When Vendor Complaints Go Too Far

Vapers.  We are a community of people striving for unity; vendors, consumers, reviewers, show hosts, forum members, leaders in e-cig advocacy.  But like in any large community there will always be subjects to disagree on, egos to get stepped on, and those among us who will find opportunities to become opportunistic.

Yes, as a whole we are a community, but that does not mean that we are all inherently good.  I would like to believe that the majority of us are kind, giving, decent human beings, but where there is one faction (good) there will always be another (bad).

We come from all walks of life, all races and religions, and many different cultures, not to mention a plethora of different personalities.  We have many that turn to their own communities and spread awareness of our beloved smoking alternative, donating e-cigs and accessories for no reason other than to help another smoker quit the habit.

Some of us love to spend time helping the newcomers to vaping, either through vaping related review videos on YouTube, social networking groups like those found on Facebook, live video shows such as those produced by Total Vaping Network, Elixir TV, VapeTV, and Vapers Place.

Unfortunately, there are always those bad eggs among us who seem to delight in causing unnecessary drama, who want nothing but free hand-outs without giving anything back, who seem to make it their sole mission in life to malign a vendor who has not lived up to their expectations.

Just as a smile can sometimes be contagious, so can negativity and rumors that are in no way based on concrete facts.

Currently, we're seeing this negativity and thriving rumor mill active in trying to take down a fairly new vendor.  He first came on the radar when doing Provari giveaways on a forum.  What?  Giving away $200 mods?  Just because?  Well, according to this man, he's doing it for one reason and one reason only... to help keep others off analog cigarettes.

That does sound like a beautiful thing, but then I wonder, if it's just to help people quit cigs, why give away a $200 mod instead of maybe one that costs a quarter of that, and give away 4 times as many?  By his own words, he likes to talk to the people he considers giving a mod to, getting to know them and then deciding if he feels they're deserving of a mod.

If each person does not have an equal chance of "winning", is this the kind of giveaway that should be posted on forums and online groups?  Or perhaps is this just a way to get his company's name well known, to draw people to his site?  If his motives for giving mods away were truly altruistic, why is he hand choosing who will receive one?   If his sole reason for giving Provaris away truly is to help others quit smoking cigarettes, why is he choosing people who already have many of their own mods and therefore do not need help staying off cigarettes?

I don't have answers to any of the questions I've posed, and in reality, it's none of my damn business how he does a giveaway, who receives one of his giveaways or why he does it.

And that is really the point I want to make here.  You may not agree with how this man handles himself personally, or how he handles his business.  You may like him or dislike him for what you personally experience with him.  You have every right to your opinions and every right to voice those opinions to your peers.  But please be careful when doing so to stick to concrete facts and not rumors that could potentially harm a person's livelihood.

When a situation arises where a vendor has not held up their end of a giveaway, or has taken 2 months to do so, I'm all for calling that particular vendor out.  But what I cannot abide is making potentially life altering accusations public before even finding out if they are in fact, fact.

For example, Googling a person's name and finding several postings on Ripoffreport.com stating that they're a scam artist and fraud does not make it so.  I could go to that same site and tear a new one on Joe Blow and make it sound utterly believable.  That doesn't mean it's in any way true.

If you're going to spout all kinds of online findings about an individual, do be sure what you're stating is actual fact and not hearsay.  If you truly think this person is a seasoned scam artist and fraud, find an arrest record for him.  They are readily available to the public.

For the record (No pun intended) I have no personal connection to this particular vendor, other than the one order I placed with him, which upon receiving, I was not satisfied with.  His first phone call to me, to discuss the options I chose for my e-liquid, was out of the ordinary but quite pleasant at the time.  Subsequent phone calls (which were picked up by my answering machine) to relay a tracking number, were odd and unnecessary, being that my tracking number had already been emailed to me from his site.  After receiving my order and writing a private message to him to discuss my concerns with the product, he again wanted to speak on the phone, which was totally unnecessary and now felt intrusive and creepy to me.

Keep in mind, these are my personal feelings and do not automatically make this vendor creepy... just creepy to me.  I may not like his product, or how that product was made, but again, that is just my experience and may be completely different than yours.

I'm sure that 95% of you who have read this know exactly which vendor I've been referring to, and you may wonder why I felt the need to write this post.  It was not to champion said vendor or to scold those who have jumped into the rumor mill against said vendor.

I wrote this in hopes that it would open some eyes to the fact that just because a vendor has left you feeling dissatisfied or angry, does not mean you should malign their character or ethics without solid proof of wrongdoing. 

If you're not careful, your complaints and personal angst can easily turn into slander.  If you're going to call foul, you'd best have solid proof to back up your claim.


Justine a.k.a Justwaaaa

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