Havana Vape - Retailer Reviews

[Hooked]

I placed an online order for 5 different bottles of international juice on Monday night (7th May). On Tuesday I received a phone call to tell me that they were out of stock of two of them (thank G-d not the coffee one, which I haven't seen elsewhere!). They were not marked as being out of stock on the website.

As if that weren’t bad enough, one of the substitutes which I selected was also out of stock, having apparently just been sold. Thus, out of my 7 selections, 3 were out of stock.

As if that weren’t bad enough, I told the manager, Riyad, that I will never order from them again (this was my first time) – and he asked, “Why?” He did, however, promise to make it up to me.

I still haven't received courier details.

Getting back to the out of stock issue. This isn't the first time that this has happened, with other vendors too. I just don't understand why. If you're savvy enough to have an online ordering website, then surely you must be savvy enough to have a system that automatically lists the item as out of stock when the last one is sold??

 

[craigb]

I placed an online order for 5 different bottles of international juice on Monday night (7th May). On Tuesday I received a phone call to tell me that they were out of stock of two of them (thank G-d not the coffee one, which I haven't seen elsewhere!). They were not marked as being out of stock on the website.

As if that weren’t bad enough, one of the substitutes which I selected was also out of stock, having apparently just been sold. Thus, out of my 7 selections, 3 were out of stock.

As if that weren’t bad enough, I told the manager, Riyad, that I will never order from them again (this was my first time) – and he asked, “Why?” He did, however, promise to make it up to me.

I still haven't received courier details.

Getting back to the out of stock issue. This isn't the first time that this has happened, with other vendors too. I just don't understand why. If you're savvy enough to have an online ordering website, then surely you must be savvy enough to have a system that automatically lists the item as out of stock when the last one is sold??

but , like, why?

 

[Adephi]

I placed an online order for 5 different bottles of international juice on Monday night (7th May). On Tuesday I received a phone call to tell me that they were out of stock of two of them (thank G-d not the coffee one, which I haven't seen elsewhere!). They were not marked as being out of stock on the website.

As if that weren’t bad enough, one of the substitutes which I selected was also out of stock, having apparently just been sold. Thus, out of my 7 selections, 3 were out of stock.

As if that weren’t bad enough, I told the manager, Riyad, that I will never order from them again (this was my first time) – and he asked, “Why?” He did, however, promise to make it up to me.

I still haven't received courier details.

Getting back to the out of stock issue. This isn't the first time that this has happened, with other vendors too. I just don't understand why. If you're savvy enough to have an online ordering website, then surely you must be savvy enough to have a system that automatically lists the item as out of stock when the last one is sold??

Cannot explain how much this irritates me as well.

And it is not just vaping shops. Almost every online store in South Africa is run this way. Once a week they do a stocktake and only then does the website get updated.

And when you do enquire about an item that was listed they say you should have phoned first to make sure the item is in stock. Like really? I need to do more to make sure they do their job? Isn't that what shop managers and owners are there for?

 

[Hooked]

Update:

Since I hadn't received any shipping details, I phoned Havana Vape this morning and spoke to Eddy, an employee. He phoned me back to give me the courier name and tracking number. I asked if they don't email those details and he replied that he could if I like. He seemed surprised at my question. I informed him that all vendors email shipping details - it's par for the course. He said they also do but they were busy.

Most unprofessional on all counts, is my opinion.

 

[RichJB]

It can be a tricky thing to manage. In principle, it's easy: you get in 50 bottles of a particular juice, you add 50 to the quantity in the database. Every time you ring one up at the till or pack it into an online package, a barcode scanner subtracts one from the database. Once the database gets to 0, it flags the item on the website as out of stock. But if you can find an electronic database system that accounts accurately for "staff leakage", you are a genius.

We don't like to talk about it but, in most retail businesses in SA, it is a thing. I know two brothers who run a licensed steakhouse and they will tell you that they only end up selling 70% of the meat and booze they order. The rest is lifted by staff. Many vape outlets are small family-run businesses where it wouldn't be a problem. But the larger stores and chains will experience significant theft by staff. It is an inescapable reality of life. I'm not saying it's the case with the outlet that you ordered from. But it would be an issue with many outlets.

Staff are not going to considerately scan the items they steal so that the owner knows he's running low on stock. So I don't know how any computerised system would get around the problem. Probably the best would be to run a manual inventory check regularly to cross-check computerised stock levels. But that is time-consuming and couldn't be done on a daily basis.

 

[Hooked]

It can be a tricky thing to manage. In principle, it's easy: you get in 50 bottles of a particular juice, you add 50 to the quantity in the database. Every time you ring one up at the till or pack it into an online package, a barcode scanner subtracts one from the database. Once the database gets to 0, it flags the item on the website as out of stock. But if you can find an electronic database system that accounts accurately for "staff leakage", you are a genius.

We don't like to talk about it but, in most retail businesses in SA, it is a thing. I know two brothers who run a licensed steakhouse and they will tell you that they only end up selling 70% of the meat and booze they order. The rest is lifted by staff. Many vape outlets are small family-run businesses where it wouldn't be a problem. But the larger stores and chains will experience significant theft by staff. It is an inescapable reality of life. I'm not saying it's the case with the outlet that you ordered from. But it would be an issue with many outlets.

Staff are not going to considerately scan the items they steal so that the owner knows he's running low on stock. So I don't know how any computerised system would get around the problem. Probably the best would be to run a manual inventory check regularly to cross-check computerised stock levels. But that is time-consuming and couldn't be done on a daily basis.

Thanks for your point of view @RichJB. I hadn't considered "staff leakage". That must be a problem indeed!

 

[Hooked]

Update:

True to his word, the "boss" of Havana Vape, Riyaad, did indeed make it up to me. He sent me an additional two bottles of international juice, at no charge. That was a very kind gesture and I appreciate it.