My Teavana experience !

I just thought you guys should know what my experience has been like with my latest Teavana order (placed Jan 3rd). I’m not satisfied AT ALL.

I ordered 4 teas, and the 12 Days of Christmas set on Jan 3rd during their Heavenly sale

They sent me an email saying there was a backorder, and on the 14th two of the teas shipped. I’ve heard NOTHING about the others, and when I look up my order online, it doesn’t list the 12 Days of Christmas set AT ALL. And the teas it lists have the same item number but different name than what I ordered.

I emailed them on the 23rd to ask what happened to the “12 Days of Christmas”. Will I still get it? They reply:

“Thank you for contacting Teavana, I checked the status of your order and it shows some of your order was placed on back order but the items that wasn’t on back order was already shipped. As soon as your back order items become available they will automatically ship.”

Support didn’t answer my question, so I asked again, specifically about the 12 Days of Christmas on the 24th. Haven’t heard anything at all. Last night I emailed them again. Today I got an email from Teavana (not support) saying that the 1 item was still backordered. It doesn’t say anything about the other tea listed in my order, and I still haven’t heard ANYTHING about the 12 Days of Christmas.

This is ridiculous. I believe that communication is one of the #1 priorities you need when dealing with customers. Tell me what’s going on, and give me realistic expectations. Don’t just ignore me and misinform me. Will I ever get the 12 Days? How long does it normally take for a backorder to get replenished?

I’m really upset about the 12 Days because I haven’t had a lot of Teavana teas before and getting 12 1 oz teas for $~18 was just amazing. It was going to be a great introduction to what Teavana has to offer. I can understand if maybe this item was oversold or something like that and they couldn’t fulfill it, but they NEED to communicate with me.

Ugh.

So I think I might just open up another support ticket to cancel a) my order, and b) cancel my account because I am not at all satisfied with how they have handled this. I basically got a form answer from the support person. Nothing personalized, and no follow up to see if I was satisfied. And I had to wait 3 days for the first reply. Why I am waiting over a week for the 2nd? I was very professional and patient with my request. I’m not now.

It’s only $20 worth of product they owe me (but worth more because I bought everything at 75% off) but that $20 should go to a company that deserves it like Verdant, Butiki or RiverTea.

Anyway… watch out, you guys.

Having your order messed up when you are getting a great deal is so upsetting! It’s not like you want your money back, what you really want is some more/different product at 75% off. I know how you must feel. I hate losing a good deal and 75% off is a great deal. Sorry :(

I just received my reply from Teavana about the 12 Days of Christmas teas:

“Thank you for contacting Teavana, That item is discontinued and was never charged to you. I do apologize about any inconvenience this may have caused, have a wonderful day.”

Am I satisfied with that? No. I shouldn’t have to push to be told that an item I ordered and expected to arrive any time now is never coming. They should have emailed me when they realized it wasn’t going to ship. That’s pretty inexcusable, especially for a company as large as theirs. If this was a one-man shop that was swamped with orders from a big sale I’d be more tolerant.

If I remember correctly, they had trouble after Christmas last year. Not that it excuses them of course. I’m personally still a Teavana fan for various reasons, but it’s times like these that I really ask myself WHY?

When In London I hang out at Fortnum & Mason, and Tea at the Dorchester Hotel, which is better than The Ritz, or The Savoy. I always send home Fortnum teas, as well as D.J Miles. I even check out Whittard’s of Chelsea. I recently was send a Jubilee Tin, and it had Ahmad tea in it, and I was sadly disappointed. At Home I drink a lot of Dilmah Teas, Wonderful Tea.

oh, Teavana. they should rename the franchise ‘Tetsubin’ (more on that later).. since i’ve been treated poorly by this company and fleeced out of money, as both a customer AND an employee (for a very brief time before i ended up quitting), i can attest to this:

you’re not imagining that they have an aggressive sales policy. it is outlined very clearly in their 214-page textbook manual…over several chapters, and obnoxiously reinforced by your superiors.

i wasn’t comfortable with the idea from the beginning, so i chose to concentrate on the teas themselves & memorize flavor notes, etc. i planned to be a friendly seller of course and familiarize myself with merchandise, but did not want to go over-the-top & force cast iron (Tetsubin) teapots on people. isn’t the priority, after all, the customer? shouldn’t the customer decide what they want to buy?

there are sneaky techniques they use like upselling & top-down selling, which to me seem like desperately obvious attempts to take your money. i haven’t worked in retail a lot, so this could very well be par for the course. although let’s face it, people aren’t stupid. i cringed each time i saw other sales associates pounce like pumas on top of people & quite literally refused to do it. LOL!! (well, i used my own style of ‘friendly persistence’, but they weren’t having it.) as a result, i was called into the back over several occasions & reprimanded by our very bombastic/reprehensible team leader with threats that my hours would be cut if i didn’t start meeting their sales quota. promptly after that, my hours were whittled down to 4 a week. seriously?

oh, and i do believe there has been a price hike on black dragon pearls. they’re $15.98 for 2 oz. now so they’re right up there with David’s! i’m a dragon pearl fan…thinking of buying some from David’s just to spite them…ha ha!

actually David’s has an amazing selection i’m dying to try, so better to put my money elsewhere!

not that i begrudge anyone who likes Teavana as i used to love it, and still feel they have some very nice teas. plus their marketing/advertising is quite clever, well done.. it could actually be a much more attractive establishment if they actually focused more on the tea experience itself, sampling (and NOT as per their aggressive sales model), tasting, smelling, sipping, enjoying, relaxing, and soaking in atmosphere.

instead you’re unceremoniously whisked into the store, and before you know it, you’re being forced to build a tea set before you can say “get me outta here!!”

it’s a very anxiety-provoking, unsettling experience. can i please walk around the store and BREATHE SOME AIR before you hop onto my back like a koala with suction cups?? you have over 100 flavors, there’s some serious sniffing i’d like to do first, before i’ll even think of teaware!! i’ll give them this: their glass pots are very cute, like the ‘Claire’ and ‘Musée de Thé’, although this company is hardly deserving of my praise. in my opinion, their objective is thinly veiled, which both totally undermines their product & insults the customer. oh well, i suppose conglomerates don’t care.

I would be lying if I didnt say I stop in the teavana close to me every time I am in the mall to drink the samples amd leave without buying, just because I think their ‘selling’ tactics suck. I will say this though, the starbucks I frequent could teqch them things. Free flavor shots, they know me by name, ask about work because they know I work at a hellish big box store across the street. Its such a friendly environment. I hope that attitude gets over to teavana and it doesnt just end up becoming the snotty little sister company.

I’m not entirely sure if i’m right here, but I went to World Market and they sell Cast Iron Teapots for around $20… am I missing something here?