B&M rant!

[Ou2mame]

I think your expectations are too high. I only go to one vape shop where everyone knows everything about what they sell. And I frequent 5 shops. I don't expect them to know everything, I'm just glad that they sell the stuff. I'm not the type to listen to a sales person anyways I usually know what I want.

 

[Mailablemage]

I think your expectations are too high. I only go to one vape shop where everyone knows everything about what they sell. And I frequent 5 shops. I don't expect them to know everything, I'm just glad that they sell the stuff. I'm not the type to listen to a sales person anyways I usually know what I want.

if the owner claims that his employees do in fact know the specs of every battery they have, then I expect them to know the specs of every battery they have.

 

[Ou2mame]

You're just setting yourself up for disappointment if you believe that. You need realistic expectations. Sorry but like someone else said, minimum wage only gets you so much. Sure, the owner could pay more and get better people, jack the prices up and lose sales because of the larger Internet price gap, and then go out of business.. But that's counter productive.

 

[Mailablemage]

You're just setting yourself up for disappointment if you believe that. You need realistic expectations. Sorry but like someone else said, minimum wage only gets you so much. Sure, the owner could pay more and get better people, jack the prices up and lose sales because of the larger Internet price gap, and then go out of business.. But that's counter productive.

so what you are saying is; I should expect to be hung up on when I ask to talk to a more knowledgeable employee, that I should not expect an employee in a vape store, a store that ONLY sells e cigs, and juice, to not know at least n passing what an IMR is, even though they are basically the only batteries used in mods.

 

[USMCotaku]

I don't think your rant is off base at all. It's one thing to not know every detail about every item in their shop. It's entirely another thing to not know of your batteries are IMR or ICR, and the amp ratings at minimum. This is basic safety we are talking about. Then to hang up on you for asking to speak to a different employee..... That shop would never get a dime from me.

Since when did it become too much to expect your employees to learn their jobs? Goes to show how far off base this country is getting...worker doesn't know her products, treats customer rudely...yet it's the customers fault for expecting too much? B.S., that worker should be replaced, by someone willing to learn their job properly.
Sent with one hand, the other is busy vaping.

 

[DoubleEwe]

I used to work in procurement, so I would constantly be calling businesses looking for specific parts, if someone hung up on me like that, I too would vow to never do business with them.
However, I would not be expecting the salesperson to know about every product they sell, all I would expect from them would be to let me know if a specific item is in stock and the price of it.

On the whole, the less you get paid to do a job the less you are going to care about it.
Most of these shops are not going to have very good promotion prospects, so it is not as if you can work hard and work your way up, there is no point to it, it is a dead end job.

 

[duc916]

B&M's need to put together a cheat-sheet for their more dense employees who think their job is to blow vapor all day. All the knowledge required of them could easily fit on an 8.5 x 11. You could even fit Ohm's Law on it. It's not rocket science.

 

[klutzyleo]

I'm surprised by some of the responses here. I really don't care what someone gets paid. You have a job so I expect you to do it. If you're still in training and don't know the answer then you get someone who does. If you feel as though it is okay to hang up on a potential customer then you lose your job.

I work in specialty retail myself and I do know about the products we sell and the processes we offer. If I ever felt as though it was appropriate to hang up on a customer I would lose my job in an instant. I will grant you that I don't make minimum wage, but that should not matter. I've worked minimum wage jobs in the past and I still would have lost my job had I acted like that. You are representing the business when you talk to customers and you will lose the business a lot of money behaving like that. If you feel you don't make enough find another job because there is always someone else out there willing to learn and do your job correctly.

Also, yes, B&M's should most definitely know battery safety and be able to advise customers on it. Battery explosions are seriously bad news and any shop that doesn't do that is just being negligent. I feel that is part of the advantage of buying from a B&M. You get to talk to knowledgeable staff about the safety of batteries, mods, sub-ohming, etc. before you purchase something.

 

[smokinGAVIN]

I agree with klutzyleo. The staff should be properly trained by the owner specially about battery safety. Then again you as the user should also do your research before buying a product because in the end it will be the user who will suffer if the mod explodes.

 

[DoubleEwe]

I'm surprised by some of the responses here. I really don't care what someone gets paid. You have a job so I expect you to do it. If you're still in training and don't know the answer then you get someone who does. If you feel as though it is okay to hang up on a potential customer then you lose your job.

I work in specialty retail myself and I do know about the products we sell and the processes we offer. If I ever felt as though it was appropriate to hang up on a customer I would lose my job in an instant. I will grant you that I don't make minimum wage, but that should not matter. I've worked minimum wage jobs in the past and I still would have lost my job had I acted like that. You are representing the business when you talk to customers and you will lose the business a lot of money behaving like that. If you feel you don't make enough find another job because there is always someone else out there willing to learn and do your job correctly.

