Cigars International

I shop at CI regularly, spend over a thousand dollars a year and am a loyalty program member. A family member gave me a gift card which I tried to use two days ago. I was told the gift card system was down. I left without making a purchase. I called the store today and was told the system was still down with no resolution in sight.
It appears that since the company already has my money, and that of others who bought gift cards, they are pocketing my money while losing thousands in future revenue. This is a short sighted business approach and they will absolutely lose my business unless my gift card is accepted.

Thompson Cigars has done the "bait and switch" on more than one occasion. What they will do is advertise a special on a particular cigar at a discount for a 20 count. And,on their site the actual product will be displayed. Once you order and pay for the product, you won't notice the "bait and switch" until the product is delivered. Once you open up the box and noticed it's not what you ordered. You go to the site to double check to see if it was a slight on your part. When going to the site for the ordered product. Thompson's cigars removed the actual product picture from the site, and the only way to prove you purchased the product, is to look at the past orders. Thompson's Cigars refused to correct their error and send what was advertised.

Advertised a pack of 20 cigars as a special. Was charged for the product but they only shipped 5. They changed the online description but made no effort to cancel or correct the order. Was never contacted and left to the consumer to correct the issue.

Terrible customer service. e mails ignored. Kept on hold.
Never heard from them.
Somehow, when I signed in, I managed to order $95.60 worth of cigars. I returned them. Now they have the cigars and my money. It's been over 2 weeks now.

On 06/07/2019 I ordered two cartons of *** Little Cigars, I received two cartons of *** Cigarillos. I have contacted Thompson Cigar multiple times to get a return shipping label in order to send the Cigarillos back. In my phone call last week (Monday or Tuesday) to Thompson Cigar I was told that I would have a return label within 3 hours (via the internet). Today, I am still without a return label. Today I spoke with Andrea from Thompson Cigar and she stated that they could not issue me a return label and that I could send the Cigarillos back at my expense for a credit. She stated that they use *** to generate their return labels and that because they were Cigarillos *** would not generate a return label. I then called *** and spoke with ***. He stated that if the company had a contract with *** that they could generate a return label to ship tobacco products, including Cigarillos. He did state that if they did not have a contract then they would not be able to generate a return shipping label. I then called Thompson Cigar back and spoke with Andrea again and she did verify that Thompson Cigar did have a contract with ***. I was shipped the wrong product and feel that the company should issue me a return label so that I can send back the product for a full refund to my credit card. If I need to pay for shipping back to the company I feel that I should be reimbursed the total cost to do so in which every way that I choose to send the product back. Thompson Cigar initially offered to give me a $5 credit if I sent it back at my expense and since then they have increased the amount to $10. It is going to cost me more than that to send it back. I am simply asking for a postage paid return label so that I can send the wrong product back to the company. I have not been able to resolve this with Thompson Cigar, therefore, I am seeking assistance from the Revdex.com. Sincerely

I have ordered cigars from Thompson Cigar Co. for many years.
After my last order in December 2018, Thomson began to bill me $14.95 per month for a membership I did not sign up for. Unfortunately it took me 7 months to notice the charges.
I wasted 2 hours calling, waiting and talking to representatives of Thompson (and "Total Value Plus") to "Cancel" the so called membership. They assured I will be refunded for all charges.
Prior to talking to these people, I had to cancel my credit card. Now I need to invest more time updating many accounts that use my credit card number.
I am an IT professional and I don't easily get fooled when performing transactions online.
Thompson Cigar et al are at least guilty of engaging in deceptive practices online.
I will never do business with this company again.

Agree with others here that the customer service is awful. Wait on hold 30-60 minutes and finally get a rep. Explained got a box of cigars not ordered (and charged for) and wanted a return label and refund. Told return label would be sent to email address. NEVER GOT IT. Have called back numerous times to wait 30-60 minutes for a rep to be given one excuse after another. We finally disputed this with our credit card company and had them block them from using the card. However, we don’t trust them and want to send the box back at their expense. It has been sitting (unopened) on the counter now for over a week.

I ordered a subscription 6/5. Received package on 6/9. I skipped a month on 6/10 figuring my husband will take a while to smoke them. Received email that I skipped. Got billed July. Tried to email which is invalid email. Received package. Tried to cancel and you can’t. I called 3 different numbers for over 2 hours and no one will answer. I have never received calls from them. Had to call my bank to help me cancel my card.

