MauiShirts Web Blog

I’ve been an entrepreneur and successful businessman for over 50 years. I have established many successful businesses. MauiShirts.com celebrates ten years of on-line success this year. I have always relished competition and respected my competitors. I normally ignore such trivia, but now and again I feel I must defend myself against such an affront. I am reacting to a competitor who has stepped over the line. Peggy Hillen and Charles Stankovich have slandered my good name and my respected business. I found their tripe when doing a Google search of my name. Here is the link to their on-line garbage: http://hawaiianalohashirts.blogspot.com/2007/05/delete-links-to-maui-shirts.html

These people have besmirched, defamed, and insulted me. They have defiled the MauiShirts.com web site and attempted to soil my hard work with twisted commentary. I’m speaking of the owner of a web site and a manager of the web site named waveshoppe.com, Peggy Hillen and her manager Charles Stankovich.

It was thoughtless to take snippets and excerpts from my blog and then have the audacity and unmitigated gall to ridicule my business with their humorless misinterpretations. Peggy Hillen and Charles Stankovich are the epitome of disrespectful rudeness. I don’t know what Peggy Hillen and/or general manager Charles Stankowich were thinking or what they were smoking, but their comments taken out of context from my blog are simply stupid and asinine. Here is a list of a few words they used in their mindless contemptuous blog to malign me: atrocity, shameful, rude, vindictive, vicious, and stupid. And, then they go to tell people not to link to mauishirts.com. MauiShirts.com does not solicit link relations. MauiShirts.com is a high ranking web site in any search engine on the planet. MauiShirts.com did not get there by linking. Mauishirts.com got this high ranking because of content. MauiShirts.com is a success because of repeat business and loyal customers who can see though Peggy Hillen’s and Charles Stankovich’s bullshit.

I visited their web site, waveshoppe.com, to see what kind of people could concoct such crap and toss it at me. What was their motive? I can only guess that they are envious, jealous and spiteful of MauiShirts’ success. It is a fact that there is only one other web site with a search of Hawaiian Shirts that receives more unique visitors than MauiShirts.com. That web site is Hilo Hattie. The web site owned by Peggy Hillen and managed by Charles Stankovich receives less than half the unique visitors, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly as MauiShirts.com. The prints, for the most part, offered on the Peggy Hillen web site are tacky designs and pedestrian at best. Their polyester prints would never be advertised on any of the 3,000 plus pages of Mauishirts.com. I would guess that house maids, hotel workers and such would be their main buyers. Their prints belong in a supermarket or swap meet. You will not find their prints in high end boutiques or department stores along with Paradise Found or R. J. Clancey labels as offered by MauiShirts.com. Their offer of free shipping is nothing but hype. Their on-line prices of the few Paradise Found or R. J. Clancey shirts they do offer, apples to apples, are priced $ 3.00 to $ 10.00 higher per dress or shirt than MauiShirts.com. So, pay more and get free shipping! They must think people are suckers and can’t see though such cheap trickery.

The reputation of MauiShirts.com, unlike this competitor’s web site, is up front and easy to view. MauiShirts.com is in the top 3% of all of Yahoo in customer satisfaction. MauiShirts.com maintains a 95% to 100% positive customer satisfaction on Amazon.com and EBay. The Yahoo customer comments are on the top left of all 3,000 pages of the MauiShirts.com web site.

Peggy Hillen and Charles Stankovich should be ashamed of their selves to stoop to such tasteless, crude and shoddy business tactics. Shop at waveshoppe if you like, but consider this. Peggy Hillen and Charles Stankovich are simply hebetudinous. Look it up. It means dense, blockheaded, thick-witted and lacking in intelligence.

Mickey Steinborn

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Rating: Good

Price Rating:Good

Shipping Options Rating:Good

Delivery Rating:Excellent

Ease of Purchase Rating:Excellent

Customer Service Rating:OK

At the time of ordering 3 items, all were noted as “in stock”, one dress said 3 available.  The day after I ordered, I was informed that the dress was no longer available and that money would be refunded and the other two items shipped.  I was never offered the choice of substituting another item when there are many choices available (well, the web site says they’re available, but obviously, that doesn’t mean much).  I would have chosen another design and maintained my 3 item order.  I would not order something else separately as the shipping would be far more expensive than if they sent everything together.  I thought it was pretty rude the way they went about it and they cost themselves a $63 sale.  Foolish.  Too bad, because everything else was good.

