Cigars International Avis 

I found that CI was withdrawing $16.23 every month since Nov 2024. I called customer service and they verified that and they put me to the subscription dept to cancel my subscription that I never made. Well the Subscription department could not find me on there system. I contacted Chase Fraud Dept and can only cancel once the funds are cleared and not pending.

It's very agitating that they will not allow you to log in as a guest and purchase under the same email address as an account already existing. Like I really care to remember my password to a cigar website. I purchased these as gifts for people. I truly could care less about this.

I have been a happy customer of CI for years. In January, Implaced an order and was offered a $9 rebate. I confess that Im didn't look at the offer carefully, but the offer was really one to join a loyalty program "Puroperks". My mistake was to not look carefully enough at the proverbial fine print. Once I finally discovered my mistake, I had had four billing of the monthly $14.95 charge. I called customer service and cancelled my inadvertent membership in Puroperks. But they were unforgiving on reversing the earlier charges. It seems they are willing to lose a good customer over this. CI was acquired by a larger industry player 15 years ago, and it no longer seems to be the friendly homegrown retailer that I knew when I first became a customer. Pennywise, pounds foolish it seems.

Here's the problem;

First off, they snuck in a membership to something called Puroperks. They disguised it as a $10 off coupon popup with incredibly small text explaining it was a subscription. OK-no big deal. I was planning on buying a lot of product for the month so I canceled the auto renew on the plan.

I've placed hundreds in orders in two weeks, and have not been credited for any of the purchases. E-mailing customer support gets you generic replies with no actual help referring you to how to submit claims, they refused to read the part where I clearly stated "Cigarsinternational is automatic and cannot be done manually".

Haven't received most of my orders yet as of the date of this post, even though they claimed most have been shipped finally. I really don't mind the product and prices, but given their terrible customer service and slow shipping, I wont be buying again.

Be careful when ordering from Cigars International. They signed me up for a $14.95 / month membership that I did not sign up for. They said membership give me free shipping. I called CI they kept ping ponging me around to different people and finally said there was nothing they could do to help me. Just be careful. This looks like a scam that CI is part of.

Disappointed After Years of Loyalty
For 2 ½ years, about 8 of us friends meet at CI on Wednesdays We were advised of a new policy (leaving a credit card on file). We all abided by this new policy. However, one friend wanted to pay CASH for his Soda. The manager standing right behind the bartender Joe Scaena (sp?) was rude and his attitude was unacceptable. Joe told the bartender loudly that if the customer didn’t want to leave a credit card, “they can all get up and leave”. After supporting this store for so long, I expected at least a basic level of respect, but instead, I was met with condescension and a complete lack of professionalism.

As a long time customer of CI I can say that their customer experience has been on the decline. They have zero interest in retaining loyal clients. All of their promotions are just meant to drive new sales. In fact, if you attempt to use the same discount code on your account, they prevent it. If you call them and ask for other options to take advantage of deals or discounts since you ARE a loyal client, their answer is there is no other option other than joining some third-party paid program - which is ridiculous. And now, they are starting to play games with shipping. I pay for UPS Ground and they ship my orders via UPS Ground Saver. To some that may mean nothing - but to someone who pays for shipping it's not about the 2 or 3 bucks difference (although it's partially that) its mostly about the potential of it taking more time for cigars to get to me causing them to dry out! If i pay for something, I expect to get what I paid for. If you call their customer service line (overseas), they admit they are sorry and offer to refund the difference - but offer no assurances it won't happen again. Absolutely terrible customer service. It's a shame, but after over two decades of buying from them, I will be moving on to someone else. They just don't seem to care.

I placed an order on March 9th for approximately $250 worth of products and paid extra for expedited shipping, as an adult 21 or older needed to be present for delivery. I arranged my schedule accordingly, taking time off work while preparing for a vacation to ensure I would be available.

On the scheduled delivery day, I received a notice stating that my package was still awaiting pickup. Not only had it not been shipped—four days after placing the order—but the additional fee for expedited shipping was effectively wasted, as the package would not arrive for another four days. By that time, no one over 21 would be available to receive it.

I fully understood my responsibility when ordering a controlled product online and ensured that delivery could be accepted properly. However, Cigars International completely failed to fulfill their end of the transaction. One would expect a company dealing in controlled products to take their shipping commitments seriously, but this experience suggests otherwise.

Fortunately, I was able to cancel the order since it had yet to leave the warehouse. However, I am now left without the product I needed for my trip, lost wages from taking time off work, and out of pocket for replacement items—while the company has taken my money instantly but requires two weeks to process a refund.