Without my knowledge, Thompson Cigar enrolled me in a monthly scheme to debit my *** account of $14.95.

So, I placed an order from Thompson Cigar several months ago. They immediately called me to "confirm" details of my order. In the process, they said they could offer discounts if I joined their free club. Sounded great. What they failed to mention was that once they add access to my *** account (from the previous order), they were going to start shipping and billing me for cigars that I never ordered. I've called their customer service and no one ever answers the phone. I've emailed them, so far, no response.

I've trying to reach Thompson Cigar Company, (which I have done Business for years), for 4 days with no answer...I ordered $106.00 of cigars on June 11th for my 85 year old Father as a Father's Day gift from Thompson Cigar Co....They were to arrive on Friday the 14th. I began calling that night when they didn't arrive and left voice mails and emails...messages indicated they would respond on Monday...began calling on Monday no answer to my phone calls, again on Tuesday, I decided I would not hang up until I got an answer....was on hold literally for an hour and a half before I had someone answer, only to be put back on hold indicating an agent would address my concerns,again for 4 plus hours, (I had to plug my phone in to keep it charged), with no answer to my call. While on hold I went to the web to email and express my concerns, only to find blogs expressing my same concerns... one after another of excessive on hold times with no response.. orders with no deliveries and NO RESPONSE FOR REIMBURSEMENT. I've ordered form this company for years with no issues, am concern it is under new management and needs to be investigated...I just want my father to either receive his gift or be reimbursed the money I've paid for his gift. While on the website there are others that are waiting for refunds as well...I believe the 90 plus years in business, they advertise has changed management and loyal customers are being taken advantage of...

This complaint is in regards to Thompson Cigar Co’s practices in relation to their monthly auto-bill, auto-ship sampler club. I have purchased from Thompson for years, and within a few days of every purchase I’ve made Thompson telemarketers begin calling me. A bit of an annoyance to spend $100+ on cigars and then have the company immediately try and sell you more, but something I’ve always put up with.

Approximately 45-60 days ago, I received a similar call following an order I placed, offering to sign me up for the monthly auto ship sampler club. I told the representative I would seriously entertain the idea but that I did not wish to be signed up just yet. She informed me she would mail me information about the club, as well as a 20% off coupon I could use whether or not I decided to join later, I agreed, and we ended the call.

In early June, I received a shipment of cigars I did not order. I contacted the customer service line and was on hold for over 45 minutes on 2 separate occasions. The hold message suggests customers go online to avoid the wait. I went online, but the customer service page relating to the monthly club will only allow postponing shipment, not canceling the club. So, I emailed customer service explaining what happened and requesting a return. I received no answer for 7 days, so I sent another. Again, no answer for close to a week, so I decided to call and sit on hold until someone answered, which ended up being 50-60 minutes. The individual who answered assured me he would mail me a return label for the unwanted shipment in 7-10 days (the box has remained unopened), as well as cancel my club membership.

It has been 3 weeks since this call, I have not received a label, but I did finally receive an email response to my original emails from weeks ago stating that the label was being “processed”, and apologizing for not responding sooner as they were “changing systems”.

The worst customer service, I ordered a box of cigars 6weeks ago , and still have not received them. All I'm told is they are on backorder, But they are a exclusive stick for Thompson. To this date Thompson does not know when I will receive my box. So I ordered the same sticks in single I ordered 4 and got those in 3days . But at the price of 10 . They do not want to make the customer happy. Thumbs down Thompson

After placing order #*** ON 04/20/2019, I was contacted by a representative of *** Cigar, soliciting a club membership. I advised the agent that I was not interested in joining any club at that time. The agent went on to advise that there was no charge to join this club and assured me that I would not be charged for anything. She further advised that the membership simply included being added to a mailing list, where I would receive coupons for future offers and discounts (which I never received). I advised the agent that so long as I would not be billed and be subject to recurring charges, that would be fine. She again, affirmed that I would not receive any charges.

After a review of my finance account on 06/19/19, I found charges for the above mentioned order (#***), associated with a club membership. After 3 disconnected calls and 1hr 40min on hold I reached Carlos, agent #*** @ 10:54am EDT, he advised that he was located in Tampa, FL. He advised that he has cancelled the order and club membership. However, he was not able to provide me with an email confirmation or confirmation number.

