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Disappointed in Blair's

staffing

staffing

I'm a little miffed today. I received a package from Blair's that I had been anticipating....a bottle of Salsa de la Muerte, a new T-Shirt, and a jar of Blair's Queso.
I opened up the box, and all that was in there was the sauce. No explanation, no nothing. In essence, I paid $13.00 for a bottle of hot sauce. A little steep. Anyway, I called Blair's hotline, and the girl informed me that they were out of the other items I had ordered. When I asked why they didn't inform me prior to shipping, she said it wasn't her dept, and wasn't her problem. Okay, now I'm getting even more miffed. I went online to send an email to Blair, and explain my situation. I am not unreasonable; I understand that items run out. But I think you notify your customer rather than just shipping a $6 bottle of sauce with a $7 shipping cost.....wouldn't you? Anyway, I wrote a lengthy email, filled in all the blanks, etc, hit send, and it disappears with an error message saying it can't be processed at this time.

I have been a fan of Blairs' for years, and have ordered from him numerous times. I haven't in a while, because the last time I ordered, I was supposed to receive a 15% discount for ordering within 30 days of the last order....no discount, no explanation. I am left, at this point, wondering why I would consider buying from this vendor again.

Am I being unreasonable? Am I expecting too much? A little input from some of you producers out there would be welcome. As it stands, I have not been able to vent to Blairs directly, since the phone rep obviously didn't care or had better things to do, and the web mail didn't work. Am I alone in this, or have other people had problems with Blair's? I have extensive online shopping experience, and I have to tell you ....this is the first time I have received an incomplete order with no explanation. It really makes me hesitate to order again, knowing that I might again receive the cheapest item I ordered and have to pay more in shipping that the item costs. Something's not right here.

Josh
 
Well, I can't speak for everyone, but sh*t happens. We try our hardest to make everyone happy, but sometimes the planets aren't completely in alignment, and a couple minor mishaps coagulate into a big issue. I have had nothing but success over the years with Blair's company, and don't have anything bad to say about them. I would try again, but remain calm and don't go off on anyone, it will only exacerbate the problem.
 
Was it actually Blair's themselves you called and ordered from, or just another retailer? You did mention "this vendor" in your statement.
 
As a veteran of ordering stuff from Blair, I've never had a problem. I do understand your point about them not telling you they were out or back-ordered on certain items, and that some notification would have been the right thing to do. That being said, Blair cares enough about each and every one of his fans/customers/chileheads to deal with this personally. I'm willing to bet that you could even get him on the phone in person and work this out pretty darn quickly. Try that and see if you can make some headway with this.

- Joe
 
Sickmont said:
Was it actually Blair's themselves you called and ordered from, or just another retailer? You did mention "this vendor" in your statement.
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It was Blairs' themselves.

I appreciate all of your input, folks, and I've had a day to cool off and review the situation. Creator, I understand that sh*t happens, being in business myself. At the same time, there was no notification effort whatsoever. In fact, there was no indication that the order was short at all. No explanation. I had to go pull up my online receipt to make sure that I actually ordered what I thought I had.
All that was in the box was a credit card receipt for what they shipped. No "Sorry, but these items were out of stock" or anything. They just acted like the one bottle was all I ordered.
I, too, have had good service from them in the past, except for not honoring the discount they said I would received if i reordered within 30 days, and the fact that they dropped me from the email list as soon as I got my bottle of Halloween reserve back in 2004.
In short, there was no effort to even let me know that my order was short....let alone why. When I have problems in my business meeting a customer's order, I'm immediately on the phone with the client trying to rectify the situation. I guess I get a little upset when others don't do the same.

Sorry I vented.

Josh
 
Not a problem. But as was suggested, Blair has always responded well to problems, and perhaps a call to him personally will get a lot off your shoulders, and alert Blair to the problem. Just a guess.
 
I'm not jumping on the "Let's slam Blair" banwagon, but at the Firey Foods Show here in ABQ last year, I was really dissapointed with his booth.

I've never met the man, maybe everyone was on a piss break, but his booth was totally unmanned with tons of people standing around with cash in hand.

I dunno, I just got a bad taste from that whole ordeal.
 
I personally haven't met Blair either, but I wouldn't be blaming him personally for the actions or inactions of his employee...

If one of my employees ever treated a customer like that, they'd be looking for work.

I can vouch for the fact that Blair's booth was swamped at the Fiery Foods due to the release of a certain special edition hot sauce and certainly Blair's men had their hands full.

That said, since I have always had the exact opposite sort of response from anyone at Blair's I gotta wonder if maybe the person with whom you had contact was having a bad day?

The whole thing sounds very unBlair Extreme Foodsish to me... I'd suggest going up the chain of command over there and getting in touch with Smokin' Joe.

