Found this from Trish with Cigarbid dated March 7th:

Howdy

I cannot express how sorry I am for causing so much frustration and angst. No banhammers being swung for being frustrated by what appears to be a total black out in communication. That's not the case at all. Here's a little insight.

The CBid ladies are doing their best with a very, very messed up computer system. There are just two people who handle the questions, both on the phone and online. Normally, they're on top of it and you get a response in minutes. However, the new system implementation didn't go as well as planned (how's that for the biggest understatement in the history of mankind???) so they now have to handle about 10x the number of calls and messages they normally do.

There are 120 incoming phone lines. When you get a fast busy, that means they're all tied up with other people, just like you, trying to get in touch with someone. Should they put something on the site? I agree 100% but that's not my call or theirs to make. Should they send out emails? They have been and I have to say those emails get a bit annoying after a while (I get copies of all of them).

I have to say that after 6 years of not needing to contact customer service you might want to give them a little slack. No one is running and hiding in any dark holes (ok guys, take that and run with it) or closets. Shana is here on Sundays and 2 hours before the phones go on each day, trying to get caught up with the messages. DaMarie took a vacation, planned well in advance of the implementation, and couldn't cancel it without some serious financial consequences. So they have another person who is versed in the ways of Cbid working to help Shana out. But with call after call after call after call...well you get the idea, there is no time to answer messages with only 10 seconds before calls.

Its quite daunting and the ladies are handling it as best they can. You'll get your orders - that is a promise. I know I speak for the entire company when I apologize for the failure in communication. We will dig out from this and things will return to normal. Hopefully within the next few weeks, this will be a very bad memory for all of us.

Trish

TrishS@CigarBid Offline Posted: Thu, Mar 9 2017, 7:24 PM
Pudding Mittens wrote:
Earlier today, the main page, cigarbid.com (not some sub-page of the site) kept bringing up what appeared to be a .NET error message.

So, yeah, when your site's main page is a big fat application server error message, you're certainly not normal yet.


Great management! Giant disaster that's tarnishing your brand and permanently losing you lots of customers daily, and you decide not to add extra manpower to fix the problem, rather you tell the small number of existing people "do the best you can with what you have".

Result: you save $X by not adding temporary extra manpower, and lose $10X in customer defections, many of them permanent.

Also, no simple message on the top of the site briefly explaining things to customers, which shows good faith, retains customers and costs basically ZERO money and time to do!

Brilliant!
.


I cannot apologize enough for the frustration everyone is experiencing. Trust me - you have one order that's making you crazy...we have thousands.

In the time it takes to train extra manpower on the vagaries of CigarBid, the new computer system and to find a seat for them - keep in mind that all 120 phone lines are constantly in use - the crisis is over. Its not really as simple as it appears. We DID hire temps for the warehouse but CS isn't just answering the phones and you immediately know how to handle the situation or how to resolve it in the new system.

Orders ARE shipping. Now is the time for digging out from under it all. Yesterday, we shipped about 6k more orders that we took in from the websites. At that pace, we should be dug out long before 2018....

Tarnishing our brand - yes it might do that and that is a chance we're taking right now.

We are doing all that we can. Its now 7:20 pm. I've been here since 6 am this morning, responding to emails, contacting customers about their issues, etc. We're busting ourselves to fix it. Its just that overwhelming. The executive level is out in the warehouse picking and packing boxes to get them shipped. Everyone is pitching in.

I've been told to do impossible sexual acts to myself over and over today. Yet here I am, responding to your message after 13 hours of verbal abuse. Doesn't that tell you something about the dedication of the staff?

So I will apologize again and again sincerely apologize for the extreme delays. If you used this site before, you know this isn't how we operate. We will get back to that level of service again.

Its like deja vu all over again ~ Yogi Berra

I missed the part about the impossible sexual acts earlier

[crybaby] [crybaby] [crybaby]

I am experiencing a similar issue, I won a bid mid February, shipped 2/20 via UPS Surepost service and the product has yet to arrive. UPS records show USPS received the package but USPS can't locate it and USPS tracking number provided by UPS is not trackable. I've email cigarbids 3 times since then without a response. Is there a good way to file a complaint? $50 bucks shot down the drain... too much risk trying buy good cigars for cheap... Not worth risk. Quality of service is worth the extra dollars

Ok, this is a start...

I saw a mailman smoking a cigar the other day....just sayin.8-[

My god.... read the other similar posts and get a clue LOL

I have a raging clue right now

I love that three post up the one dude realizes this is no place to come for help, then a new retard posts up his problem. TW you gotta be about empty by now

They're going under guys!

Great, thanks man.

The sky is falling too!

the loads are getting smaller

Try cucumber and pineapple

cucumber maybe.... the pineapple prolly wont fit

LMAO.....never know until you try

I pm'd the moderator drmaddvibe and he took care of my order and even added a 10% off and free shipping code for future use.

If you are diligent in sending him messages he will get to the bottom of it for you.

Thanks again!

Maybe they don't like you.