10 December 2012

MacQueen Pipes, Buyer Beware

I'm a pipe smoker, no longer a full time smoke every day pipe smoker but a pipe smoker none the less. I typically smoke Peterson Pipes, I like the quality, but I also have more than one corncob pipe, and several briars of moderate price but good quality. Not long ago I was pointed in the direction of MacQueen Pipes, specifically their Churchwarden line as I was thinking of trying that style of pipe.

On 11 August this year I placed an order, I was immediately billed for that order. I understood at that time, based on their website, that there was a 8 to 12 week turn around time. I accepted that. Anyone who's done business with me knows I don't mind waiting for products I want. I once waited over four years for a custom longbow, and I'm currently in the third year of a wait on a custom knife. I am not an impatient man.

That does not excuse poor communication or bad customer service in general. I inquired three times before receiving the first response from them. In response to my question regarding a 'guess as to the shipping date', I was told the wait time was 8 - 12 weeks, which I knew, and that the pipe would ship on October 15th. Okay. Incidentally, the wait time is now listed at 10 to 12 weeks, and I will say that I still do not have the pipe I ordered.

Some background is in order at this point, because at this stage I decided maybe I need to look a little deeper. While the amount in question isn't great in the grand scheme of things, no one likes to be stolen from or mislead. When I started looking I realized that ordering from these people was a mistake. 

The first thing I looked at was the Better Business Bureau. The BBB has graded MacQueen Pipes with an F, contacted them repeatedly, and has never gotten a response from MacQueen Pipes. In fact, 51 complaints over the past three years, 35 of them in the past 12 months. Yeah, I should have looked at this before ordering, I was sloppy as I do usually check companies out. In this case I actually thought, well they make pipes, they are not overly expensive, it is a Canadian company, I classified them as low risk in my mind.

I looked a little further, on the pipe forums for example, and found a lot of disgruntled people who were in the same boat, waiting on orders for months and months. I won't belabor the point, I will say for the pipe smokers that read here, do your homework, it won't take long to realize you don't want to deal with the frustration.

October 15th came and went. On 2 November I sent inquiry but received no response, again on 12 November and again no response.

Then, on 20 November I  received an email stating my order had shipped. I accepted maybe, that they'd just gotten way behind. That still didn't sit well with regard to communication though, never the less I accepted that. The email stated the order would arrive within 6 to 14 days.

Nothing ever showed up of course.

Today, 9 December, I sent my final email, explaining that I hope the funds served them well, for in the end it was going to cost them more business than the amount could ever offset. I'll warn every pipe enthusiast I know, and I'd not stop doing so until I felt satisfied that I'd warned a sufficient number of potential customers. Within seven minutes I received a reply from one of the owners. He indicated an overwhelming back log was at fault, production improvements had been made though, but they were still behind, and that contrary to the ship notice I received, it had in fact, never been shipped. That he could ship tomorrow, air mail it even, and that it would arrive within 4 to 9 days, or I could get a refund.

Okay.

I don't enjoy writing posts like this one, I don't. The problem is many companies out there these days are not dependent on local customers where if you screwed one of your local customers over they'd spread the word and soon you wouldn't have any customers, new or otherwise. That was the penalty for bad business practices and poor customer service. In this age of get anything anywhere there's far less impact when you screw a customer over, especially one not local and in fact in a whole other country. Still, as customers we have the right to write about our experiences. Issuing a refund does not in turn buy silence nor does it mean that a poor experience shouldn't be spoken of, written about, or repeated.

There are consequences for actions, or in action as the case may be because if I'd have gotten an email telling me there was another delay, an update on the shipping date, and NOT have gotten a ship notice that was a lie, then I wouldn't have written this, and you wouldn't be wasting your time reading it. As it is, none of that happened though, in my opinion based on their actions their 'give a damn' for their customers was clearly broken.

I opted for the refund.

I'll update this when and if I receive it, because contrary to his statement of "I just issued a full refund to your paypal account" I have not received said refund. 

That was at 4:30pm central time the 9th of December.

I'm not going to hold my breath.

