of Makers Mark cigars. One of which had a big crack on the side down to the cap. (didn't really bother me, but I figured with the moldy ones I might as well get this replaced too).
Service
I took some pictures, sent an email to their customer service address and asked if they could be replaced. I received a reply that said I need to call their number and set up a return.
I call the next day and tell the agent I have some moldy cigars I would like to have replaced. He tells me "these things happen", but then has trouble figuring out what to do so he puts me on hold for a minute or two. He comes back and says that I need to send back the entire 6 pack and the entire 5 pack for a return. Then they will refund my money and give me store credit. Then I will have to re-order everything. I am annoyed by this but, in a hurry so I ask him to e-mail me a shipping label and he says he will take care if it.
I get increasingly annoyed by this solution and I have not yet received the shipping label so I send another email to the customer service address and ask that it be handled in a different manner. Now I am told I still need to send back the 6 pack because they want to make sure the other brands in the pack don't grow mold (all in self contained tubes), but they will go ahead and refund my cracked cigar. I decide to push it and ask that they schedule a pick up from my house. I am told I will have to call in again to make that happen.
I call back today as I hadn't received the return label and I wanted them to schedule a pickup. I was told I will have the label in 5 minutes and they will check to see if they can schedule a pickup and get back to me. Wait till the end of the day and no call and no return label. I send another email to let them know I still had not received the return label. I am told they will forward my email to the supervisor so the label can be sent. A good while later the labels shows up in my inbox still no word on the pickup.
If you made it this far...
Should it be this difficult to have two moldy cigars replaced? I guess I expected them to say "throw the moldy cigars out and we'll send two new ones out for you."
Now I'm debating, do I say fug it and send just the two moldy ones back and let them deal with it or send the whole 6 pack as they asked? I noticed they raised the price of the 6 pack already.
/rant..pics below
http://shmaa.site40.net/mold1.jpg
http://shmaa.site40.net/mold2.jpg