Great customer service experience!!!
Just want to share a great experience with a retailer. We often take time to report the bad stuff, it’s nice to also talk about the good.
I recently placed an order with ZEN TEA .I love the company and have been a client for a couple of years now, I always restock on some favourites. They were having a big sale and I took the opportunity to try a very popular chai of theirs, Energizing Chai Organic.
This morning, I received this email from them:
«We couldn’t ship ‘Energizing Chai organic’ because of insufficient stock.
We refunded your Paypal account.
We’ll include Energizing Chai for free with your next order. Please notice us to include Energizing Chai when you place order next time.
Sorry for our mistake.
Have a great Friday!»
I’ve had a few bad experiences lately with other retailers. I am so impressed this time, it means I wont be disappointed when I open my box, I already KNOW about this. The fact that they notified me in advance is very good, but they are making it better than good, they are making it GREAT!! And I didn’t have to ask for anything…not that I would have. See, it’s not about the mistake, it’s about HOW they fix it. ZEN TEA has this all figured out. That’s how merchants should treat their clients.
I’d like to encourage them, here’s their website:
As someone who deals with customer service all the time….
It has been shown that if you can exceed a customers expectation in solving a problem, they are more apt to become a loyal client then if they never experienced a problem at all.
Every customer concern is an opportunity to build a relationship with that customer – it’s all in how the situation is handled.
Happy to hear that you had a great experience with Zen. :))
Exactly! The thing is, even if I don’t cash in on the free tea, I’ll always remember that they offered.
(What’s wrong with me and tea orders lately??? Seems that there’s always something, lol. The tea gods are trying to tell me something, but I don’t want to hear them…)
You have had really bad luck lately. Maybe you should listen for a little bit. Take a break and then try again in a month or so. Be happy with the teas that you have…
glad to hear they’ve learned more about customer service since my experience with them :)
So sorry to hear you’ve had a bad experience Sil…maybe they did learn from it then
:-)
I’ve been placing orders for the last two years, never had a problem and always had great communication with the owner. It’s the first time they have the opportunity to “fix” something for me.
What are the favorites that you like to keep in stock?
Dustin, these are all staples:
Assam Mangalam Second Flush FTGFOP1- one of my favourite Assam
Earl Grey Cream – my favourite earl ever
Phoenix Pearl Black – really good and different black
Keemun – fruity and delicious
Coconut green – favourite coconut tea to date
Darjeeling Avongrove S.F. Organic FTGFOP1- can’t live without, but I have no choice, it’s sold out!
I love that they don’t overcharge, and yet, they offer excellent quality. They don’t have tons of blends, but I don’t care cause I stick to my staples most of the time.
TheTeaFairy, Agreed, Kenneth & Zen Tea are excellent! I’ve tasted & reviewed several of their samples and also purchased 500g of their Earl Gray Cream for my wife. It appears we may have similar interests in tea:
“Assam Mangalam Second Flush FTGFOP1 – one of my favourite Assam”:
I very much enjoyed this Assam sample and see from your tasting notes you’ve also tried Assam tea from A&D and SST. I’ve read excellent comments about both but haven’t yet sampled either. How do these three compare?
“Phoenix Pearl Black – really good and different black”
I enjoyed a sample of this 11 months ago. Have you also tried Black Pearl by Mandala Tea or Teavivre’s Fengqing Dragon Pearls?
“Keemun – fruity and delicious”
Like you, I also enjoy a good Keemun but haven’t tasted the one from Zen tea. Have you tried any others such as TeaVivre?
Thanks!
Well I’ve had A&D and SST only once so it’s hard to make a decent comparison but this is what I remember. Out of the three, A&D is the bolder cup I think, followed very closely by Zen Tea. The smoother one and less astringent is SST, it really did resemble Butiki’s Premium Taiwanese Assam. All three are pretty close in my opinion in terms of enjoyability.
One of my other favourite assam is Butuki Khongea Tippy Golden Assam. Whoa, that’s all I can say. I think I have reviewed it a couple of times. It’s one of those tobacco asssam, very fragrant and bold, the brew is this beautiful almost crimson red. A must IMO, for all assam lovers!
I do like Teavivre’s Dragon Pearl and Zen Tea Phoenix. I think they are both excellent Yunnans. They really look different though, Teavivre’s pearls are huge and round, Zen Tea being more in the shape of little nuggets. I do prefer Zen Tea, but that’s just a personal preference, it’s not as smoky as Teavivre that’s all. I have yet to try Mandala’s, although I have a massive order coming my way, this one is not part of it. (Unless Garret has included a sample, you never know!)
Lol, we do seem to have similar tastes. My favourite Keemun is Teavivre’s Superfine Keemun Fragrant and I usually keep some Premium Keemun Hao Ya. I prefer those fruity floral Keemuns to those that are heavier on the smoke. I don’t mind smoke, but it has to be very mild. I seem to enjoy smoke better with oolongs than black tea. Love those charcoal roasted oolongs! Their taste is more of a toasty and burnt caramel rather than smoky, I think that’s why I like them so much!
I just finished a tin of Zen Tea Ceylon Ratnapura BOP Special today. I think ceylon in general doesn’t get enough credit. Some are as good as any Assam, this one was, and I’m sad I just forgot to reorder… It’s malty and slightly spicy, very fragrant and surprisingly smooth. Will definitely restock on next order.