52 comments:

  1. Hi A. Grouch,

    I'm a huge fan of your blog. I'm sad a Canadian would do this to you. I live just south of where this MacQueens Pipes claims to be located. Do you want me to cross the River and pay them a visit on your behalf?

    Eric1110

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    1. I appreciate the sentiment, but nah, enough time has been wasted, no sense in wasting yours. What goes around comes around and everything gets balanced in the end, one way or another.

      Thanks for reading!

      Delete
  2. That sucks to hear AG. I'm not a smoker of any kind but stuff like this irks me no matter the product.

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  3. Sorry to hear- always unfortunate when things like this happen.

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  4. What are companies like this thinking? Freakin scammers.

    Spread the word, bro. :)

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  5. That sucks, AG. I'm sorry you had to put up with that. But thank you for sharing your experience and for telling it like it is. I think that if more folks would sound off about their "not so fair dealings" with businesses, the less these businesses would try to get away with, and once again consumers would have more influence on the market. Thanks for "piping up". I hope your weblog costs them more in the long run.

    Happy Trails

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  6. I don't use a pipe but enjoy reading your blog. It's sad that so many companies now a days just hope you'll forget/forgive when they make a poor business decision like this. I hate that you had a bad experience. I don't like to complain either but sometimes it's better to get it out there. I've gone so far as to keep a list of places I'll never spend money again. Sooner or later they'll figure it out when sales drop.

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    1. Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate that. I agree with your perspective completely.

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  7. We are having almost the exact same experience. Pipe was schedule to ship the first of November. No pipe, no response from emails, nothing. Doesnt sound like a scam just a really poorly ran business. Thank you so much for post. Misery loves company.

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  8. I ordered my wizard pipe from them in march 2012. Their website said it was shipped in june 2012. It is now January 2013 and still no pipe. They don't even have the decency to reply to my inquires. BBB has tried to contact them on my behalf with no success. I am so frustrated. The pipe looks like it would be a fine product if I could ever get it in my hands. I think at this point I will threaten them as you did and if no results spread the word as well of their incompetence.

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  9. I am in the same boat. Wife ordered me a pipe in September of 2012 for a Christmas present. February 4th of 2013, after e-mailing them constantly for two weeks, we received the " the mail stating your order had shipped was a mistake, and we will send it air mail, 4-9 business days. Alas, still no pipe. Filed a complaint with the BBB, and apparently, that is about as effective as hitting ones head against a tree. I hope all pipe smokers tell their friends about those canuck crooks.

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  10. I actually ordred from them in november before ever seeing this blog. I was told a ship date of Feb 7th. When I went back on the 7th, the date was moved out. I looked up my order on their site today and it says in packaging. I understand your frustration as I talked to people that had ordered from them before and they informed me that the 8-12 weeks is an absolute best. Now I look at a different site than the BBB, because I worked in collections and anyone can complain. I looked at Manta to see how big of an opperation they were running. It says they have 3 employees. Now if this is true and all 3 are pipe smiths, then you could see where lead time would be off on there site if they have multiple orders. Also, it was around the holidays when you ordered which would be a prime time for an increase in orders. I'll update you when I do receive it which would give a better expected delivery time for your readers. My order was two wizard churchwardens made of briar and a matching sheath for each. Since this is a small family owned operation, my guess is they are horrible at keeping up with their website, which in this technological era is a real pain. I'll see if I eat crow or am right about their customer support in the next week or so.

    -Logterman

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  11. I too have recently ordered a churchwarden pipe from Mcqueen however it has only been 3-4 days. I began to question how legit the company is and have stumbled across several post as this one. I have contacted my bank and we are working to have a refund. State Employees credit union seem hopeful in a full refund however I'm not sure where the funds will come from. My question to you AG is did you ever receive your pipe or your refund that that have "assured" you to receive?