Also, yes, B&M's should most definitely know battery safety and be able to advise customers on it. Battery explosions are seriously bad news and any shop that doesn't do that is just being negligent. I feel that is part of the advantage of buying from a B&M. You get to talk to knowledgeable staff about the safety of batteries, mods, sub-ohming, etc. before you purchase something.

Yes, we all don't care what they get paid, but everyone is aware of the saying "YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR" and it obviously applies to staff as well as products.

Yes, I agree the staff member should be fired for hanging up on the customer like that, but the lack of product knowledge is acceptable and understandable.
The employer is responsible for how knowledgeable the employee is, if they want their staff to be the font of all knowledge then they should train & educate them accordingly.

 

[aznnp77]

When I worked in retail I hated it if someone asked if they could speak to the manager, or to someone else. It's actually quite offensive, even if you didn't mean for it to be. What you said definitely could have been received as offensive. It's basically saying you don't know what you're talking about, even if she was really trying, but you don't have time to deal with them.

If you support local shops so much, you should know that negative yelp reviews can ruin businesses of any size. Reviews are so prevalent now, people probably look up the reviews for everywhere they go.

Not that the review wasn't warranted, but you probably could have just let it go. To clarify, you have every right to be angry about the customer service.

 

[T3Texas]

Don't you just love mid twenties business owners and employee's?

No business skills
No Customer Service skills
Not a damn clue as to how to treat people

I HATE! HATE! HATE! this hobby for that reason. But until I'm completely nic free and can can this vice, I'll stick to online ordering.

 

[DaveP]

Brick and mortar vape shops compete fiercely with online vendors, just like most other small retail shops. The markup is higher because of the overhead associated with a physical storefront.

They general pay low starter wages. Some offer commission and actually have training programs to bring new employees up to speed. My local vape retailer does a good job, but there's one or two employees I can talk with. The others have to go ask them anyway, so I might as well wait on the two that know the hardware.

Batteries aren't complicated but there's lots of choices. lmr is often referred to as imr, but the acronym stands for Lithium Manganese Rechargeable. imr was mistakenly adopted because the lower case L in lmr looked like a capital I (i). It's surprising how many vape shop employees don't know the difference.

Most new employees don't know the difference between high drain, standard l-ion, or why amperage makes a difference. They just know that most high watt vapers want the blue ones or the green ones and 10 watt vapers want the red ones or the black ones.

 

[stevegmu]

The employee may also be really cute, which is far more important than knowledge in a retail environment...

 

[Vatigu]

With only one side of the story I don't know whether I'd like to jump onto the bad Customer service bandwagon... hell she could have meant to put you on hold and pressed the wrong button. I still don't know how to use the phones properly at work (fortunately all my customers are internal so I run 99% off emails)

P.S. I actually despise phones. cell phones are a portable email device for me.

 

[LMS62]

so what you are saying is; I should expect to be hung up on when I ask to talk to a more knowledgeable employee, that I should not expect an employee in a vape store, a store that ONLY sells e cigs, and juice, to not know at least n passing what an IMR is, even though they are basically the only batteries used in mods.

I guess much would depend on how exactly you asked to talk to a more knowledgeable employee. IMHO, I'm betting it may not have come across as polite as you think.

 

[Mailablemage]

I used to work in procurement, so I would constantly be calling businesses looking for specific parts, if someone hung up on me like that, I too would vow to never do business with them.
However, I would not be expecting the salesperson to know about every product they sell, all I would expect from them would be to let me know if a specific item is in stock and the price of it.

On the whole, the less you get paid to do a job the less you are going to care about it.
Most of these shops are not going to have very good promotion prospects, so it is not as if you can work hard and work your way up, there is no point to it, it is a dead end job.

Thats all I expected of the employee when I called and she didn't even know that

 

[Mailablemage]

When I worked in retail I hated it if someone asked if they could speak to the manager, or to someone else. It's actually quite offensive, even if you didn't mean for it to be. What you said definitely could have been received as offensive. It's basically saying you don't know what you're talking about, even if she was really trying, but you don't have time to deal with them.

If you support local shops so much, you should know that negative yelp reviews can ruin businesses of any size. Reviews are so prevalent now, people probably look up the reviews for everywhere they go.

Not that the review wasn't warranted, but you probably could have just let it go. To clarify, you have every right to be angry about the customer service.

I guess im iust not as passive as you are, there are a lot of things I will let go. I was willing to let the fact that she didn't know what I was talking about go. Which is why I asked for a different employee instead of just hanging up.

