Thompson Cigar review: I will never be a customer of thompson's again! 82

Placed an order and used my Paypal to pay and the order (TC005568239) was never shipped. Was never notified and found out they were trying to set me up for a monthly shipment which I never signed up for. Never received the product I ordered and had to place a dispute with Paypal to get my funds back.

I've tried ordering a hundred dollars worth of cigars and have a promo code for free shipping, but you still charge me for shipping. The promo code is as follows, TCPS2132

I scrutinized my last credit card statement & noticed a $14.95 charge to my account from Thompson Co. for their alleged Value Plan, whatever the heck that is. Based on all the posts of other people who incurred this same charge, it sure seems like this was SCAM on Thompson’s part.

A Class Action Suit seems warranted here. Do you agree?

Oct 28th charge on my credit card for Thompson Cigar subscription and did not authorize. Total scam!

I did not enroll in the Thonpson Cigar "Total Value Pack" and was charged $14.95 on 10/12/22 on my VISA card. I spoke with Thompson Cigar on 11/2/22 and the charge is going to be reversed.

Thompson Cigar provided Shopper Discounts with my credit card information and they were charging me $10 a month for bogus discounts that I knew nothing about. I will never purchase from Thompson Cigar again.

Thompson are the worst!
I tried yesterday www.cigarchoice.com. just amazing. simple and cheaper.

Even when you opt to pay with paypal (btw it had above 100.00 in balance funds), it asks for credit card number complaining I don't have sufficient funds! I was buying 39.99 8 cigar deal so i guess they definitely have other plans to keep me hostage with my credit card number.

They are horrible! They claimed that they didn't have my ship to address, however, it is right on my confirmation they emailed me! The humidor, cigars, etc. sat on my porch all day in the rain while I was at work (which is where they were supposed to ship them)! Their customer service guy offered to send me a return label, then when I emailed them and complained they offered to send them out 2 day air and charge my credit card for them again! UNBELIEVABLE!

Even though they gave me the hard sell on the phone I haven't had the club credit card problems but I will start looking for a new retailer for my smokes. Their CSRs are USELESS! The first time I talked to them I spent 20 minutes with the guy who kept trying to sell me the club and I kept telling him no. The things I did want to know about buying a humidor and finding five packs of a certain smoke he was unable to answer - instead of actually knowing their products he just thumbed through a catalog. I hung up and found the info online on my own within a few minutes. In addition two packs of Ghurka cigars they advertised and I ordered have been back ordered since OCTOBER, it is now March, and after I split a bill into three payments online I received a bill in the mail for the full amount.

Well, this a first for me! It took a lot for me to take the time to agree with everyone. I do all my cigar purchases by the internet. Over the years Thompsons has received probably 90% of that business. Customer service has always been good, shipping fast and accurate. I never buy anything off the net that does not accept PayPal -- NEVER. OK, their constant begging that you to join the club is a pain, and I never have and never will.

Today, I went to buy Christmas presents clicked on PayPay. Up comes the signon and then the confirmation screen. It offered no choice of method of payment (bank account or credit card) - only bank account. I declined and closed Firefox browser (cleared cookies, history, everything) - tried 2 more times with the same results of no credit card option on PayPal. I closed everything again. I opened Internet Explorer SAME THING. I then called support - big hold time, to be told Thompson web site was running and PayPal connection was good.

I had made 4 prior purchases on other sites that morning and 2 more after my Thompsons waste of time. Every one of these vendors took my PayPAL credit card option for payment.

Now that I read these reviews it is clear that Thompsons is only accepting credit cards entered directly on there site, so they can defraud their customers.

NEVER AGAIN - I WILL PAY A COUPLE OF DOLLARS MORE AND GET EXACTLY WHAT I WANT, AND HAVE MY CREDIT PROTECTED BY PAYPAL

I cannot overstate this simple warning = DON'T buy anything from Thompson Cigars. They are deliberately deceptive, and I must confess very well-trained in how NOT to understand customer complaints. It took 5 calls, multiple emails, and 2 letters to get a single credit issued. NO company can be this unethical without the proper training and the right amount of unscrupulous employees. I imagine their cigar club people get a percentage of every transaction so they're motivated to play dumb and not show a lost customer in their system so they won't forfeit any commission money. I am going to cancel my debit card and get a new one just to make sure Thompson doesn't charge me incorrectly, which I expect them to do even though my credit was processed. These people are crooks, plain and simple.
A real disgrace.

I actually DID join the "discount" club. I never saw any actual discounts even after several months of a standing order for very high-end smokes. In addition, cigars would be shipped in advance of the scheduled monthly ship date, so you could not call near the end of the month and stop a shipment before it was sent. Shipped two orders back, and they insisted that I still owed them for a shipment.

