Midwest Supplies

I read another thread supporting midwest and it was suggested to post in the company reviews section. i didn't see a thread started for midwest, so i appologize if this is a redundant thread. but i just wanted to say that i've had only good experiences with them. i've always gotten the things that i ordered in a resonable amount of time and my orders have always been right.

I've ordered through them quite a few times and have never had a problem, always great customer service. I don't use them much now, only because there is a place a little closer and they don't charge shipping. MW is a great company. If I lived a lot closer to them I'd go there.

Just placed my second order with them. Second brew was a boundary waters wheat extract. My third and fourth will be kits from there as well (oatmeal stout and cream ale) With the exception of shipping costs heavier/bulkier items their prices really can't be beat.

Fantastic customer service. Walked me thru everything I needed to start kegging and upgrading my kegerator. One of the kegs I received had bad threads on the post and they sent out a replacement the next day for free with a return label for the poor keg. Great place.

I've ordered from Midwest a few times, no problems at all. Everything arrived in good shape & in a reasonable amount of time; I'll order from them again with confidence.
Regards, GF.

I've been using Midwest as my main supplier since I started homebrewing back in 2005. It's 2011 now, so I guess that's around 6 years.

Their customer service is top notch! Totally above and beyond the call of duty. They've changed orders for me at the last minute (literally, the FedEx truck was there loading up, and they found my box and stuffed a few extra items in it) with no charge and no extra shipping, and even cancelled a few orders that I had placed in the middle of the night, with a few too many in me, that I realized I couldn't afford the next morning. No complaints, no arguments, they've just always done exactly what I asked.

IMHO, I might be a difficult customer at times, but Midwest has always put up with my craziness without even making me feel like I was making odd requests (even when I knew I was).

Totally top-notch outfit. There are no words to describe how highly I recommend them.

I have only ordered from them once. I happened upon them when the item (brew belt) I was looking for was out of stock or not carried at the first two sites I checked. The price was fair and they shipped quickly. I would definitely try them out again in the future.

I use Midwest almost exclusively since it's just up the road from my house.

My last experience was great, as I needed to refill my 20# CO2 tank. I had an outdated aluminum tank, and they didn't have any aluminum tanks left. The guy at the counter gave me a steel tank, and made sure to write on my receipt that they owe me an aluminum tank next time I need it. I expected to just get whatever they had in stock, but I'm glad they recognized the difference between the tanks!

Not to mention that the typically throw in small items for free when you buy ingredients from them. While only saving a few cents, they often don't charge me for grains when I only need a few oz.

My only criticism that I run into often, is that not all the employees are as knowledgeably as they could be, and sometimes can't answer my questions with confidence. I guess that comes with the size of the company though, and if they don't know, they always try to find someone who does!

So my wife had ordered me a starter kit and some extract kits for xmas. when the xmas came i put it all together. the bottling bucket was drilled incorrectly for the spigot bulkhead.

i called midwest who was happy to ship out a replacement bucket... however they never sent it. now i have to go chasing them again.

i tell my wife the story, turns out when she ordered the kit / recipes etc they forgot to ship those as well! she had to chase them for the original order!

anyone else have these problems or am i just lucky twice?

i like their site and the recipes seemed to come out good so far, but if its gonna be a pain in the A, i will go to austin and my lhbs.

fwiw I am positive midwest will send me the bucket, its not so much about that just a pain that im ready to bottle this weekend and im not sure it will be here.

Never had any issues with them.

I've been ordering from them for two years and haven't had any problems, I think maybe you just got lucky twice.

I bought my starter kit from Mid West 3 years ago and had nothing but positive experiences over the years. Keep in mind it is their busy season, give them a call if you don't feel they are taking care of you in a timely manner. If not you can always take you business somewhere else.

They have been great. I have been ordering from them for about a year an a half. Had a problem with a keg once and they exchanged it without an issue.

good to know thanks, i will give them the benefit of the doubt in light of all of your experiences.

like i said i know they will make it right, i just hate the hassle is all.

Well the good thing about midwest is that they value customer service. I personally have had nothing but great experiences when ordering from then. I am fairly certain that if you contact them, they will take care of you. Did you ever receive a tracking number from them on the recipe kit? I have heard that some people are so lousy that they will steal the supplies off people's doorsteps because midwest ships in large boxes. Good luck; I'm sure it will work out!!

the first time my wife called they said basically the order didnt hit the fulfillment box in their system after she placed it. they sent it right out after that.

i havent gotten a chance to call them about the failure to ship the replacement bucket. although i will give them a buzz today and probably order some more ingredients while im at it!

i never got a shipping confirm for the replacement bucket. i think they open at 11 am NYT so i will call in an hour.

I'm also positive on Midwest. I had one minor glitch when I ordered my starter kit a few years ago (they didn't include the bottle caps), but a quick phone call is all that was needed to resolve the issue. I've continued to order from Midwest and have always had a positive experience.

I've ordered from all the major online homebrew retailers, and the occasional hiccup isn't exclusive to Midwest. It happens from time to time, and I've always found quick resolution with just a phone call or e-mail.

I had an order mixed up (sent to my billing address instead of my shipping address), they fixed it with fedex and sent me 2 lbs of dme for my troubles!

I only have great things to say about Midwest.

Once I ordered about 50 lbs of grains that I wanted uncrushed, but accidentally selected crushed. Called them after the order was placed (but not shipped) and they corrected it.

MC

just got off the phone with midwest. they are sending the bucket no problems, as figured, also order a bunch more stuff, another extract kit. some bigger bottles and a few small things.

they even helped me out on the shipping since they were already sending the bucket. so hopefully by this weekend it arrives and i can bottle.

