Homebrew on the WEB 2012

I wanst being an ******* to them at all. I sent one very friendly email to one of the members asking them if some of the categories had the honorable mentions left off. One message. Im only pissed off with the way they responded, which was rather blunt saying "yeah stuff got screw up but were done, if you got over a 38 you got honorable mention"

I never once bitched they were taking to long.

I understand they dont want to go through all the paperwork again, but at least try to address issue brought to your attention.

I guess my point is that everyone got what they paid for (that I can see) It just takes time to post/mail stuff out. Just seems alot of the 'issues' where impatient people.

mors said:

I guess my point is that everyone got what they paid for (that I can see) It just takes time to post/mail stuff out. Just seems alot of the 'issues' where impatient people.

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My issue was not with timeliness - if I knew things were being handled, I could have waited however long it took(I would have been anxious, but I wouldn't have been complaining to them). I could have waited a lot longer if someone would have said that they actually plan on doing something about it. The thing was, they weren't going to do anything. They were prepared to just say " so you didn't get your medals, whatever, we're volunteers". The only reason I contacted them so soon was because after talking to so many people who had already received their stuff , it became apparent that the issue wasn't that it was going to take some time, the issue was that they were obviously lost or never mailed and I was never going to receive them. Turns out, they were lost - and without my complaining I would have never got them, so I'm not sorry one bit. I was very polite in my first several emails to them(over a period of 3 WEEKS). They made it clear that they were not going to be doing anything about it. And when I finally did get any response, it was snide comments like "did you ever consider it's lost in the mail??". Call me a crybaby if you want to be like that, I call it holding people accountable. Don't run a homebrew competition and advertise that you expect it to be the biggest in state history if you aren't prepared to do the work and fix any mistakes, simple as that.

mors said:

I think you're both being little crybabies.

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Easy to say when your stuff wasn't screwed up. So sorry if I offended you by expecting to get what I earned and paid for. I would ask what you think I should have done, but frankly I could care less. You got yours right away, so you really have no place saying anything like that. If you want to pretend you wouldn't care if you didn't get your medals or your honorable mention, that's fine. But don't get all high and mighty and start calling names.

I dont think we started crying until we were told in emails that they were done and didnt really care anymore.

If they were the least bit nice in the emails, it might have been another story.

They really need someone that is a little more PR saavy to be answering competition emails.

After waiting a reasonable amount of time contacting them about missing medals is fine and dandy (expected even). At which point I would expect them to look into the issue and get the medals out to you. This seems to be what occurred from your messages.

I'm in no way 'offended' I wasn't involved in the coordination of this competition. I did have some issues come up, but they were resolved. It seems your issues were resolved as well. I guess both of you have the same complaint, which i suppose is valid. Maybe their emails back to you were short and abrupt, but I think you're reading too much into them with this "we don't care about you now that it's over" stuff.

Just a few notes. This is a massive well run competition. The few problems that were listed in this thread are minor, no offense, and appear to have been remedied. I have been heavily involved in the competition scene both on the judging end, and as a competitor. The CRHBC does a great job pulling this event off (I am not a member of the club or ever even attending one of their meetings for the record). I welcome all of you to participate as a judge or steward next year and see what a truly excellent event that it is.

I am glad to hear so many people receive complete feedback. That is always the goal of competition. There will always be some discrepancy between judges, that comes with the territory.

Congrats to all who medaled and scored HM's! To bring home hardware from a competition of this magnitude is quite a feat, indeed.

About Phil. He is an excellent brewer and really knows his stuff. He is a good guy.

Mills

mors said:

After waiting a reasonable amount of time contacting them about missing medals is fine and dandy (expected even). At which point I would expect them to look into the issue and get the medals out to you. This seems to be what occurred from your messages.

I'm in no way 'offended' I wasn't involved in the coordination of this competition. I did have some issues come up, but they were resolved. It seems your issues were resolved as well. I guess both of you have the same complaint, which i suppose is valid. Maybe their emails back to you were short and abrupt, but I think you're reading too much into them with this "we don't care about you now that it's over" stuff.

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You might be right. They were short and abrupt, but didnt come out a say screw you were done, but that was the gist of it. They have the info to fix this if they really wanted to. Im probably more upset because this was my first competion, and I was super happy I got an HM. Expcept I never got the mention.

We understand this is a big competition and mistakes will happen, we just thought the issue could have been handled better when brought to their attention, after the competition.

I look forward to signing up to help with this next year.

Mills said:

Just a few notes. This is a massive well run competition....The CRHBC does a great job pulling this event off.

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Agreed. Despite my issues, I am impressed with how well the event was handled for the most part. Though I was the exception this time, most people got their medals and/or scoresheets back within a week, a very impressive turnaround time for 1,000+ entries. Just wanted to be clear that I was not at all saying that the competition was not well run, I just wish they were a little more willing to follow through and finish the job is all.

mlyday said:

They have the info to fix this if they really wanted to. Im probably more upset because this was my first competion, and I was super happy I got an HM. Expcept I never got the mention.

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That is where I think you still have a legitimate gripe - they know your score, yet they can't take 5 minuites to add your name to the list on their website. I know everyone wants to pretend it doesn't matter and you should just be thankful for the feedback, but forget that noise. If I didn't medal and got an honorable mention, I would want to be able to show people my name on that list. Like Mills said, it's an accomplishment to be recognized at such a large event - it would be nice if people besides you knew about it.

mlyday said:

I look forward to signing up to help with this next year.

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Me too - this whole thing has really made me want to chip in if I can next year to lighten the load of the volunteers and make things as easy and enjoyable as possible. Maybe if they weren't so overworked and burned out it wouldn't be seen as such a chore to correct a few mistakes after the event. These comps are getting bigger and bigger, they are going to need more and more volunteers.

By the way, speaking of large Michigan homebrewing competitions - anybody know anything about if/when this years' Michigan Beer Cup is taking place? The website still just has info about last year.

Haven't heard on that one yet this year... SCABS and Brews Crews are the 2 I'm gearing up for now.

Yeah it's happening. Judging is at Michigan brewing co. Don't remember exact dates but I think bottle turn in starts around July 8th... They are also making a sub cat for black IPAs. I suggested an American wild ale category