Aloha,

Thank you for your Yahoo feedback.

I’m sorry you missed the important information; Friendly Helper
message that drops down on the main page as you enter the web site.

(It is very difficult to miss) www.MauiShirts.com

You are asked to read this information before you place your order
to avoid your sort of comments into the public forum.  
It is also mentioned in several places on the web site as well as on the bottom area of all
3,000 pages of the web site under each size chart: http://www.mauishirts.com/faq.html
This quote and much more is there for you to have read:
“It is impossible to stock all prints, in all styles, in all colors and sizes ALL of the time,
either in the Honolulu factories or in the Lahaina, Maui showroom. Please select alternate choices.”

We sell hand made items. (All items are made in very limited quantities.)

Things will, and do sell out, from one day to the next.
This information and more is on this page/link : http://www.mauishirts.com/shipping-and-general-information.html
This link is on the top area of all 3,000 pages of the web site.
Also when you check out you were asked to use the “Special Instructions”
box to select alternate choices or to request a phone call if something is
not available when you place your order.

Your order shipped quickly.
Your refund was issued immediately when the order shipped.
You received a $ 5.00 coupon in your shipment box.
There is a toll free number on the bottom area of all 3,000 pages of the
web site to call to check availability before you place your order.

Unfortunately the time difference makes it difficult,
some days, to call customers to offer alternate choices. Most
of the time when we do call it becomes a game of phone tag.
We ship 30 to 50 boxes per day. If we were to call every customer
that does not include alternate choices,
we would have limited time to pack and ship orders. 

We include the coupon to help defray this sort of event.

We are a small company with one full time employee and two part time employees.
Our prices are the lowest on the planet for Paradise Found and R.J. Clancey apparel.
We offer the greatest selection of these brands in all styles, sizes and colors.
No one compares or comes close.

I hope your next experience with MauiShirts.com fulfills all your expectations.

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Rating: Excellent

Price Rating:Excellent

Shipping Options Rating:Excellent

Delivery Rating:Excellent

Ease of Purchase Rating:Excellent

Customer Service Rating:Excellent

I had checked out several web sites in search of matching Hawaiian family wear.  Maui shirts seemed the most reasonable and had many styles to choose from.  I called the customer service line and the woman I spoke with was very knowledgeable about the styles and delivery time.  The clothes arrived in a few days, excellent quality and packages well.  They look and feel great. But just a piece of advice, make sure you measure according to their chart.  I needed to order 2 sizes above my normal size.  The measurements fit to a tee, but had I ordered my regular size, it would have been way to small.  Same for my son’s shirt and daughters dress.  My husband was even a size up.

Thomas R. / Forked River, NJ

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Rating: Excellent

Price Rating:Excellent

Shipping Options Rating:Excellent

Delivery Rating:Excellent

Ease of Purchase Rating:Excellent

Customer Service Rating:Excellent

Great Service, tracking on the parcel and communication were spot on.

would definitely purchase from them again. Robert L from the UK

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Rating: Excellent

Price Rating:Excellent

Shipping Options Rating:Excellent

Delivery Rating:Excellent

Ease of Purchase Rating:Excellent

Customer Service Rating:Excellent

It was a great experience. the shirts were great and delivered on time. I will gladly do business again!

Leonora from Discover Bay, CA

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Rating: Excellent

Price Rating:Excellent

Shipping Options Rating:Excellent

Delivery Rating:Excellent

Ease of Purchase Rating:Excellent

Customer Service Rating:Excellent

Great Service, tracking on the parcel and communication were spot on.

would definitely purchase from them again. Robert L from the UK

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Rating: Excellent

Price Rating:Good

Shipping Options Rating:Excellent

Delivery Rating:Excellent

Ease of Purchase Rating:Excellent

Customer Service Rating:Excellent

These shirts are the best! True Hawaiian shirts.

Rayon is the bomb! They fit great. I have stopped counting the compliments. I tell everyone to go to their web site. Look..it’s Amazon for books, Zappos for shoes, and MauiShirts for shirts! It’s that simple.

Also: The customer service was great. I screwed up my shipping choice and they fixed it immediately.

Steve,

Littleton, CO

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Two glaring incidents stand out.

One; The man who did not want to pay the handling, re-listing and re-stocking fee. He based this decision to argue on the premise Global Warming and the lack of fabric weight on the web site.