I finally managed to get removed from the club (actually acknowledged by a letter from them asking me to come back), and have had call after call to my cell phone trying to get me back ever since. I have had to program my phone to send their calls straight to voicemail, as they call me at all hours during the business day.

Even since sending all their calls direct to voicemail, they still call me at least once every two days. RIDICULOUS and ANNOYING! Oh, yeah, and my number IS on the do-not-call directory.

I actually DID join the "discount" club. I never saw any actual discounts even after several months of a standing order for high-end smokes. In addition, cigars would be shipped in advance of the scheduled monthly ship date, so you could not call near the end of the month and stop a shipment before it was sent. Shipped two orders back, and they insisted that I still owed them for a shipment.

I finally managed to get removed from the club (actually acknowledged by a letter from them asking me to come back), and have had call after call to my cell phone trying to get me back ever since. I have had to program my phone to send their calls straight to voicemail, as they call me at all hours during the business day.

Even since sending all their calls direct to voicemail, they still call me at least once every two days. RIDICULOUS and ANNOYING! Oh, yeah, and my number IS on the do-not-call directory.

Thompson hoodwinked me in joining their club and started sending me their own house brand every other month. These cigars tasted like a stick you pick up out of your yard. I tried to change brands, but they kept sending the same thing. After a couple times of trying to end this nonsense, I told them my doctor said I had to quit because I might be developing cancer. I was immediately removed from the club and those crappy cigars quit coming.

I wish I would have read this site before I purchased from Thompson Cigar. I purchased almost 400.00 worth of cigars and when I received the order it was wrong. A month later and I am still dealing with this. I will not buy again no matter how good the prices.

Sincerly Kevin Booker

I went on line hoping to get my husband some cigars for Christmas. I was thinking they would e-mail me because they would have the common since that I am looking for presents. Instead one of their sales reps called my house, spoke to my husband and told him I was looking on line and inquiring about them. Needless to say, when I finnaly spoke to them I told them that i would not be ordering since they told my husband.

Thompson Cigars has no regaurd, respect for it's customers.
Wow! Thompson sure does look appealing on the internet, but wait until you try to place an order, or even worse, try to correct thier mistake. It is an absolute nightmare! The worst part of my experiance with this company was trying to speak to a supervisor, I have done this twice, Thompson Cigars, according to thier own sales reps, do not have supervisors available to to speak to a customer! and that is a lie! I hung up and called again and was given a supervisor! Thompson can not get an order right and when you try to change it to what you want will tell you it is taken care of, but they will still send you the wrong order! This company does not care about customer service, order accuracy, or repeat business and it will catch up to them. This company is just awful in every respect! Do yourself a favor and AVOID Thompson Cigars at all costs! There are too many reputable cigar companies out there and in the present economy we need to be careful where we spend our money.

### Thompson Cigars

Ordered something from Thompson cigars once and was happy with the product so I ordered again. This time the product arrived very stale and unenjoyable. I complained and they sent me a sampler, which was also stale. So they sent me a free hat. I did not order for a couple months as I found a better retailer for my cigars. This is when they began calling me on a weekly basis to nag me to buy cigars and join their club. One sales person was very pushy so I stated that I did not wish to be rude but that I got 2 orders in a row of very stale cigars. He then explained to me that he doesn't understand how that is possible because my cigars were shipped from Tampa and that I couldn't possibly find a closer mail-order cigar store. I explained to him that Cigar.com ships from Pennsylvania and he explained to me that he felt that Tampa was closer to New York than Bath, PA. Mind boggling! Since then I've been called 3 more times even though I told them to leave me alone. They've also sent me about 20 catalogs in the year that I've been enjoying cigars.

Thompson Cigar pissed me off also. Avoid this company.

its amazing how many of you people claim, "i have ordered several times with this company and bla bla bla" the words "SEVERAL TIMES" if this is such a bad company, why "SEVERAL TIMES" have you ordered with them? i have never had a bad cigar from them yet nor have i had bad service from them. i think you people need to stop smoking 30 cent cigars and then complaining how bad they are.

DUde i agreee but when a igot pissed i went to therednecklounge.com and that mad me laugh out loud so i was ok thrn.

As a former Employee of Thompson I can tell you that they force Customer Reps to Upsale on everything and the Club is necessity...Reps will say anything to sell a club to make five dollars for each and/or get fired for not making your stats for the week. They over the last couple of years have been having severe financial problems and have terminated employee after employee some working there twenty years ..so they can find cheap employment in Manila...which isnt working out...customers cant understand them..a failed attempt at a Call Center in Canada also failed..I know someone who was Robert Franzblaus personal secretary who said she quit because of his verbal abuse..that he usually pawns on his henchman that does all the firing...who will at this time remain nameless to the public...

