Never EVER order from CigarExtras.com

That's the lesson I learned and want to share my story in the hopes you won't have to go through what I did…

On the 2^nd of September, 2008 I placed an order with CigarExtras.com for a new humidor. The original link to this humidor is here. Though after this story starts getting around I have no doubt they will either remove that page or modify it, so I'm also including a link to a copy of that page I made. It can be viewed here.

Now let's first take a closer look at this humidor… Clicking the "More Images" link on that page resulted in this picture loading:

Looking as this picture we can see that this humidor has 3 windows, has what appear to be Spanish cedar "tracks" that the trays sit in, and last but not least clearly show (by looking at the front as well as through the side window) that it is fully LINED in Spanish cedar…

Taking this a step further, reading the description given for this product by CE we have the following points clearly stated on their site:

• Lined in premium kiln dried Spanish cedar
  
• Two large rectangular humidification elements included
• Impressive design with windows on three sides
  

Of particular important here is that it's LINED in Spanish cedar, again as we can clearly see in the picture above.

Ground shipping to me from CE was three days. I called on the 4^th of September to find out why I had not yet received a tracking number or shipping notice for my humidor. I was told that it takes several days to process orders and that my humidor was being labeled and would be shipping out that day.

On the 9^th of September, 2008 my humidor arrived. Once I got home that evening I unboxed it. Imagine my surprise when the first thing I was greeted with was a humidor that looked like this:

Now let's point out a few key differences… First off, notice that it has 4 windows instead of 3? Secondly, notice that there is NO Spanish cedar lining??? No "tracks" of Spanish cedar for the trays to sit in… Instead it shipped with some small metal "pins" that suck into the side of the cabinet itself and these held the trays in place. The fact that this is a "rear door" model didn't really bother me much, since you can simply turn the trays around the other way and make it a "front door" model… But the lack of Spanish cedar lining did… It also only included one humidifier, not the two as described.

At this point I did what any other customer would have done. I called the very next business day (on the 5^th of September, 2008). After being greeted and asked how I could be helped, I explained the situation. I was then told to go home and check the "part number" on the box I received. IF it matched a specific number then "you received the part you ordered and there's nothing we can do".

I was a bit miffed at this point since it was obvious from above that the humidor was NOT what I ordered regardless of any part numbers stamped on the box. Still I went along with this and checked. Sure enough the part number on the box matched exactly what she had told me was the "part" that I ordered.

I called back on Monday the 8^th of September, 2008 and again explained my situation. I was then told that somewhere (and I still haven't found it, but I'm sure it's buried somewhere on there) on their web page there is a disclaimer that states that there may occasionally be "small" changes made to products by the manufacturer and that because of this the product may not be exactly as described.

Now look folks… I'm a reasonable man… If this thing had arrived with a silver knob instead of a gold one, or maybe a slightly different stain color, perhaps even a slightly different knob entirely… I could understand these "changes" as being "small" and not worry about it. But adding another window? Completely doing away with ALL of the Spanish cedar lining??? These were NOT "small" manufacturer changes… I was ripped off plain and simple… I purchased one product and received a completely different one.

I was so upset at this point that I had no choice but to hang up before I exploded. I figured I'd give myself a day to cool off and hope that I reached someone different on the next call and would receive better help.

I can't remember what happened, but I got tied up the next day and couldn't call, so I called on the 10^th of September, 2008. I once again explained my situation and everything that had occurred before and practically begged for some help. Once again I was told that there simply wasn't anything that could be done.

I then told them that I just wanted to return it then and get a refund. It was then pointed out that yet ANOTHER disclaimer on their web page states that all returns must be made within 7 days AND that ANY return would be charged a 25% restocking fee.

WHAT?!?!? So let me get this straight… I buy a product… You send me something COMPLETELY different than what I ordered and now I have to lose 25% of the purchase price?!? ARE YOU F'N KIDDING ME?!?!? This was a clear case of fraud if I had ever seen one!

After a few not so nice words I was told that I could try sending an email to their customer service as a last ditch effort. Once again I hung up before I completely exploded…

It took me a few days before I was even calm enough about the situation to attempt another communication. I had considered just leaving things the way they were and taking one to the gut. Sure I had been ripped off, but at least I had SOMETHING to show for it… If I sent it back for a refund I'd have nothing and be 25% of the purchase price lighter!

Finally I decided something had to be done to resolve this one way or the other. I considered contacting my lawyer, but after all the fees and everything else would it really have been worth it? So lastly I decided to write an email to their customer service and CLEARLY outline what was wrong with this situation and see how far it got me, INCLUDING the fact that I was considering contacting my lawyer.

