I’ve just sent off a stinging rebuke via twitter. I do that a bit.
When customer service lets me down, I like to have a good whinge about it.
But not today. Today I will be singing some praises.
I’ve been considering this post for about two weeks after I got fantastic service. I actually decided to do another complete order just to check it wasn’t a fluke.
After the Skype Tea Party, I had a chat with one of the participants. That person told me about a tea company. I’m going to quote that person now.
“Their tea is so good and they are so reasonably priced. I’m frightened to tell anyone about them in case they become too popular and put their prices up.”
Let me apologise to that person now. I’m not going to keep that secret. It wouldn’t be fair.
So, about 4 weeks ago, I went on line and ordered some tea. I spent about 30 minutes selecting a whole range of different teas; and then when I put my credit card details in, the site rejected the transaction. I lost the lot.
I was upset. I was halfway through composing a particularly vicious tweet to share my misery with the world, when I got an email:
Hello Sir,We understand that you had tried to order some teas via our website.We would like to inform you that the order did not go through.Please note that we have your order details available and if you wish, we can process your order via email.Payment for your order can be remitted via PayPal.Looking forward to hearing from you.Have a great day!
This was two minutes after the order failure. I did decide to go ahead with the order, and did use paypal. Five days later I had my tea. FIVE DAYS! From India to Australia.
And the tea ranged from very good to great. And the prices were excellent.
After shooting a video about their Pai Mu Tan (and a lovely tea that is) I wrestled with the idea of writing this article. After all, I’ve never ever just written a flat out piece that said “this tea company is brilliant“.
So I ordered a bunch more to make sure.
This time, the payment screen did the same thing. This time, I just emailed them and said “It’s happened again, can we do the same as last time?”. The speedy answer came back in the affirmative.
They were even quicker to send it this time. Thanks to FedEx’s tracker, I know that of the seven days it took to get to me, three were spent sitting at Adelaide Airport for no reason I could imagine.
Again the teas are sensational.
So, despite the fact I sell tea myself, despite the fact that I never wished to write a blog as simple as this, despite the fact that many other places have given me good service, despite receiving many samples from people hoping for a free plug (though not these guys), here it is:
I recommend Lochan Tea. Vivek Lochan (@vlochan) will, I’m sure, be very happy to hear from you. Buy every Nilgiri, every Assam, A selection of Darjeelings, some of the Doke Bai Mu Dan (Pai Mu Tan) and get yourself some Sikkim Temi.
Because…
…this tea company is fantastic.
Tragically, my Harmutty STGFOP1 went cold whilst I composed this.
sold! to the lady in the red hat.
Following him now. Aside from needing to revamp his “grading” system (there are more than two black teas there), topnotch selection.
we are actually upgrading our complete website. it will have a new shop, new layout, new payment options….
i will, of course, always be monitoring the system…
thanks a lot Robert! i really appreciate your comments and views on our system and website.
the payment gateway needs a bit of upgrading – going on at the moment. soon, we will offer PayPal from the website itself as a payment option
Indeed a wonderful company with great customer service, lovely teas and extremely good pricing.
I’ve also felt tempted to shout out “buy their teas, why ever would you buy Darjeelings anywhere else?”
Actually @lazyliteratus I know you’d already put an order in elsewhere, otherwise I’d have told you about them. When I looked at Lochan’s teas, I went to other companies and compared the estates and grades. The differences in price for the same teas convinced me that Lochan’s policy of not throwing in huge mark-ups was the way to go.
I guess I feel that I can trust a company that prices fairly. My experience in ordering from them was the same as yours, one of the teas I fell the most in love with was their 3 week old second flush. I’m pretty sure it’s the youngest tea, or the freshest tea I’ve ever had.
Thanks for writing about them, now I don’t have to!
J.
I agree Jackie, I wrote the above in a short span of time between others stuff and I’ve realised I had left out that vital fact – much of this tea is indeed the freshest I’ve ever had.
thank you for your kind words and compliments. they are deeply appreciated.
the reason for having some of the freshest teas is that we are located close to both the major producing regions – Assam and Darjeeling. also, we have contacts with all the major tea estates so we generally get first samples of their teas.
After all, I’ve never ever just written a flat out piece that said “this tea company is brilliant“.
Now you did it 😛