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  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  13. I ordered the wizard churchwarden 15 months ago and had the exact same experience as A. Grouch. I am not an impatient man either and know that anything worth having is worth waiting for. As soon as I placed the order the money was taken from my account. I gave them a full year before making inquiries into the whereabouts of my order. It was not until my third email that I was assured my order would be shipped, air mail, all that stuff. A week later and no order arrived. I gave them a few months thinking it might take time for an order from Canada to clear customs (I live in the US) but it is now 15 months after my initial order and I still have not received anything. I am now on my third email in the second round of inquiries and have not heard anything back. I have not even gotten to the point of asking for a refund as I am still really hoping this company has enough integrity to ship my purchase. Initially I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt after reading the same claim of backlogged orders and expansion of the workshop to accommodate said orders. They even gave me a 50% coupon for my next order which I thought was completely unnecessary as my philosophy is why place a second order when I have no idea what the quality of the first order is. Though this was a customer service ploy made in good faith so it lifted my spirits temporarily. Needless to say I would never order something from this company again even if I do finally get my initial order. Hopefully I hear something back from them soon and will update this post if I ever do receive my pipe. Though I am in the same boat as A. Grouch, I am not at all holding my breath.

    I must say I really appreciate A. Grouch's positivity in this matter and his karmic balance attitude could not be more true! I agree with every word of your post A. Grouch and I also think it is important for consumers to warn their fellow consumers of companies that are scamming people. Though it is too bad we live in a world where businesses don't just hold up to their end of the bargain. Anyway this post made me realize that my money was not completely wasted as I now have the power to help destroy the possibility of this company taking advantage of anyone else.

    My advice to anyone thinking of ordering from MacQueen, place your order elsewhere. I do not know any particularly good pipe brands but do your research and just stay away from MacQueen. I am sure they do this to every customer. I have actually never read a positive review other than that video on youtube from the guy with two of their pipes. Though that video could have totally been set up by MacQueen in order to gain more customers. They got me! Don't let them get you too!

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  14. I would also recommend, if you are reading this and have recently placed an order from MacQueen, to call your bank immediately and have them cancel your order for you. They can usually get you a full refund as long as you place a claim within 90 days. At least that is how my bank works. Unfortunately those of us that waited patiently are screwed on that one. Don't you love the way things like this are set up? It is almost like they planned it all out...

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  15. Has anybody out there ever actually received their order, eventually?

    I'm in the same boat as you all, same string of emails, shipping promises, and even the 50% discount off my "next order". What a disappointment. I ordered back in October 2012 and no sign of my order, although got some very apologetic sounding emails that made me think I might someday receive my items (but just stumbled upon this post, and so now obviously doubting whether I will ever see it, given that you all received the very same line of bull).

    I was initially willing to excuse them (and continue being patient) on the claims that they were experiencing "growing pains" for their "family business" -- but being lied to is simply inexcusable. I've been told twice that my order has been shipped and "in the mail", but clearly...it is not.

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  16. I have a friend who got his pipe 6.5 months after ordering from the site. He had forgotten he ordered a pipe and was pleasantly surprised when the he found a pipe parcel. So I can confirm that they do arrive but be aware that when it does arrive you may be too old to walk to the post office if you missed your delivery...

    Oh and they do look pretty nice, for price and quality is pretty good but add in the wait time... I am not too sure if it's worth half a year wait.

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  17. I ordered in November of 2012 and still have not received my pipe! NOT WORTH THE WAIT. - Lars

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  18. Update on my comment from earlier this month: after a few email exchanges with Ryan at MacQueen, my order finally arrived on April 15, 2013 (ordered it October 28, 2012). I was a little shocked to see the package sitting in my mailbox! It would appear the the folks there are trying to make good on their orders, and this fellow Ryan has told me that they have made improvements to their process etc.

    So…if you can bear the wait, your orders just may arrive (someday). The pipe does appear to be pretty nice.

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  19. Wow I'm having the same problem! Ordered early December 2012 and still waiting. I've repeatedly sent them emails with no response. By all these responses it looks like I wasted $90!!

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  20. 5/15/2013...I also ordered 3 McQueen pipes on January 10th 2013. Big mistake. I wish I had found this blog before I had put the order in. After several months of no communication at all and several weeks of empty promises, my last nasty email and threat to them got a response. they have offered a full refund of the $284 that I sent them for the pipes in mid-january. I guess I'll believe it when I see it.