And, two, the woman who became an insulting pest. There was nothing anyone could do fast enough or correct enough for this woman. Anyone having a wedding with everyone wearing black pretty much says it all.

So here, goes. I hope you can find some humor here. I’ve not included all my comments or their entire email replies because these, included herein, are the best and funniest parts of their bull crap. Believe me there was much more to these transactions then I’m publishing here. 

First the Black Wedding from Fort Lewis, Washington:

Here are her last remarks. These remarks come after a few previous emails and several phone calls. I reprint this exactly as she sent it. All the misspellings are hers. I have deleted her name because … well, I don’t know. I guess I’m not such an "asshole" after all.

You smug asshole, First of all I ordered 5 dresses and he only 2 shirts on the 7th of July and never got a confirmation from you that said you had recieved my order. When they called me on the 8 (YES, YOU CALLED ME). And asked if I minded not getting the shirts until close to the wedding,, If those shirts were not availabe, why didn’t she tell me then? I asked her if was ok to order two more, why didn’t she tell me then? So you say I had the audacity to call up and order two more shirts.You might want to check your records. Apparently you have no idea what goes on in your customer service. I still have never evan got a confirmation to my order. You promised me last wen. That I would recieve an contract from you, with in an hour. Do you have any idea what a hassle you have been. You and your staff have been completely incompetened, Not only will I never do business you again, I also am reporting you to the better business burial. And I will make sure that I let anyone I know or they know, who need to order something from Hawaii, that they never order from you and your company!  A.P.

Now comes my final email to her. I hope she doesn’t read between the lines and realizes what a goof-ball she really is.

Aloha,

Thank your two email replies.

We were only trying to warn you that the delivery had taken place by
Federal Express and you were not there to receive the shipments.
Federal Express automatically notifies us of overnight shipments that
can not be facilitated.

You keep beating a dead horse.
All orders immediately receive confirmation.
It is an automatic response from the Yahoo Shopping Network.
It is simply impossible that you did not receive
an email confirmation of your order within seconds after you placed it.
You either deleted it by accident, or it went into your spam or trash
folder or you simply missed it.
I double checked your email address, as you entered it into the order.
If you had entered an incorrect email address, then, of course you
would not receive the automatic confirmation.
It was correct. The automatic email response to an order is
sent without MauiShirts.com having to do anything. 

If it were not for our incredible customer service,
our passion to get you what want,
and our dedication and attentiveness
you would not have your complete order in your hands now.

Let me recall.
We go out of our way to make you happy. We custom
manufacture men’s shirts for you
that are not offered in the course of every day sales.
The drop-down menu of "Available Selections" on the page
where you placed your order states this
in clear and easy to understand language.
"Do not place into your shopping cart if you can not wait."
It is also noted in large red letters on the shirt’s page.
Yet, you place two in your shopping cart when
you know they are not available. Then you call and add two more.

You call, or we call. We discuss your order and let you know
that this is a difficult thing that you
are asking, and that we will do all we can to make it happen for you.
No less than five people stopped what they were doing and catered to your needs.
You were always informed of the progress of your order, yet you continued to
send emails and call.

You insult us on the telephone and speak to us as if we were a child.
You speak harshly to a pregnant showroom assistant who is only trying to help you.
Then you hang up the phone in her ear after berating her.

Now you berate me and call me names.
And, of course, now you threaten me.

How special.

I would very much like you to report me to the Better Business Bureau
so I can place your comments and the history of this transaction
and your insults into their public forum.
Nothing would please me more.

Bring it on.

You have given me wonderful blog commentary.
I truly and sincerely thank you for this experience.

Sincerely,
Mickey Steinborn
President
MauiShirts.com, Inc.

Now comes the story of the Global Warming…

His claims in his emails are simply silly. No seller of Aloha wear places the weight of the fabric in their offerings. Sheesh. And, of course he is in a rush. His order was placed on the 28th of June, a Saturday. It was shipped two work days later, on the 2nd of July. His request for return came 14 days later on the 14th of July. His return shipment was logged in yesterday, July 26th. But, he is in a rush. He wants me to rush! And he wants to twist things around as if I was insulting him. Any ways, here is his comments:

I need to return the six Men’s Palm Trees White Shirts, code 259-8079, in XL….because the weight is a full 20% heavier than my other 100% rayon shirts. It is getting hotter here in Kauai, as I am sure it is in Lahaina. I need a 100% rayon shirt that is 20% lighter weight than the shirts you sent. (Yours are 10.1 oz per shirt and mine is just 8 oz.)

