always wanted to buy an MCR mod...they aren't still around they closed down as mech mods became less and less popular..they made beautiful mods and had a reputation for high quality and workmanship, their mods were in high demand and they didn't need my bussiness...so I ordered the mod and ...zilch...no response of when my mod was being shipped nothing...I wait...I wait...I e-mail nothing....after weeks and weeks of this I get an e-mail...the owner of the company had been forced to have an operation and had been in the hospital and was recovering, and was trying to catch up on all the orders that had been placed.....likewise I have been ripped of by vendors as well...but when I see a company that has been around as long as Cliff Packard and www.NETS has been around , and has had as many satisfied customers as he's had...I am not going to rush to write them off as a ...TOTAL SCAM, or the worst run bussiness in the world especially when juice makers across America are seriously wondering if the goverment is contemplating shutting their industry down....I understand your fustration and disappointment ..there isn't a vaper around especially the older vapers who had to deal with vendors when ALL the vendors were mom and pop companies who understand your fustration, hell I once had a juice maker rip me off for over a 100 bucks once.....and who knows maybe the wheels are coming off the train over there, but you may have been a bit over the top with the "Total Scam" remarks.....I can't count how many times over the years I've read post of people plotting to murder their mailman, because their orders kept arriving late.
Your statements are exceedingly fair and measured. I greatly appreciate that you aren't making any statements of certainty such as my "IS A SCAM!!" title. I concede to your greater wisdom and am truly grateful to have dialogue with someone so level headed.
You are correct, I should have at least hedged the "IS A SCAM!!" statement. I should have at least said that it's "possibly a scam". And no, I'm not trying to be a smart-ass. Just like a legal document, one word can make all the difference.
I don't feel bad about the "or possibly the worst run business in the world" statement. It was meant to be obtuse. Though I am sorry if that wasn't self evident as I had assumed.
When I first started working as a self-employed engineering/manufacturing consultant, I made the mistake of giving customers the benefit of the doubt when it came to late payments or red-flag communication failures. In the first couple of years, this mistake ended up costing me thousands of dollars. Now that I've been at it for many years, I know that companies go out of business with very little notice all the time. This happens to the small, big, new, old and everything-in-between companies. And when they go out of business, they almost always leave tons of unpaid debts or fail to deliver on scores of paid-for products. On too many occasions, I ignored the warning signs of late-payments or red-flag communication failures only to find out later that the company had gone out of business and I had little to no hope of getting paid. I have learned since then. Now, if a company fails to meet the terms of our contractual agreement, I give them notice within 1 week of said failure. If it has not been resolved within 2 weeks, I have my lawyer send them a notice. At the three week mark, my lawyer initiates a lawsuit. Truth of the matter is, I don't see any benefit to doubt in business. That's why there are terms/agreements/contracts.
I'm actually old enough to have been one of those mom-and-pop vape juice suppliers you speak of. I'll never forget how we kept getting tossed back and forth between various civil departments because no one knew how to license/categories such a business in those early days. It was rather funny actually! We ended up dissolving the company because we could see the writing on the wall - market over-saturation with Chinese products. It was shortly after we dissolved the company that I heard about Black Note. I'm very proud to be an american and will always give my fullest support to an american company. That's why it made me very happy to come across Black Note because I knew that there business model was viable (that and the fact that I was super excited to have a REAL tobacco flavor juice). Bourbon is hand crafted here in American with it's main ingredient being something that is uniquely American - corn. Black Note is very similar - it's lovingly hand crafted here in American from something that is uniquely American - tobacco. That's why they have an inherent advantage over Chinese companies.
In addition to being biased towards american companies, I'm also the guy who loves to root for the underdog. Cliff Packard and NET fit both of these categories. I would really like him to succeed. But that doesn't mean I am going to be soft on him. Quite the opposite. What I've experienced in business leads me to believe that holding a company to higher standards is good for them. The under-dog, weather that be a small business and or an American business with cost-advantaged foreign competitors, doesn't have room for failure. Like a child, college student, or new employee, they shouldn't be coddled - it's bad for them. One of my business mentors said something that has always stuck - "in business, there's no excuse for failure - there's just failure".
Again, I want to thank you for you response. It gave me great pause for thought and made me deeply appreciative of what a complete stranger on a forum can contribute.