Famous Mold

[nwb]

Jackal - 9/4/2010  5:58 PM

PLUME IS NOT FUZZY.

 

I was also wondering why the Visions were being sold for less than half retail

[Shukpaw]

I like 3 week old kittens, but but not on my cigars.  Glad they finally took care of you. I have had a handful of bad experiences from CBid/CI, but have only had good service from Famous.  I have only placed 10 or so orders with them, but they have all been good.

[kola]

Jackal - 9/4/2010  5:58 PM

I think that they did inspect them, sent me the one with the least mold on them (it is only a few patches on this box, confined to the cigar's feet) and will pass off the others as plume to the unsuspecting.

The snippy CS girl said that they all had plume ands that I just didn't know what I was talking about.  She said that plume would grow right out of the feet of the cigars.

PLUME IS NOT FUZZY.

Also, plume does not "grow". I thought it only accumulated on the wrapper, and not on the filler.
The more of this story I hear and understand, the less I like what it means. A screw up is one thing. Intentional BS - that's a problem.

[Jackal]

That's what bothered me.  They fixed it, but were intentionally telling me that the returned product had plume and that I just didn't know what I was talking about.  

[nwb]

Jackal - 9/4/2010  9:33 PM

That's what bothered me.  They fixed it, but were intentionally telling me that the returned product had plume and that I just didn't know what I was talking about.  

That is concerning - one thing to mess up, completely different to mess up and blame the customer.

[ROTHNH]

ROTHNH - 9/4/2010  2:15 PM

I just sent Gary Korb @ Cigar Advisor a link to this thread:


"Hi Gary,

I thought this is something you might want to look at:

http://www.cigargeeks.com/index.php?topic=6237.0

As a long-time Famous customer, I, like many of my friends, are concerned with this issue.

Thanks for your time!"

Here's Gary Korb's e-mail response, received today:

"Hi,
 
Yes, I saw it and have addressed it. The Customer Service Center is handling this and I may have to make adjustments to the copy.
Since you are an experienced smoker, you know about plume and if you bought a box of Vision and they had it, you would know how to handle it.
More to come, I guess, and thanks for the concern.
 
Happy smokes,
Gary
(__[GK]_____{{{{ ~~
www.Famous-Smoke.com
www.CigarAdvisor.com
What's in your humidor?"

I can't tell from Gary's reply if he actually inspected the three boxes of Vision cigars with mold, not plume.  More to come, he said.  It will be interesting to see if any actual updates occur ...

Will the future hold a Vision of Plume?  Or a Vision of Mold?
 

[akira]

Good to know.  I've never had any problems with Famous either, and almost went for a box of the Visions myself, but I will definitely avoid them now.  Thanks.

[lowpro75]

This sounds like he believes that Jackal don't know shyt and keeps sending back cigars with plume.  The line that says you are an experienced cigar smoker and if you got a box with plume you would know how to handle it.  Interesting.

[Brlesq]

lowpro75 - 9/7/2010  12:53 PM

This sounds like he believes that Jackal don't know shyt and keeps sending back cigars with plume.  The line that says you are an experienced cigar smoker and if you got a box with plume you would know how to handle it.  Interesting.

Yeah, other than dusting the plume off, how else do you "handle" it?

[ROTHNH]

Like Rich, I was a little disconcerted with Gary's rather nebulous reply, so I wriote him back:

"Hi Gary and thanks for the quick reply!

"I wrote you because I was very concerned about this matter and how Famous Smoke Shop had handled it so far.

"I'm please that you actually checked this out, including  reading the CigarGeeks. Com forum thread (the link I sent you).

"I hope you also checked out the three boxes of moldy Visions.

"As you can see by reading the forum thread, my fellow CigarGeek, Jason, who sent back these cigars, is also an "experienced cigar smoker" who knows that mold, unlike crystals of beneficial plume, is thick, "hairy," and that mold is unacceptable in any cigar purchase.

"We're look forward to the result of the investigation.  Anyone who's smoked cigars as long as we have who've been long time Famous Smoke Shop customers have grown accustomed  to superior knowledge and the customer service; it's somewhat disconcerting  to fear ordering a box of Vision Cigars to not only to receive a defective product but then get a hassle about it from CSRs."

[nwb]

To be honest, this is getting more disappointing.  

[Jackal]

The last box that was sent to me had only some cigars that had white fluff only on the foot.  The box had been opened and inspected.  I believe that the least contaminated box that they had on hand was sent to me.  Still, I am not paying over $100 for only some mold.

The customer service woman that I spoke to, was insistent that the cigars that I sent back to them were inspected upon return, and that the experts at Famous confirmed that it was indeed plume, and that I just don't not know the difference.  

I have a degree in chemistry and can tell the difference between a crystal formed by insolubilities of oil verses a growth of biological materials.  In my profession, I have seen a lot of bio-growth; this was mold.

[lowpro75]

Jackal - 9/7/2010  1:21 PM

The last box that was sent to me had only some cigars that had white fluff only on the foot.  The box had been opened and inspected.  I believe that the least contaminated box that they had on hand was sent to me.  Still, I am not paying over $100 for only some mold.

The customer service woman that I spoke to, was insistent that the cigars that I sent back to them were inspected upon return, and that the experts at Famous confirmed that it was indeed plume, and that I just don't not know the difference.  

I have a degree in chemistry and can tell the difference between a crystal formed by insolubilities of oil verses a growth of biological materials.  In my profession, I have seen a lot of bio-growth; this was mold.

You should probably be educating them as to how to tell the difference.