My first order with Midwest showed up incomplete. They were quick to fix it. Second order showed up fine.

Midwest is usually fantastic about customer service, as we are learning from the posts above...but at the same time, they are not really that different from the other sites such as Austin, etc.

In other words, if you don't like them, just switch to one of the other large online sites, you won't see any real difference in price, quality or selection. For me, I'd probably stick with them even if they ended up with a higher price. They respond to my emails quickly, never a missed order, and never anything broken (a total of 4 carboys throught them, several cases of bottles, along with other glass parts!) Just a fantastic experience for me...sorry you've been having some trouble

further update... my order which was promised to be here by this weekend still hasnt shipped. considering them in MN and me and CT. not looking good.

this will be the last order i place with them if it does not arrive by the weekend

Captainfester said:

further update... my order which was promised to be here by this weekend still hasnt shipped. considering them in MN and me and CT. not looking good.

this will be the last order i place with them if it does not arrive by the weekend

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My experience has been the items ship before you get a notification. So they may actually be on the way and the paperwork hasn't caught up yet.

Only problem I had with them is the $58 shipping they charged.

wfahey said:

My experience has been the items ship before you get a notification. So they may actually be on the way and the paperwork hasn't caught up yet.

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thats what i am hoping!

I've had two occasions where what they shipped was packaged in a very poor way. The first time wasn't a big deal, but the second time they packed a bag of grains right on top of a sharp/blunt object and about 5lbs of 2row spilled out into the box and got mixed up with everything.. I wrote them a "friendly" email, and they promptly replaced the entire 8lb bag that I had ordered. They even sent it overnight.. So, my thoughts are that everyone can make a mistake, but what sets a company apart is how they take care of it. Since they responded so quickly I was satisfied. I still order from them..

well... still not shipped. "will ship today" which is what i was told monday so i have zero faith.

def wont make it here for the weekend which screws up my whole plan. what a waste of time. without a doubt the last order ill be placing. this is three for three of failing to do as they said they would.

My experiences with them were negative. Defective manifold that was sold as new when it clearly was one of the "rebuilt" versions they were selling. They did send me a new one, but with an attitude like I did something wrong. Two corny kegs which were the most beat up kegs I've ever seen or purchased - they were basically tossed into a large box with zero packaging material. Didn't bother to complain, just moved on.

Happy that my LHBS has expanded over the last few years to pretty much have everything I need at nice prices.

Captainfester said:

well... still not shipped. "will ship today" which is what i was told monday so i have zero faith.

def wont make it here for the weekend which screws up my whole plan. what a waste of time. without a doubt the last order ill be placing. this is three for three of failing to do as they said they would.

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Does overnight shipping not exist in your corner of CT?

I've used MW a bunch of times and have had a few issues, each time they have fixed the problem. OTOH, they need to clean up their operations a bit as it is often cheaper to get it right the first time rather than incur the additional cost of fixing a problem.

TokyoRoad said:

Does overnight shipping not exist in your corner of CT?

I've used MW a bunch of times and have had a few issues, each time they have fixed the problem. OTOH, they need to clean up their operations a bit as it is often cheaper to get it right the first time rather than incur the additional cost of fixing a problem.

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it does exist. however they are shipping it fedex home(according to the site) which is estimated 4 day delivery from them to me.

maybe last minute they send it overnight but i doubt it since i think they would have mentioned it. time will tell.

Everyone else has already said it but I wanted to chime in.

The Midwest guys have never failed to help me out in a pinch. I live in Chicago, and found out the hard way that normal FedEx shipping actually arrives faster than the 2-day express. While not even remotely the fault of Midwest, they called me up and apologized on behalf of FedEx, agreeing that 2-day should be AT LEAST as fast if not faster than the regular shipping methods, and refunded the expedited shipping costs.

While some sites have flat rate shipping but make up the cost by inflating a few hot selling items I'm happy to pay for stuff from a semi-local company that seems to really understand what home brewers want and enjoys every minute of it. I think it's pretty awesome that they're helping out one of their employees that hurt himself in a home brewing accident (but didn't have the company provided insurance plan) by having a sale on brew safety equipment too. It's the little things that impress me I guess.

The only issue I've ever had was a few weeks ago. I ordered a 1/2" NPT lock nut that I needed to finish a weldless install. I also ordered two batches worth of ingredients all on the same order. So, lots of different hops, grains and yeast packets. Everything arrived exactly as I ordered except the locknut. They sent me the wrong one. So, that night I e-mailed the customer service. The next morning the got right back to me, apologized for the error, told me to just keep the part I had received, and sent me out the right part that day. Since I live fairly close, the part arrived the next day. Not only did the send me the part, but I had a hand written letter of apology in the box as well. Like I said, this was the only issue I've ever had, and in my book they made it right, and then some.

I have never had a problem with them, but have switched to a semi-local shop since its prices are usually the same or less and I don't have to pay shipping.

So far I have had nothing but good experiences with them.

I have a preference for Midwest because I have had great experience with their support. Also their prices always seem the be lower than Northern Brewer.

However......

If I need something to arrive in less than 1 week I always pay more and go with Northern Brewer. Midwest can't seem to package and ship under 72 hours.

One more day gone. One more day not shipped.... All these good reviews here I can't be this unlucky.

Captainfester said:

One more day gone. One more day not shipped.... All these good reviews here I can't be this unlucky.

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I would call and ask to talk to the owner?!?!?

not to me a smart a on my point, but this is something that he would want to know that is going on inside of his company?