T
 
Tina Brooks said:
I personally haven't met Blair either, but I wouldn't be blaming him personally for the actions or inactions of his employee...

If one of my employees ever treated a customer like that, they'd be looking for work.

I can vouch for the fact that Blair's booth was swamped at the Fiery Foods due to the release of a certain special edition hot sauce and certainly Blair's men had their hands full.

That said, since I have always had the exact opposite sort of response from anyone at Blair's I gotta wonder if maybe the person with whom you had contact was having a bad day?

The whole thing sounds very unBlair Extreme Foodsish to me... I'd suggest going up the chain of command over there and getting in touch with Smokin' Joe.

T
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I agree with you and the Creator, and I intend to call Blair's.

The intent of my post was not to "slam" Blair, and I hope I haven't left that perception. I was not happy with the service, or lack thereof....Blair didn't take the order, fill it, or ship it. I was unhappy with how the situation was handled (or wasn't) I've had time to cool off and get over my disappointment, and I will call again on Monday.
 
staffing said:
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I agree with you and the Creator, and I intend to call Blair's.

The intent of my post was not to "slam" Blair, and I hope I haven't left that perception. I was not happy with the service, or lack thereof....Blair didn't take the order, fill it, or ship it. I was unhappy with how the situation was handled (or wasn't) I've had time to cool off and get over my disappointment, and I will call again on Monday.
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There ya go.

Hmmmm, I wonder if there's going to be a help wanted sign in the window of Blair's come Monday.

T
 
Tina Brooks said:
There ya go.

Hmmmm, I wonder if there's going to be a help wanted sign in the window of Blair's come Monday.

T
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or at least an employee missing a good sized part of their a**...
 
Tina Brooks said:
Well.... Did you call, Josh???

T
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Sorry for the delay, folks. I have been out of the country wallowing in goat peppers(guess where, Tina). But that is another story for another thread.

I did indeed call Blair's, and to my surprise, Blair himself answered the phone. When I explained my dissatisfaction, Blair was genuinely surprised and embarrassed that I was treated the way I was. In Creator fashion, he assured me that there would be a public flogging at noon today. I told him it really wasn't necessary, but he felt that it was.

Actually, I feel a little bad about it now because he is sending me a couple of items in the mail....for free. I told him emphatically that I didn't want anything free (I'm more than happy to spend the money) and that it wasn't necessary. Again, he disagreed. I feel bad. I wasn't looking for freebies, I just wanted to let them know that in the future, I'd like to have an opportunity to add something else to an order if what I ordered was out. The shipping is the same on $5 as it is on $100.

:rolleyes: :lol: :oops:

Shucks. I'm feeling guilty. Now I almost wish I hadn't called. I'm not generally a whiner.

Josh
 
staffing said:
Sorry for the delay, folks. I have been out of the country wallowing in goat peppers(guess where, Tina). But that is another story for another thread.

I did indeed call Blair's, and to my surprise, Blair himself answered the phone. When I explained my dissatisfaction, Blair was genuinely surprised and embarrassed that I was treated the way I was. In Creator fashion, he assured me that there would be a public flogging at noon today. I told him it really wasn't necessary, but he felt that it was.

Actually, I feel a little bad about it now because he is sending me a couple of items in the mail....for free. I told him emphatically that I didn't want anything free (I'm more than happy to spend the money) and that it wasn't necessary. Again, he disagreed. I feel bad. I wasn't looking for freebies, I just wanted to let them know that in the future, I'd like to have an opportunity to add something else to an order if what I ordered was out. The shipping is the same on $5 as it is on $100.

:rolleyes: :lol: :oops:

Shucks. I'm feeling guilty. Now I almost wish I hadn't called. I'm not generally a whiner.

Josh
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Josh,

The way that Blair handled your situation doesn't surprise me at all. He's very "hands-on" about his fans/chileheads/customers and treats them all with the utmost care. I'm willing to bet that you'll be pleasantly surprised at your box o' goodies once it arrives.

Just get that public flogging sent to you in Quicktime...LOL!

- Joe
 
Blair has demonstrated here one of the things that makes his bussiness so succesful...Greay HANDS ON customer service.

Kudos to Blair.
 
LOL!! Forest

DEFCON Creator said:
Well, I can't speak for everyone, but sh*t happens. We try our hardest to make everyone happy, but sometimes the planets aren't completely in alignment, and a couple minor mishaps coagulate into a big issue. I have had nothing but success over the years with Blair's company, and don't have anything bad to say about them. I would try again, but remain calm and don't go off on anyone, it will only exacerbate the problem.
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S*** does happen, unfortunately :shocked: That reminds me.. Imagine Forrest Gump trying to put some Extract on his shrimps!! Bubba would be proud I guess,

Cheers,
 
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