Northern Brewer

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I put in an order to get set up with new brewing equipment; ordered a ton of stuff, as well as a megapot with a valve, no thermometer.

It arrives, I'm stoked that it got here on Friday so I'll be able to brew this weekend, and . . . it has two holes, the second being for a thermometer; the invoice I got even specified "Megapot - 1 hole only". Needless to say, I'm upset; was planning on a big brew session with family this weekend, and now I can't - so I call up NB, tell them about it, how the invoice specified a 1-hole megapot, read off the invoice #, and they offer to ship out a thermometer to plug the hole, no charge to me.

Very happy with the customer service; will buy from them again (already planning at least 3 new kits + equipment)
 
I love their customer service as well. Recently, I bought supplies for my scotch ale and a double Rye IPA I have in the primary right now, including four 1 oz bags of Bramling Cross pellets and two 1 ounce bags of chinook. Everything was in the box except for the two bags of chinook. I called up their customer service and they priority mailed out the missing chinook, which arrived on Monday (I called Friday morning). It wasn't delivered in time for my Rye brew session but I was impressed with how accommodating they were and how fast they shipped out the chinook to me, free of charge.

What was really weird was, there was an inventory sheet for my order in the box, and the chinook was checked off by their stock puller/shipper. It just wasn't in the box. I can see how a puller would get confused when all of the hops pellet bags from hopsunion look the same, but hey.... count them. Supposed to be six, and there are only four. Duh.

Anyway, I like them. They make good on the problems and are generally great to buy from.
 
Update: it is now over a week since I cancelled my order and I still don't have my money returned.
 
Ive seen different ship times in my packages as well but they've always been courteous and friendly. If u cancelled your order, are u sure they actually charged u? Maybe go back and check that, every order ive ever had thru them didn't get charged to my card until it had shipped. I've even hard it charged and show up on my statement after it shipped but before i received it.
 
Pratzie said:
Ive seen different ship times in my packages as well but they've always been courteous and friendly. If u cancelled your order, are u sure they actually charged u? Maybe go back and check that, every order ive ever had thru them didn't get charged to my card until it had shipped. I've even hard it charged and show up on my statement after it shipped but before i received it.
Click to expand...

I checked my account. They charged me.
 
I've always had the same experience with them, they always appear to sit on the order for a day or two. I used to order on Monday and have my stuff on Saturday,but now it's the following Monday. I've been taking the drive to my LHBS and it's much easier.
 
NervousDad said:
I've always had the same experience with them, they always appear to sit on the order for a day or two. I used to order on Monday and have my stuff on Saturday,but now it's the following Monday. I've been taking the drive to my LHBS and it's much easier.
Click to expand...

I ended up going to my lhbs as well. Overall I got lucky because I found a better recipe in BYO that I ended up brewing.
 
Two words - Rebel Brewer. Their shipping is amazing. It's pretty reasonable too.

I routinely order stuff as late as 4PM and have it in 2 days. I have no idea how they do it, but I can order on a Wednesday to brew on Saturday and I'm 99.9% sure I'll have my stuff.

I just put in an order Tuesday, but I needed special hops that they don't carry. Got a 'shipped' confirmation from Rebel Brewer within an hour. Package will be here today. Still waiting for the hops to be shipped.

I give them all of my mailorder business now.
 
b-boy said:
Two words - Rebel Brewer. Their shipping is amazing. It's pretty reasonable too.

I routinely order stuff as late as 4PM and have it in 2 days. I have no idea how they do it, but I can order on a Wednesday to brew on Saturday and I'm 99.9% sure I'll have my stuff.

I just put in an order Tuesday, but I needed special hops that they don't carry. Got a 'shipped' confirmation from Rebel Brewer within an hour. Package will be here today. Still waiting for the hops to be shipped.

I give them all of my mailorder business now.
Click to expand...

I'll look into them as well.
 
Brewmasters Warehouse... I'm 175 miles away in another state and usually receive my order within 24 hours. Nobody come's close to them on shipping!
 
i'm just really disappointed with northern brewer.

they raised their prices by 30% and also did away with their flat rate freight charge.
C'mon ...northern should've followed austin home brew or more beer with their freight charges...doesn't matter i stopped buying kits and went to BIAB.
i guess the LHBS will get most of my business and for equipment it'll be more beer or austin and maybe midwest...sorry northern brewer you've priced yourself outa my $ range!:(

GD51:tank:
 
Just wanted to share many thumbs up for Northern Brewer.

