Brewersfriend Lost All of My Water Chemistry Info

[Mutant]

On 9/4/2023 I logged on to Brewersfriend.com to access a water chemistry record I had for a 'Sweet Stout' brew that I had made in 2018 only to discover that all of my records did not exist. I sent a note and received this response. I have thus canceled my subscription as I'm not sure why I'm paying $25 a year to not maintain my database.

This was the response:
Thanks for your note. I noticed the old profiles were gone too, and when I asked about it I was told that it was due to the coming release of the new apps and the ‘clean up’ required with old profiles. I hope it’s not too much trouble to add yours again, as we are hoping to release the apps today.

-Cheers!

 

[Beerstein]

That's rude. At least they could have told people to print them off or download them.

 

[day_trippr]

I would be incandescent

 

[Mutant]

That's rude. At least they could have told people to print them off or download them.

And they call themselves "Brewer's Friend"; I wonder how they treat their enemies.

 

[hottpeper13]

That's one reason I use pencil ,paper, Brewers calculations and the original back button! I'm working on my 5th note book,and can always find my profile.

 

[mabrungard]

There have been many 'on-line' recipe servers that I'm aware of and some of them have shuttered and that leaves the users with no records. I don't think that's a wise way to handle your data. It's pretty bad that this one just deleted data because it was convenient to them.

Keep your data to yourself and create backups of the most valued data.

 

[huckdavidson]

I don't know that any responsible software developer would just delete data especially from backup sets.

That email sounds like a flippant answer from a person who isn't the actual developer as their explanation isn't professional and doesn't convey an understanding of the problem nor does it present a solution.

It sounds like miscommunication and while it might be some work on your behalf, it may be worth your while to email them back, not only to express your dissappointment but to also convery your expectations going forward. Ask if the old profiles will be reassociated with their respective recipes or at least made available to view/download and the value that has for you as the brewer.

 

[Sammy86]

Paging @Yooper or @TxBrew doesn’t HBT own Brewers Friend?

 

[Mutant]

After canceling my account, I received an email from Lorena asking why I canceled. I updated her, and also posted this thread in the forum. Let her explain it all to us.

 

[D.B.Moody]

@Mutant, I see nothing here. Did anyone contact you directly again?

 

[Mutant]

@Mutant, I see nothing here. Did anyone contact you directly again?

Sorry, I forgot to include their e-mail after I canceled. I had no response after explaining why I canceled. I even gave them this URL to come on and explain themselves.





From: Lorena at Brewer's Friend [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2023 10:59 AM
To:
Subject: We're sorry to see you go.



Hi there,

First of all, we really appreciate you being part of the Brewer's Friend community.

As per your request, your subscription has been canceled. The good news is that your account will be active until January 18, 2024 and you can still access all Brewer's Friend has to offer in the meantime.

If you wouldn't mind replying to this email, we'd love to learn the reason behind your cancellation so we can better serve our customers (and hopefully you!) in the future.

Thank you so much!
Lorena
Customer Support at Brewer's Friend

 

[Mutant]

Sorry, I forgot to include their e-mail after I canceled. I had no response after explaining why I canceled. I even gave them this URL to come on and explain themselves.





From: Lorena at Brewer's Friend [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2023 10:59 AM
To:
Subject: We're sorry to see you go.



Hi there,

First of all, we really appreciate you being part of the Brewer's Friend community.

As per your request, your subscription has been canceled. The good news is that your account will be active until January 18, 2024 and you can still access all Brewer's Friend has to offer in the meantime.

If you wouldn't mind replying to this email, we'd love to learn the reason behind your cancellation so we can better serve our customers (and hopefully you!) in the future.

Thank you so much!
Lorena
Customer Support at Brewer's Friend

Still no response. I guess it is false advertising to call themselves "Brewers Friend".

 

[D.B.Moody]

If you wouldn't mind replying to this email, we'd love to learn the reason behind your cancellation so we can better serve our customers (and hopefully you!) in the future.

