Contacting Stout Tanks

Has anyone had dealings with John from Stout Tanks? I'm having a heck of a time getting responses to emails. It took a couple emails to find out he has a 20 gallon system in stock, and now three unanswered emails later I can't figure out if he'll actually sell it... Kind of annoying.

Given travels and work, I haven't had a chance to call him. The lack of email responses are not confidence building.

I've never bought anything from him but a buddy of mine did. He had a lot of the same trouble that you are having. He bought a 40 gal fermentor and that got delayed for about two months. He did eventually get everything squared away. I helped pick it up, John seemed nice and the fermentor was very nice. I think for the price discount it's probably worth the hassle.

Thought about contacting him but never followed through.

Go with you gut feelings. If it was me and I had several fails on contact I'd be looking elsewhere. Returning an email takes a minute - really no excuse for it.

Someone I met at the LHBS told me to check out Glacier Tanks, near the airport. Stuff looks great on line, more $$$ and out of stock on the smaller conicals. I have no affiliation with them.

I was looking at a full 15 gallon setup from him with quite a bit of customization and I had some of the same issues, would go weeks with no responses to e-mails... Eventually I decided I was not comfortable investing that much money with a business that can not take the time to communicate with customers.

I just received my BK and MLT from Stout. They arrived when John said they would and he answered all of my emails promptly.

Hi, this is John from Stout Tanks. I apologize but sometimes I get an awful lot of emails and can't quite catch up to all of them.

John-
I have been trying to get ahold of you for the last week. I want to ask you a few questions before ordering 1bbl pots

Hi,

We've gotten a bit behind with a recent increase in email activity. Please let me know your name so I can find your message and respond.

Cheers,

John

My names Aaron. I contacted you on Facebook too so whichever way to contact me is easier for you.

I have been working with John quite a bit lately on getting some custom kettles going. Sometimes he takes a few days to get back to you and you have to give him a nudge. Many times he is on the ball and responds immediately. In all he has been immensely patient given the number of questions and requotes I requested as I had him make modifications. Given he offers custom work I can only imagine the volume of email that entails and am sympathetic to the difficulties managing that at a small business scale so no worries if that requires a little patience on my part.

So that is my take with my business dealings with John so far. Perhaps as his company grows he will have the chance to work on his website which could really help streamline his business.

HI Aaron, If your last name starts with P I just responded to you.

Thank you for the comments, Ben - we are in fact working on a major website upgrade right now.

Cheers,

John