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Status Update 9:30pm, Monday, October 10th: By 4pm today, we were fully operational. UPS picked up a few hundred packages this evening. USPS first post-storm pickup will be tomorrow afternoon. Shipping will be totally caught up as of tomorrow afternoon. Customer service resumed in the office at 3:30pm, and other departments will be up and running as of 9am tomorrow morning. Thank you again for your patience as we recovered from the storm.
Status Update 2:00pm, Monday, October 10th: Fortunately, the utility company has fully restored power to our main facility ahead of schedule. While this is a great first step, there are still many obstacles (some of them literally on the roads) ahead of us. We are catching up though. Our customer service team will continue working from our backup locations for the remainder of today, and we will try to get back into the office as soon as possible — maybe even as early as this afternoon. We still expect USPS and UPS to resume service on Tuesday as well, depending on road conditions. We will continue to update this page over the next few days, but we are very close to being fully operational. We appreciate your patience and support.
As of 4:45pm, Sunday, October 9th. Additional updates will be added as they become available.
Yesterday, Hurricane Matthew made landfall in Horry County, South Carolina, where Smokingpipes.com's facilities are principally located. The storm did not do any damage to property, systems or inventory, but, like most of the area, we are presently without electricity at both of our buildings. According to the utility company, power will be restored sometime between now and Tuesday, but they could not tell us exactly when. Obviously, we're hoping for power sooner rather than later.
So, here's what will happen over the next few days:
- Customer service will resume from a backup location tomorrow morning at 9am EST. It should be pretty normal, but we won't be able to do anything that involves physically touching something at the office (like answering questions about a pipe that would require we touch it).
- Shipping will resume as soon as the building has electricity and an internet connection. We hope that this is tomorrow (Monday), but we'll keep you posted. We expect USPS and UPS to resume service on Tuesday.
- Updates should be normal this week. Tomorrow's (Monday's) update was finished on Friday and we have plenty of time to finish Thursday's update.
- Other areas:
- Estate valuations: We're likely to be a little behind through the week.
- Return processing: We will resume processing returns Thursday or Friday.
- Low Country Pipe & Cigar: Will reopen when it has electricity. Probably Tuesday.
We really appreciate your patience with us as we get everything back on the rails. There's nothing seriously wrong, but it will just take us some time to dig ourselves out (literally in Shane's case, given the trees across his driveway) and we're looking at a couple of days delay for delivering packages to you. Thanks so much for your continued patience and support.
Tagged in: At Smokingpipes Behind-The-Scenes Customers Low Country Pipe and Cigar Shipping
Comments
Glad to hear no irreversible damage! Good luck, keep on truckin'!
I'm glad to hear all is ok with you. I hope everyone at Smokingpipes.com got through this equally as well, although no power certainly isn't ideal As Mr. McWilliams said, keep on truckin'
Glad you were spared loss of life and inventory because who could replace such workmanship? Hope the inconvenience is minimal.
Great news, considering the alternatives.
Glad to hear everyone is safe. Take care.
That's great to hear Sykes. All of us love you guys, and we can wait on our tobacco as long as everyone made it safely through the storm. Take care everyone.
Glad to hear all is safe and well. I have friends nearby (who are safe) but haven't been able to return home yet.
While I'm relieved to hear the business didn't suffer too much physical damage, I hope all'y'all managed as well on a personal level, that your homes and (more importantly) your families came through the storm without too much physical damage.
Everything will be fine . just need some time
I have experienced before. HORRIBLE!
Good to hear everyone's ok.
Good luck everyone, stay safe and thanks!
Thank God everyone is well!
Great News.
Thanks for keeping your smoking pipe clients/customers informed
of the progression of this life altering event. See you in Vegas.
Hang Tough......it only makes ya stronger! Smoke Well!
Glad to hear you folks are doing alright down there.
Scary stuff.
Thoughts and prayers are with all.
Take good care.
Glad to hear that everyone is OK! Don't try to get back if there is a chance of anyone getting in a bind. God bless and good luck. Just light a pipe with your favorite tobacco and relax...;)
)
Glad to hear that you and yours was spared any major damage. God's speed on getting back to normal!
Good to hear things are going not so bad and you are going to return back to the business :)
So glad y'all are safe. Hurricane party stories coming? 😜
So very happy to hear all is getting better. Keep your faith which shall brighten your path. Blessing on you...
Very glad to hear you all did ok!
Very happy to hear you're safe. I can now light a pipe with your good tobacco...Stay safe.
So happy all is good for you all.
Glad to hear all's well that ends well!
Thank you for the updates!
Good job guys.
Great News. Happy for you Guys. :)
Me alegro muchísimo de que todo este bien.Yo desde España les mando un abrazo muy fuerte.