Yuuki-Cha "Official" Japanese tea topic

[Geekgirl]

And certainly to cease their spy games of PMing members of TeaChat to see what they might say about them via PMs.

!!!!

[teaisme]

super fast delivery this time, ordered thursday night, shipped friday, arrived at door monday afternoon

Ahhh its been 6 months since I last ordered from them and I feel like its a little reunion with a old time friend. Finally get to try out their newer additions after just wondering about them while waiting for my stash to diminish.

Now comes the hard part of not opening everything at once.
Broke open two low pricers last night...Okuyutaka asa, Kumamoto Yabe Shiraore.

Okuyutaka: at $14/100g absolutely outstanding value. Very good amount of whole needles, deals very well with lots of leaf (used about 8g, 4.5 oz water in banko)

Yabe Shiraore: again brewed this heavy with about same amount of leaf as the Okuyutaka, a few red leaves in tea, but this is easily overlooked by the cleanliness and purity of the infusions , had one of those tropical island breeze moments that chip eluded to in a past kukicha thread. First 2010 kukicha this year for me so not much to compare it to. I do prefer this one to den's 2009 green kukicha and zenchas 2009 premium. Oh yeah $8/100g what?!

There's just a certain comforting calmness I get from yuuki's tea in general. I'm sure it has something to do with my mind knowing that they are organic, but sometimes I feel it is more then just in my head. They just seem so right.

Unfortuntely this came out right after I ordered...
http://www.yuuki-cha.com/organic-black- ... tea-3-pack
Definitely something to consider if you are in the market for organic japanese black.

[camw]

Yeah, have just ordered the new black teas - hope they are interesting.

[Chip]

There's just a certain comforting calmness I get from yuuki's tea in general. I'm sure it has something to do with my mind knowing that they are organic, but sometimes I feel it is more then just in my head. They just seem so right.

As right as this may feel to most, this seller still leaves me with a very foul taste in my mouth and spirit.

I have been asked to comment on my experience, and I have some newer information as well.

I am all for positive reviews, etc. I go far out of my way to NOT deliver negative comments/reviews, I am too forgiving at times. I go out of my way to help vendors in fact, by often sharing their teas with others. I would truly prefer to be writing a glowing review here ...

So, when I do deliver a pointed and highly negative review based upon my experiences, I would simply say, "take notice, This is not idle chitchat."

In this case I feel I have an obligation to the members of TeaChat to let them know what could indeed happen to them, could have happened to them. I am the injured party, and I am quite done feeling guilty about being a victim simply because I am a moderator of TeaChat (actually it is likely because I am a moderator of TeaChat that I am a victim in this case).

As I have mentioned in detail previously in this topic, I have been blackballed by this seller. More recently I discovered the seller also closed my account, and I cannot not access it. So I cannot access information about the questionable transactions, nice. Fortunately, I kept everything.

Is this a personal problem? Not for me. I consider their conduct to be egregiously unprofessional and shows a blatant disregard of conduct of a so called "organic" vendor. I consider their behavior to be unscrupulous and "inorganic." Holding a customer's money for close to 30 days all the while never intending to deliver the product, and then only refunding money after repeated and unanswered contacts?

Then repeating the misconduct. All told, well more than 300 USD of mine and other TCers was withheld (obviously not personal on my end)! We place a "trust" in our international vendors. And when something like this occurs, everyone needs to know about it.

All this due to an honest yet somewhat negative "solicited" opinion about one of their products that was very "weak" at the time. Perhaps they felt I should only tell faerie tales with happy endings? Hello, this is a forum that is based on honest opinions.

My opinion was not even on the forum. My comment was obtained by this seller via a TC account created so he could contact me via PM w/o my knowing it was him, testing me ... seeing what I might say if asked.

Seems so ... inorganic ... and unscrupulous.

So, while it may be personal for him, I consider the entire episode to be a breach in ethics, highly unprofessional, and bordering on criminal. Not to mention rude and insulting.

I was polite and professional to the vendor throughout the entire ordeal ... until finally I made it clear I would be reporting the incident to paypal if the money was not refunded within the period of time I alloted. Amazingly the money was refunded.

I have yet to hear one word from the seller despite numerous, previous contacts from me.

[alan logan]

this follows this topic :http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 0&start=15
(page 2), where you said, just after I mentioned yuuki-cha in response to a member, that other members had been blackballed by this vendor for comments they made on teachat (meaning, after the problem you encountered).

this does not appear to be the case.
Or has some member been blackballed and has told you personally w/o wishing to go public ? but you don't seem to suggest this.
you are saying here no more than you have already said about this story between you and them. I'm not saying it's "much ado about nothing", and I think all of us who have read your previous posts about this understand your feelings, but nothing indicates this goes as far as you suggested to me (other members being blackballed for making comments).

[Chip]

As I said in that matcha topic you reference, I will only discuss my own experiences.

And there is new info in my last post.

I stand behind every comment I have made.