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  21. Made A Order December 23 - 2009 and waited for 3 months, no pipe Emailed them 3 times before i got a reply, That it had shiped, .... it never arrived then i e-mailed them again... no reply... then my hard disc died and i lost everything, including their e-mail and business name... 1 week ago i found their web page by chance, and are now wrighting them again to hear where my pipe is.. sent the first e-mail 3 days ago. No Reply.. Resent today, and will send again tomorrow, i will not stop untill i get my pipe even if it mean sending them a e-mail every day... i payed 60$ and i want my pipe..

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  22. Wow, same experience here in Los Angeles. The pipes are way cool looking and they have a golden opportunity to have a killer business if they actually did the work. 4 months waiting, twice told by Ryan and Stephanie that my order would be shipped 'next week', but nothing. Stephanie said 'we ALWAYS respond to emails (LOL) and that customers are given a choice to wait or receive a full refund. I asked for a refund, but have zero confidence that a refund will ever occur.

    I should have investigated them a bit before clicking on the 'buy' button. OK, lesson learned.

    Cheers everyone, and thanks for the stories.

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  23. Im the one that ordered on December 23- 2009.
    i Got my pipe Today, And it's Beautiful, I Don't Mind The Very Long Wait, Now That i See How Nice it is. I just Wish they had Told Me That i had to wait almost 4 years. But i Think it was worth the wait.

    Bruno

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    1. PS: just want you all to know that they do actually make and send pipes, it just takes a long time untill you get it.

      PPS: Im in DENMARK

      Bruno

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  24. I recently received the Cherry “Wizard” pipe from MacQueen and I’m very pleased with the craftsmanship of their product. There’s a TL/DR at the bottom for those too lazy to read my full review.

    On the night I made my purchase I Googled reviews and found that many were upset with the wait times involved with their orders. I resolved that I would just anticipate a longer wait time than I originally anticipated, and that when the shipping date had passed I would begin a correspondence with their company concerning my order.

    I gather that MacQueen pipes is probably run by 3 or 4 craftsmen. They are very good at constructing pipes, but the business side of things is probably less familiar to them. I say this for a few reasons:

    -They could, and probably should, charge twice the amount that they are for their pipes. The quality of their craftsmanship is very good and they are using good quality woods for their craft. I have to wonder how they decided on their price points initially. I’m willing to bet, given the demand for their products, that if they did some market research they would realize they are probably under charging for their pipes.

    -They probably do not have an office dedicated to customer correspondence. It’s probably just the craftsmen and their family on a home PC. This means that they haven’t been instructed by some corporate office to take verbal abuse and deal with it. So if you mouth off like a jerk it probably will not help your situation.

    - It may not have occurred to them to stop taking new orders for a short while in order to catch up on existing orders. I don’t really know their business, but if I were in their situation I would temporarily stop taking new orders to catch up on everything, with maybe a few kickbacks to rebuild some reputation, and then I would find the price point where pipe orders would be reduced to a manageable rate while retaining the same income.

    Knowing this and all of the negative correspondence they receive I have to wonder if they might be getting sick of the pipe making business. Can you imagine putting in a full day trying to make enough pipes to fill your orders and constantly being berated over it? So when I began my correspondence with them I decided to be kind and treat them like people. I was not surprised to receive prompt and kind responses in return, and soon thereafter I received my pipe. I highly recommend their product, particularly while they are still making them and doing so at such a low cost.

    My advice to anyone still waiting on their order is to begin a polite correspondence with them. I’ve never heard of anyone simply not receiving their pipe, it’s just a matter of time. I would also encourage anyone who has been rude to these craftsmen to apologize (because it’s the right thing to do) and politely inquire about your order.

    TL/DR: Ordered my pipe from their website, took a few weeks longer to receive than expected, but I treated them kindly like people should and they were understanding and gracious and I received my pipe soon thereafter. Their pipes are VERY good and I consider it worth the time and money, probably better since I believe they are under charging for their products.


    PS: I’m not in any way affiliated with MacQueen, I’m just a reasonable guy who is enjoying his pipe. I’d be more than happy to elaborate on any point should anyone like to hear from me.


