Ss Brewtech Customer Service

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CarolinaBob

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Hey guys,

I'm looking for customer service experiences, good or bad in dealings with Ss Brewtech. I had a bad experience while trying to place an order for a 14gl Chronical BME and couldn't help but think if this is how they interact with a prospective customer how will they treat me if I ever have an issue. That being said I am struggling with whether to go ahead and purchase from Ss Brewtech or look elsewhere for a conical. Thanks in advance!

Bob
 
Get used to only communicating with them via email. In other words, if it's a technical support question, it can take days to get the answer you're looking for. Michael does a good job and usually answers any questions within 24 hours but if there are any follow-ups, expect to wait another 24 hours before you hear anything back.

If you could just call them, you could have a back and forth dialogue and be done in 5-10 minutes. Instead, expect it to take a week or more unless you have a very simple problem,

At their price point, I see no excuse for not having telephone support. They definitely have a my way or the highway approach. Once again, Michael does as good of a job as he can, but the best I can tell, It's one man running the show in customer support.

I own two BME Chronicals, their glycol chiller and their brite tank and have been happy with the products but they need to get in the 1980's and offer telephone support
 
I had the same email experiences with asking about getting a Celsius thermometer. He told me to go online and get one from a store in one of the countries they ship to that are Celsius minded. Surely, I thought, in this day and age, a dual temp scale digital thermometer is the only way to sell, but it doesn't seem that way.
 
I may be wrong, but I don't think companies like SS Brewtech can really employ a customer support center. You are usually receiving responses from a couple of guys who are also managing the daily operations of the company. They try to get back to you as soon as they can. From what I've read, it sounds like SS Brewtech has been very good at addressing customer issues. I have been a very happy customer. They do have a lot going on with new product offerings, so maybe things are not as organized as they should be. I'm willing to bet they can make it right, but you always have the choice to shop elsewhere if you are not satisfied. I would give them a chance to fix the issue within a reasonable time frame, but as noted you might need to wait for a response.

Edit: I just remembered there is a SS rep on these boards. You might find his profile and send him a PM.
 
I have had nothing but great customer service from SS Brewtech and I've ordered from them many times. I would consider their customer service better than the norm. They have been quick to respond, more than fair and interested in making me a satisfied customer. I would be surprised if that has changed in the short time since my last order.
 
The support has been good but takes time. It has typically taken 2-4 days to get some responses back. When they do respond its been good, clear answers and thus far they have helped me sort out any issues.
 
So far the replies are split about 50/50, I don't consider that good customer service but I will wait a bit longer.
 
I've had a great experience on both the pre order and after order sides. Recently my ftss power supply took a sh*t and they sent a replacement no questions asked.
 
I own 4 brew buckets and a conical of theirs. I have contacted them a few times and they have been responsive to me and I am very pleased with their products.

I do feel that my dealings with Spike for my kettles were far more personal than the responses I've had with ss. I would buy from both companies again.
 
My ultimate plan was to purchase four 14gal BME Chronical's and the Glycol Chiller. I was trying to place an order for one to see the quality and run a batch or two. I was ordering every possible option FTSs, leg extensions, casters, pressurized transfer port, blow off cane, CIP Spray Ball.... and email communication was "EXTREMELY" slow so when I stated my concerns as to slow customer service and how I felt that would translate as a paying customer if i were ever to have an issue the communication abruptly ended. I sent the full email chains between myself and the customer service rep to the two founding partners, one of which responded fairly quickly and said "I’m really sorry to hear that. Typically, our customers rave about great customer service. . . I guess not in this case. We’ll look into how to improve this ASAP" Never addressing how he could retain my business. I replied to him "were my expectations too high" a question that went unanswered in my first email to him and his reply was "Everyone has their own set of parameters relative to expectations. You certainly have a right to your own expectations The 3 day weekend didn’t help, but there was time to get back to you before that hit . . . . still there’s no excuse for not meeting your expectations. Regardless, you should do what you feel is best. If that means buying from another company, we certainly understand" again no attempt to retain my business... Can you see why I would have concerns here?
 
Yes, you should have a reason for concern. Once again, there is no excuse for not having a telephone number to call and get customer service. I respectfully disagree with the previous poster who thinks they don't have the resources to maintain a customer service telephone line. This isn't some mom and pop operation with three people working there. They have a huge presence in the home brewing industry and a growing presence in the commercial brewing side. They just need to properly support their products.
 