Later that day 06/19/19, I received notification from *** regarding this order and its scheduled delivery via tracking #***. On 06/20/19, I received another notification from ***, advising that the item had been intercepted “during transit” and was being returned to the shipper. They provided tracking #*** for this return. *** then provided final notification, that the package had been received by the shipper on 06/24/19 @ 10:28AM EST.

I contacted *** Cigar today, 07/01/19 @ 9:00AM EST, to check status of this return;

9:00 AM - (option for customer service) on hold, in queue.
10:28 AM - Marga, agent number not provided, came to the line. I advised him of issue/request for status. Placed on hold.
10:38 AM - Marga returned to the line. She advised that she was able to see that the item was returned. She further advised that my refund was processed today 07/01/19. I then posed the question, “why was that the supervisor Marcello advised me that there was nothing in the system, regarding refund, just 4 minutes prior.” She could not provide response. I requested that *** Cigar provide confirmation, of the refund being processed. Marga advised that she would send a request to their email departments that “they” may send that confirmation. I have yet to receive that confirmation.

AT THE SAME TIME:

9:32 AM - (from another line, pressed option to “place order”) on hold, in queue
9:36 AM - Alex agent #*** comes to line. I advised him of issue/request for status. Placed on hold.
9:46 AM - Alex returns to line, advises that in the system, he only sees notations from my call on 06/19/19. Unable to provide any information regarding refund. Advised that would provide call back. I requested supervisor.
9:50 AM - Placed on hold for supervisor.
9:56 AM - Alex returned to line, he advised that supervisor was busy, handling other issues. He requested that I remain on hold.
10:18 AM - Marcello (supervisor) agent #***, came to line. He advised that all he could offer was that he would sent an email to customer service, regarding my request for refund. He then advised that he would follow-up via phone on 07/02/19.
10:24 AM - Disconnected call with Marcello.

At this point, I have zero confidence in the return/refund process of this company. Aside from the unethical business practice of enrolling me into a program that I explicitly requested that I not be enrolled in, and then withdrawing funds from my account without my permission. I am now receiving conflicting information regarding my refund and its status I am requesting assistance from your agency to obtain answers to the whereabouts of this refund and ultimately me receiving a refund. The total amount to be returned is $130.38.

I called June 7, 2019, and requested a return label to return for refund an incorrect order. After being on hold for an hour, I was assured an e-mail would be sent with the return label which the website says is required. Called again a few days later & was assured it would be just a few days more. Called again a week later & they said it takes 7-10 business days to send & was on the calendar to go that day. Each time I have had to hold for approximately an hour. I do not believe they intend to send that return label. I am out $167 and left with cigarillos I don't want. I believe this is intentional.

I placed a one time order for cigars which was paid in full and soon after they started charging me $14.95 a month to be enrolled in their Total Value Plus program that I did not authorize. They took out the $14.95 for the past 3 months before I caught it so the amount I want refunded is $44.85. I tried contacting their customer service 3 times and each time after 20 minutes on hold I hung up. It did not say anywhere on the order form that I would be enrolled in this club and make these monthly payments and if it would of I would not have bought anything from them. Thank you

Horrible customer service. I agree with MIke I called to get my $14.95 back I have been chraged for a couple of months for a service I did not agree to..When I called I hit option 2 and then option 3 ($14.95 issues) and automatically get cut off and have to redial. I have ordered for over a year with no problems but that's because they are getting my money. I am on my third call today for 30+ minutes and no answer. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.....They are not Revdex.com Accredited.

This company charged my credit card $373.45 on June 20, 2019 and has refused to ship the purchase. I paid for the products and the shipping and they flagged my order as fraudulent without reason or cause. This company is ridiculous.

I ordered from them two months ago and they kept my payment information and charged me again a couple days ago and sent me cigars I didn’t order. After waiting on hold for 30 minutes I sent them an email and haven’t got a response back in a week to return them. Then I called the retail store to see if I could return it in store and they said they can’t because it’s a different system.

Thompson Cigar makes it very difficult to cancel a Club Order. You cannot do it online. You can either call or email. So I email on 6/17 their [email protected] email as posted on the website. No response. I emailed again on 6/22, no response. Today is 6/24 9:37 am. I tried to call them on the phone, I was put on hold by the automated system for 25 minutes before I gave up.

Absurdly long wait time, they are not answering their customer care. I am getting worried I am being part of a scam because they make it so hard to cancel my Order permanently!