    Conor McKee

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    1. I started the correspondence in a polite manner, I documented each time I contacted them, and the lack of a return from them in the original post.

      To date, still no pipe, no contact, no refund.

      Being busy is not really an excuse, if I told my customers I had too much work to worry about them individually, I wouldn't be in business.

      Glad your experience seems to be a good one.

      They are a absolute no go from my point of view.

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  26. AG -- Thanks for your review. I wish I'd read it before I ordered. Like you, I usually do my homework before placing an online order, and, like you, I dropped the ball this time. I ordered mine 4-1-13; it's now 7-27-13. I've had the "It'll ship next week" treatment.

    Given how backlogged they seem to be, I've begun to worry that the quality will slip before I get mine, if I ever do.

    There are so many would-be MacQueen customers who seem to have kissed their money goodbye. I respect your let-it-go approach, but my choice to spend that money was a difficult decision, as I'm on a tight budget, and pleasures are scant, and so far I'm not able to be so phlegmatic. Do you know whether a class-action suit could be filed, given that they're in Canada? The last thing I want to do is put a group of artisans out of business; what I hope such a thing would accomplish is to require MacQueen to stop taking money from any more people until they've fulfilled the orders they've already accepted, as suggested by Conor McKee.

    One last thing: I'd have liked the opportunity to avoid seeing posts from Brandon. Please consider this a vote to remove his posts; if you feel so inclined, you can do so knowing that you're not just being tyrannical, but are making your site more inviting to others.

    Thanks again.

    km

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    3. P.S. After many diplomatic email nudges, and five months after Macqueen took the money from me, I did finally receive my pipe. It had a deepish scratch on the bowl, obviously made during manufacture, since the gouge itself was stained dark. With all the negative reviews I'd read about Macqueen, not one of them had had anything negative to say about the product. Everyone had said it was perfect, when it finally arrived. I was deeply disappointed.

      I wrote again to Macqueen, and was invited to return my pipe; upon receipt, they'd send another. I wrote again a little pointedly, suggesting that they send the replacement first, which, shockingly, they did, and that one arrived after only a few weeks.

      Pleased with my new pipe, and eager to smoke my first bowl, I returned to Macqueen's pipe care page, and read this:

      "The next important step is to send a pipe cleaner through the stem and into each draft hole in the bowl. We center the draft holes in our pipes. This process allows for the air hole to pull from a central point of the bowl and ensures your pipe smokes the tobacco down evenly. Many pipe's (sic) simply have one hole through to the bowl so that all the suction comes from the back of the bowl. This can not only waste tobacco that does not get a chance to burn it can create hot spots and end up scorching your pipe. The draft holes intersect inside the bowl. Because of this reason you are not able to send the pipe cleaner right through the bowl. Instead you must insert a pipe cleaner into each end of the passage and rotate it so that it collects and (sic) resin that did not get blown out."

      My pipe, guess what, has only one hole, not centered but at the rear. Macqueen's own site tells me that what they sent me isn't an authentic Macqueen, but that mine is inferior in important ways. I can expect tobacco wastage and a burnt bowl.

      So, yes, buyer beware. You will not be getting what Macqueen says you will be getting, so you might as well pay a lot less for a pipe that actually turns out to be as advertised.

      Argh. Macqueen has a BBB rating of F. If the company were in the U.S., I'd go after them, but I'm not up to learning Canadian channels.

      Delete
  27. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  28. Since Brandon can't figure out how to have intelligent conversations as a normal adult, and how not to be belligerent with how he/she/it speaks to people I've removed his posts.

    Has nothing to do with the pipes or the company, has everything to do with childish behavior.

    For the record, Brandon had a good experience, as I stated good for him, that's a plus for the company.

    He's being removed for behavior equivalent to a 13 year old throwing a tantrum.

    Jim

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    1. lol dont have to get so worked up, i personally emailed you and told you i was sorry and asked for my posts to be removed.thanks for removing them.

