Austin Homebrew This Sounds Like YOUR Accounting Mistake Not Mine!

Let's see Austinhomebrew, this order is months old and now you want to tell me YOU credited the wrong Gift Certificate and sent me my order and now want $35. Right. This is an example of really poor business ethics. Austin Homebrew this sounds like your internal accounting problem/mistake and not mine.

Now I know you don't cross reference information for your Gift Certs (serial number against name against amount). Might be worth a try to use a random number on each order in the future, that is, if I ever do business with you again! Insert "Highly Unlikely" Icon.

There are a lot of online providers that sell the same products.

Morebeer.com and NorthernBrewer here I come!

Received tonight:

Hi Shawn,

We recently caught an error on your previous order with Austin Homebrew Supply. A customer tried to redeem their gift certificate and we saw that it had actually been redeemed on your order. After looking into the problem, we found that you must have entered the wrong number accidentally (only one wrong number). This redeemed the other customer’s gift certificate which was for more than the certificate that was issued to you. The gift certificate # issued to you was 10619 for $40.00 and you entered 10616 that was for $75.00. Please call me at your earliest convenience to discuss your account balance of $35.00. I appreciate your attention to this matter.

Cheers,

Luke Morrison
Austin Homebrew Supply
9129 Metric Blvd.
Austin, TX 78758
(800)-890-BREW (2739)
(512)-300-BREW (2739)
Fax: (512)-491-8325

Can you blame them lol? I'd try if I was in their shoes.

So did you look onto the possibility that you entered the wrong number? Did you call them to clarify or just jump on here to blast a vendor? I don't know if this is the proper way to handle this situation. Just my $.02

How much was the order?

Sounds like you tried to pull a fast one on them and they (finally) caught the mistake. You owe them the money the way I see it.

Sounds like you got $35 worth of free stuff you should have paid for but didn't. I don't care whose accounting error it was, you owe them the money.

DHUKILL said:

Sounds like you tried to pull a fast one on them and they (finally) caught the mistake. You owe them the money the way I see it.

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Yeah... I know that if I had a GC for $35, and somehow I redeemed one for $75, I would probably be making a phone call... Strange that they use numbers so close together... I agree. Someone owes AHS some money.

They definitely need to use a better process, but you need to admit your error here as well. I'm guessing that you didn't complain when you got the free stuff, and I'm sure you knew something was wrong.

Sounds like you owe the money. It costs them nothing to email you and request your understanding but in all likelihood they'll dismiss the charge as it is obvious that you have no intention to right the wrong and seem perfectly willing to accept goods that you did not pay for. It'll cost them much more to go after that $35.

Judging by the rest of your email, they won't miss your business.

Wow, that's a strange situation. How do you handle that fairly? I'm mean this dude's response is a little overboard, but in a way, I lean towards him being right (btw, I love AHB). Gift certificate numbers shouldn't be that easy to accidently enter the wrong one. I mean, 5 digits, and fairly consecutive apparently?

I hate to say it but I think Forrest needs to eat this one and change the amount of digits in his gift certificate numbers.

FastAndy said:

So did you look onto the possibility that you entered the wrong number? Did you call them to clarify or just jump on here to blast a vendor? I don't know if this is the proper way to handle this situation. Just my $.02

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Couldn't say it any better... AHS has a pretty good track record for customer service and quality of service. This is a pretty poor way of handling any issue..

Airborneguy said:

... Forrest needs to ... change the amount of digits in his gift certificate numbers.

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He'd better do something quick, before a bunch of people buy themselves $1.00 gift certificates, and then "accidently" type in the wrong number when ordering, hoping to hit on a larger one.

I'd think making the gift certificates alphanumeric would fix the problem of mis-entering the codes but that's just my 2 cents.

I'll bet that if he "accidentally" entered the wrong number and got a GC of a lesser value, he'd be the first crying foul.

Need to have a gift certificate with a NAME and a gift card #. Both have to match for the GC to be applied. Pretty simple, really.

Alpha-numeric wouldn't change anything unless they made the GC# longer, say 16 places and non-sequential

M_C

Wait, you buy something online, get more credit than you should and get angry with the vendor you admittedly (edit: meant to type "accidentally" not "admittedly" but on hindsight I think it kind of fits) ripped off? Weird...

Airborneguy said:

Wow, that's a strange situation. How do you handle that fairly? I'm mean this dude's response is a little overboard, but in a way, I lean towards him being right (btw, I love AHB). Gift certificate numbers shouldn't be that easy to accidently enter the wrong one. I mean, 5 digits, and fairly consecutive apparently?

I hate to say it but I think Forrest needs to eat this one and change the amount of digits in his gift certificate numbers.

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I would agree with you... Except.

If the OP would have taken care of this at the start, he would not be in this situation. People make mistakes/mistyping/etc. but he had to have known that something was incorrect, and ignored it. $35 is much different than $75, and he had to have known that was not right at checkout. Yet, he proceeded with the order, and now we are discussing the outcomes based on his post here.

Then, to come here looking for sympathy (I suppose), he blasts the vendor before even trying to rectify the situation. I would have felt a little more sympathy, but this situation has the tone that the OP did something morally incorrect, and now he does not feel as though the mistake that he created should be his problem. Not trying to be a di€k, but I certainly think that this was not the correct way to handle the situation, and that the OP needs to make it right with the vendor.

Ryan M.

Tyrone said:

Wait, you buy something online, get more credit than you should and get angry with the vendor you admittedly ripped off? Weird...

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That is how this situation looks to me. Surely you realized that there was an error before they sent you this email, right?

