Read this before you buy from Kegkits.com

Pretty sure you need to be a member to email the list.

-Dan- said:

Pretty interesting that this thread is not closed yet ... same thing about other vendors and the thread had been closed a long time ago.
I have ordered twice at kegkits... once last year and had to wait 5 weeks for my stuff. Gave it another chance 1 year later and still had to wait almost 3. Not great by any means;however, I think it is kinda odd whats going on here right now

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This thread needs to remain open. Why? The VAST numbers of un-resolved complaints. If the dude was resolving the issues, fine, since he isnt... well bad press will follow.

I personally believe that we as HBT members, some paying members, have a responsibility to protect those that may wander into what seems to be a questionable business deal.

Keep this thread alive. Update if issues get resolved, if they dont and how in either case.

If a vendor doesnt like bad press... then do good business. Word of mouth works both ways.

I agree Pol - HBT is not here to serve random internet businesses and protect them, its a community for the members. If a business serves the members then they become part of the community. If a business takes advantage of the members then its up to the community to limit the damage they are able to do moving forward.

Exactly, we are not here to PROMOTE BUSINESS! We are a community that is here for the good of the community.

We do have some vendors who serve our community very well, and they recieve our support. But there is a flip side to that coin. If you take advantege of our community members, we will protect our members by posting FACTS. These facts may not be flattering, BUT when you run a poor business, they rarely are.

We have a responsibility TO our membership.

PS and off topic - I will be in your area in a few weeks...you bringing any homebrew to the 500?

Jonnio said:

PS and off topic - I will be in your area in a few weeks...you bringing any homebrew to the 500?

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Meh, I never attend the 500... I am almost never in town.

Has anyone tried emailing him a link to these threads?! I can't believe that he has supporting members on his message boards...

Anthony_Lopez said:

Has anyone tried emailing him a link to these threads?! I can't believe that he has supporting members on his message boards...

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Already taken care of

danmickla said:

FWIW: In response to an urgent email message referencing this thread, Tom says:

Dan,

No excuses - we are a very small company and are buried. I'd love to
hire a 4th person but every time I looked at the cost, hiring someone
else would put us in the red. I've explained this several times. We will
ship your order as soon as possible. Or if you'd rather, you can order
from someone else and pay more for the same stuff.

Please copy this to the forum. I would respond myself if I had time but
I don't.


Thanks, Tom
kegkits.com
256-656-1924

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IMHO, that is a crappy response.

They are SO busy (selling and making money) that they are not providing customer service. BUT, hiring one more person will put them in the RED?

Then I love the little jab at the end...

"Or if you'd rather, you can order from someone else and pay more for the same stuff"


IMHO, Id never order from someone with that attitude. Id rather pay more for the same stuff, AND ACTUALLY RECIEVE IT!

Sorry, this dude doesnt deserve the support of HBT and its members with jabs and an attitude like that.

I agree, Pol. His "take it or leave it attitude" seems completely inline with his customer support and business management. I'm considering doing a little experiment and ordering from him...

I belived that he is busy with is taking money from people, waiting to get enough orders to get a wholesale price, then ordering the product and waiting for it to be delivered so he can finally ship it to his customers instead of stepping up and buying inventory so he can provide a semblance of customer service. Poor cash flow management and it falls on the end customer to provide it at the expense of weeks waiting for delivery.

You cannot be so busy that it takes weeks if not months to ship an order, but not busy enough to take the money and sit on it. BS plain and simple.

He needs a big RUN AWAY FAST sign for potential customers based on his current business model IMHO.

Truely appauling.

EdWort said:

I belived that he is busy with is taking money from people, waiting to get enough orders to get a wholesale price, then ordering the product and waiting for it to be delivered so he can finally ship it to his customers instead of stepping up and buying inventory so he can provide a semblance of customer service. Poor cash flow management and it falls on the end customer to provide it at the expense of weeks waiting for delivery.

You cannot be so busy that it takes weeks if not months to ship an order, but not busy enough to take the money and sit on it. BS plain and simple.

He needs a big RUN AWAY FAST sign for potential customers based on his current business model IMHO.

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I'll say this in his defense, I've actually been in his store, he does have a fairly sizable inventory on hand (except ball lock cornies b/c his supplier is back ordered). However, this isn't his primary occupation, he actually works a regular job and does this on the side.

Myrdhyn said:

I'll say this in his defense, I've actually been in his store, he does have a fairly sizable inventory on hand (except ball lock cornies b/c his supplier is back ordered). However, this isn't his primary occupation, he actually works a regular job and does this on the side.

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I don't think anyone is debating that. What is questionable is his repeated "inaccuracies" in dealing with customers AFTER they have placed orders.