Thank you so much!
Lorena

I think you ought to respond as they requested here. Try not to rant, but let them know how disappointing their action was. See what happens then. I find it strange that there haven't been others chiming in on this. Didn't this happen to all Brewers Friend users? I have no clue, because i don't use Brewers Friend.

 

[Mutant]

I think you ought to respond as they requested here. Try not to rant, but let them know how disappointing their action was. See what happens then. I find it strange that there haven't been others chiming in on this. Didn't this happen to all Brewers Friend users? I have no clue, because i don't use Brewers Friend.

I did reply to her e-mail and she didn't reply. I also gave her this URL to give her response.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

I think you ought to respond as they requested here. Try not to rant, but let them know how disappointing their action was. See what happens then. I find it strange that there haven't been others chiming in on this. Didn't this happen to all Brewers Friend users? I have no clue, because i don't use Brewers Friend.

Weird. All my water calcs are still there.

 

[MaxStout]

This is very disconcerting. I'm not victim-blaming, and @Mutant, I'm behind you 100%. But stories like this are a good reminder that we should never rely on any one platform for protecting our data. Back up in any way possible, even pdf or screenshots if necessary.

 

[Mutant]

This is very disconcerting. I'm not victim-blaming, and @Mutant, I'm behind you 100%. But stories like this are a good reminder that we should never rely on any one platform for protecting our data. Back up in any way possible, even pdf or screenshots if necessary.

Once I formulate the water chemistry for a specific recipe, I include that in my documentation on the actual recipe. I've been paying them $25 a year since 2017 or 2018 to maintain these records. They responded that they acknowledged they were all gone and that I should re-enter them. I have no interest in re-entering 6 or 7 years' worth of water chemistry numbers. I was paying for them to maintain my database of water chemistry, and their response was amateurish. To then ask why I canceled my subscription, letting them know, and not getting even attempting to solve the problem - they are not worth my money.

 

[HBT_Admin]

On 9/4/2023 I logged on to Brewersfriend.com to access a water chemistry record I had for a 'Sweet Stout' brew that I had made in 2018 only to discover that all of my records did not exist. I sent a note and received this response. I have thus canceled my subscription as I'm not sure why I'm paying $25 a year to not maintain my database.

This was the response:
Thanks for your note. I noticed the old profiles were gone too, and when I asked about it I was told that it was due to the coming release of the new apps and the ‘clean up’ required with old profiles. I hope it’s not too much trouble to add yours again, as we are hoping to release the apps today.

-Cheers!

Who gave you that response? I would like to try to contact them and find out what happened, and make sure this thread is seen.

 

[HBT_Admin]

Weird. All my water calcs are still there.

Thank you for checking your files and reporting that your files are still there.

 

[HBT_Admin]

Weird. All my water calcs are still there.

Thank you for checking and reporting that your files are still there.

 

[Mutant]

Who gave you that response? I would like to try to contact them and find out what happened, and make sure this thread is seen.

I had the initial response saying they acknowledged the records were gone. I then had another e-mail from Lorena asking why I canceled my subscription and I provided the details to her. She did not respond. That says everything you should want to know about their customer service.

 

[HBT_Admin]

@Mutant Your files are being checked on by the techs over there.

I had the initial response saying they acknowledged the records were gone. I then had another e-mail from Lorena asking why I canceled my subscription and I provided the details to her. She did not respond. That says everything you should want to know about their customer service.

But WHO sent that initial response saying they were gone?

 

[Mutant]

@Mutant Your files are being checked on by the techs over there.



But WHO sent that initial response saying they were gone?

Lorena also sent the original e-mail. Here is the complete response (less e-mail address...)

From: Brewer's Friend [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2023 10:11 AM
To:
Subject: Re: [BF] Jim - I just logged on to use an old water profile, but



Hi Jim,

Thanks for your note. I noticed the old profiles were gone too, and when I asked about it I was told that it was due to the coming release of the new apps and the ‘clean up’ required with old profiles. I hope it’s not too much trouble to add yours again, as we are hoping to release the apps today.

-Cheers!

