UK Ecig Store - Right to Reply

[junglist]

Hi Everyone,

As a mod team we have been discussing what happened yesterday and today with the people over at UK Ecig Store and we have also been talking to them direct as well. There's nothing like a good chat

As you know, we haven't banned their account as we can't really see what they have done wrong, and to be honest they are amazed at the reaction from some quarters. They have sent us a statement and we are happy to post this on their behalf. As you will see they have been around a long time and have been great supporters of the vaping movement so they deserve the right to give their side of the story. I won't waffle on any more and will leave this thread open to reply for now but will close it later as don't think we need any great discussion on this.

As thanks for taking the time to listen to them and the support they have received from us they are offering all PotV forum members a 15% discount until the end of the month. Just add PotV and your username in the comments box (last section in the checkout process) and they will verify the username with us weekly and give you the 15% as a refund. Anyway, here's the message from the people ukecigstore:

Hi guys!

We have been serving the vaping community for over two years now, and have continually been doing our utmost to push the industry forwards. From creating and launching the first ever commercial VV box: the Innokin MVP, to working with the engineering team at Aspire on the VCT coils as well as designing and helping to engineer the VTR. We also continue to pitch ideas to companies you guys buy from all the time, refining existing products and always looking for the next great innovation in vaping. We always try and push the boundaries.

Let's address the issues you guys have raised recently.

The Auction:

We have had an unprecedented amount of emails from customers regarding the Variant, asking us when it would be available for sale, how they can reserve one, and whether we would be auctioning one off. We therefore decided to put it up for auction in the interest of being as fair as possible to all those who were interested in the device.

Originally, we started the auction inviting only those who had registered interest in the device to bid. With two days of bidding remaining, and after receiving dozens of queries from other customers interested in the device after hearing about it, we decided to let all of our customers know about the auction.

We are in no position to begin telling people how much they are allowed to bid on any particular item. We just let the auction run its course. Clearly, the auction became a bit of a hot topic, resulting in lots of mock bids, stopping our customers who wanted to place a considered, serious bid from doing so. We have received many phone calls today from disappointed customers as a result.

VapeFest:

We were there last year, had an amazing time with you all, and will 100% be there again this year. We confirmed with the organising team nearly two months ago, that we will be doing a charity auction on one of our Variant units. We will also be matching the amount it's sold for with our own funds.

Our Practices:

We do not, and will not, sell clones or cheap and untested products. We made this decision to protect the community and the mod makers we work so closely with, as our purchasing department frequently travel to the far East, and the amount of, shall we say, 'less than suitable' products people are pushing is unreal. With the government looking for any opportunity to clamp down on the vaping industry, we ensure we only ever sell the real thing. Commercially, this is a bad decision as clones clearly sell well, but we categorically believe that this is morally wrong and irresponsible.

We never once considered that selling a rather rare, hand-crafted mod on eBay through an open auction would result in accusations of us 'flipping' – we simply wanted to create the most fair way for our customers to get their hands on the device.

A little more community information

We have supported the AAEC London group for over a year, supplying hundreds of pounds worth of vaping products for free. Why? Because we actually do care. We don't just hand out free products, we attend the events and thoroughly enjoy our time. We also give AAEC and other forum members shopping discounts - whether you think it's enough is up to you!

We have a local event at our shop in Wembley, where we have given away thousands of pounds worth of free gear and had a blast - we couldn't have imagined how great it would be. To suggest that we don't care about the community and that we're just in it for the money is unfair and hurtful as we, including our staff, feel we are part of the community as we are vapers as well. We don't have to have events, cloud competitions, or even a B&M at all where liquids are available to test for free; but it's a great place for people to come and meet other like刀minded people.

So, hopefully that will allay some fears, or at least gives you an idea of us as a company. I also hope you can appreciate our addressing you guys directly.

Thank you.

 

[T wisted]

Fuss over nothing

Sent from my ST27i using Planet of the Vapes mobile app

 

[HAZZA1962]

"We Don't sell Clones or Cheap Untested Products" No because there's not enough profit in them!!! Load of Bollocks!!!

