JULY 27 UPDATE ON UPDATE: I received an email from them. Not a automated one. Had a nice email exchange with Lynn, who is apparently in charge of order fulfilment and was on vacation for a couple weeks and thought someone else was checking the "orders" email inbox. Apparently there were issues with Paypal's software gee-hawing with their software, and they never knew that I had an order ready to ship. It's been straightened out and shipped and I've got a tracking number that shows it already almost halfway here. I am a happy camper now as far as smokinbeans.com and rescind my estimate of any sort of scam being perpetrated. My estimate of them is now "honorable people to do business with."
Update on smokinbeans.com:
I am revising my estimate of them to "suspicious of scam artist" subject to a really-believable reason (as opposed to a hollow, holey excuse) for their silence since taking my money for my July delivery back on the 4th and never confirming receipt of it (I only know it's gone because I looked at my account portal on the internet and also a notice from Paypal) nor sending me any coffee, which had been arriving by the 12th of the month.
After numerous emails and phone calls during their stated business hours going to voicemail, I can conclude that either they've absconded with a batch of orders' payments, or there has been a calamity in the family. They hold themselves out as family-owned and -operated.
I'm canceling my subscription with them if I haven't heard from them by the end of the day today, and will be looking for alternate sources for green beans. I've found one in Houston that sells full-bag only, and I'm only waiting to see if they can provide me with a sample before pulling the trigger on 152 lbs of green coffee beans at two dollars per pound
If I do that, I'd be happy to send anybody a pound or two so long as I can recover the cost for what I send plus what it takes to mail it. As that commercial years ago stated, I'll get back to ya soon with more details
