MauiShirts Blog

 Shirts arrived yesterday. Thank you very much for your help. The shirts were worth waiting for. Love them!!!!

L. Miller, Elk Grove, CA

To everyone at Maui Shirts:
Thank you for another order delivered swiftly and efficiently, as usual. The chilli shirt is a birthday present for my husband and I know he’ll be delighted with it as he’s been casting envious glances at my previous purchases and complaining about how boring most of his clothes are…
Lovely shirts, excellent delivery service. The shirt took eight days to reach me, which from Hawaii to Gloucestershire is, I think, pretty good. Many UK companies do a lot worse! At the risk of gushing, I should say that I also love your web site, especially the old shirts and prints museum section, which is an inspiration and can be relied upon to cheer me up when the UK weather gets dismal.
 

Best wishes,
Catherine Mason.

Hi Mickey,

The shirts arrived today and they look great! Thank you so much for getting them to me so quickly. I was not expecting them until Friday. The search to find the perfect Hawaiian shirts for my wedding took a long time and I almost ran out of time. We are so thankful for your wide selection of shirts and even though you did not have our first choice the second choice was even better than the first. Keep up the great work!!

Sincerely,
~Lydia

The 2 toddler outfits I ordered arrived yesterday, Aug.29. They are just beautiful and a perfect fit for both! My 2 grandchildren will be the hit of a Hawaiian themed wedding we are going to in Newport, RI this weekend! Thanks so much to you and Trellissa for great personal service to get the order here on time.

We love your products and the service so I am sure you will hear from us again!

Mahalo!

Susan Wohl

 
Thank you 20,000 times over. Thank you for your continued support. Thank you to the hundreds upon hundreds of loyal customers that continue to place re-orders. Thank you for your repeat business. My customers on this web site, Shop.com, Amazon.com and Ebay have taken MauiShirts.com out of obscurity in a few short years into the top positions on the first page every major search engine. My incredible success has come from people like you. Many Mahalos for your patience and understanding. I will not let the few misguided people dissuade me from my hard work. I will continue to offer the best Aloha Wear on the planet along with fun to read and interesting content.
At this time, I have become overwhelmed and inundated with orders, phone calls and email. I simply can not keep up with the demand. I am attempting to hire more help. I am unable to update the web sites fast enough to reflect exchanges, existing and remaining inventories lately. It common to have two or three people buy the same item when there is only one or two in stock. I can only offer my apologies. I am one to two days behind in sending emails. I’m two or three days behind in my web site updates. I’m working as fast as I can. I’m working 12 to 14 hours a day, 7 days a week in an attempt to stay on top of things. Please be patient.

And, most important, at this time, April 26th, 2007, I can not accept any more rush orders. If you can not wait a reasonable length of time, two, three to five work days for me to ship your order, please do not place a new order.

To the few people who have sent items back to Maui for an exchange or return, please be patient. I will refund you money. Please refrain from calling and sending emails. No one has ever not received their refund.

Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your continued support. I will continue to strive to meet all of your concerns.
Mahalo,
Mickey Steinborn
President, MauiShirts.com, Inc.

Adrienne Uncategorized

It happened on Friday, the afternoon before the 4th of July weekend.
One week earlier on Friday, Trellissa receives a phone call from a woman that needs a Hawaiian shirt for a party she has been invited to. She says she is known as the Pink Flamingo Lady. She collects flamingo things and would only like to purchase a shirt she saw listed on the Amazon.com web site. It is a cotton R. J. Clancey brand; Pink Flamingo Hibiscus ladies shirt in blue in 2X. She is curious how the sizing and makes this inquiry to Trellissa. Trellissa instructs her to use the size chart that is only available for the Paradise Found rayon ladies shirts. They settle on the 2X large.
 

The following Friday she calls Trellissa again to ask why the shipment hasn’t been shipped. She had not received the Federal Express tracking number.  We frantically run around the showroom in an attempt to locate her paperwork. It can’t be found anywhere. Then we have a brilliant idea. Let’s check the stack of 30 boxes waiting for Federal Express to pick up. FedEx is going to pick up in the next 30 minutes or so. Panic sets in. Lo and behold, there it is. All packed and ready to go. Then, I have an after thought. I never packed a 2X shirt. Hmmm. My hunch is correct.

