Damned if we do damned if we don't on this one.
Ideally we would have some forwarning and been able to make incremental changes over a period of time ( a VERY common practise in the food, drink, vaping industry) and over time you do not notice those changes and you certainly do not get told about them - you have a start point and end point and smoothly transition in between. no mention its made when companies do this.
Not a route that was open to us unfortunately. We had enough stock for roughly 2 months .. we stretched it to three and had to reformulate a range that has taken us five years to build in that time.
Also .. due to obligations to wholesalers etc .. this has not been a "Old stock stops here, new stock starts now" so there has been no cutoff point to be able to say .. this is all new reformulation, its been woven in over an amount of time.
I could have sold down old stock and then said as Simon suggested "NEW FORMULATION - BEST EVA!" but to me that seems dishonest and disingenuous (although it IS now easier on the coils) - we didn't want to change it anyway so blagging it as better didn't sit well with me, and saying "New formulation ... you may find it tastes a bit different you may not! opinion is varied Soz!" doesn't seem to be a great idea. So we made the decision to deal with each individual customer on a personal level if they have had any issues. which we have been doing - its pretty exhausting - but there have not been as many as you might think. We have been offering replacements or part in a reformulation testing process on Chiricahua, or refunds depending how they feel about it. We (as in I) have always had a very hands on approach with our customers - we have customers that stretch not just to the day we opened officially - but to back when I was a home mixer messing around at home. I have remained throughout all this in constant contact with pretty much all our customers - this has got more difficult as we have got bigger, but something I still tend to do, some of these customers have been around so long they have become friends.
Also there is priming - if you tell someone something tastes a certain way .. an amount (not all of people) will instantly notice a difference (in practise sometimes even if there is not one) and no one likes change.
We have gone what we believe is the best route for us and the buyer - as we will leave non of them out in the cold.
one thing is for sure - no matter which way we had dealt with it - it would not have been the right way for some and the would have been the right way for others.
it is what it is.
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