No argument as far as prices go, of course (one shop near me is selling a kit for $90 that I got online for $17) but there are advantages to B&M stores. For example...
I got an Aspire CF Mod for a great price & like it a lot. Only days ago, I saw a CF Maxx online for just $19. It's one of Aspires built-in battery versions of the mod (basically, it IS a battery). Discontinued but still around, going for $50-$70 elsewhere. Felt it would be a good backup at a great price, except the vendor didn't have the charger for it -- it requires a special charger that goes into the 510 connector. Found one for $5 elsewhere online. Great: $24!
CF came, then the charger... and it's the wrong charger. The website said it was for the CF Maxx, the vendor's sticker on the box says it's for the CF Maxx... it's not for the CF Maxx. Wrong connector; it's for other CF built-in battery models. It would cost more to return it than I paid. So now I've ordered another from a different vendor. The picture shows the right connector & I put a note on the order for them to please make sure it's the right one. Also $5 but this site charges $4 to ship it. So $33 total -- if the charger arrives, is the right one, and is in working order. Not such a bargain anymore.
That's sort of thing wouldn't likely happen at a local store and, if it did, it could be rectified easily. So shopping local has it's plus side.
Then again, $33 is still less than the $90 a B&M would probably be charging. So there's that, but there's a price to be paid for hands-on shopping, immediate assistance, simple returns, and peace of mind. Just saying.
Online still works easier for me in my situation. In addition to those prices I posted, to get to any of their vape shops 'local' means a 50-60mi drive. Drove that daily to work when I worked in the city, in low traffic not fighting rush hour with a good tail wind (and not speeding, I have actually made the trip in less), it's around an hour and ten minutes. Each way. Plus gas. The time spent at the shop, an easy 30-60min. I realize this isn't everyone's situation but it's what I'd face. Half a day shot and screwing around to get dry fucked at the register.
If vaping internal battery mods that take proprietary chargers, that sounds more like something a vape shop would cater to. I only use external batteries and only use rebuildables. And make my own juice. So a vape shop has little to interest me with the current pod trends. I have had wrong items show up but that's mostly been juice. One atomizer was the incorrect one in 5yrs of buying online and eciggity was great about it. I offered to ship back to Hawaii, they said naw, keep it. Our fuck up. And immediately shipped the correct one. Everything else hardware related has been on point and arrived in good condition, most of it out of various China sellers.
Now juice? Yea, have had constant recurring issues with that. Have had issues with getting the wrong flavorings, been shipped orders missing items (that they corrected). Ready made juice, I've gotten wrong flavors, extremely out of the ordinary dark juice or cloudy juice that tasted off, one order was multiple bottles of the same flavor. Most of the bottles were full, a couple were 2/3 full. That was odd. Just placed an order before the vape mail bans from a place, ordered several bottles of strawberry cream. Ended up with 1200ml of orange/champagne mimosa. Along with the wrong packing slip.
A friend of mine couple years back sent me some juice from an online vendor they found on the shelves of a local vape shop because they didn't care for it. It was some old ass juice, the company had since changed their label. The juice (I was familiar with) was way darker than it should've been. Another downside to vape shops that improperly keep juice either on the shelf too long or where the sun can beat down on it. And to make it worse, they charged her way more than it cost straight from the company.
Some people have decent shops, it's not fair to lump them all the same. Some have decent-ish prices, helpful employees etc. But for all the good ones there's some real clueless shit ones too. We're not all blessed with great brick and mortars. At least in my area what I've noticed is most 'vape' shops are nothing more than headshops just looking to cram something else on their shelves. Oh vaping's the new rage? Yea put some of that shit out there so long as people are smoking it. And know little else.
. Ha ha yall know I luv ya. Been a minute but wanted to appear and say
. I ended up ordering that too. I love the way that one looks vs polished. Others might be the opposite of me, but I might have got the one I've wanted for a while. We'll see if they send it.