One other thing I'll mention about these humidors before we get on to the email timeline… The product I ordered as was described on their website showed a "retail" price of $259… Another humidor, the "rear door" model like what I received was also shown on their website, but with a "retail" price of $159… Clearly an indication of the quality difference between the two…

But it gets even more interesting than that. The picture of the humidor that I ordered was named VG-03S.jpg… VG-03S is the "part number" that I was given to verify on the side of the box… This might first lead us to believe that the manufacturer really did make all these changes and they didn't know about it… EXCEPT for the fact that the "Rear door" model, the one I received with no lining, etc. has 03s_NEW_closed_ha.jpg. Notice the 03s? I have almost no doubt in my mind that this is the SAME 03s from the part above… In other words, that would indicate that they KNEW that the "03s" model changed (hence the "NEW") and yet did not remove the old part from their site… Remember this point, as you'll see it's important as we now get into the emails…

I'll touch on the key points of these emails, but I'll also include a FULL copy of the main thread here if you want to see it in its entirety. The ONLY thing that has been modified on this is my contact info (last name removed, work email removed, and business address/phone removed). Everything else is left completely unaltered.

On the morning of the 16^th of September, 2008 I finally decided enough was enough and it was time to do something about this situation. I would NOT lie down and just be screwed over. I wrote an email to customerservice@cigarextras.com detailing the exact differences between what I ordered and what I received. I explained that this was a last ditch effort to get this situation resolved and that if it was not resolved I would spread the word about their company as well as contact my lawyer to see what recourse we might have.

Late that afternoon I received an email from "Ruth" stating Fedex would attempt to make a pickup over the next 3 days. Upon the humidor arriving back at cigarextras.com they would issue a refund. She then went on to say they in no way want unhappy customers so they would just get the humidor back and refund me. I never questioned it at the time, but now after all I've went through I have to wonder since she never mentioned a "full" refund if it would have in fact had the 25% restocking fee deducted… She certainly never said otherwise.

Now listen here folks… I'm a fair guy… Really I am… The fact that this was the response I got actually did impress me. It made me wonder why it wasn't so easy dealing with the phone reps, but still, at least it was being resolved. HOWEVER, since I am a fair man, I wanted to give them a chance to make things right. What I really wanted (and NEEDED for that matter) was the actual humidor that I ordered. I didn't want a refund… I just simply wanted to product I paid for. So I responded back and explained just that.

That same evening I got a response back telling me that they had unpacked the "new" stock they had received and found that there were all these differences and that the manufacturer did not make them aware of them. She went on to say that their tech support was fixing the info on their web site. She then stated that she had a couple of units left from the original stock, and that she could send me one of those if I wished. She then went on to say that since the outer box was the same, there was no way they could have known. She also said that I'd have to be patient since they would need to receive the old humidor back before they could ship the new one. She wrapped up by saying that if FedEx got the humidor tomorrow (the 17^th) they would probably get it back on Friday and the replacement would go out the beginning of the next week (the week of the 22^nd).

There was one thing that didn't sit well with me about this email… She claimed to have no knowledge of a "new" model of this humidor… Yet as explained earlier, the picture of the "new" model clearly had "new" in its picture name. Both of these humidors were up for sale on their site BEFORE any of this ever happened. Anyway, to continue…

I wrote back telling Ruth that I wanted to follow the best course of action for everyone, and in my opinion that was to get the replacement humidor… The one I had ordered in the first place… I also mentioned that if their phone reps had been half as helpful as her, most of this would have been avoided in the first place. The response back was that they are an e-tailer and therefore 99% of their customer service get's "handled" through email… Why is it then under their "contact us" they have their phone number listed?!? When dealing with a problem like this, I want to speak to someone over the phone, not through email. Anyway…

I don't know how much longer FedEx will continue to make this available, but the tracking number from FedEx for the return is 997021800159641. An archive of the page can be seen here. You can see from the tracking information that the package was presented to FedEx the very next morning at 10am… Once again the "curse" of this humidor shined through. Apparently something happened to the package shortly after it left our local depot. By the following day, the 18^th of September, 2008 it was clearly stated that the humidor had been damaged by FedEx.

