The "Platinum Membership" is a cbid forum joke, although it's caused quite a bit of trouble for customer service department at Cbid with people who blow through the forum, see a post about it, don't realize it's a joke, call customer service asking for an upgrade and then don't believe C/S when they say no such membership exists. So much aggravation that finally after probably about 9 months of asking people nicely to knock off the joke, C/S has made it clear that they are going to start revoking posting privileges for people who continue the platinum membership joke.
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After thinking about this and I know they have done it in the past with humidors so I am thinking maybe it's the same deal but I wonder if they shipped them to someone, and there were damaged sticks in the box so they exchanged them and than they sent the same box out again but just marked it as opened for inspection hoping the person who got them a second time would not complain. Sounds shady but I know for a fact that they have done it with humidors in the past because a buddy of mine won a humidor from them and it came damaged so he returned it and he wrote on the box "Damaged." They sent him another which was also damaged, so again he called and they agreed to exchange it for another and low and behold the third one that came was the same one he got the first time because it had damaged in Sharpie matching what he put on the first one. With that he said F-it and returned it for a refund, and this to was through C-Bid.:-)
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Cbid ships either UPS (who does not open packages for inspection) or USPS Priority. USPS Domestic Priority mail is sealed against inspection without a federal search warrant or consent form.
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Just got this reply from Cbid

"Thank you for your email! I’m sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you! We do inspect the boxes to make sure there isn’t any damage to the cigars in general. However, when they are inspected we do have to manually open the box which may cause the cigars to shift while in transit causing damage to the cigars."

They apparently open the box to inspect for damage knowing it can lead to the cigars shifting and getting damaged???

Sounds counter productive no?:-)
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Sounds like :-). They are in damage control mode.
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To me it sounds like either a cut-and-paste answer or they didn't fully understand your original communication.

I would just call them on Monday. They tend to be very good about making things right.
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They are willing to exchange the box but it is not fair that I need to keep repackaging boxes and resending them and waiting for a new box because they are trying to sell damaged cigars.

There are a lot of cigar retailers out there that will shipped undamaged cigars as a consumer would expect.
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I've been buying cigars for a long time and I've found that eventually all vendors make mistakes and problems can arise at times. **** always happens, it's how a company chooses to react that distinguishes them. In this case, what separates the good from the bad is their willingness to replace/refund and provide and ARS label without argument.

I really don't think that the problem is CI/Cbid as a whole either, just a few individuals that might not grasp the bigger picture.
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:-) I thought this was only an Habanos issue, but apparently NC vendors are doing the same thing.
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Again a mistake is one thing. Opening a box to switch good cigars with bad is another...
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Here is my guess - they were opening boxes to switch good cigars for bad and accidentally shipped you the box they were collecting the bad cigars in. I'm betting their intentions were pure and you just got the wrong end of it by mistake.

I once had a vendor ship me the wrong order.....twice. They eventually made it right but it was a pain in the buttox.

You aren't making me feel very good about the box I have on the way from them :-)
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I think I figured out why Carlos isn't getting plugged CCs anymore though, the guy who was pulling and shipping them now works for CI and it appears that he has a crush on you.



*shrug* We don't know if that's what happened or not. You're making an assumption.
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sounds like a moneymaking opportunity to me. i would immediately start offering a platinum membership subscription!
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*shrug* We don't know if that's what happened or not. You're making an assumption.[/quote]

You are right but my assumption is based on my experiences with them. The first time there were 4 very damaged padrons out of a fiver sample. Stevie Wonder could have picked them out if he opened the box for inspection. I thought it was wierd but chalked it up to a mistake.

Now I get a second box that was 'opened for inspection' and again it is a collection of damaged cigars. Something is wrong here....
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It looks like they tried to slip one by you, in hopes that you would not complain. Whether or not they are free or a million dollar a box, the quality should remain the same. It is not your fault that you got a good deal. Let us know what happens when you get your new sticks.
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This thread leaves a bad taste in my mouth ( I know it's not the cigar I'm smoking...it's a Tat). CI's prices aren't the best, but the deals on CBID can be great. I just hope I don't encounter the "Opened for inspection" sticker. :-)
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Wow, had no idea about that. Just did a google search on the inspection stickers and found that.
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always inspect.. its a long ride over; who knows what can happen, or what your putting in your humi..
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Exactly. I only smoke one cigar a day and look forward to it. I do not want to smoke a stick with a big crack in it or a big stem hanging out of it no matter how cheap it is.

Most of all I feel it is dishonest. All the sealed boxes are fine and the ones they open are full of damaged cigars. I cannot give them my business now as a matter of principal.
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