We unpacked the box. Yikes, it’s a Medium! I placed the wrong size into the customer’s box. Trellissa proceeds to call the Honolulu factory in hopes that they have a 2X in stock, for the possibility of a drop ship direct from Honolulu factory to the customer.  They will do this in case of an emergency. Lord knows that rush and emergency do not belong in the same sentence as aloha wear. But, there are exceptions to most everything. Now the bad news rears its ugly head. The factory informs Trellissa that woman’s cotton shirts are not made in a 2X size. It does not exist. We immediately blame the Amazon.com data entry employee.
 

As a rule of thumb, and as common practice, we always place the blame of errors and omissions on to the person that isn’t working that day. Blame the person not here. It’s a safe practice. But, in this case the web guy did make an omission. A week earlier he was instructed to take down, remove, all 2X listings of cotton women’s shirts. He did so, as instructed, expect for that one listing of the ladies Pink Flamingo Hibiscus Blue shirt. Trellissa made a mistake by not telling the customer no 2X cotton ladies shirts are made. She simply did not know. She was new on the job. I made a mistake by almost sending out the wrong size. That’s how it is around here. The only customer calling to check on her order was the one that was packed incorrectly, and in this case, did not exist.
 

Needless to say, Trellissa was fired on the spot. This happens about three to four times a week. She is immediately hired back. It’s tough to find loyal workers here on this paradise isle, Maui. I fired myself as well, and indeed, re-hired on the spot. Web data guy was immediately reprehended and instructed to finish his mandate from last week.
 

After two phone calls back to the customer, we luckily found a compromise. She accepted a Men’s shirt in Large. The party was the next Tuesday. We ran after the Federal Express truck, literally, and handed the driver the box. It will arrive in two work days; Tuesday. All was well. We are human. We make mistakes. As I always say, One mistake always begets another mistake. In this case I was definitely right. TGIF!

Adrienne Uncategorized

Success does not come easy

The success of this web site comes from many years of dedicated hard work. It started in 1998 as a dream. The first five years were a losing proposition fraught with mistakes and much loss of money. I kept my day job. I never gave up on my dream. The web site is built on honesty and being up-front and in your face. I never have to remember what I say. I always tell the truth.

I’m passionate about getting my customers’ orders out to them as fast as possible. I will not tolerate people who want to tell me when, and how high to jump. I work 12 to 14 hours a day, seven days a week picking, packing and shipping my customers’ orders. No one offers more service and dedication. My feedback on Yahoo, EBay and Amazon.com, from honest people, is proof beyond a shadow of doubt. I will not tolerate people who lie. I will not do business with people who are bullies and think they know more than me on how to run my business.

I had one lady the other day who called and spoke with my assistant. The lady was upset that she did not get a response to her email request for an exchange. She told my assistant that she sent two un-answered emails to me over two weeks ago. After a simple look at her existing order, I knew she was full of baloney. Her order was less than 6 days old !

So, deal with me straight and I will give you what you want as quickly as possible. Don?t play games. I have no time for such nonsense. Just tell me when you want it in your hands. Pick some alternate choices whenever possible, especially in the kids items and the Men?s cotton shirts. I mean what difference would it make to a 24 month old kid whether he or she got a pink outfit instead of a fuchsia one? There are dozens and dozens of prints for Men’s cotton shirts. Many prints are so similar, I have to stare at them to see which print it is. And, please use the size charts. They will be a great benefit to you. I receive about 20 boxes per week in returns. 16 of those boxes are for exchanges for a different size. Use the size charts. They work.