      Delete
  29. i will now give a fair and honest review, remove this one if you must. if you plan on ordering a macqueen pipe, dont order directly from them. go to medieval collectibles .com. they were very nice, answered all of my emails and phone calls. call to check if they are in stock ( even though their website will tell you whether or not they are in stock ). i ordered and they sent out the product that very day. wouldve been here in 3 days if i wouldve ordered earlier in the week ( may take longer obviously based upon what state you live in). ill be receiving it tomorrow and will update my post explaining quality ,if you will allow it. i think ive pretty much covered everything, once again this is my fair review, sorry about my other posts, luckily they were removed before more than 1 person saw them. to recap, dont order directly from them, call ahead of time as well. remove this post if you must, although it is a completely fair unbiased opinion. and i hope it helps you guys, if youve lost hope, cancel your order and buy from medieval collectibles.com

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  30. i honestly think the reason the yare back ordered is because second hand companies ( like the one i discussed above ) is buying out all of their stock and selling for about 10 dollars higher.so as i previously stated go to the other companies, and i promise you will get your pipe within a week. hope this helps you all.

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  31. received my order today and it met my expectations.real smooth draw, fantastic finish. some say the bowl isn't deep enough, i guess that's a matter of opinion, being a fairly new pipe smoker, i don't see a problem with it at all.well worth the money. dont lose hope guys medieval collectibles . com . briar wizard pipes in stock now," get em while they're hot". :)

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  32. I place two orders; one in January and the other in Febuary. A total of around $200. Already a lead time all the way out until May and June. Both dates came around and I wrote to them three times asking about the status of the order and I was told "shipping today". Well I don't know how long it takes to mail from Canada to Wisconsin but I have contacted them twice more this month plus a few times in July, threating to contact paypal for a refund. No reply. Go figure. I opened two disputes with paypal but they won't do anything becuase it is not within the 45 day period. Guess I'm out of $200 and will be emailing them daily about my order that hasn't made it here.

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  33. I ordered the Wizard pipe, complete with shealth, tamp, and stand on St. Patrick's Day, 2013. I waited the given production time period, then tacked on another few weeks just to give them wiggle room. Then I emailed them, and I actually got a reply that day explaining that they were way behind on production, and that it would be ready to go and about a month. A month later (which by now was about late June), I emailed them again. Got another quick "we're sorry!" response.

    By the end of August: Nothing. So, I emailed them a 3rd time! Response was swift: it would be shipped "next week". "Oh Goody!" thought I. I checked my shipping status on their website, and it was listed as "in packaging." So, I waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally, mid-September, I sent my 4th email, and this time, it wasn't as nice as my last 3. I was not mean or insulting, just firm and assertive in tone, indicating that I expected a refund if nothing happened within the next week.

    Sure enough, the next day, I got an email saying it would ship the following Monday. Monday came and went, and nothing. Finally, this morning (Thursday), I got an email saying that the pipe has shipped. Has it shipped? Will it arrive on time? I don't know! I'll have to follow up in about 2 weeks!

    If they really are running a 3-man operation, then I can understand how it would take 6 months to get orders out to people if their pipes are as popular as the seem to be. That wouldn't really be a problem for me if they'd just post on their website that it will take that long. I think pipe smokers would be willing to wait 6+ months for a decent, cool looking unique pipe and not get upset if they were just up front about how long the wait will be. So, if any folks from MacQueen are reading this, take note! Either hire more staff or just let people know "Hey, we are backed up on orders, and it will take a long time for you to get your pipe, if you'd still like to place the order, then go ahead!"

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    1. It is 10/18/13.

      I got my pipe today, with stand/tamp./sheath. The pipe is pretty damn awesome. Not gonna lie. The wait totally sucked, but quality wise I am pretty pleased.

      Delete
  34. I recently bought one of their pipes and I took the advice of many and ordered it through a third party. When I recieved it the stem didn't line up with the pipe properly and the metal insert was all banged up making it imposible to fit a filter inside as advertised. After I smoked it once a lone crack revealed itself along the stem making it useless. So I had to deal with Macqueen to get it repaired. I had to ship it back to them. I had to pay $47 dollars to avoid a few month wait and to avoid the risk of my package getting lost. Of course Macqueen wont refund me and now we will see how many months it will take to get the pipe back. Lessond learned you are not even safe ordering their pipes through a third party. So much regret.

