How to lose a customer in five minutes; or why I shop online.

[Ringo]

I always enjoy a good brick and mortar cigar shop, with its walk in humidor full of cigars for sale and a nice place to smoke them. So much so that I paid to join the private club at my local, Edward's Pipe & Cigar Shop in Fort Collins, CO. I have been going there for over a decade, and buying a membership over the winter months so I have somewhere to smoke. The membership is $30 a month and includes access to a nice club room, a private humidor in the shop and the fact that you need not purchase a cigar every time you wish to smoke there as you have already paid for the membership. So I could purchase cigars there and bring them home to age instead of smoking them right away. I did this for years. It was great because I could bring any smokes from home and smoke them in a nice lounge. It was mainly for the sake of convenience for me, however even though I was not required to purchase a cigar I almost always bought a few to take home with me. It is hard to resist as you all know. Recently the store was purchased by a new owner who even bought the building. His name is Tony, and he also brought with him a partner named Jim. So everything is fine with the new owner and status quo was observed. Or so I thought. My first inkling that there might be an issue was when I found out that you now had to pay extra for the humidor drawer. Another $10 a month on top of the $30. No big deal because I did not use it anyway. Two days ago it was cold and snowy so I drove to the store with a new boutique cigar called a Patina. I walked up to the counter and said "Tony, Jim, I have a new one here, I will let you know how it is." Then Tony stopped me. He said that the store has a policy whereby you must purchase a cigar to smoke in the lounge area. I told him that I had a membership. Then he tells me that it did not matter. I had to buy a cigar. I told him that I was never required to buy a cigar as long as my membership was good, which it was. He basically told me that he did not care. He said "there was an absentee owner." I am thinking "so what? maybe you should try that Tony" although I did not say that. Also note that by this time I did not care for his tone and the attitiude that he was giving me, as well as Jim glaring at me. It was very uncomortable. I don't go to a cigar lounge to be uncomfortable, much less one that I paid to smoke in. Now by this time I had heard enough but he was still talking and then he said "you just have to buy a $5 stick or something like that." As if that would take care of the problem. Well, perhaps it would have except that he could not keep himself from giving me attitude. He was getting in my personal space and again, it was uncomfortable. And to tell you the truth if it had ended right there I -still- would have bought a cigar, and not a $5 one either. No. A really good one, because life is too short to smoke mediocre cigars. So Tony was still saying something and then he said "I have a mortgage to pay." That did it for me. Look here Tony - if $5 is going to make or break you then that is too bad for you. But don't take it out on me. I have been a loyal customer for years and I DO buy cigars here, every time I come in to smoke I also pick up a few to take home. Who do you think came in and purchased almost a whole box of Fuente blue label 20th Anniversarry Opus X. It was like $400. But I did not bother to say any of that because by this point all I wanted was to leave, and I did leave, and he was still talking as I walked out for the last time. Ever. Too bad Tony, because I make a lot of money (didn't you see the new Cadillac that I drive there?) and probably more than you do, and I buy things like cigars all the time and pay for club memberships at cigar shops. And I am easy to get along with. To piss me off you have to be a real dick. I will just leave that there for you to ponder, Tony. And by the way - when you see somebody sitting off, by themselves, with a nice cigar and obviously enjoying a book you don't go over to them and start talking to them. That happened to me twice, one time you and one time Jim. And finally, try keeping your wife and her friends from shopping for furniture and other things in the cigar lounge during business hours. It is very annoying to be enjoying a quiet smoke and then a bunch of ladies burst in and start doing what ladies shopping do. Too bad Edward's is the only b&m store around here, now I will have to drive to Longmont to smoke in winter (about twenty miles) but it beats the new Edwards. I do not see the store lasting with you as the owner very long. OH YES AND DON'T FOLLOW PEOPLE (ME) ALL AROUND THE HUMIDOR WHEN PICKING OUT CIGARS, LIKE YOU THINK THEY (ME) ARE A THIEF OR SOMETHING. Only when someone asks for your recommendations do you do that. I cannot believe that you don't know this stuff, Tony.

[Ringo]

BTW - Yes I did write a Yelp review for the shop, one star (obviously) and the exact same text as I just posted. I am their only review there so it is doubly bad for them. Tough shit. I don't get angry often, but when I do.

[BigO]

You are in the right and the store won't be in business much longer. They don't understand the business that they bought. You can bet that when it goes belly up that they will never admit fault. Scream and scream loud about it.

If they give a shit, they'll listen..

[Ringo]

Originally Posted by BigO

You are in the right and the store won't be in business much longer. They don't understand the business that they bought. You can bet that when it goes belly up that they will never admit fault. Scream and scream loud about it.

If they give a shit, they'll listen..

Nah, I will leave that for someone else. I don't want anything to do with those guys. I have found in life that the best way to deal with people who piss you off like that is to just walk away, say nothing, and let it evaporate from your mind. I said nothing as I walked out the door for the last time. And since I wrote this post and copied and pasted it right into a 1 star Yelp review I could care less. Their loss.

[Sancho Panza]

Did you remove your cigars, yet?

[Sancho Panza]

Nevermind, I see you hadn't a drawer.

[grtrx]

sorry you had a bad experience

it is becoming more common to require the purchase if a cigar to use a cigar lounge even if you pay for a membership. I was talking to a cigar shop owner Monday who was explaining why he had to do it.

they could have handled it differently but stuff happens when emotions get involved

[Rob G]

First, paragraphs go a long way in making a post easy to read.

But I feel your pain. I can certainly understand a cigar business requiring that the cigars smoked in their lounge be purchased in their lounge. But the way the owner went about this is inexcusable. I'm outraged.

And I agree. I would have done the same thing. And you should be commended for acting with such self control.

[beevod]

Next time double space.

[Ringo]

Originally Posted by grtrx

sorry you had a bad experience

it is becoming more common to require the purchase if a cigar to use a cigar lounge even if you pay for a membership. I was talking to a cigar shop owner Monday who was explaining why he had to do it.

they could have handled it differently but stuff happens when emotions get involved

I can understand that but the point is that I was always told of the benefits when I paid for my membership. And as I said I would have purchased a cigar even after a couple of h is rude remarks but he just didn't know when to stop and kept on being rude until I walked out on him. He talked himself out of a customer.