Lorena

"Yooper"

Brewer's Friend Customer Service Support

 

[HBT_Admin]

Thanks for that information. The techs are looking into it as this is not something that usually happens.

 

[Yooper]

As mentioned, the old profiles have disappeared, NOT any water chemistry calculations or anything attached to recipes. The profiles that disappeared were things like "Estonia's water profile 1990", etc. NOT any water calculations.

The developers ARE working on this, AND releasing the apps as well as I mentioned. I think it's unfair to make blanket statements like "all the water chemistry is gone!" when it's simply not true. We care about the Brewer's Friend customers very much and are working hard to keep bring out new updated features as well as the iOS and Android app. The data is there, the old water profiles currently are not.

Developers and owners are aware and are working on this. Sorry for any confusion on this issue.

 

[Yooper]

I had the initial response saying they acknowledged the records were gone. I then had another e-mail from Lorena asking why I canceled my subscription and I provided the details to her. She did not respond. That says everything you should want to know about their customer service.

I did not see any response- can you resend that? I have nothing in response in my email, and went through all of it again just now. I have 0 unread emails currently so if you could resend I would appreciate it. Thank you!

 

[D.B.Moody]

What we have here is a failure to communicate:

edit: while I was doing this, Yooper posted the above. This was supposed to be about @Mutant losing his water profiles and @Yooper saying the chemistry is still there. Whatever the case, why did Brewers Friend just delete stuff without warning?

 

[Yooper]

What we have here is a failure to communicate: View attachment 829231

edit: while I was doing this, Cooper posted the above. This was supposed to be about @Mutant losing his water profiles and @Yooper saying the chemistry is still there. Whatever the case, why did Brewers Friend just delete stuff without warning?

That is the question for sure. They are digging into it. Again, remember that it's NOT water chemistry at all that is missing. It is old 'water profiles' and in my case it was an IPA water profile I made a few years ago. My understanding at the time (this was several months ago) was that with putting out the new apps, the water profiles that were custom were not carried over into the apps (which makes sense as nobody wants a long list like "brian's tap water" or "yooper's IPA with medium sulfate" profiles.
But why those oddball target profiless are now missing for the site version is the mystery. One of the developers found two of my missing ones since my account is accessible to them, and so they are unraveling this mystery.
For about 99% (or more) of the users, this was unnoticed as it only affected certain 'target' profiles apparently, and no data, water chemistry, recipes, brew sessions, etc were affected. I noticed when I was making a different IPA that used that old profile I created ages ago, and not one of my recent (last 5 years) water profiles.

I can tell you that the entire staff of Brewer's Friend is alert and working on this right now, and digging deep into this. I also know that they are very sorry that this affected anyone and once solved it will not happen again.

The site owners also told me that they found the email that I did not receive- I don't have access to the spam folders (just the support tickets and emails) and that is why I did not receive it. It's not a good excuse, but it is the truth. I do answer every single email that is received via the support email address.

 

[Yooper]

Upon further digging, these 'excess' unused water profiles were removed in 2019 by the development staff. At the time, they were not actively used.

We went back to records from 2020 and no water sources were found in this customer's account at that time either, so seems to be something that happened long ago.

We can also confirm that this is referring to water source profiles, since it appears all of his water calc records still exist in his account.

That is the only thing that had been removed, the water profile from long ago as no recipes, water chemistry calculations, water profiles in recipes, etc, were removed and no data was tampered with or 'lost'. When I told the customer that I had found the same thing a while back, it was a very old IPA water profile that I made up and hadn't used in years.

This doesn't affect any calculations or water chemistry attached to any recipes or brew sessions. It was unnoticed by all but two of our customers (or at least not mentioned), one was myself and I noticed in about May of 2023.

Brewer's Friend apologizes if this seems unannounced or sudden, and also for not answering the inquiry at the beginning with an apology. I said to this customer that I noticed it also and had to re-enter that one old water profile. It didn't seem like more than a minor issue to me and as I did it in less than 5 minutes in my own account but the customer felt differently and I did not resolve that issue to his satisfaction.

Please feel free to PM me if you would like to discuss this further.