BrewKettle from William's Brewing

I just received the starter kit from William's Brewing - the one that comes with the 32qt kettle. Haven't had the best of luck so far - the hydrometer was broken (everything was packed very well - I think William's received it broken) and the kettle has a couple issues.

I was able to pick up a new hydrometer, no big deal. I don't know about the kettle though - I wasn't expecting much from a cheapo, but there's a little scrape on the inside, and the metal where they crimped the lid handle is shearing off. Pics of both at http://picasaweb.google.com/cparson/BrewKettle

What do you all think - I don't want to be a whiny customer, and I wasn't expecting great quality... but this seems damaged. If the scrape is just cosmetic it doesn't bother me so much, but the handle seems to be well on its way to coming off completely. Does anyone else have the Williams BrewKettle, and was it received with any similar problems?

Just my $0.02, but I don't care if it is a cheapo. I'd think that if you paid for it, then you should receive it undamaged unless it is listed somewhere that this is a used/damaged product at a discount.

I wouldn't think that you'd be out of line contacting the company and letting them know what happened. They may replace it. The worst that could happen is that they say "no."

Good luck.

Same opinion. You paid for 100 percent, perfect, new. Call em for a replacement.

Any good vendor would replace that kettle and hydrometer....

Williams seems to have a good rep - I'd expect a replacement.

Me too, get a replacement or your money back!

Absolutely agree with everyone. I got my starter from Williams, the one without the IC and pot, and it was in perfect condition. Call them....

Sounds good, just shot them an e-mail, and I'll give them a call tomorrow too. Hope to get this resolved soon, can't wait to get started! First up is the AHS Low Carb ale, from the comments on the AHS site it sounds like it's actually really good even regardless of its low-carby-ness.

Thank you all for your input, it's much appreciated!

Just got my William's kit and everything is in top order. I would shoot them an email. Everything on the net I have read says they have great customer service.

Just wanted to post an update, got ahold of William's via e-mail and they took amazing care of me. Won't hesitate at all to order from them again.

In the meantime, I had tossed together a 5 gallon batch of Edwort's Apfelwein which has been merrily bubbling away in the closet for 3 days now...

Glad all went well, just another success story from a great retailer.

They're great people. I just ordered 6 lbs. of green coffee beans from them and they called me to tell me that the one variety was out of stock. They offered to replace it with whatever variety I wanted no matter the cost.
I actually ended up picking one that was $1 cheaper and, of course, they credited me the buck.

I have that kettle from them and it came in perfect condition. Get it replaced