Apparently, he is VERY responsive before he has your money.

I have an old axiom:

You can get something fast.
You can get something cheap.
You can get something that works right.

Now, pick two.

mmb said:

I don't think anyone is debating that. What is questionable is his repeated "inaccuracies" in dealing with customers AFTER they have placed orders.

Apparently, he is VERY responsive before he has your money.

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Yeah, I can't really speak that, and I'm not about to defend questionable business ethics. I'm just saying, I know he isn't holding peoples money to then get a wholesale price after he has enough orders or any other conspiracy theory .

Either way though, he's the only place I can go to directly and look before I buy/pick stuff up directly so I give him business.

mmb said:

Already taken care of

Originally Posted by danmickla
FWIW: In response to an urgent email message referencing this thread, Tom says:

Dan,

No excuses - we are a very small company and are buried. I'd love to
hire a 4th person but every time I looked at the cost, hiring someone
else would put us in the red. I've explained this several times. We will
ship your order as soon as possible. Or if you'd rather, you can order
from someone else and pay more for the same stuff.

Please copy this to the forum. I would respond myself if I had time but
I don't.


Thanks, Tom
kegkits.com
256-656-1924

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Amazing, I had the same response word for word... Its great feeling like a wanted customer and getting a genuine response

He is so busy yet has the time to recently set up a new forum which he does monitor and post on....pfffftt Glad I read about this place before I placed an order.

Just got this email last night. Hopefully get my REFUND as stated. Updating my BBB claim.

Tom Hargrave of KegKits.com said:

John,

I apologize for slow emails – we are absolutely buried & don’t have f\time to get everything done.

We will refund your order on Tuesday.

Thanks,
Tom Hargrave
kegkits.com
kegkits.com - Index
256-656-1924

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I wonder which Tuesday he is referring to.....?

I wonder which Tuesday he is referring to.....?

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Lol, my thought exactly!

I sure wish that I did my studying up here on HBT. I just placed an order from this company 3 days ago. I remembered there name from previous threads on here and that was why I searched them out. I really hope that this worjks out for me and I will be sure to keep you guys informed about how this turns out for me. By the way...

Thank you for your order.

Most items ship within 3 business days and the warehouse is closed on Saturdays & major holidays.

If you selected UPS Ground then we will send your tracking number to the email you entered into our system. The email will come from Quantum View.

Feel free to email us with any questions concerning your purchase. Questions and feedback are always welcome.


Thanks again - your business is very important to us,
Tom Hargrave
kegkits.com
1-866-kegkits

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That is what their email stated and it looks to me like the "ship in 3 days" hasn't happened for me yet!!

EB

I am pleased to report that it is quite possible that I spoke too soon. I just received an email stating thatmy order has been shipped. This is 4 days after placing the order. Not the 3 days as stated above but I certainly won't complain about that. Hopefully it all arrives as promised. I will let you know.

That's good news. Perhaps all the "heat" has had an effect.

EdWort said:

That's good news. Perhaps all the "heat" has had an effect.

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I am guessing that he just happened to have that order in stock, based on the e-mails I don't see any major alteration in business practices on the horizon.

Who needs this problem in the first place?
Thanks for posting as his busisness number
has been deleted from my bier files. No ordering
from me when there are others that can take
an order and deliver the item on time. Brewing to me
is like a business on my end a hobby business to me.

Has anyone gotten a response from this vendor lately?

I placed an order 30 days ago and while I managed to finally receive most of my order (after two weeks of emails/phonecalls), I still have yet to receive the two ball lock kegs that I ordered. I was told two weeks ago that they were backordered with no expected ship date. Subsequent inquiries have been ignored.

30 Days is ridiculous. At this point I just want to be refunded for the corny kegs.

Same here, got my partial order only after disputing it with Paypal 3+ weeks after ordering. Was told ball-lock kegs are on backorder, I can wait, or get a refund. I ended up escalating the dispute to a claim a few weeks later, and Paypal has been investigating for a couple of weeks, occasionally asking me for more info. Tom told me I could get a refund, and then never responded again. Has anyone been able to get a promised refund from kegkits without actually getting Paypal or CC company involved? How does a company called "KegKits.com" run out of kegs? Chicompany supplies most of the big name vendors and still has plenty of ball-lock kegs available. I know because I got tired of waiting and bought 4 myself with no problems.

Paypal users need to file a claim within 45 days of the order date or you are hosed in getting your money back.

Anyone waiting 3-4 weeks should file a claim now just to make sure you have recourse. If Tom Hargrave Sales of kegkits.com gets enough claims, Paypal will shut down his account for taking money and not shipping orders.