Since your web site did not indicate that these shirts are such a heavy weight, as other catalogs do, I sincerely wish you would either indicate which shirts are lighter weight that I would find an acceptable exchange. Failing that, I kindly request a refund the full amount, since the weight was not indicated on the item’s description.

This matter must be rapped up immediately, as I am leaving island on 7.22 for a full month…or it must continue thereafter.
hank you for your kind consideration,

A hui hou, Tek

You may not have needed to address the weight up to now, since no one on earth has experienced global warming. Now we are.
I have two other manufacturers of 100% rayon shirts, both of whom sold me shirts that were the same weight and 20% lighter than the order I ordered from you. They are Winnie Fashion and Paradise Found.

To say that my request is silly is to insult me. What do you have to gain from that? Nothing.
What do you have to lose? my patronage. You have been in business long enough to know that even if you feel that way, it is unprofessional to speak it to a customer. SHAME ON YOU!

My final email to him. (He received a refund less the 15% handling, re-listing and re-stocking the same day his return was logged in on Maui).

Aloha,

Thank you for your email.

You have not included your order number with your request.
All orders are stored and sorted by their order number.
Please offer your order number so that I may assist you.
Here is the page/link, that you may have missed, found on the top
area of all 3,000 pages of the main web site.
This information is on all Amazon.com listings as well.
http://www.mauishirts.com/exchange-returns-help.html

The web sites can not indicate the fabric weight of any garment.
That would be absolutely silly. There are many, many grades of rayon, cotton
and fabric blends. The denier or the weight of a fabric has never been a concern of anyone.
If this was a concern, I would expect the customer to make inquiry of such
a thing before a purchase. There is a toll free number that can be found on the
bottom area of all pages of the web site and is also accessible from any
Amazon.com listing.

The Men’s Palm Tree print has been one of our top sellers for over three years since its release. 

The quality, R. J. Clancey brand, hand made shirts,
are fabricated in Honolulu and have been so for over 53 years.
I’ve shipped hundreds of thousands of shirts to happy folks around the planet.
No one, in my eleven years in business on the Internet,
has ever complained about the weight of the fabric of any men’s shirt print.
In dozens emails, I have read nothing but praise for the various fabrics.
I have no defense if you are going to compare the shirts something made
of thinner fabric or something made in Taiwan or China or some other foreign country.

The handling, re-listing and re-stocking fee is more than fair. 
We offer six (6) months to exchange. You may exchange
for anything. This information and more is on the RETURNS / EXCHANGES / REFUND page/link.
This information can also be found on the shopping cart page of the
main web site when you checked out. This information can be found as
Sellers Policy on a link on all Amazon.com listings.

There are many practical business reasons why it would be
imprudent to not charge a fee for returns
that are not for exchanges. I can not negotiate this 15% fee.
You depleted the inventory. The shirts were re-made so I
would have stock for other buyers. 
There are other  Men’s white shirts listed on this page,
http://www.mauishirts.com/hawaiian-wedding-apparel.html
but I fear, they are of the same denier or heavier.

IMPORTANT: Please include this email in any reply.
If you can not or are unable to include this email in your reply,
it may require an additional day or two to reply to your email.
Mahalo, (Thank you),
Mickey Steinborn
MauiShirts.com, Inc.
www.MauiShirts.com
Call the toll free number during business
hours for further assistance.
Link/page to Local Maui Time:
http://www.mauishirts.com/contact-mauishirts.html
TOLL FREE: (866) 628-4626
1- (866) MAUIMAN
(808) 661-1536

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Click on the images for larger views:

Hana’s Red and                                         Purple rain

Green Bamboo … yes it IS real.

"Jake" a Napili Koi              "Jake" and friends

"Bob" and "Mike", Maui Drinking buddies…

Lilies in the rain              Kaanapali Bird of Paradise

Pink Flamingo at the Hyatt               Two pinks at the Hyatt

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Rating: Excellent

Price Rating:Excellent

Shipping Options Rating:Excellent

Delivery Rating:Excellent

Ease of Purchase Rating:Excellent

Customer Service Rating:Excellent

The shirts were excellent value and quality and the gentlemen went out of their way to email me and made a personal trip to the USPS to send it to me with a customs form since I am overseas with the US Military - OUTSTANDING customer support and appreciation.  J. G. / FPO / AE

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