See what happens when you ask me a tea question? I write an essay, lol!!
I personally find the phoenix pearl to be really different from other black pearl teas. I have a thermos with a strainer top – it’s essentially a Japanese Timolino – and I can put 1 tsp of the phoenix pearl into it, and keep refilling as needed all day. I can use any temperature of water, and leave the leaves in for the whole day. It remains sweet, and doesn’t go bitter or astringent at all.
The other pearls tend to do better (IMO) with multiple steeps. As they open up, the flavour can change quite a lot, as there’s so much tea packed into the little 1cm balls.
Hi TheTeaFairy,
Thanks for the three awesome replies and the Ceylon Ratnapura BOP Special heads-up!
“My favourite Keemun is Teavivre’s Superfine Keemun Fragrant and I usually keep some Premium Keemun Hao Ya. I prefer those fruity floral Keemuns to those that are heavier on the smoke. I don’t mind smoke, but it has to be very mild.”
I enjoy a fruity Keemun like Teavivre’s Premium Keemun Hao Ya. I haven’t yet had the pleasure of their Organic Superfine Keemun Fragrant. How fruity & smoky is the Zen Tea Keemun?
Thanks again!
Well, I think it holds its own in comparison to the more praised Keemun such as Teavivre’s. It is somewhat smoky but nothing offensive and it’s pretty much gone at second infusion. The fruit note feels more like dried fig to me than plum. There’s also a nice cocoa feel to it, and it’s very mellow. I put it second, Superfine Fragrant being my #1. Superfine is a lot more fruity and sweet, in a yam kind of way. Also, it is NOT smoky at all, but still rich and malty. In a class of its own.
Zen Tea’s Keemun would be similar to Premium Hao Ya. Of course, this is all very subjective, as my impression of it might be totally different than yours but I hope it gives you an idea :-)
If you don,t end up buying Zen Tea, you MUST try Superfine Fragrant!!
OMGsrsly, you are so right, the Phoenix Pearl is so forgiving, can’t mess it up! Lol, teavivre’s Dragon pearls must be quite a challenge for a little tea ball, when they open up freely, they look like spaghettis, super long tentacles!
I have had excellent customer service from Nina’s Paris USA, Teavivre, Butiki and Red Leaf Tea.
I’ve also have had excellent customer service from several other suppliers especially:
Alvin’s of S.F., Arbor Teas, Butiki, DAVIDsTEA, Hugo Teas, Mandala Tea, Nuvola Tea, Shanti Tea Importers, Steven Smith Teamaker, t leaf T of NZ, Teavivre, Teas Etc., The Tea Merchant, Verdant, and Vintage Tea Works.
I’ve placed some orders with Zen Tea and share your opinion about their great customer service. They were wonderful in following up with some questions I had and helping me with my order. And I love their tea too.
I just placed my first order with Zen Tea. I was really impressed with the prices and the price for shipping. I loved their EGC that I got to try from a fellow Steepster and this is what drew me to their sale this month. Thank you for posting your favorites. I will have to keep these in mind for next time. I am glad to hear that they are such a great company.
That’s great, they rarely do a sale of 30% off everything. What else did you get in your first order?
(And yes, when you’re an EG lover, EGC makes it impossible not to fall in love with!!)
I am looking at my order now going man I must have been in a decaf tea mood. Beside the large purchase of EGC here are the samples I ordered:
Pu-erh Vanilla Mint
Masala Chai
Rooibos-Raspberry Vanilla
Rooibos-Ginger
Black tea-Strawberry Cream
Rooibos-Cream Caramel
Oolong-Coconut
Green Tea-Ginger Lemon
Great selection Tea Tiff, hope you’ll enjoy them! i’m not a fan of rooibos, so I’ve never tried those, but I do like the pu’erh vanilla mint a lot! I have also ordered Masala chai, and just got my order today, yay!!
I LOVE Zen!! and can’t say enough good things about them! Kenneth is an extremely helpful, knowledgeable and sweet person, and their tea’s absolutely rock. What a over-the-top lovely touch!
I placed an order before the sale to restock some old favorites (Strawberry & Cream, Coconut Oolong, Coconut Sencha – yes, the coconut is that good, I can’t have just one type!) and to try several others via samples. I also ordered a 50g EG cream without sampling first due to the glowing reviews. Can’t wait to get them! :)
Obviously I’d recommend them whole heatedly.
So happy to know you’ve had good service from them also. Great selection, too bad you ordered BEFORE the sale though… They really do coconut well, don’t they?
It’s so great to see someone having a GOOD experience for a change!
Don’t know if this is part of their apologies, but I just received my order today and there’s 5 large samples included!!! They usually give me 2 or 3 max!! And one of them is Energizing Chai, so I still get to try it before I order it for free once they restock!!! So happy about that!
I’m sipping on their Keemun right now, I’ve been out for a little while, and I realize how much I have missed it, can’t say enough good things about it, it does compare to higher end Keemun, this tea is a steal!!
I have had amazing experiences with Yunomi.us, Verdant, and Yezi Tea. They have just been so friendly and nice, when dealing with them I feel like I am interacting with people who care and not just a big company.
I have only interacted with Eco-Cha and Teavivre through reviewing for my blog (not purchasing yet) and they have also been wonderfully friendly meaning that next time I can afford to buy tea I will definitely be ordering from them.
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