Supplier Review for Global Kava Exports (European Supplier)

[Capitán Bastos]

First time I ordered, they failed to fill out the declaration forms, that resulted in the customs returning the package.
I emailed them and they quickly apologized and sent a second shipment that got here fine,
This time around, the kava got seized because of the declaration.
Customs returned the kava to @Global Kava Exports on the 23. of December 2015.
I've sent several emails to no avail.
€90 is not a huge amount, but enough for me to personally ban this vendor.
A month later and still no word?
I understand they can't be on the forum, reply to certain emails etc...
But, you don't have to be a friggin rocket scientist to find alternatives.
Telegram
Telephone
Letter
Postcard
Message in a friggin bottle
Homing pigeons
FaceTime
Imo
Whatsapp
Viber
A small airplane with a banner....
If I hear from them and get my refund, I'll change this.
It's been more than a month.
Totally unacceptable.

 

[Capitán Bastos]

I feel like I should explain why I can't recommend @Global Kava Exports .
But, before I do that, I have to say that the first time around I had no issue. I actually enjoyed our email exchange and I don't think they are bad people. In fact, I would still rate them as "muy simpatico". I just don't like the way they handled this one incident. They did apologize and give me a full refund. But, only after I made this post and they presumably had gotten their product back. For this, they get 2 instead of 1 shell. That said, I really feel for them considering their challenging circumstances trying to run their business and hope this changes soon.

Why I can't recommend doing business with them (if you live outside the U.K) :

1) They basically have no customer's service anymore. I'm not the only one outside the U.K to have experienced problems on that end. I understand the reasons, but they seriously should consider finding ways to stay in touch with their researchers. IMHO..
2) The shipment was returned, they received it and instead of contacting me or just giving me a refund at once, I apparently had to make this post to get their attention. I find that rather insulting to my intelligence. I've built up and ran a few businesses in my time and this would never happen on my watch. Totally unacceptable. IMHO..
3) After I made this post, I received an apology on EMAIL. First of all, apologies are just words at this point and I won't respond to their email because of this. They did say they're no longer shipping to my country (I won't share my location here for now, but outside U.K, inside Europe will suffice.) so compensation in form of product is out of the question. However a business depends on it's reputation regardless. Unless they have monopoly and they clearly don't. I would expect an offer for a form of compensation, deservingly so. Just the gesture would be worth something. IMHO..
4) They're resellers and I can source their products elsewhere (for negligible difference in cost) and have had no issues so far. So unless you live in the U.K I can't recommend doing business with them. IMHO..

So yeah, it's just my honest opinion at this point. I don't want to hurt their business and if you had good experiences with them, well, bully for you. The main issue I'm having, is the complete lack of communication up to this point. That makes the apology worthless and just adds insult to injury.
IMHO..

However, in the spirit of this forum, I'll update this thread if anything changes. After all, this should be a place of peace. IMHO..

El Capitán

 

[Mr G]

Did they explain why they hadn't been in contact?

I'm not in UK and have been buying off them for years, though I am in the EU, outside EU seems to be a different matter, and they've always been good, so I'd love to know what they said.

 

[Capitán Bastos]

I'm Happy to hear you've had a different experience.

"We apologise for taking so long to reply to your mail. As we received it during Christmas when the offices were closed we overlooked it and apologise profusely. We are arranging a PayPal refund for you right now(...)"

I sent the first email DEC 15.
The one they are referring to here was sent on DEC 26.

They replied exactly one month after my last email.

When I bought my first kavas last fall, I ordered from the vendors that gave a clear response and seemed trustworthy. Global Kava Exports was one of those vendors.

 

[Edward]

I've never had any problems with them but then I am in the UK.

Well now, El Capitan, if you are not Spanish then I'm guessing by the standard of your English (excellent) that you must be in Germany, Norway or somewhere similar?

 

[Capitán Bastos]

I've never had any problems with them but then I am in the UK.

Well now, El Capitan, if you are not Spanish then I'm guessing by the standard of your English (excellent) that you must be in Germany, Norway or somewhere similar?

Honestly, I'm so tired from work right now, I'm not sure where I am.