My ultimate plan was to purchase four 14gal BME Chronical's and the Glycol Chiller. I was trying to place an order for one to see the quality and run a batch or two. I was ordering every possible option FTSs, leg extensions, casters, pressurized transfer port, blow off cane, CIP Spray Ball.... and email communication was "EXTREMELY" slow so when I stated my concerns as to slow customer service and how I felt that would translate as a paying customer if i were ever to have an issue the communication abruptly ended. I sent the full email chains between myself and the customer service rep to the two founding partners, one of which responded fairly quickly and said "I’m really sorry to hear that. Typically, our customers rave about great customer service. . . I guess not in this case. We’ll look into how to improve this ASAP" Never addressing how he could retain my business. I replied to him "were my expectations too high" a question that went unanswered in my first email to him and his reply was "Everyone has their own set of parameters relative to expectations. You certainly have a right to your own expectations The 3 day weekend didn’t help, but there was time to get back to you before that hit . . . . still there’s no excuse for not meeting your expectations. Regardless, you should do what you feel is best. If that means buying from another company, we certainly understand" again no attempt to retain my business... Can you see why I would have concerns here?

If you're still in the market for a 14g conical check out our new CF10 Conical! It launches July 10th and we'd love to have you as a customer! :mug:
 
Yes, you should have a reason for concern. Once again, there is no excuse for not having a telephone number to call and get customer service. I respectfully disagree with the previous poster who thinks they don't have the resources to maintain a customer service telephone line. This isn't some mom and pop operation with three people working there. They have a huge presence in the home brewing industry and a growing presence in the commercial brewing side. They just need to properly support their products.


Homebrewing is still a relatively small market. They probably do have something else setup for commercial customers. We live in the day and age that it's harder to ask questions over the phone. Even Spike is contacted through email, though they may be quicker in response since they offer customization. I'd be interested to know what the OP's concern was...a technical problem during ordering or was it just in issue with response times to questions? I'll still give my recommendation to buy their products and I'm willing to bet if a paying customer has issue they will fix it quickly. However, sometimes one company pleases one person and doesn't please the other person. You can see on social media a lot of people are using SS products, but they may not be for everyone. OP just needs to do what he feels comfortable with because it's a big purchase.
 
Personally I think they are great. E-mail only, but they probably can't afford a call centre right. Spike is the same way for the guy in this thread. No ability to phone them either. Both companies are great at getting back through email, but it does take time unfortunately.
 
oujens,

There had been a few emails back and forth with a specific Ss Brewtech customer service agent about my order, on 5/24/17 at 8:19pm PDT she replied and asked if I would like to proceed with the order. Since I live on the east coast I did not receive that until the following morning at 6:24am EDT at which time I replied that yes indeed I would like to proceed with my order. I never heard from her on Friday the 25th, Monday the 29th was a holiday so I didn't expect to hear from her then and by Tuesday the 30th when I had still not heard from her by :00pm EDT I emailed again point out lack of response to someone that was wanting to spend money with them and what that led me to believe about their customer service in general. At 11:13pm EDT on the 30th I finally got a reply without addressing my customer service concerns nor an apology for the same. It was at this point I began to second guess my decision to purchase form Ss Brewtech.

I am not one that usually complains about customer service and it took me almost a month to decide to reach out to the upper management of Ss Brewtech and post here but I had poured hours of research into the decision as to which Conical Fermenter I was going to purchase and was confident and excited about becoming a Ss Brewtech Chronical BME owner and I guess that is why this bothered me so. I am now 30 days behind where I wanted to be in adding a conical to my operation so now I guess I will begin the process of searching for the next best one.

I'd be interested to know what the OP's concern was...a technical problem during ordering or was it just in issue with response times to questions?
 
oujens,

There had been a few emails back and forth with a specific Ss Brewtech customer service agent about my order, on 5/24/17 at 8:19pm PDT she replied and asked if I would like to proceed with the order. Since I live on the east coast I did not receive that until the following morning at 6:24am EDT at which time I replied that yes indeed I would like to proceed with my order. I never heard from her on Friday the 25th, Monday the 29th was a holiday so I didn't expect to hear from her then and by Tuesday the 30th when I had still not heard from her by :00pm EDT I emailed again point out lack of response to someone that was wanting to spend money with them and what that led me to believe about their customer service in general. At 11:13pm EDT on the 30th I finally got a reply without addressing my customer service concerns nor an apology for the same. It was at this point I began to second guess my decision to purchase form Ss Brewtech.

I am not one that usually complains about customer service and it took me almost a month to decide to reach out to the upper management of Ss Brewtech and post here but I had poured hours of research into the decision as to which Conical Fermenter I was going to purchase and was confident and excited about becoming a Ss Brewtech Chronical BME owner and I guess that is why this bothered me so. I am now 30 days behind where I wanted to be in adding a conical to my operation so now I guess I will begin the process of searching for the next best one.

