Wednesday TeaDay 6/15/11 Why why why part 2?

[Chip]

Welcome TeaFriends everywhere. Welcome to TeaDay. Please stop in throughout the day and share what is in your cup and discuss the topic of the day.

Yesterday we discussed why why why do we repeat bad tea mistakes. Please continue to discuss yesterday's topic.

Why why why ... part 2. Did you ever think that some vendors are chasing customers away with bad product and/or service? Please share!

We are looking forward to sharing this TeaDay with everyone. Bottoms up!

[Nenugal]

I'm easily chased away by three different types of bad service in brick&mortar shops:

• Pushy selling, trying too hard to sell a bigger amount than I asked for and/or additional teas/teaware. I'm really annoyed by this, and I guess this is also the worst one for the "average" customer.
• Inpatient attitude when I want to look at and compare different teas, and examine and smell the dry leaves. It seems that some places actually expect you to buy based on the name of the tea alone, and be finished with the business in no more than 3 minutes.
• Missing/wrong/irrelevant information (what exactly is irrelevant is of course highly subjective). Unfortunately so common that it is hard to avoid, and I've come to tolerate it in moderate amounts.

[JBaymore]

Yes, for sure. But this is basically true in every business area. So no "surprises" in this.

best,

................john

[David R.]

Absolutely ! My favourite tea vendor 2 years ago became the worst one on my list !

The most important thing for me is to be able to have extensive info about the tea, not just a price tag and nothing else (or fairy tales). If not, bye bye.

First shincha of the year at last !! Sakimidori from Kagoshima (thés du Japon). So nice... I'll continue the day with some dan cong. What a day !

[tortoise]

Maybe. Sure. I think in most cases it's not intentional, but I haven't had any truly awful experiences related to service. I have ordered poor product that turned me off of a vendor. There is only so much business a vendor like that can do before people realize their product is sub-par. With slick marketing, they may last longer than they would otherwise, but the demise is inevitable.


Had an over-night cold brew of Shincha from Ippodo. So nice.

[artmom]

Oh, Chip, Isn't today Wednesday????

[Xell]

I don't have much experience with buying tea. But when i only moved to Japan i bought several times tea from local big brand. They have many shops in Nagasaki. Although they do have good teas, but price is crazy. At that time i didn't know that. Also with some "magic" involved, they got their hands on shincha before farmers even start collecting their crop

Probably most what i dislike is staff trying to get involved really much. I simply want to watch and slowly decide what i want. If i need something, i'll ask myself

[Chip]

As I order from a vendor, I pay close attention to how the order went and the quality/value of the product. This goes a long way in determining whether I will be a repeat or even a regular customer.

In the past, I had misguided loyalties, the vendors did not appreciate this loyalty and as I learned with experiences with newer venders, they really did not deserve my loyalty.

I live and learn, sometimes slower than I would like.

Began the TD with a prelim tasting of shincha Yutaka Midori from the O-C with the Mrs. Mid June, and this is my very first shincha. I have not been this late to the shincha table since I learned what shincha was.

I feel this vendor appreciates and deserves a degree of loyalty. I owe years of many great TDs to O-Cha. This is where I learned much about great sencha and shincha.

[nickE]

Yes, absolutely. Those vendors lose my business.

Took the day off from work today. Had a very relaxing day despite the overcast/rainy weather. Got a decent espresso from the local coffee shop this morning, brewed up EoT's Shu this afternoon, and just had a very nice cigar on the porch (Rocky Patel 1992).

[FlyedPiper]

I look for good customer service in a vendor #1. Of course good product and pricing is key as well, but if they care enough about their clients to respond to emails and take personal time to make a customer happy they're probably going to sell good tea at a fair price anyway.

Even if you screw up something, that's OK. Just make it right with me is all I ask. If not I won't be ordering from you again. Plenty of vendors in the Tea Ocean.