The club was once a good idea. Automatic shipments geared to your smoking needs providing a discount. The premise is no longer rational, however. The company, in an effort to maximize profits has decided to ignore customers' actual consumption and instead force their salespeople to push automatic shipments of too much product at short intervals. When you try to cancel the company policy is to put your account on "hold" even though they know full well you no longer want the club. Representatives then will hound you day and night. Thanks.
T. Timmons

Same thing. I've ordered from them before...then I was asked to join the cigar club. I did. What a mistake. I canceled the club membership before my first order...but the order was sent anyway. Then I called to make sure the membership was canceled and I was told it was...this time. I asked for confirmation in writing this time via email if possible, but they said they'd send a letter. I don't believe it so I'm writing to them. So frustrating. I'm definitely telling my cigar-smoking friends to avoid Thompson and buy local.

I THINK THAT THOMPSON CIGARS SUCKED. I ORDERED A HUMIDOR COMBO AND THEY SENT ME CIGARS THAT WERE SO STALE AND THEY DID NOT SEND THE HUMIDOR, WHEN I CALLED THEY WANTED TO BILL ME AGAIN AND THEN CREDIT MY ACCOUNT I TOLD THEM NO WAY. JUST SEND MY HUMIDOR AND THE CUSTOMER SERVICE REP SAID IT WOULD TAKE 10 DAY TO SHIP BECAUSE OF WEIGHT, I CHECKED THE REFERENCE NUMBER SHE GAVE ME AND I THINK HE MADE IT UP. SO NOW I AM OUT A $139.00 HUMIDOR AND IT WAS A GIFT TO MY HUSBAND... NEVER AGAIN WILL I ORDER FROM THIS PLACE. I DONT KNOW WHAT MY NEXT STEP IS MAYBE CALL AGAIN BU I DONT THINK THAT WILL WORK. THE COMPANY SUCKS BG TIME

IF YOU HAD A VERY BAD EXPERIENCE WITH THEM TRY OUR SERVICES.. WE PROVIDE FREE SAMPLERS GUARANTEED IF YOU WANT TO GIVE US A SHOT.

www.habanoshernandez.com

I've been a cigar club member for at least 7 years; I have always found Thompson people friendly, polite and professional in every way. I have shopped J.R. Cigars at their Washington, D.C. store on a couple of occasions but never with them online... basically, no reason to. I find Thompson Cigar selection, price, customer service very satisfactory. Thank you Thompson Cigar... keep up the great work! Vic M.

Can you say Knuckle Heads? Although they probably have the largest selection and biggest name in th e-tailing of cigars they are absolutly the worst to deal with. I like to use their cigar finder feature for a suggestion, recently found a smoke I wanted to try and found the same item on another website for $35 less. Have not ordered anything for years. Other than the high prices on two seperate occasions they screwed up my order and charged me cigars I didn't request. Then expected me to pay shipping to return them. Unfortunately we that have had bad experiences and will not use this merchant again probably will not have any impact on how they do business.

You guys think you've had it rough...I WORKED for this useless company for about a year! The CSRs have no choice but to push the club. They make terrible money and are treated like second-class citizens. If they don't push the club and all kinds of upsells, they can expect to lose their job. Every time the commission seems to be getting better, they change the structure so that the reps are getting less AGAIN.
God forbid an employee takes a break 10 minutes early or late, etc., and I certainly hope no one needs the restroom - their supervisor WILL chase them down and drag them back inside, into the cold. The employees are forced to sit in their chairs with coats or blankets all summer because it is so unbearably cold in the building. I asked why that was at one point when I could no longer feel my fingers and was told that the owner liked it cold. Excuse me? There is absolutely no concern for employees in this horrible, rotten excuse for a job.
I generally do not quit jobs, but I found a great deal of satisfaction in throwing my headset on my desk (I say "my" desk, but no one gets their own desk in this hole and unless you want to carry all your catalogs home every day you can expect them to be gone when you get back, along with all the notes you made in the margins, and no one will give you any more) and telling the head of the sales department that I had some self-respect and was leaving.
Thompsons owns three catalogs and they are all horrendously overpriced (check out Linen Source). I wouldn't buy products from them if they paid me. I can generally find their things for at least half the price, if not less.
This job left a terrible taste in my mouth.

TWICE I have given you my new credit card {Visa} as I had credit card fruad} and had to get a new one. I presume it happened when you invoiced and card was refused. now if you want the # again, send me to a secure site. thank you.

