Thanks! But I’m not really a professional seller with lots of orders to take care of...
TeaLife.HK -- Classic HK-style Teas!
I ordered last black friday and only got in August, tho covid played a big role in that. Small operation difficulties it may be, but I think it's definitely something customers should be aware of.
Hi Karma! As we discussed, I do it all myself and some people insist on fast shipping, which has caused a backlog to build up. I can only realistically pack a few orders a day at most, and I handle every aspect of this business myself (aside from a few hours a month, at most, when my girlfriend can help).
In your case, you didn't want to go with surface shipping back when it was the only option out of HK, and asked me to hold your order until I heard back from buyers about whether or not their tea suffered when going by ship. When air service resumed to your zip code resumed, I upgraded you to Express Mail at my cost ($70 in shipping alone). I'm sorry it took as long as it did, but I'm glad you and your girlfriend enjoyed your teas! I'm now spending less time on the social media side of things and focusing on getting orders out as quickly as possible.
I mean Black Friday to the end of March is still 4 months, which is much longer than any other vendor would take to ship an order. I appreciate the measures you went through to get me my order, but from my perspective it never should have been an issue if you had reasonable shipping times. You DMed me to amend my post and I did out of courtesy to you, but realistically if people talking accurately about your business hurts your business, maybe you should change the way it's run. It's probably a good thing you'll be spending less time online.tealifehk wrote: ↑Sat Nov 28, 2020 3:51 amHi Karma! As we discussed, I do it all myself and some people insist on fast shipping, which has caused a backlog to build up. I can only realistically pack a few orders a day at most, and I handle every aspect of this business myself (aside from a few hours a month, at most, when my girlfriend can help).
In your case, you didn't want to go with surface shipping back when it was the only option out of HK, and asked me to hold your order until I heard back from buyers about whether or not their tea suffered when going by ship. When air service resumed to your zip code resumed, I upgraded you to Express Mail at my cost ($70 in shipping alone). I'm sorry it took as long as it did, but I'm glad you and your girlfriend enjoyed your teas! I'm now spending less time on the social media side of things and focusing on getting orders out as quickly as possible.
Hi Karma,karma wrote: ↑Sat Nov 28, 2020 10:08 pmI mean Black Friday to the end of March is still 4 months, which is much longer than any other vendor would take to ship an order. I appreciate the measures you went through to get me my order, but from my perspective it never should have been an issue if you had reasonable shipping times. You DMed me to amend my post and I did out of courtesy to you, but realistically if people talking accurately about your business hurts your business, maybe you should change the way it's run. It's probably a good thing you'll be spending less time online.tealifehk wrote: ↑Sat Nov 28, 2020 3:51 amHi Karma! As we discussed, I do it all myself and some people insist on fast shipping, which has caused a backlog to build up. I can only realistically pack a few orders a day at most, and I handle every aspect of this business myself (aside from a few hours a month, at most, when my girlfriend can help).
In your case, you didn't want to go with surface shipping back when it was the only option out of HK, and asked me to hold your order until I heard back from buyers about whether or not their tea suffered when going by ship. When air service resumed to your zip code resumed, I upgraded you to Express Mail at my cost ($70 in shipping alone). I'm sorry it took as long as it did, but I'm glad you and your girlfriend enjoyed your teas! I'm now spending less time on the social media side of things and focusing on getting orders out as quickly as possible.
Yes, I asked you to amend your post because you neglected to mention that you asked me to hold your order. It then took over a month for USPS to get your order to you (even by Express Mail).
Unfortunately my hands are tied here: I cannot afford to hire someone to help me fulfil orders unless I raise prices. I try my best to keep as many people as I can happy and my emphasis has always been on quality. I control every aspect of my business as closely as I can. I have to travel all over town, source, store, handle e-mail, pack and ship, all without a vehicle.
Yes, it takes a while to ship (I ship orders quicker if people need their packages done sooner, which then pushes other people back), but I'm really just trying to stay afloat as best as I can. If some people are displeased with the wait times, they don't come back. I get that. I am fortunate to have regulars who are patient with my shipping times because they know I have great tea.
For now the best I can do is try to get orders out as quickly as I can, and fortunately I have been able to work the backlog down with some help from friends and family. My goal for the future is to have separate packing premises where I have packing staff who I trust, since I'm very particular about how my tea is packed as well (as you're aware).
Thanks for the input!
I also tried contacting him about an unfilfilled order - no reply. My impression is that HK was hit pretty badly in recent years, so the life for a small export business must have been rough. More communication would have been nice, still.
I only bought from him once, around two years ago; I enjoyed his wet-stored 8582, despite the long time that it took to get to me.
This looks like it could be him, but I am not sure: https://hk.linkedin.com/in/jay-khilnani-572b51a
The background seems consistent with his old 'about' page: https://web.archive.org/web/20170222091 ... .com/about
Hopefully any people with unfulfilled orders paid for them through Paypal or credit cards, and might therefore be able to challenge the transactions if he really has shut shop.
Andrew
This looks like it could be him, but I am not sure: https://hk.linkedin.com/in/jay-khilnani-572b51a
The background seems consistent with his old 'about' page: https://web.archive.org/web/20170222091 ... .com/about
Hopefully any people with unfulfilled orders paid for them through Paypal or credit cards, and might therefore be able to challenge the transactions if he really has shut shop.
Andrew
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Ethan Kurland
- Vendor
- Posts: 1057
- Joined: Thu Oct 12, 2017 1:01 am
- Location: Boston
- Contact:
+1 to this advice. If that fails, I think one just says goodbye to that $.
Jay was troubled by problems caused by some personal "characteristics", helping his mother w/ serious chronic kidney disease, & life in general (as are many of us). His way of doing business for his collectible knives business & tea business, was limited inventory/high prices, which does not give an owner regular encouragement through frequent orders but does make it easy "to pack up & go" quickly, in a manner of speaking.