Gotcha, I'm sorry this did not work out for you. I'm hoping that their expanded product offerings and commercial business won't cut into their service to us homebrewers. Everyone has a bad day, but it seems they dropped the ball on this one. That should have been adequate time to process an order. I'm hoping it was just holiday schedule and miscommunication, but regardless someone should have processed that order in a timely manner. Good luck with your search.
 
Hey Bob,

Sorry to hear you felt that we mishandled a situation on our Ssupport desk. However, I have to say, I reviewed the support tickets you're referring to in detail, and it really wasn't a product support issue in the first place, it was a request for a discount. I'm happy to post the thread, since it looks like you might have left that fact out of your review of our service on this forum??

The truth is, we try and prioritize technical support questions, or product questions that relate to purchase decisions, since they can often times require a much more timely response. Yet, looking over your ticket, you didn't fall into either of those classifications, and in fact really didn't have any questions that related to our products.

Only that you had built a cart that was over your budget, and you requested that we discount our products to better fit within that budget. With the high volume of support tickets we get in and around holiday weekends, since many people plan to brew, some for the first time, and there you have it; it took our rep a few days to get back to you. When our rep did get back to you, she reiterated that we were happy to honor the military discount, same as we do for all service members.

We actually have an extensive knowledge base for those types of common questions, since they come up quite a bit. You probably could have found the answers in one of these two FAQs on our site.

https://ssbrewtech.zendesk.com/hc/e...ricing-Package-Pricing-Special-Discounts-etc-

https://ssbrewtech.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/202237099-Do-you-offer-military-discounts-

All in all, we're sorry to hear you were disappointed, but in our opinion this really sounds like one large misunderstanding. Many retailers dont have military discounts, and after you reached out to our ownership team, there was talk of removing all discounts to service members. That way we wouldnt have a repeat offense of what happened here. However, we wont let one bad experience deter us from helping out our service men and women. Best of luck.

Cheers,
Michael
 
WOW! My original contact was actually to find out about the Military Discount you have on your website but I'm not at all surprised at your approach to this issue! Attack me because your CS REP didn't get back to a customer whom was ready to spend over $1000 for more than two business days! Again, WOW! I urge everyone to read the email chain!!!
 
I reviewed the support tickets you're referring to in detail, and it really wasn't a product support issue in the first place, it was a request for a discount. I'm happy to post the thread, since it looks like you might have left that fact out of your review of our service on this forum??

If you will read back, I never said it was a product support issue. I said it was a customer service issue! I had contacted Ss Brewtec initially to inquire about Military Discount mentioned on your website. Since that was not the issue at hand why would I mention the reason for my initial contact?
 
I'm happy to post the thread, since it looks like you might have left that fact out of your review of our service on this forum??

Here's the entire communications with Ss Brewtech starting at the beginning. Note: It runs Chronologically backwards.

On Jun 21, 2017, at 7:26 PM, Kucera, Curt <[email protected]> wrote:

Everyone has their own set of parameters relative to expectations.

You certainly have a right to your own expectations

The 3 day weekend didn’t help, but there was time to get back to you before that hit . . . . still there’s no excuse for not meeting your expectations.

Regardless, you should do what you feel is best. If that means buying from another company, we certainly understand

Regards,

Curt Kucera

CTO | Co-Founder
Ss Brewing Technologies, Inc





From: Bob Mazzucco [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2017 4:19 PM
To: Kucera, Curt <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Ss Brewtech] Re: Armed Forces Discount

Were my expectations too high?

Bob Mazzucco

On Jun 21, 2017, at 6:52 PM, Kucera, Curt <[email protected]> wrote:

Hi Bob,

I’m really sorry to hear that. Typically, our customers rave about great customer service. . .

I guess not in this case.

We’ll look into how to improve this ASAP

Regards,

Curt Kucera

CTO | Co-Founder
Ss Brewing Technologies, Inc


From: Bob Mazzucco [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2017 8:36 AM
To: Thomson, Mitch <[email protected]>; Kucera, Curt <[email protected]>
Subject: FW: [Ss Brewtech] Re: Armed Forces Discount

Good Morning Mitch and Curt,

Hope this email reaches you guys! Thought you guys should know how unresponsive your customer service is. I was very excited about adding a Chronical BME to my homebrew operation but the poor response times to a person that is serious about purchasing your product led me to wonder how I would be handled as a customer that may have an issue with my equipment in the future. Customer service is very important to me and I don’t feel like I got that warm fuzzy feeling that I think I should get when preparing to spend over $1000. Perhaps my expectations are too high?