[Jackal]

lowpro75 - 9/7/2010  11:00 AM

Jackal - 9/7/2010  1:21 PM

The last box that was sent to me had only some cigars that had white fluff only on the foot.  The box had been opened and inspected.  I believe that the least contaminated box that they had on hand was sent to me.  Still, I am not paying over $100 for only some mold.

The customer service woman that I spoke to, was insistent that the cigars that I sent back to them were inspected upon return, and that the experts at Famous confirmed that it was indeed plume, and that I just don't not know the difference.  

I have a degree in chemistry and can tell the difference between a crystal formed by insolubilities of oil verses a growth of biological materials.  In my profession, I have seen a lot of bio-growth; this was mold.

You should probably be educating them as to how to tell the difference.

They didn't want to hear it.  The CS girl was snippy to the point of being rude.

When I told her that plume does not grow fuzz and that I have never seen it grow out of the foot of a cigar her response was that it sometimes looks that way and sometimes grows out of a cigar's foot.

Personally, I don't believe that plume can grow from the foot, but I am not an expert on that point, so I cannot argue that point properly.  Has anyone here heard of plume growing straight out of a cigar's foot?

[Jackal]

Now I see that Holts has the same cigars at @ 6 for $25.  Might as well just buy there and not worry about the hassles.

[lowpro75]

Jackal - 9/7/2010  2:36 PM

lowpro75 - 9/7/2010  11:00 AM

Jackal - 9/7/2010  1:21 PM

The last box that was sent to me had only some cigars that had white fluff only on the foot.  The box had been opened and inspected.  I believe that the least contaminated box that they had on hand was sent to me.  Still, I am not paying over $100 for only some mold.

The customer service woman that I spoke to, was insistent that the cigars that I sent back to them were inspected upon return, and that the experts at Famous confirmed that it was indeed plume, and that I just don't not know the difference.  

I have a degree in chemistry and can tell the difference between a crystal formed by insolubilities of oil verses a growth of biological materials.  In my profession, I have seen a lot of bio-growth; this was mold.

You should probably be educating them as to how to tell the difference.

They didn't want to hear it.  The CS girl was snippy to the point of being rude.

When I told her that plume does not grow fuzz and that I have never seen it grow out of the foot of a cigar her response was that it sometimes looks that way and sometimes grows out of a cigar's foot.

Personally, I don't believe that plume can grow from the foot, but I am not an expert on that point, so I cannot argue that point properly.  Has anyone here heard of plume growing straight out of a cigar's foot?

I'm pretty sure plume doesn't "grow".

[Jackal]

Their plume has a life of its own

[nwb]

Jackal - 9/7/2010  5:17 PM

Now I see that Holts has the same cigars at @ 6 for $25.  Might as well just buy there and not worry about the hassles.

Thanks for the heads up.  

[Rebecca Silverwolf]

Did you ask to speak to the girl's supervisor? I don't care if the person calling is a total moron (which I know you are not), if you work in customer service you do not get snippy or event hint at being slightly rude to a customer. No excuse.

[elmokfo]

I haven't had many dealings with Famous but this issue is seriously making me question any future dealings.  Guess I'll wait and see what Gary has to say on this matter

[kola]

Gary's answer looks intentionally vague, and does not reassure me of Famous, their level of expertise, or their ethics. Either he hasn't looked, doesn't care, has really bad "expertise" on staff, made a calculated business decision to offload a bad buy from CAO ... or something equally stupid.

The competition is looking better every day. The thread on Tampa Humidors went better than this ... at least they fessed up.

[Jackal]

Here is the response from Famous

Dear Jason,

 

I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize for the quality of your recent order from Famous Smoke Shop for the CAO Vision Catalyst.

 

We at Famous Smoke Shop take pride in our unmatched service and quality and I assure you that your experience is in no way typical.  As a cigar smoker myself I can understand your disappointment.  I'm sure you know that a little bloom on a cigar is nothing to be concerned about and can easily be wiped away without any affect on the cigars.  In fact, some people say that a cigar with a little bloom is one that is well aged and will provide an excellent smoke.  Mold, however is another story.

 

After inspecting your cigars, they do indeed have enough bloom (not mold) that I can see would concern you.  Either way, you must be completely satisfied before we are.  We take customer satisfaction and quality very seriously.  As a gesture of our sincerity, I'd like to offer you a 10% discount on your next order with Famous.  We know you have choices when it comes to cigars and we want you to continue to choose us.

 

Again, I apologize for any inconvenience we may have caused you.

 

Patrick Haines

Famous Smoke Shop

Call Center Manager

They are willing to give me a 10% off coupon so that I will be quiet and stop bothering them.

They are, however, not going to accept that there is mold on those cigars.  They have pulled out the ambiguous term "bloom".  It is bloom, a fungal bloom.  With over 10 years experience designing chemistries to be resistant to bio-growth, I know what sclerotinia looks like.

I am happy that they are willing to try and make me happy with the discount, but I am done with my dealings with Famous for quite a while.

[Jackal]

By the way, is there anyone who has ever heard of fluffy, cotton like plume coming out of the foot of a cigar?

[junglepete]

That's all bull$%?& Jason. The 10% offer made me laugh out loud. What about all the time and stress you had sending the packages back, the rude customer service agent, the fact that you're a good customer, the fact that you're not a dope....10% my ass. If a company can't satisfy you then the hell with them...I think 10% is an insult and a very weak response. At the very least they should have offered you a box of something else of equal value and picked up the tab for your troubles.

Too bad I just ordered from them recently because I would have passed on the order just out of solidarity.    

[capndutch]

Well, I buy over $3.000 worth of cigars a year, and this thread has convinced me that there are vendors far more willing to earn business than Famous.