You can also express your opinions here.

I bought a regulator from him as well as some gaskets, on March 24, and received all that I purchased in about 10 days...

No problems here.

I ordered a few leak testers... took about a week and a half to get them, and I'm in kooky Kalifornny. YMM (and apparently does) V.

It's his attitude toward customers that pisses me off more than anything. Here's his response to my Paypal dispute where I asked why he doesn't state on the website when items are out of stock:

Thanks for the feedback (really). I know where we are at and we do carry stock for over 95% of what we sell. Problem is, that 5% impacts orders like yours. Retail stores do no different and Wally-World runs out of stuff more often than I do. The difference is that they put something on the shelf as soon as space opens up and Joe Public is clueless, unless its an item on sale, they sold them all and you want one. Thanks, Tom

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Ummm... for real? You see Tom, the difference is, that Wal-mart doesn't take my money, then leave me standing there for a month wondering where the stuff is, forcing me to jump through hoops just to get in contact with someone. If I order from Amazon for instance, and an item is out of stock, I'm not charged for that item, and I'm informed within 24 hours.

Sorry to keep beating this dead horse, but I'm pretty frustrated having been treated this way, and don't want other people to waste their time and money like I did.

Hey fellow brewers, I've been following this thread for a week or so and wanted to thank all of you! I was about to finalize an order for almost $300 worth of product when something told me to "at least" search HBT for some background on this vendor!!!
What a life saver!!! I changed my order to Williams and Northern paid a little more and got my stuff in less than a week

Unfortunately i found this thread after i order $250 worth of products from kegkits.com. I order about a week and a half ago, yesterday i called him up and asked about my order, because i had no reply from the email i sent him 5 days ago. Apparently i was suppose to get an email notifying me that my order will be processed as soon as they get more co2 tanks, which was suppose to be today. I asked why he didn't respond to my email and i was given the excuses that he is too busy and gets over 300 emails a day. But then he told me that someone else checks his emails. Guilty under pressure? I think that was a lame excuse and he just seems to be very lazy. Anyways, I will keep everyone here posted to see if he pulls through, fortunately for me i used my visa check card which i could always file a dispute on him causing me to get my money back and for him to loose a customer and some money through fines.

"Excuses are like a**holes, everyone's got one and they stink."

The bottom line is all his excuses are NO EXCUSE to treat customers that way. Take their money and expect them to be clairvoyant about "allegedly" out of stock items and to wait weeks and even months for their order. It's an irresponsible way to run a business. His Walmart analogy works for his local walk up customers, but not mail order where he has your money tied up with no feedback. To send that excuse to a mail order customer is down right pathetic.

Anyone ordering from Tom Hargrave Sales doing business as kegkits.com after reading this thread has been forewarned.

My advice is DON'T BUY FROM TOM HARGRAVE SALES DOING BUSINESS AS kegkits.com

You know Ed, that might be a really good thing to put into a sticky in the kegging forum. As you know, I have been around here a while, but a few weeks ago when I was purchasing my kegging "goodies" I could have just as easily ended up sending this goober my money instead of KegConnection. Others, especially n00bs may not be aware of this issue or have stumbled on this thread yet. Everyone needs to know BEFORE it is too late, and the kegging faq would be a perfect place along with a link to this thread.

Well, I just got off the phone with Paypal, wondering why they closed my claim. They told me that since there was a tracking number showing that I got a partial order, there's nothing they can do, and that they don't police the quality of a vendor or goods. I asked if a vendor could potentially just ship out boxes of packing peanuts just to show a delivered tracking number, and he said yes. That's F'ed up.

So I spent my hard earned money and waited about 3 months for kegs that will never show up. I hope Tom enjoys my money, it's the last cent he'll get from me.

What a horrible story about this guy. You cannot treat people that way. I can't believe Paypal can't do anything. That in and of itself seems asinine.

masonsjax said:

Well, I just got off the phone with Paypal, wondering why they closed my claim. They told me that since there was a tracking number showing that I got a partial order, there's nothing they can do, and that they don't police the quality of a vendor or goods. I asked if a vendor could potentially just ship out boxes of packing peanuts just to show a delivered tracking number, and he said yes. That's F'ed up.

So I spent my hard earned money and waited about 3 months for kegs that will never show up. I hope Tom enjoys my money, it's the last cent he'll get from me.

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You could always try the BBB route, keep the pressure on. This seems borderline criminal. I mean taking someone's money and not providing the goods is practically stealing (I am not saying anyone is, I'm just saying....). I am sure you could recover you money in small claims court. Or better yet, take him to Judge Judy, she could tell him a thing or two.