TrishS@CigarBid wrote:Howdy
I cannot express how sorry I am for causing so much frustration and angst. No banhammers being swung for being frustrated by what appears to be a total black out in communication. That's not the case at all. Here's a little insight.
I appreciate hearing from someone who works here! I was positive you'd all ripped all the copper pipes out of the building, and run for mexico by now. I appreciate the work you're putting in to get this fixed. I don't know your exact position in the company, but since you're on the web forums, I'll go ahead and assume you're not "upper management" or "the owner."
Why couldn't the company take responsibility for this on their own, instead of an employee stumbling across this post by happenstance? Whoever is leading this crap show is playing their hand too close to their chest right now. We, the people who send you guys money, need to know whats going on when we send you money, and products do not ship to us. I understand no one likes to put a "we're having trouble" message on their website for fear of driving away new customers, but, how many of these "new" customers are going to actually stick around when shipping times are on par with ordering from mainland china during cyclone season?
On another note, I realize system upgrades go bad. I've been a part of a few that went bad. You know what we did in 4 out of 5 situations? after 48 hours of deadlock not being able to do anything, we fired the database company that claimed their system would be better, and reverted to the old system. This works, unless you tore out the old system with hammers, or the idiot at the top who decided to go with the new system isn't willing to admit how absolutely screwed everything is, and tells you to just make it work.
While it does seem extreme for me to consider cutting ties after 6 years of trouble free service, I don't have any trust that this won't happen again in 6 months when the next system upgrade happens. Upper management has shown they would rather leave everyone hanging in the breeze, than admit they're in trouble. What else are they willing to sweep under the rug instead of addressing like adults? What if they get hacked and lose all of our credit card information? am I going to learn about it a month down the road when my card suddenly picks up a thousand bucks in random charges at a car stereo shop in Maryland? after my information is used to open a series of fake accounts, and used to rack up 6 digits worth of Identity theft debt? What guarantee can be given that this exact scenario won't unfold? I shop here because it's safe and convenient. Convenient just left, and I have serious questions about Safety now.
In the end, it comes down to a lack of communication with us. I'm nowhere near as mad at the fact my stuff is late, as I am at the fact I had to go digging through random forum postings until I managed to get lucky to find out that this isn't just me being screwed around, it's everyone. So, now, I'm thousands of miles from home, and will be away from there for the next 2 weeks, and chances are when I get back, I'll have several hundred dollars of ruined cigars waiting for me on the front porch. What recourse do I have then? call customer service, and ask for a reship? 120 inbound lines, all tied up, with only a handful of people on the answering end, you'll understand where I'm a bit wary.