what would you do (defective bottles)

So a while back I bought a bunch of these fliptop bottles: http://morebeer.com/view_product/15635/102304/Bottles_-_16_oz_Swing_Top_12

I used them to bottle some sour ales, parts of three different batches. If you know anything about brewing sours, you realize they take a lot of time and dedication. In my case, I had an imperial Berliner Weiss, and two sour brown ales aged on cherries and oak. The brown ales had been aging for about a year and the cherries were from the farmer's market. In short, these beers took a ton of effort.

Well as luck would have it, the goddam bottles didn't seal. In each case, I bottled a few with the fliptop and a few in regular crown cap bottles. In every case, the crown caps carbonated up and I had wonderful beer. However, not one of the fliptop bottles carbonated.

So yesterday i am in Morebeer and I mention it to the guy working. I get to the point in my story where I say "I bought some of these bottles" and he says "Say no more" and goes on to tell me that the latest batch of those bottles are defective and don't seal. He said he would gladly take them back.

BUT: they are still selling them. And quite frankly, considering the time and effort these ales took, I'm inclined to ask for more than my money back. I mean, they knew these things are defective and yet they continue to sell them without any sort of warning.

What are your thoughts?

I think you have more self control than I do.

First thing I would do is put a review up on their site - I noticed there are no reviews posted for these bottles.

And, yes, I guess I would feel the same way you do - especially considering they knew/or now know that the bottles have problems. Hopefully it is made right for you - not that your time and effort can totally be compensated, but within reason. My dealings with morebeer have always been very good.

Knowingly selling a defective product makes them legally negligent. Not that I would, but you could probably take them to small claims court and win your cash back as well as compensation for your lost brew, time, effort and possibly punitive damages. I agree they owe you more than just the cost of the bottles. IMO the bottles plus double the cost of ingredients for your lost brews would be satisfactory.

Are you sure that they are still selling the defective ones? It is possible that they took the defective bottles off the shelves when they found out that they were broken, and have since replaced them with a newer batch that works.

DrakeSuperbus said:

Are you sure that they are still selling the defective ones? It is possible that they took the defective bottles off the shelves when they found out that they were broken, and have since replaced them with a newer batch that works.

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That was my thought too. I seriously doubt that any vendor would knowingly sell defective product. In this day and age bad reviews get around quickly.

It sounds like that got a batch of bottles and it took them a while to figure out that they were defective.

DrakeSuperbus said:

Are you sure that they are still selling the defective ones? It is possible that they took the defective bottles off the shelves when they found out that they were broken, and have since replaced them with a newer batch that works.

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I can't say for sure that they are selling them. But the guy said "The latest batch we got is defective.", they are listed on the website and they had them on display in the store. I didn't actually attempt to purchase them, but....

I tried to post a review. Three times. None of them show up.

Just to note, I love Morebeer. I am on a first name basis with most of the guys there. And I expect that they will take care of me. But I am a bit disappointed in this.

I seriously doubt they're selling the defected bottles on purpose. getting a good name as a HBS is about as aggressive as the craft beer business.

that sucks... hopefully they will at least replace the bottles and the ingredients for the beers.

I had a set that didn't hold carbonation too well either, I replaced the gaskets and it fixed the problem. If its a defect in the lip of the bottle this probably wont fix it, but if they are just cheap gaskets (mine were BRIGHT red) it may help.

BoomerHarley said:

I tried to post a review. Three times. None of them show up.

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You know, this is the third time I have heard someone say this about a homebrewing site (not morebeer on other occasions). That is kind of disturbing if negative reviews are not showing up on sites..... I guess I always assumed that well reviewed products really were "well-reviewed."

Be curious if you posted a good review and it showed up....

You could ask to be compensated for the ingredients used in the batch...

I once had a bad experience with one of their kits. I asked for a replacement kit. I had it at my house in 4 days. Ask and you shall receive