I ordered a relatively small batch of ingredients from them for my next brew. When I received the box, I noticed my Columbus hops were missing. I gave them a call Tuesday afternoon and told them I wanted to brew this weekend, was there any way they could get me the hops by Friday?

Well, they're here! They 2nd Day air shipped them to me at their cost and I woke up this morning to a package from NB. Nick was my CSA there and he was very helpful.

Thanks NB, you just earned yourself a multiple repeat customer!!


image-1952145482.jpg
 
I have always had great experiences with NB. I can't say the same for some other online vendors. It seems that NB has made a decision to be in it for the long term and puts customer service first.
 
I've had great luck with NB & MB. NB had done the same for me before. stellar customer service. I once had an order many years ago containing a recipe kit, extra LME & DME, WL yeasts, 32oz of Iodopher, and few misc things from MB sent to my old address. they re-shipped the whole order free of charge.
 
+1

I recently ended up with some hops that weren't any good. I opened the 1 oz. package and they smelled terrible. Luckily, I had some others on hand that I could use. But that left me short for my next planned brew day. I emailed them and they sent me a new pack of hops right away. I dig 'em.
 
I continue to get great service from NB. Recently, they contacted me regarding some negative review comments I had on one of the less expensive products I bought and told me they would send me the improved version (which corrected the problem I had mentioned) at no charge. So...they do read the review comments posted by customers and they will act upon them! :mug:
 
i really like northern brewer. i used their kit beers exclusively when i did kits.

i do baib and purchase LG bags of grain at LHBS.

i was rather bummed over N.B. dropping their flat rate shipping.
was a time a customer could get three kits shipped for $7.99!!:)
after branching out i found that N.B. was more expensive on their hardward/brewing equipment than other vendors.
also found flat rate shipping at a few other stores......
all my equipment purchases usually on on-line since my LHBS is pretty lame on that end of the spectrum.
i still like N.B. I just shop wisely as does most everyone in the hobby.
cheers,
GD51
 
I've used NB several times and have been satisfied. Living in PA, I don't expect 2-day shipping from MN unless I pay for it. My last order from them contained a defective Wyeast smack pack--it ruptured when I smacked it and ended up wearing it. Since I was making a yeast starter, no huge deal....just delayed my brew day. I contacted NB via email and they replied within 30 minutes that they would ship out a replacement, no questions asked. Problem is, I didn't get it until nearly a week later. Please note that I don't blame NB for the defective pack--it happens. Still, they stood by their product and there was no hassle with the replacement.

Maybe we're all getting spoiled by Amazon's free 2-day shipping?
 
I'm a relatively new brewer (April this year) and except for 25 oz PET bottles from another brewer, all my stuff has come from NB. Excellent service, fast responses and the prices to me, seem competitive.

I'll use them again.

:mug:
 
After thoroughly f'!ing my first order, they gave a full refund. Which I did not expect.
Ordered 2 kits from them today, hoping the bar they sat for themselves remains.
 
The beauty of a forum is the fact that you are able to freely post your experiences. The good, the bad, the ugly. I had stopped ordering from NB when their shipping policy changed. I was also unimpressed with one particular kit. I brewed Caribou Slobber, and was disappointed with the finished product. I thought possibly I may have missed something in the process so I tried it again. I wanted to taste what I read in the description. The second brew yielded similar results. Even a friend of mine had expected a little more OOMPH from a home brew. So I posted a review on their website with my experience. Well, it's safe to say Northern Brewer knocked my socks off. Although their kit guarantee wasn't available when I ordered those two kit, they are honoring it. I didn't ask. No calls were made, no emails. They emailed me out of the blue yesterday looking to make good. They even gave me some valuable pointers on how to tailor a pre-made kit to my liking. They asked what styles I prefer, and which kit I would like them to send. If that isn't A1 customer service, I don't know what is.....
 
I have also been very impressed with Northern Brewer's customer support. I bought a thermometer that went bad after a couple of brews and I wrote a review on their website. A day or so later I got an email with an apology that it broke and that they would be sending me another thermometer to my default shipping address. Along with my thermometer I also got a free pint glass. Another experience I had was when I got a kit that was missing some hops and when I told them about it they told me they would send another kit and I could keep the kit that was missing the hops. In another email an hour or two latter they told me what I could make with the ingredients I had and I have been impressed with the service I have received so far.
 
I also had great service from them. I had ordered 2 banjo burners and a regulator. I called when it was faulty and they shipped another just like that. Solid company in my eyes.
 
Another NB success story. I ordered a 3 piece air lock along with some other stuff and when I got it the outer part was cracked. They promptly shipped me a new one, even suggestion I keep the inner part as they get lost often. Great company!
 