Now once again folks, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure this out. If the humidor was damaged in shipping, then CigarExtras.com would be collecting the insurance money for the package. At this point any other business out there would have proceeded to ship me my replacement humidor. Why? Simple, they were getting their money back for the humidor that I had paid for. Now let's assume for a moment that I happened to be a psychic and KNEW that this package would be damaged in shipping. Thus I decided I would ship back some of my old laundry instead of a humidor… Why would they care? They still get the same insurance money no matter what…

Anyway, so I sent another email off to Ruth telling her that the tracking info was showing that it had been damaged in shipping. I then asked if they could go ahead and ship the replacement since obviously this would cause a delay and I wanted to get my replacement asap…

I got a response back from Ruth indicating that, "there will be no additional delay due to this"… BUT they must get the old humidor back first… What?!? How is that possible… If you don't get the package on time, then you won't ship my package when you stated… Which means there will be a delay… Is it just me? Am I missing something here???

Speaking of the tracking information, I'm not sure WHY this is, but a LOT of the rest of the tracking info got cut off… Originally it continued on for quite a ways, and as you'll see from the email thread that it was NOT delivered on the 19^th as stated… Or at least if it was, then I was once again mislead by CigarExtras.com since they indicated (Again via emails) that it was not…

On the 19^th however, the package did show that it had been "Delivered" and signed for by a "Tommy". I emailed Ruth and asked for an update on its status.

That same afternoon (Friday the 19^th) Ruth emailed me back to let me know that she had sent an email to FedEx to find out what was going on and that she would get back to me on Monday…

On the afternoon of Monday the 22^nd of September, 2008 I sent a message back to Ruth once again asking for any update, and again stating that according to FedEx it was "delivered"…

Later that afternoon I received an email back stating that "as in her last email, she would email fedex today and that we must allow 24 hours for them to respond…" Well no Ruth, your email didn't state that, it stated that you had already SENT the email to fedex on Friday, and Monday afternoon certainly would have been more than 24 hours. Regardless I decided to ignore this and wait…

Late afternoon the following day, on the 23^rd of September, 2008 I sent yet another email asking if there was any update. I received no response until the afternoon of the following day… Finally on the afternoon of the 25^th of September, 2008 I was told that they had finally received my old humidor back AND that my replacement unit would ship out tomorrow, the 26^th of September, 2008.

Wow, finally getting this wrapped up right? Wrong…

I replied back thanking Ruth for the update and asking for a tracking number once this order shipped.

6 days later, on the 2^nd of October, 2008 I once again sent an email to Ruth asking her to provide tracking information on this package. I knew that if it had shipped out on Friday AS PROMISED it would have already made it to me.

I didn't get a response back until the following morning… That response was that they wanted to "clear something up" before they shipped out the replacement… What they wanted to clear up was that the humidor they would be shipping was NOT lined in cedar… In other words, it would be just like the one I received and went through all this time and hassle to get back to them… I could either "accept" the replacement as described (obviously as described in her email, NOT as described on their web site) or they would "refund" me… Notice still the lack of specification of a FULL refund??? I still wonder about that…

Now here's the thing that just absolutely infuriates me… After going through this for almost a month, and having their "tech support" fix their web site; and NOW being told that apparently the humidor AS DESCRIBED on their website DOESN'T EVEN EXIST… You know what the best part is??? IT'S STILL ON THEIR WEBSITE… STILL BEING SOLD and STILL BEING DESCRIBED AND PICTURED as "lined in kiln dried Spanish cedar"…

How can a company get away with this?!? I mean just imagine it folks… You get online and place an order for an iPod Touch… When you get the package in the mail you open it to find an iPod Nano… You call up because clearly you've been sent the wrong item only to be told "Ohh, sorry, nothing we can do, clearly on our web site it states that what you receive might be different from what you order." HUH?!? I'm sorry, but any way you look at it that's just downright FRAUD!

To wrap this up, I sent back a reply email telling them they had one of two choices…

Either A) they could ship me the EXACT humidor pictured and described in the item I ordered and we'd go on our separate ways hopefully never crossing paths again, or B) they could issue me a FULL refund and I would make it my personal business to make sure EVERY brother of the leaf out there knows to stay FAR FAR away from CigarExtras.com.

Since you're reading this now, I think it's obvious what path they chose. Yet the still attempted to place the blame on me. You see as you can see in the "email thread" above, it wasn't that got shipped a product that I ordered that doesn't even exist, but rather that my "expectations exceeded the reality of my order"... WHAT?!? My expectations are nothing more than what was DESCRIBED on your site! Ha! With the conclusion of this story I hope you'll spread the word and make sure you nor any of your friends will order ANYTHING from CigarExtras.com… If we can't do anything legally to them, at the very least we can make sure they go out of business through lack of sales! So please! Spread the word! Post this link anywhere and everywhere you can!

The author of this blog can be contacted at rusirius76@gmail.com