I give my experience as an example of blackballing. You asked for info on member blackballing, well, I am a member first. I was elected as moderator more than a year later.

Bottom line, yuuki-cha does not like any non positive comments about them and their teas. No vendor does. But when there is a negative comment, move to correct the problem, not retaliate.

And don't play I Spy and write disguised PMs to members ... then retaliate when they do not get the answer they wanted to hear.

I will say it here again, I posted this as a last resort. I have attempted contact and resolve with yuuki-cha over and over without a single response.

I was blackballed and it was a direct response to a comment I made via PM on TeaChat.

[alan logan]

ok, I get your point: as you say you reported having blackballed and if I understand what you say now no other member was.
thanks for clarifying, I was a bit puzzled.

[Chip]

ok, I get your point: as you say you reported having blackballed and if I understand what you say now no other member was.
thanks for clarifying, I was a bit puzzled.

Actually, no. That is not what I am saying. We live in a litigious society, and I will only comment on my own experiences, and yes I was blackballed.

EDIT: Therefore I will not be posting on the forum about something that was said to me. I won't take responsibility for that. I will for my own experiences only.

[alan logan]

omg
back to being puzzled then.
but never mind. I was just asking, but if this could become embarrassing best is not to go deeper into it.

[the_economist]

omg
back to being puzzled then.
but facts are facts, if it is a fact that other people here encountered the same thing how could the vendor litigate.

haha i think the point is that if the 'affected' members do not wish to mention it themselves on the forums, then Chip isn't in a position to talk about their experience publicly.

[alan logan]

omg
back to being puzzled then.
but facts are facts, if it is a fact that other people here encountered the same thing how could the vendor litigate.

haha i think the point is that if the 'affected' members do not wish to mention it themselves on the forums, then Chip isn't in a position to talk about their experience publicly.

it actually occurred to me that Chip realized he could not go deeper into the subject were it the case, which is why I edited my post as you can see, as I realized myself this could be potentially embarrassing for him to talk about something that would have been said and maybe not proved. but, as you go back to the subject, I don't think the vendor would take the risk of litigation if they know it is a fact because then they are not sure what evidence can be opposed (and no one litigates if their file is that unsure)

now if litigation is feared, if the whole thing (true or not) about other members being blackballed were W/O evidence the obvious thing to do would be to delete all posts pertaining publicly to it.

[Chip]

I am not the least bit worried about anything I have stated about my own experiences!

Yes, I did notoce your edit, alan.

haha i think the point is that if the 'affected' members do not wish to mention it themselves on the forums, then Chip isn't in a position to talk about their experience publicly.

+1

[skilfautdire]

My opinion was not even on the forum. My comment was obtained by this seller via a TC account created so he could contact me via PM w/o my knowing it was him, testing me ... seeing what I might say if asked.

I do not know what 'blackballed' means and I'll look it up at Meriam-Webster but in the meanwhile, I have a question that is unrelated, I think, to the meaning of that word:

Since, as mentioned above, the opinion was never posted on the forum (I make the assumption: "not posted publicly") then what could have triggered the 'spying' action if they had no idea about your opinions ?

[Chip]

My opinion was not even on the forum. My comment was obtained by this seller via a TC account created so he could contact me via PM w/o my knowing it was him, testing me ... seeing what I might say if asked.

I do not know what 'blackballed' means and I'll look it up at Meriam-Webster but in the meanwhile, I have a question that is unrelated, I think, to the meaning of that word:

Since, as mentioned above, the opinion was never posted on the forum (I make the assumption: "not posted publicly") then what could have triggered the 'spying' action if they had no idea about your opinions ?

Blackballed was born as a voting process where members of an organization would for instance secretly vote on a new member via a white or black marble. Often the vote had to be unanimous. So a single black marble would eliminate the candidate from consideration, he/she was blackballed. Since no explanation ever had to be given, it often carries with it a meaning of lack of fairness.

In this application, basically yuuki-cha will not sell to me. He has unilaterally decided I am not worthy. And since he has chosen not to explain anything to me, as I have stated often enough here, the blackball connotation fit to a "tea."

There are a bunch of things wrong with how this vendor conducted business. They do have a right to deny product to a potential customer, but failing to explain the reasoning, failing to reply to any contact from me ... a customer who had already paid 100's of USD, failing to refund the funds immediately with explanation ... etc.

If you have not already, you can read my comments on page 3 of this topic.

[alan logan]

We have heard your side of the story and I think we have some basis to distinguish between what appears to be facts and what is hypothetical.

Given these posts, I have one more question and this time I would appreciate a clear answer : do you consider it is a provocation to mention them ? I do wonder. of course it could be indelicate from s/o having read your story to say to you "hey why don't you get that wonderful XXX at yuuki-cha", but if members are talking about them or their products it's different.

I would never tolerate a vendor telling me what to say. just the same I would not like to have the feeling I am receiving some kind of encouragement to follow only "authorized" opinion.