homebrewdad
Well-Known Member
Being in Birmingham, Alabama, I only have one real choice for a LHBS - Alabrew. The place is honestly a hole in the wall, but the people there are friendly enough.
I got a $100 gift certificate to their shop for Christmas. It was a bit odd - clearly just printed on their inkjet printer, with no number, no barcode, nothing. They did warn my wife when she bought it that I would need to keep the original certificate, that they did not track them any other way.
Last month, I went in and picked up the ingredients for a recipe. While there, I also picked up a large funnel and some blowoff tubing. This left me with just under $40 on my certificate - which they used a sharpie to record on the paper. Nothing in their computers.
This week, I wanted to pick up some star san and a new hydrometer. I planned to use my certificate, but to my dismay, I discovered that I had misplaced it. An exhaustive search led me to believe that I had thrown it away like a dummy.
I called Alabrew to explain and see if there was anything I could do, or if I was just out of luck. I told them that I had my email confirmation of my order last month, could we maybe use that and me be able to use at least some of the certificate?
Kim told me to come on in, that her clientelle was not made of the kind of people that would rip her off. She took me at my word that I had a little under $40 left; I picked out $35 worth of supplies, and she told me that with sales tax (10% in my area), we were close enough to even to not worry about it.
That, my friends, is customer service.
I got a $100 gift certificate to their shop for Christmas. It was a bit odd - clearly just printed on their inkjet printer, with no number, no barcode, nothing. They did warn my wife when she bought it that I would need to keep the original certificate, that they did not track them any other way.
Last month, I went in and picked up the ingredients for a recipe. While there, I also picked up a large funnel and some blowoff tubing. This left me with just under $40 on my certificate - which they used a sharpie to record on the paper. Nothing in their computers.
This week, I wanted to pick up some star san and a new hydrometer. I planned to use my certificate, but to my dismay, I discovered that I had misplaced it. An exhaustive search led me to believe that I had thrown it away like a dummy.
I called Alabrew to explain and see if there was anything I could do, or if I was just out of luck. I told them that I had my email confirmation of my order last month, could we maybe use that and me be able to use at least some of the certificate?
Kim told me to come on in, that her clientelle was not made of the kind of people that would rip her off. She took me at my word that I had a little under $40 left; I picked out $35 worth of supplies, and she told me that with sales tax (10% in my area), we were close enough to even to not worry about it.
That, my friends, is customer service.