I work in a store where specifics are necessary, and if I don't know something I will ask a coworker, or look it up. There is no shame in admitting that you don't know something, and all she had to do was say so and grab someone else.

I also believe that business should be cutthroat, if a business fails because of bad yelp reviews then it's their own fault, and they should have done a better job at running their business.

 

[spek]

Really interesting, I read your story and was reminded of my experience just about every time I go to my local B&Ms. I then went to yelp to check out local reviews to see what people said about the shops in my area. I notice one shop has low reviews and go to check them out. I think I just read your review! Are you in Southern Oregon by chance, haha?

I have had similar experiences with almost every local shop around here. Not being hung up on specifically, but encountering employees that don't have any idea what they're talking about. I've been vaping since 2010 and I know my stuff pretty well. Almost every time I go into these places with a question, they don't know what they're talking about. Like... "This tank looks interesting, how does it perform? (kaifun gs)". "That's not a tank, its an RDA". It is a very rare experience for me to go into one of my local B&Ms and get an employee that can actually help me. I find I'm usually the one to educate them and I have to browse the items they sell and then go home and watch a youtube review. I once tried to snap a photo of the label in the counter, so I could go google the product because they guy was clueless about it. He told me to stop and he had to get a manager to ask permission if I could take a picture of a products NAME TAG. I said no thanks and walked out. I bought liquid locally for a month or two, but eventually got tired of a sub standard product that was overpriced.

Furthermore, all they seem to sell are overpriced clones. Buying a clone as a cheap alternative to determine what you like and don't like is one thing, but these places are charging ridiculous ammounts for items they probably purchased on fasttech.

This is both frustrating for a seasoned vaper, but more concerning for beginning vapers who's only resource of knowlege comes from these misinformed shops who's only goal is to get you to spend money in their store.

So I do realize that it is in fact cheaper to shop for vape gear online, however I live in a smallish town where most of the vape shops are locally owned. I am a huge fan of supporting local businesses, so I try and shop at B&Ms as much as possible. There is a small vape shop a block away from me where I get most of my gear, however they d not carry IMR batteries yet, as they are a new shop and are still talking with suppliers. So I decided to call around to a few local shops to see who had what.
My first mistake was not just going to a shop across town that an acquaintance of mine runs, I knew he had them, and I had been meaning to stop in and try out a few juices he had emailed me about. I instead googled local stores and checked out some of their websites. the only one I found on the list with them in stock had a post about them on their facebook page, so I called them to see if they had any in stock.

this was my conversation

shop employee: thank you for calling BLANK BLANK how may I help you?

me: Hi I wanted to know which IMR batteries you had in stock.

shop employee: um hang on let me check... I have some that say lith... lith ion? is that the battery you were looking for?

now at this point I reaized she had no idea what I was talking about, which I thought was fine, she might be new, so I continued

me: would you be able to connect me with another employee? im looking for a specific battery and you kinda need to know what you are looking for.

her (in a snotty voice): no we don't have those *click*

she friggin hung up on me! I wasn't even trying to be rude, nor was I upset that she didn't know what I was talking about, all I asked for was to speak to someone who knew what I was looking for! is that so wrong? is it wrong to expect an employee in a shop devoted to a niche market to know about the products they sell?


agh I'm so mad!

the worst part was when I posted to their yelp page, I gave them one star and made my complaint known, and all they did was post this BS excuse in response.

"We at BLANK BLANK strive to be as knowledgeable as possible about all items in our store. We sell hundreds of batteries and do understand the specs on each of them. Miscommunications happen and we will do our best to solve any issues and meet the needs of all costumers now and in the future."

WHAT KIND OF LAME EXCUSE IS THAT??? CLEARLY YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE SPECS ON ALL OF THEM OR THERE WOULD NOT BE A PROBLEM HERE!!! are you telling me you sell 'hundreds' of batteries and your employees don't even know that ALL OF THEM ARE LITHIUM ION???? If I were to walk in to a sporting goods store I would expect the employees to know what a baseball is, can I not expect the same from an employee at a vape shop? what is wrong with these people?


this is exactly how accidents happen, ignorant shop employees sell to ignorant customers and someone gets hurt.

 

[Rizzyking]

It's called the service sector if you set up a shop catering to a specific client you should be able to deal with them and have the knowledge to do so. No not everyone that has a job knows every single small detail and have never been expected to but in a vape shop battery's should be something you do know about, would I have given them can bad review probably not but everyone I knew would know not to bother with the place. Love the people defending the employee and using minimum wage as an excuse she has a job she's lucky to have a job there are plenty that don't so do it half decently and learn the job. Set and accept low standards and they become the norm until the bar gets set lower still expect more demand more thats how things improve.