Crushed shipment of pearls
Hi again Steepster. My question today is this; i received a package containing 7 ounces of Black Dragon Pearl from Tealux, only to nearly cry as i saw half of the bag has been crushed during shipment. So i have about 4 ounces or so of what looks like opened tea bags of Black Dragon (not quite) Pearl. Will this affect the quality of my tea or will it taste ok if brewed? Should i return it for a refund?
It might be a bit stronger than if they weren’t crushed, but the taste itself shouldn’t be affected. was it well packaged?
The tea was shipped in a foil lined, light proof plastic bag, closed with a ziplock. There was some air in the package, ie it was not vacuum sealed. This bag was simply placed into a padded manila envelope, and mailed.
You said they had really great customer service there, right? I don’t know — to me, a crushed package would be unacceptable. Also, they should’ve shipped it in a box. I’d contact them and see what they suggest. If you don’t want to return it, maybe they’ll offer you a nice discount on your next order.
I ship things on eBay, and I’m required to make sure they arrive in perfect condition. Certainly a well-established brick and mortar business has an obligation to do that.
I sent them an email, and they replied about an hour later. They offered to ship out another 3.5 oz to make up for what was damaged. I can see where you are coming from about the perfect condition, and while they are an online store, i do agree with you. Tealux seems to have better prices, but it seems that they make up for the prices by offering substandard shipping. I am happy with their level of customer service, but i dont know… maybe i will look for another supplier. I just infused some of the crushed leaf, and while it does taste the same for the most part, it is quite bitter. Not to the point that i would pour it out, but it certainly not like it was before. :(
That sounds fairly reasonable, I think — I’d ask them to definitely ship out a replacement for what you lost.
That sounds fairly reasonable, I think — I’d ask them to definitely ship out a replacement for what you lost.
Anyway, I don’t know if this is an informed approach or not, and I’m honestly too new to this to know what I’m doing, but… I think there are a couple of red flags on the Tealux site — I’d seen the site before, but I checked them out again after you recommended them for customer service. My first thoughts were:
1. They don’t specialize in anything, and seem to be trying to do EVERYTHING, which is not really possible to do well unless you’re a super-established company like, say, Harney & Sons. And even they don’t get everything right. This may just be a personal bias, but I prefer to use either really old, well-established companies with the resources to do all kinds of things well — or small companies that focus on specific things. And of the two, I think I’m beginning to prefer the small, specialized places.
2. This is definitely a personal bias, but there’s an entire section on the Tealux site about advice from Dr. Oz. :) If they’re doing that, I’m worried that they’re more concerned with potentially quack medical advice than the taste of the tea.
Yeh, i deleted the thread i created about “pleasant experience”. It was a premature post on my part. The biggest thing that had me all gung ho was that their prices were low, and the samples tasted great. This issue coupled with the fact that the pearls are bland had me disillusioned with them.
Ugh, they’re bland too? That is too bad. For reasonable prices, I’d recommend southernseason.com and onsullivan.com. Neither really specialize in anything, but the prices are low. I live near Southern Season, and I haven’t had their tea in a while, but they’re selling it for about $2/ounce and folks on here have recommended it to me as good for the price so I think I’ll be trying it again soon. And I know they pack things beautifully. onsullivan.com is the site for Sullivan St. Tea and Spice Company — I’d stay away from any teas they describe as “smoky” or “slightly smoky” — I think their Ghengis Khan tea tastes like ashes. But some of the simpler stuff is pretty solid. I like the Assam I got from them, and they have one of the best masala chai teas I’ve ever had. They also have a lot of teas for around $2/ounce. They packed well too. Those teas won’t be on the same level as the ones from Verdant or Whispering Pines, but I don’t think it’s so possible to find that for those prices.
Also, the prices at Sullivan St. start with 4 oz., so $10.50 for 4 oz. is really not bad.
Fergy,
Your comments related to flavor (or lack thereof) of the Dragon Pearls is interesting as my primary supplier, TeaVivre, is out of stock of their Pearls and I asked for a status of when they might have more available and the reply I got was that this latest season was not of sufficient quality so they would not have it in stock until a harvest of quality was achieved.
I would certainly contact them and let them know what happened, even if you don’t have a desired course of action in mind. 7oz is a lot of tea to be damaged, and if nothing else you can see what they offer you, even if you do end up deciding to keep the damaged tea.
i would ask for replacement. you bought whole pearls not crashed pearls. its not a big diff in price between padded envelope and a box. maybe 30-50c only. i cannot recall any US based company sending me tea in an envelope. always box and bubble wrap inside
That is pretty crap to mail tea in a bubble mailer, especially for a large order.
I’d be hesitant to order from them personally if I know they ship like that. All good tea companies send their stuff wrapped in a box.
Im quickly coming to realize that… Honestly i dont think i will buy form them again, even if their prices are better than most :( its not worth the hassle.
I just got an email yesterday that four bags of black tea I ordered from Yunnan Sourcing US were stuffed in a Priority Flat Rate Envelope. I’m furious that this has been done to my black teas and I’m also unhappy to have paid $7.95 and bilked all that extra money. I complained via email and was told “air was left in the envelope.” I will not be ordering leaf tea from YS again. I mentioned that a 1 lb parcel box would still have come under what I paid for shipping.
Honestly for things that weigh that little, it is the same cost to send in a padded envelope as in a box. I ship things all the time and on the shipment screen it’s even the same option for both of those so the cost is the same.
OMG someone come shoot me… i sorted out all of the crushed leaf to mix with some tea i dont really like to change up the flavor… then picked up the bag that the pearl came in, and dumped in the crushed leaf. only to realize in horror that i dumped it on top of my imperial golden monkey T.T i only managed to salvage half of the bag.
I’ve ordered from Tealux several times, and have never had problems with crushed tea… though I’ve also ordered quite a few oolongs from them, which are pretty durable. :) Initially I was really turned off by the Dr Oz thing too, but overall I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the quality of tea I’ve got from them. Not the absolutely highest quality, but good value for what you pay. Anyway, just my opinion. Sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience!
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