SaME dog bit me i tryed to order cigars from thompson, but again they tried to sell me several things even after i told them i was;nt interested. Also the person on the phone could not speak english well enough to be working at such a job, i also was charged those hidden fees i did not authorize, plus they gave my visa card number to other companies, so they must sell your card #to other people because i've been charged several times from co. called cooking essentials, they are suppose to send out catolog om things to order im told now plus 25$card .Inever recieved any information om this co. but was charged 5 times before i could stop it plus they were rude&said they could not stop it for 6 wks. so i was forced to close my account at bank.Another think thompson does is send cigars that u dont order, like i orderd some Victor Sinclair cigars for my monthly order then thompson sends more cigars they have picked out, so when i call they say enjoy our mistake but my visa was charged anyway 63.95, causing problems with my account.they also will charge you shipping & handling even though your in cigar club or special offers on free shipping, when i called they said it would be taken care of on next order, but after 3 bad experences and loss of money &cigars were old to make matters worse. it would be best to not buy from thompson, seems your business is not valued even though you have spent quite a bit of money Maybe they will close their doors so honest people won;t get riped off trust me you can safe money by driving the distance&a call to bbs might help their rating hope this is helpful to all who hav got cheated out of money. one idea is just not pay them.This is the worse i've seen for a major business that calls itself .. a u.a.s. company. Remenber if you give your card#there going to charge you for all kinds of things and send old stuff hoping you will take them, so beware tell all whom it may concern, i certenly do&will continue..

Please cancel and destroy Acct. #[protected] [protected]
Thank you.

About a year ago I found Thompson Cigar on the internet as I was lookin g for a company to order some cigars from. I placed an order with them, a small order. Two weeks passed and I had not recieved my order. I called them to ask them about my order. I got this guy on the phone who was very aggressive, and apparently in that phone call he managed to signed me up to their "cigar club" that I did not even realize I had signed on to until I recieved a bill in the mail a couple of days later. I immediatly called Thompson and cancelled, I thought, their "club" deal. Well, I did get the cigar order finally. That was when the nightmare began with them. They would not cancel my "club" deal until I sent them a certified letter demanding it, then they used my American Express card # that I had placed the original order for the cigars to sign me up, without my permission, to two bogus customer "clubs" for merchandise discounts that I have no idea what they are, except that my American Express card was charged two $20 "fees" that I did not authorize. I had to change and cancel my American Express card to get Thompson off my back and out of my American Express account. This company is the most aggressive and deceitful organization I have ever had the unfortunate experience to deal with, and I strongly recommend that anyone wanting to order cigars stay far, far away from Thomspon Cigar. Gary Goude.

Personally, I have ordered hundreds of cigars from Thompson and I have never had any problems with the order or customer service. There have only been a couple of errors with shipping and they took care of it the first time I asked and very quickly.

After one year with Thompson's (approximately 700 cigars, 4 humidors, plus miscellaneous accessories), I have found the following:
(1.) The Cigar Club is designed for someone who smokes the same cigar, wants a certain amount, wants them on a regular basis, and is willing to pay regular price, regardless of any monthly sale prices that Thompson may offer on that brand.
(2.) The Cigar Club does not cost anything extra (as far as I can tell). They claim it will even save you 10% after one year.
(3.) The cigar club does not ship items "on sale". If you buy an item "on sale" and that item is listed as your Cigar Club monthly shipment, you will receive it at "regular price".
I'm a "value shopper" and almost every item purchased from them has been "on sale", meaning I have to change my Cigar Club shipment each month.
Bottom line is the cigars are a great price! The cigars are high quality! The shipments have been timely! Cigar Club customer reps have been excellent!
From my own experience I can see where some of the complaints may arise, however any problem I've ever had (very few) have been worked out either over the phone or via e-mail. Mike-Lakeland, Tn.

Everything in the nature of complaints on this page is valid! In my experience Thompson's is the worst Internet SCAM on the WEB! I had to go to the State Attorney General's Office and file a written complaint with the Dept. of Consumer Affairs and after a considerable time I got a credit refund on my VISA CARD! The AG's Office told me they had a file on them and that many, many complaints had been filed against Thompson's. Medcicine Show snake oil salesmen had nothing over these guys!
Never again, like they say in Texas: ONCE BURNED TWICE LEARNED!

I used to buy from Thompson. Then I placed an order and they shipped a substitute cigar. I complained but smoked them anyway. Next order I had them mark my account "NO Substitutions". Ordered again, they substituted again. On top of that, their customer service sucks. I told them I would never do business with them again, and I haven't. But, I doubt they even care.

I too had fallen for the easily recognizable name of Thompson cigar. I ordered a box of my favorite cigars and a humidor, reasonably priced but not worth the hassle. They still have not arrived and it has been weeks, a woman with a thick accent called to offer me this free club membership with fancy sounding gifts and rewards. I let her speak it sounded good until i realized they would automatically bill and send cigars to me. I tried to stop her and finally after she chewed on my ear for about 4 minutes I interjected to tell her i was not interested at this time, she became more persistent and said that they wanted me to try it. She said that she will send this info and she has me set up. I told her again that I was not interested in a program to automatically send me cigars and she hung up on me.
After reading other folks experiences I think I will try JR for my next order, If this one ever arrives!