I had a horrible experience with Stout tanks and kettles, I ordered 3 kettles from them, the mash tun had a hole punched in the bottom and then plug welded, it was such a poor repair that I complained, they offered a discount but I did not trust the longevity of this vessel and sent it back for a replacement. When the replacement arrived everything looked great... until I put water in it, within 20 minutes there was a ring of rust around the bottom drain. I got on the phone, they suggested barkeepers friend, it took the rust off, then I passivated the area with an acid that my local brewery uses to passivate their equipment, I put water in it again and within 20 minutes rust began to form, within 24hrs the ring of rust was huge, I cleaned and acid washed 2 more times to no avail.
I wanted my money back at this point, they agreed to give me a refund for all 3 kettles and they sent prepaid shipping labels which was great. When the tracking info showed that the kettles arrived at their location I called them to ask when I could expect my refund, they told me it may take 2 weeks as their bookkeeper was part time and did not work every day, I called them 2 weeks later Rich told me he would write a credit memo to the bookkeeper, I thought this strange, why had he not done this 2 weeks ago? he told me it would be another week. I called again in a week and was told he would write the credit memo today, what??? he still hadn't done a thing. I called again the next day and was told that they would send a check that very day, at this point I'm not believing a word of it.
Luckily, I paid for these kettles through Paypal, I called them and put a claim against Stout tanks and kettles, later in the day Stout tanks and kettles called me and said they sent the refund check, still not believing them, I continued with the claim, Paypal agreed that I should be refunded the price of the kettles AND shipping charges. In a day or two, I got an email from Stout tanks and kettles saying they have put a stop payment on the check they sent because I had put a claim to Paypal and they would pay that way. The refund check came but was for the price of the kettles minus $250.00 for shipping costs, I continued with the claim through Paypal and in the end they got ALL of my money back for me!