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  35. my name is nikos christodoulellis.I wait one year to send me one mcqueen pipe with the order number 9778 from 20 Feb 2013 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  36. A.G.: Thanks for the article. I was close to the point of checkout when I found this page. It saved me from what sounds like months of misery!

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  37. Good News!!!! I ordered from MacQueen from Southern California on a Wednesday. Got an email Thursday morning that my pipe had shipped. I was smoking my pipe from MacQueen the evening of the following Wednesday. After reading many negative comments online. I wanted to say that maybe they've improved. I am one very satisfied customer.

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    1. Glad to hear you had a successful transaction.

      Delete
  38. I've been waiting 3 1/2 months for my pipe. I finally demanded a refund today. Starting to wonder if they even really make pipes at all, or do they just collect people's money and send out excuse emails until the customer gives up and moves on. This is theft, plain and simple. Is there no law against this in Canada?

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  39. I purchased one through their Etsy.com site and was told it shipped the next day. Not sure how long it takes to ship from Ontario to New Hampshire but I wish I had seen all this stuff about them prior to purchase. 2 years ago I bought a pipe from Ukraine on Etsy and I was in Ohio at shcool. The thing arrived in exactly 2 weeks, now holding my breath to see if I ought to ask Etsy to arrange a refund and tell Macqueen to stop selling there as the company is faithless

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  40. They haven't gotten any BBB complaints in the last year at least, so I think maybe they've fixed their delivery problems. I'm about to take the risk and order one myself, so if it never shows up I'll report back!

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  41. I had purchased a Ranger style MacQueen pipe at the AZ Renaissance Festival, and though it was a bit on the rough side (sanding issues, stem to shank joint was not even, finish was so-so, ashwood bowl) I felt that it was good enough for the Ren Faire. The vendor had the Wizard churchwardens, but they only had them with the ash wood bowl. Knowing that briar is a better wood for pipe bowls, I waited and went to the MacQueen site to see what else they had. Seeing that they offered the Wizard with a briar bowl, I ordered one (paying the $20 extra). I figured, that the better wood was worth the cost. So I ordered from the company and luckily, I did receive it within 3 weeks.

    The pipe I got was nothing like what they showed on their website. Yes, it was the same pipe, same markings, etc...But the quality was sub-par compared to the picture they show on the website. For $90 bucks, I figured that there would have been a little better work put into it.

    First, the stem/shank joint was not sanded smoothly across the joint. They are close, but you can tell that the stem and bowl are done separately and the final fitting/sanding is close but not good. Second, the stain they use comes off. One of the tricks with pipes is that if you get soot on the rim of the bowl, you can wet a towel with a little saliva, and rub it clean. I did this, and the finish started coming off. Third, and this one is the biggest problem, the bottom of the bowl is starting to burn around the draw hole.

    It being a briar wood bowl, it shouldn't be doing this to the extent that it is...It is actually starting to crater around the bottom. The Ranger pipe (made of ash wood) is also doing it, but not to the same extent as the briar.

    If you buy these pipes and intend to use them frequently in your rotation, I would highly suggest investing in some bowl screens to place at the bottom of the bowl. This will help keep the burning tobacco off the bottom, and not cause it to eventually burn out.

    I try very hard not to smoke them all the way to the bottom (even though that is one of the recommendations for new pipes to help build a layer of "cake" at the bottom and along the walls of the bowl). The cake helps insulate the bowl and prevents them from burning out.

    As a counterpoint, I have 5 WDC (William Demuth Co.) Wellington pipes that are a minimum of 30 years old (they stopped making them full time in the mid-70's and brought them back for a limited time (to consumer only) in the mid-80's. I smoke these pipes on a continual basis, and the briar wood in them is like steel. No burnouts, no bad charring, just a nice, cool, enjoyable smoke. Even one that I have that is over 65 years old looks almost as good as it did when it was made.

    So my advise, if you do buy one if their pipes, invest in the screens to help save the bottom of your pipe...But, Your mileage may vary, see dealer for details.

    McGyver

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