Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Guilty with a Capital G

Sometime this past summer I received a strange email from a man with a foreign-sounding name. He claimed to be associated with an Indian tea company, Golden Tips Teas. Apparently my blog, and my post about the tea extravaganza at the Indian tea grocery in Greenville, SC, brought me up on his radar, and they sent me an offer. They would send me some tea samples for free, in the mail. All they needed was my mailing address.

Now that I consider it, that blog post can't have possibly elicited his email. I visited Greenville in mid-September, and this email exchange occurred at least a couple of months ago -- long ago enough that I'd forgotten about it.

I did send him a mailing address -- not my own street address, but the address for the church, to be safe. Because we live in a scary world. And promptly the next day I received another email stating that he could not process my free tea offer until I had sent him my phone number also. Hmm. I asked Adam if he thought this was probably an email scam (even though the man did provide a link to the tea company's site, but that means nothing. Anyone can provide a link.), and Adam said it was probably a scam. So I didn't write him back. I put the emails into my spam folder.

And ... I reported it to Google Mail too. Because I want to be a good citizen. And I then forgot the whole thing.

Until today.

Adam came into the house carrying a cool package. From India:
 The box is wrapped in muslin (ha! I mistyped 'muslim' first! Freudian slip!) cloth. Is that cool or WHAT?
And the edges are all hand stitched. Guys ... I needed a seam ripper to open my mail!
 And it had multiple wax seals, with writing in the wax!!!! Squeeee!
 I was trying not to hyperventilate. It's not quite as fabulous as Mr. Darcy knocking at your door. But it's close.
 And a nifty postage label from India too :)

 Inside the box? Yes, a fabulous assortment of beautiful Indian teas. Bestillmyheart.
 How did they know I adore Darjeeling and Assam?
 Each label looks like this. This is serious tea. They tell you which estate it's grown on, when it was picked, that it is the first tips in the spring season. Oh. My. Word.
And I feel insanely, massively, overwhelmingly guilty. I know, I know ... it was perfectly normal to suspect them of something sinister when they wanted my phone number (I guess). But still -- look at how kind they were to me, when I was only suspicious of them? It is rather humbling. The tea names are elegant and beautiful on the tongue. I did make a pot from one of the little black packets:  "Giddapahar Muscatel" from the Darjeeling region, the Giddapahar estate, picked on June 8th of this year, the second flush of the summer season. It is beautiful in color and luscious in taste.

If you're a tea lover, and you don't mind buying online, please do support this wonderful, kind company that treated me better than I treated them. May this blog post be a small apology for any damage I may have done to them with my complaint to Google. I have tried to find the email exchange in my Gmail, and cannot find anything. I wish I could rectify my mistake. I have no idea how to contact Gmail and tell them, "No! I was wrong! These are not bad guys!"

Thank you, Golden Tips Tea Company! You are wonderful!

13 comments:

Jo-Lynne Shane said...

Omygosh, lol. I thought you were gonna say it was some big scam, and I was going to freak b/c I give out my address and phone # all the time. I know I should use a PO Box, but what a PAIN! I'm glad this all worked out to be legit. :-)

Pom Pom said...

Wow! Amazing! What a story, too! I hope you enjoy your tea, sweet MK!

Sarah said...

I tried to comment, but I don't know if it went through once already. Anyway, I was just saying how happy I am for you. That package is so very beautiful and wonderful!

Anonymous said...

I don't think you should feel guilty! You did not think ill of any specific human being; you were only being wisely cautious. I would certainly have stopped at giving my phone number! Clearly, they *didn't* need your phone number after all. Have you drunk some tea by now and is it good enough to make you want to order some tea from your new Indian friends?

Granny Marigold said...

What an amazing story! I think I would have written them off as a scam as well. Just goes to show.

melissa said...

Luckeeeeeee. :) What a sweet treat. That's so wonderful to see happen this day and time. Will go now to visit their site. Maybe can find something.

Happy endings!

Dasha said...

We get so many scammers down here that I would immediately suspect that and would never have given my address in the first place. So I guess that just shows you need to be less suspicious and more gracious.

Anonymous said...

Dear MK. Thank you for your wonderful review. There is no need to apologize and your heartfelt blog post is enough for our team here back in India :)

For us its most important that you like our teas and we will be awaiting a review of all the teas sent, if you plan to do so that is :)

To let your friends know, we are an 80 year old tea company from India delivering garden fresh teas direct from the plantations in Darjeeling, Assam, Nilgiri and have shipped teas to over 75 countries through our online store at www.goldentipstea.com

We offer free shipping on orders above $49 to most countries direct from India. And if you are still hesitant, Just try our introduction samplers for $15 at http://goldentipstea.com/collections/try-us

Thank you once again :)

Team
Golden Tips Teas India

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

Wow, I'm so glad it wasn't a scam! Maybe he will see your post here on your blog and get in touch with you again, then you can thank him properly. :-)

Enjoy your teas ~ FlowerLady

M.K. said...

Thank you, Golden Tips Team! I'm glad you saw this post. I will be doing reviews on my favorite teas in the selection you sent. Looking at your site was lots of fun. Very nice website. It seems your masala chai is VERY good :) I think your free shipping on $49 orders is a great idea for overseas orders. I'll probably be using that! Thanks again for your consideration. I will be enjoying your teas!

Mary Ann Potter said...

I was impressed by the graciousness of the company's reply to you! Delightful. This is some of the best advertising that they can provide. Isn't forgiveness a wonderful thing?

Deborah Montgomery said...

M.K., don't be too hard on yourself. I think you were just being cautious, and wisely so. So glad it had a happy ending, and I'm glad I was able to see the company's comment., and their gracious response.I will be checking out their website. The tea sounds great.

Thistle Cove Farm said...

Don't ever ignore that "voice" that screams/whispers caution; it's saved my life, by a slim margin and I never ignore it since.
Love the way it was mailed and the company has been very kind and gracious to you. What a lovely way to market to new folks.