Around two months ago I set up an account with Thompson Cigars. They had a deal that intrigued me and I was even willing to sign up for their club. Everything went fine, the cigars arrived, and all seemed complete. Boy, was I wrong. Soon I found them trying to charge my card for $150 dollars. I called and spoke with their rep and found out the were trying to send my club membership regular shipment. Unfortunately I had already changed this monthly shipment to the Cigar Tour. I was then informed that the cigar tour couldn’t be used for my regular shipment, even though just the day before I was told the exact opposite. After two weeks fighting this I finally canceled everything with Thompson and just wanted them to go away.
I found another online special, this one from Famous Cigars, it was perfect for a birthday gift for my father. I couldn’t resist ordering. Half dreading what was about to happen, I made the order. Then, nothing, I got a verification of purchase, then a verification of shipment. No harassment, no demands that I join any club, nothing. A perfect order.
After this I started to become brave. I won a $20 gift certificate form Thompson and decided to try online ordering, hoping that it wouldn’t result in another disaster. I did things just like I did with Famous, placed a simple order. First red flag popped up immediately. It took me three tries to get the website to take the $20 from my certificate off my total. It accepted my certificate as soon as I put it in, but didn’t deduct it, so I was forced to put in the certificate twice more before it finally deducted it from my total. Order placed, card charged, story done. Except, it wasn’t. Every weekday since the order I have been getting calls from Thompson. Three to five times a day. It doesn’t stop. I’m almost ready to change my number.
So there you have it. My experiences with two very different companies. I don’t know if this makes a difference to my readers, but I know how I’ll be doing my ordering from now on.
Agent 86 out waiting by his mailbox for the Thompson order. Apparently shipments from hell take longer.
November 8th, 2009 at 3:26 am
Thompson is known to be very ‘pushy’.
It’s a horrible company to deal with.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:38 am
No surprise, Thompson is a nightmare. My dad was coerced into the subscription club not knowing all about it, and of course they didn’t explain it properly. He canceled everything and they were good about accepting everything back, but they are not good to deal with. Their shipments take forever to get to you, the cigars are often damaged, and their prices are always higher than the competition…and their houseblends are garbage.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:52 am
I’ve always been leery of Thompson but after hearing your account, I’m running like hell away from them. Good customer service can heal any wounds caused by a bad order and Thompson customer service sucks.
Thanks for the info.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:54 am
My first order ever was from Thompson. It was a 5 each of 5 different cigars and a humidor for $50. Fortunately it went fine for me except for the packing job, which was really bad.
Famous, however, has gone above and beyond every single time I’ve dealt with them. Their cigarmonster.com site (which features a new deal every hour) has some incredible deals and far more often than not I’ve gotten cigars in 30 hours that were shipped UPS ground. Plus, I’ve had the good fortune of dealing directly with Hayward over at Famous, who I’ve gotten a lot of great advice from.
No, I don’t get kickbacks.
November 9th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Good commentary! When I first started smoking cigars regularly, I dealt with Thompson. I did not have any product issues, but what a pain in the ass with trying to get me to sign up for the club. I haven’t dealt with them since. Customer service is everything, especially in the competitive market we have now. Great Job!!
November 9th, 2009 at 10:57 am
I have made 2 purchases from the name we shall not mention (Thompson) and they were both horrible. The first was 5 years ago and they screwed my order up. Never resolved it and I never went back. Recently they had an online deal for a box of Gurkha Black Dragon tubos with a free Crest sampler tin for only $35. Needless to say I jumped on this. Made several calls to customer service (If you can call it that) and was ensured that it was a legit deal and they would ship within 2 weeks. Needless to say my phone starts ringing off the hook and every sales rep tells me a different story about my order….. Oh it will ship, Canceled because of pricing error, Canceled because we discontinued the item, The old bait and switch-You can’t have your order but buy these more expensive cigars, and even the Oh Hell no we are not selling you these cigars at that price.
After several calls and too much run around I filed a complaint with the BBB. I also figured out how they set up their email system using names of employees i.e. Susie01@thompsoncigar.com (not hacking! & not a real email address). I just took a wild guess and figured it out. I emailed the upper management and the owner. I basically had to beg them to step up their customer service and show me they wanted me as a customer. I got a telephone call and needless to say my cigars shipped at an incredible price and I am very happy.
I will not order from them again. I know they took a hit on the price of those cigars. I appreciate them stepping up and making it right. I hear stories like mine all over the internet about them not honoring their prices. A customer shouldn’t have to beg to be treated right.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
wow. i will definitely will not be ordering from Thompsoncigar, they sound horrible. Thanks to everyone sharing there experience! great job on this mission Agent 86!
November 9th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
I can’t say I have dealt with Thompson Cigars before, but I have made a purchase or two from Famous Cigars with zero problems. At least I know of one company I can avoid in the future. Great work on your report 86.
December 24th, 2009 at 1:31 am
I could have written almost each and every one of these replies, as I had the same experiences with annoying sales reps, misleading offers, the complicated and absurd “club” scheme…..all of that is absolutely true, I hope most people can read this and never order anything from Thompson, Famous by the way is a very good company.