Yup, NB has always been good to me.

I once placed an order with another large to-remain-nameless company. They sent me my order along with another even larger order that wasn't mine...I think it was about $400 worth of stuff. Of course, I "considered" keeping it but my conscience wouldn't let me. I called and got a return shipping label for my efforts. And that was it. Not even a thank you. And they have none of my business since.

I will gladly pay a bit more if necessary to do business with a quality company like NB.
 
Brewing Friends...

Last Monday, I submitted a sizeable order of ingredients to Northern Brewer. The FIFTY-SIX POUND box was delivered by "Big Brown" on Friday. I immediately opened the box and checked the inventory...which was exactly as ordered, EXCEPT for one item. And that was a 16 ounce bottle of Star San! I sent an email to Northern, wondering if that special added extra was because I am so handsome and debonair. Nope, just a mistake...and I get to keep it! And that's an item that usually runs about $12.00! Thank You, Northern Brewer!

glenn514:mug:
 
ackbrew said:
The beauty of a forum is the fact that you are able to freely post your experiences. The good, the bad, the ugly.
Click to expand...

And have the bad freely deleted. I've had a couple bad experiences and they always get deleted my post on here. It wasnt trolling or trash talking.

I tried to give them a shot again because I had a gift certificate but their shipping cost are too high for me. I was looking at 2 oz of hops but shipping was $12, so I opted not to order it there and went local.
 
tom_gamer said:
I was looking at 2 oz of hops but shipping was $12, so I opted not to order it there and went local.
Click to expand...

And I think all of us would do the same. Some time ago, I needed bottle caps. Nothing else...just bottle caps. I was not about to pay even a $6.99 flat rate shipping charge for one gross of bottle caps! I got them at our LHBS in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

glenn514:mug:
 
tom_gamer said:
And have the bad freely deleted. I've had a couple bad experiences and they always get deleted my post on here. It wasnt trolling or trash talking.
Click to expand...

Were they posted in this thread? HBT has a relatively straight-forward policy about where company reviews are and aren't allowed. You've got, for example, several posts very critical of NB in this very thread that haven't been censored. If you think mods are removing posts that shouldn't be removed, you should certainly talk to TxBrew, but in my experience that's not how these kinds of things tend to go around here.
 
tom_gamer said:
And have the bad freely deleted. I've had a couple bad experiences and they always get deleted my post on here. It wasnt trolling or trash talking.
Click to expand...

Here in the Company Reviews, reviews are unedited. Your negative reviews of NB, for example, are in this thread.

You can read the rules in the sticky thread at the top of this forum. Almost all of the posts that get deleted in this forum are non-reviews. For example, one member posts a negative review and another member attacks him personally. Or a member posts responding to others' negative experiences with a vendor without being an actual customer herself.

But actual reviews, postive or negative, from actual customers do not get edited or deleted.
 
I was talking about entire threads that I had posted. They in my opinion followed the rules. I noticed two were deleted. One about my experience from NB and one about a LHBS. Maybe they were deleted because they want keep one thread per company or all those darn fanboys. :)

Anyways this is off topic. I just wanted express my observation.
 
tom_gamer said:
I was talking about entire threads that I had posted. They in my opinion followed the rules. I noticed two were deleted. One about my experience from NB and one about a LHBS. Maybe they were deleted because they want keep one thread per company or all those darn fanboys. :)
Click to expand...

Are you sure they were deleted and not merged into the NB thread? A few months ago, I did that for the entire Company Review forum - took all the threads on a particular company and merged them into one. The forum used to be more than a dozen pages long, impossible for someone to find all the reviews for any one company. By merging the various review threads together, all the reviews for a company are in one place. But none of the reviews were deleted in that process.

One thing you notice in these threads, now that the reviews are all together, is that no company has all good reviews or all bad. Probably reflects reality.
 
Pappers_ said:
Are you sure they were deleted and not merged into the NB thread? A few months ago, I did that for the entire Company Review forum - took all the threads on a particular company and merged them into one. The forum used to be more than a dozen pages long, impossible for someone to find all the reviews for any one company. By merging the various review threads together, all the reviews for a company are in one place. But none of the reviews were deleted in that process.

One thing you notice in these threads, now that the reviews are all together, is that no company has all good reviews or all bad. Probably reflects reality.
Click to expand...

I didn't consider that. I looked under threads I started and noticed it was missing. I didn't bother looking into it further, of course assuming the worse that some fanboy mod (no offense) deleted it because they didn't like me saying bad things about NB. If you're right, and I'm assuming you are, then I take back my previous statement, about the deleting.
 

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