Adrienne Uncategorized

Now comes the customer who becomes irate and says my customer service is “awful”. She “demands” a refund. Like, I can’t wait to give this person’s money back and block her IP address so I never have to deal with her again. Yes, I can do that. I can block your IP address so you can never get to my web site again from your PC. Not that she would ever want to shop with me again. But, just as a precaution, I take this tact. I could not refund this transaction fast enough. It was truly my pleasure. She did not receive an email or a phone call within three days of the time she placed her order on-line. I did not inform her that the $ 16.98 kiddie cabana set for her niece will not arrive in time for the birthday party. It was not in stock in the size and color she selected. She made no alternate choice of color or print.

And, this is funny. She picked U.S. Priority Mail as her shipping option. My goodness, you want it in a rush. You need it in your hands by a specific date. Why in the world would you select the Post Office as your shipping option? The chances of the cabana set getting there on time, even if I shipped it the same day was slim to none. She should have gone to Sears or J. C. Penny for her kiddie outfit. She placed her order on a Friday afternoon, after 7 PM, local time. It’s the Friday before a three day Holiday weekend. No work on Monday, it?s King Kamehamea day. (How could she know that?) King Kamehamea day is an important Holiday here on the Island of Maui. There is a big parade, Front Street is closed. Many businesses are closed. Saturday and Sunday really can not be included in packing, shipping or delivery time. Nor, can the Holiday be included..

It is common to experience a power outage here in Lahaina. This is not uncommon here on the island for this to happen many times a year. Entire areas are down without electricity for hours at a time. Power outages affect the Internet service, the phone lines and of course, there is no air conditioning. You may not know it, but it’s very hot and dry in Old Lahaina town in the summer months. You simply can not work while sweat drops from your forehead on to the apparel. Communication and Internet usage are disrupted for many hours. And, it is also common to be stuck on the other side of the island, in a long line of traffic on a two lane highway because the road is closed due brush fires. There is only one main road from the airport, Wailuku and Kahului to the Westside, Lahaina. Some days the Federal Express daily shipment from our Honolulu factories does not deliver our boxes in the morning. They may come late in the afternoon or not until the next day. Rain can cause delays here on the Island.

The point here is that there are mitigating circumstances beyond my control and your control. And the world does not revolve around you, the customer. The word Rush and Aloha Wear do not belong in the same sentence. So, before you get mad at me and slam me with stupid, thoughtless, negative feedback, take five minutes out of your hurried life and read the page that tells you what to expect when it comes to shipping and delivery time before you place your order. The link is easy to find. It’s on the top of all 2,500 pages. It is called “Important Information & Shipping” and it’s in red letters. Try to plan more than five days ahead. I ship from an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Please consider the possibility that five days might not be enough time to leave for an order to get to you when there is a week end and a holiday in those five days! Sheesh.

Adrienne Uncategorized

MauiShirts.com is the only Aloha Wear web site that places its customer feedback, in plain view, on all 2,500 pages of the web site. It’s there, on the top left hand corner, for everyone to read.

Don’t believe the claims of a dissatisfied customer. For the most part they exaggerate and lie. They are so mad that things did not go their way, they want to bring you down to their level of incompetency.

I see it clearly. I’ve processed tens of thousands of orders in the last ten years. When a shopper does not get their way, in many instances, they get vindictive and exaggerate their claims. About one in very 500 orders, there is a person like this. They want you to believe we are incompetent and that we ship late and that we don’t respond to their phone calls and email in a timely fashion. The truth is, in 100% of these rants, the shopper did not follow simple requests.

They don’t pick alternate choices. They take no time what-so-ever to read the Important Information page or the Refunds, Exchanges and Return page, nor do they bother to read any of this information on check-out page. They expect their order in two days. They want instant gratification. They are impatient, demanding and unreasonable.

No one is more passionate in the desire to fulfil your order than MauiShirts.com. It is as simple as that. MauiShirts.com would not be in business long if it was not performing in a professional manner. MauiShirts.com has been fulfilling your orders for over ten years now. MauiShirts.com has earned a top position in customer service comparable to the best of the best. If we did not fulfill your orders with speed and compassion we would not be in this enviable position. But, there is one thing I know as truth. MauiShirts.com can not be all things to all people. No matter how hard we try, there will always be someone that we simply can not make happy.

Adrienne Uncategorized