This will be my last time doing business with Cigars International. Additionally, I will be reporting this issue to the ATF, as I doubt I am the first customer to be misled and inconvenienced by their handling of controlled shipments.

BE AWARE !
THIS PLACE IS A SCAM

You never know how good a company is until you have a problem. I see why they have mostly 1-star ratings. My advice, stay away!!

My story is that I bought some what are everyday smokes. Generally, these are cheap cigars, a couple or so buck each. When I received the package i pulled one and lit 'er up. wow, i just about gave myself a hernia sucking on them. I would have had better luck sucking on a butt plug! They were totally unsmokeable. They should have know how bad these are and pulled them. Never should have been sold!

Anyway, talked to them started a return. But guess what? you need to pay shipping back too!!! Begrrudingly, Packed and sent. Better to by out $20 than $90. when i complained about it they gave me a $10 credit on future orders. Well, this review would never have been written if it stopped there.

Their policy is 2-10 working days. its been 12. When i started to question it I got the attitude. they did not try to help me, just kept reiterating their policy. ok, fine. just did a chargeback.

I used to love ordering from this site. Don’t get me wrong. The cigars were usually great but as of late, they have did something different with the shipping. It takes forever to get the cigars now and longer than cigars are in transit the worse shape they arrive. When I started ordering from here veterans and first responders would get 10% off and two day shipping for free Then it went to 10% off and standard shipping for free. Now it seems it’s just 10% off and you have to pay for shipping. It feels like they’re trying to pad the bottom line By reducing veteran/FR perks. I hope they come back around to the great company they used to be.

I have been waiting on 2 simple refunds over the course of over 2 months. Each and every day I call in and am told a different line. One day a check has ben mailed. The next day I have to wait 14 days for a check to be mailed. The next day, no check will be mailed and my original payment method will be refunded. No refund is ever initiated. Each and every day their non-English-speaking employees in their poor customer service dept. tell me a new lie about a refund I have been waiting on for over 2 months. Complete incompetence. There are many other cigar/pipe shops one can choose from. Avoid this outfit at all costs.

Just wanted to purchase a gift card online and was then tricked into getting charged 14.95 a month w/o my knowledge for the past 6 months. When I called to cancel and inquire what the charge was for the customer service rep said I probably accidently clicked on the subscription. Stay away!

Cigar international started charging me a 14.95 monthly fee for a rebate program that I didn't sign up for. I called and they wouldn't give my money back, sneaky people there are better places to buy cigars.

Placed a Christmas order, receive the cigars that are damaged at the factory. Shipping box was perfect, cigars cut and dried out. Contacted the company and the only thing they offered for a resolution was a $10 coupon in next order with stipulations. Will never order again, quality is bad, service even worse. I wouldn’t order again from them with a 90% coupon. Total scam of a company. Probably intentionally selling damaged good, with the response I received. Buyers be ware.

On 12/16 I ordered cigars as a Xmas present for our son, who would be visiting us from Texas. I paid extra for 3-day delivery. They arrived on January 3, well after he had left. I called after Xmas and requested they be delivered instead to him in Texas. The agent promised that the would but that didn't happen -- they were sent here to Florida. They seem to be a disorganized mess.

I went in to get cigars, like I always do spend over a $1000 a year on cigars. They refuse to give me the veteran discount. Because I got the 5 packed specials, and they always did before either you honor vets, or you don't, it's not the 10%, it's the principle. Very upsetting

Usually been adequate, but today they sent us spam for the most racist, NAZI-PEDOPHILE, hate-group trash cigars possible.

So many reputable places To order from that don’t sell nazi trash to order from.
We won’t ever be back and will Encourage our cigar club to follow suit as well.

Just disgusting.

I looked at my credit card statement for this month and found a charge for $15.58 from Cigars International. It was for something called Puro Perks Membership. I never signed up for anything like that. After a brief argument with their representative, that "Said" they will refund me the amount. I will never buy from them again!

My problem with CI and most other companies is that the cigars I receive need a lot of time to cure in the humidor before they are ready to enjoy. All have that 'barn yard smell' which is a sure sign that they are far from cured. I buy them to smoke them, so it's always disappointing. Compare the same cigar from CI to the same one purchased from a brick and mortar and you'll notice a vast difference. Seems like the growers push cigars out in mass volume and sell at cut price to discount companies to meet large demand. Customer service claims that cigars degrade from shipping but I do not totally believe that. I will no longer buy 5 packs or assortments as they seem to be most affected.I used to have better luck when buying boxes but even that doesn't hold true anymore. Yes, I pay more at the brick and mortar shops but at least I'm getting a fine ready to smoke cigar.