 

[nikki from mars]

I guess that they should have held a closed or blind auction rather than an open ebay one to prevent the possibility of people getting the idea they were flipping the sale of this mod though... kind of practice that couldn't be used in that way... and to be fair here... when it was 1st picked up on here the price was already totally excessive, at which point it was a fair assumption as to motive... they could have pulled the auction then and dealt with it before it got so out of hand... at least that is what they are doing now... so credit where it is due

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Planet of the Vapes mobile app

 

[JennyJ]

'We never once considered that selling a rather rare, hand-crafted mod on eBay through an open auction would result in accusations of us 'flipping'

Surely that juxtaposes contradictory elements! 'we had no idea selling something valuable and highly sought after yet almost unattainable, to whomsoever was willing to pay most, would result in someone paying us well over the odds'

I'd be curious to know what the reserve was.

 

[Blackhack]

It was badly done right from the start.....all "interested" parties should have had their names entered into a random number generator and the winner of that should have been allowed to buy the box at the RRP.

Making excuses for having an "open" auction just allows the "elite" vapers who can afford to pay well over the odds to get bragging rights.

I think that ukecigstore are just trying to back peddle their way out of mess that threatens their business.

 

[Vaping Bad]

They could have done an auction and promised to donate everything above the retail price to charity if it was not about the money and this would have been good PR.

I think selling at the highest price is just the same capitalism that this and many other countries run on. This is a luxury item so I don't feel there is anything morally wrong with trying to achieve the best price. However there is a strong anti flipping feeling among many vapers and this was obviously alienate them.

I have never dealt with UK Ecig Store, but it has been suggested that the motivation for derailing the auction was customers that have suffered poor customer service. This is just what I have heard, but I do know that AAEC revoked their vendor status for that reason a few months back or I would not have mentioned it.

Personally: I don't care, but have found the auction entertaining and it's @ £1,000,100 now so some people are defiantly putting effort into messing it up.

 

[Dr. Zaius]

Bribery - the hallmark of innocence...

 

[nikki from mars]

I totally agree that it was very badly dealt with. .. maybe this will serve as a wake up call to put customers and fellow vapers first in future though. ..

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Planet of the Vapes mobile app

 

[Tubbyengineer]

Personally I think Vicious Ant are partly responsible for this Fiasco, Having seen huge demand for this product they've left the total number of units at a ridiculously low level - why? Surely it cant be because they're too expensive to make, yes it's nice box they've sourced but everything else is fairly standard It cannot cost more than $250 to make. So the only explanation is that they've deliberately used it to create a "Buzz" about their brand artificially jacking up their credibility and desirabilty for future products.

UK Ecig store are not entirely innocent in this matter as a random draw for the item at RRP would have been the most fair. However UK Ecig store are in business to make money and the best way to do that on such an in demand item is an auction - as long as an auction is properly conducted then it is fair. As for the accusations of flipping, this refers to the practice of buying one or more of an item you do not need or want and immediately selling it for a grossly inflated price. This clearly is not the case as I'm sure UK Ecig store would have happily bought a hundred of these, sold them all in days and ordered a hundred more at worst they can be accused of slightly cynical profiteering.

As for the Ebay auction, well the tosser who upped the bid just after the £620 mark ruined the auction for everyone, bid history shows them upping the bid from £620 to £755 in 42 seconds with no other bidders then another trio of bids taking it up to £900 in just 12 seconds with no other bidders. Clearly some one wanted to disrupt the auction - presumably because they had bid earlier at the £450 to £500 mark and did not have enough to keep in the running after it hit £600+

So all those people who bumped the Bid better club together, one of you should now be forced - at gunpoint if neccessary to pay the £100,100.00 just to make the point that if you bid and win - you pay!

So POTV Team, Good call on not banning UK Ecig store...

UK ECig store you naughty bunch of scallywags tried to make a bit extra and it backfired, two weeks on the Naughty step for you!

E-Bay Bid bumpers - You're a bunch of idiots who ruined what was turning out to be a perfectly acceptable auction of a Premium product and also the reason a good number of people like myself distrust and dislike E-Bay... You should be hunted to the ends of the earth and made to pay what you bid, the proceeds from that would make a fantastic charity donation...