If that letter is correct, then shame on you, Dizzy. Pay for what you ordered, don't be a looter. It's what grown-ups do.

If their letter is incorrect, and you truly had a $75 gift certificate, I'm sure they'll accept that. They are a reputable company and truly try to do the best by us homebrewers.

Interesting...I recieved my paycheck today & was overpaid b/c I recieved some workman's comp payments for a few days while I was hurt that were not omitted from my reg pay. The 1st thing I did was to call payroll & let them know I was returning the voided check to HR. Moral of the story is that it wasn't my money in the first place. You should have done the same as soon as you were aware of the situation...either when you at checkout or three months later. The money wasn't yours to begin with...and if you can't scrape any remorse out of taking money from a great business, just think of the poor individual whose gift card YOU STOLE! Have some dignity & settle up with what you owe.

(A strong, heartfelt apology for the public slander of a great business would be proper as well)

Maybe don't drink before placing your order?

I can't blame the OP for the first part of the transaction, however, when AHS sent the email stating the caught the error it's time to pay. To come on here and bash a company because they asked you to pay them the money they are rightfully owed is in extremely poor character.

Karma can be a b*tch, do the right thing.

Yeah. AHB messed up. You're right on that part.

They're a solid company that does right by this site and just delivered a solid order to my doorstep today. I don't know the size of the company, but we aren't talking Walmart or Toyota here so this is not quite as easy for them to recover from (although we all know they'll pull through it on this one situation).

Personally, I wouldn't be able to let it go without giving back what I owed. Some people have a different value system than others and might be able to walk away without caring.

In the long run, I doubt there are legal consequences to not paying your debt but you should feel some moral obligations.

P.S. I'm drinking and hope this all makes some sense and doesn't make me sound like a complete moron.

I've made an order before that I recieved more product than payed for. I called the vendor and told them about it and he told me just to keep it "Merry Christmas". Granted he would have had to pay the shipping, but that was a lot less than the cost of the product. Moral of the story: do the right thing and you will eventually be rewarded.

The jury has spoken

Did you even call them up?

I think I'm with the OP on this one... if I understood correctly. If he truly typed in his correct gift certificate number and was rewarded $75 instead of $35, then that is the company's mistake and they have no business wasting the OP's time with these matters. Don't get me wrong, AHS is my go to HBS given I live in Texas.

Now, if they OP really did type in a wrong number accidentally...well it looks like it's in the gray area, but I STILL think he should get the benefit of the doubt due to the faulty system. It's not that my morals are any lower than those that said he should pay, but "the customer is always right". It's just bad business practice to go and ask for money back.

The only thing I don't like is how the OP carried out the situation. He did come off as immature, but I know he was probably frustrated.

All in all, AHS is a great company to do business with, and I'm sure they'll work things out with OP.

The above is basically my point. Morals or not, I don't see how a business could ask for the money at this point. The fault lies in the overly-simple gift certificate setup. But the OP in no way endeared himself by acting like AHB just kicked his dog.

I think its unethical to take money if you know the company you're doing business with made an error. period. I had the same issue with my child's daycare charging less than they should have. They are a church though. The OP should ask this question: If the HBS was operating as a non-profit providing services for the good of the community would he feel unethical? if so, then it shouldn't matter if its a non-profit or a for-proift business, its still unethical.

I can't stand it when db's come on here and whine & cry about XYZ Vendor before puting forth any effort on their part to solve the issue, especially when they are at fault!
Children...

Hunter

First world problems ...

You KNEW you had a $35 gift card, and then redeemed a $75 gift card. You're wrong they're right.. I don't care what color socks they were wearing or who's fault you seem to think it is.. You took $40 without paying and knew it. Pay it back and quit whining, we're not on your side.

I would have thought that when you go through the Checkout, put in your Gift Certificate, when it shows a savings of more money than the Gift Certificate says, that you would double check that you have the correct numbers in the field

rmullins said:

I would have thought that when you go through the Checkout, put in your Gift Certificate, when it shows a savings of more money than the Gift Certificate says, that you would double check that you have the correct numbers in the field

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Exactly. He created the problem, overly simple gift certificate system or not. He KNEW it was not right, but did it anyways. Everything that happened after that point is HIS fault.

I have never done business with AHS (sorry guys, maybe in the future), but they deserve to be rightfully paid what money is theirs.

Ryan M.

You will be out the $35, one way or the other...so says Karma!!!

Don't worry about AHS loosing this guys business... it sorta sounds like he wasn't great for their bottom line as it was.

It is a cut throat market out there for homebrewer money. Positive public relations is the number one reason I pick xyz over abc. Price wise, things are all fairly similar.Support the brewing network? Bonus.

Point being, bite the bullet and move on. The credit card fiasco (and being one of the affected people) was bad enough to make me look elsewhere. The 10% coupon with short expiration date was a nice gesture (never used it, but, made me feel a little better about the ordeal, I would purchase again from AHS if they had something I had to have and could not find elsewhere)

When in consumer limbo I would avoid ruffling feathers at all cost. I think your response was appropriate.

i think someone needs to pay up. he typed in the wrong #, and got credited. there should be some kind of check digit on the gc, but still, don't make ahs lose on this. they're awesome on prices and shipping already. "you owe me, so pay me, pay me my money down"

I'm seeing a serious lack of ethics within the HB crowd... Make your dads proud!

Hunter

Sounds like dizzy pants owes AHS 35 bucks.

Grow up and pay them for the supplies you purchased from them.

Funny that we have not heard back from DizzyPants. I'm sure he is a stand-up guy, but this could have been avoided completely.