Bob Mazzucco

From: Bob Mazzucco [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2017 9:05 AM
To: 'Ss Brewtech' <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: [Ss Brewtech] Re: Armed Forces Discount

No thanks, although after researching I think you have the best product for my specific needs I think I will spend my money somewhere that appreciates my business!

Bob Mazzucco

From: Ss Brewtech [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2017 11:14 PM
To: Bob R Mazzucco <[email protected]>
Subject: [Ss Brewtech] Re: Armed Forces Discount

##- Please type your reply above this line -##
Your request (3124) has been updated. To add additional comments, reply to this email.

Sserena
Sserena (Ss Brewtech)
May 30, 8:13 PM PDT

Hi Bob,

Go ahead and send me your order number after you're done purchasing, and I'll apply the military discount. Thanks!
Cheers,
Sserena


Bob R Mazz
Bob R Mazzucco
May 30, 12:02 PM PDT

Sserena,

I have not heard back from you since Thursday. What does this lead me to assume about Ss Brewtech’s customer service. I understand Monday was a holiday but that leaves Friday and today as opportunities for you to respond.

Anxiously awaiting,

Bob Mazzucco


Bob R Mazz
Bob R Mazzucco
May 26, 3:24 AM PDT

Hello Sserena,

Yes, I would like to proceed!

Bob Mazzucco


Sserena
Sserena (Ss Brewtech)
May 25, 8:19 PM PDT

Hi Bob,

Yep! We do have a military discount. It's usually 10% (I say usually because sometimes people have really huge orders, like $5,000+ and we adjust accordingly for those). Let me know if you'd like to move forward with your order!
Cheers,
Sserena


Bob R Mazz
Bob R Mazzucco
May 25, 10:30 AM PDT

I am interested in purchasing your 14gal BME Chronical and my wife has given me a budget. With all of the accessories I am ordering with it the price comes slightly over my budget so I looked into if you guys ever have sales. I am happy to find out you do not but that puts me back to square one. I did see where you offer an Armed Forces Discount but don't see anywhere where is states what that discount is. I will eventually add your Glycol Chiller and more BME Chronicals but to stay under the wife's mandated budget I will either need a slight discount or remove some of the accesories that I deem necessary to start with.

Attachment(s)
SsBrewtech Order.jpg
 
Hm. Looked it all through, and to be fair I would wait patiently as support figures out their end. I work retail pharmacy for what has been going on six years not too sure how much they allow their support reps to actually do but there is a hierarchy that they have to appeal to.

Seems like you did the right thing and emailed back after a long wait over a holiday weekend and then you were responded to with what you desired.

I haven't had a singular issue with my product or support. There was a time it took a little long but it wasn't anything that I needed solved asap. Reading the past few post seems like this elevated
 
Seems like they offered a military discount and asked you to send the order number once you completed the purchase. There is definitely some miscommunication here. Unfortunately context gets lost in emails. The expectation was for you to order and send them the information so they can apply the discount, and you expected them To process the order for you. Where you looking for something more? Your words come off that way but again context can be lost in email. If this Chronical is truly what you want, put it in your cart, purchase, send your information for the discount and enjoy brewing again. I know that is hard to do after this communication, but I'm you two can agree there was a miscommunication and start from scratch.

Edit: Also, it doesn't come off well when you say in this thread your plan is to eventually by 4 of these yet in your inquiry you explain your budget and need for a discount. Maybe there was a budget for this purchase, but again it doesn't come off very good if I'm the vendor.
 
This is kind of Tricky. When I was reading this thread, I was thinking, OK he had a bad customer service experience when trying to get answers from the seller.

I've contacted SS in the past and, although I did not buy anything from them, they were timely and well mannered in their reply. I appreciated that, so you won't hear anything from me on that end.

What My impression of this thread leaves me at is that you are airing out some dirty laundry regarding a vendor who did try to help you, and instructed you on how to go about attaining the rebate. Your initial posts never once led me to believe that you were trying to get a discount for a business endeavor.

I think perhaps looking back you should have contacted them directly, discussed your proposed project and budget and needs. They could have then discussed how to attain what you wanted. I think SS did a fair job trying to work with you, but at the same time if you are operating a business (which it sounds like you are) you should have talked to them and came out very clearly with what you were looking for, your budget, and your timeline. It would then be on SS to see if they can make it work for you.

Just my .02 on this.
 
I completely understand how the OP (or anyone) may feel frustrated with an email only customer support system. The positive side is Ss Michael (my only contact there) is very responsive and very helpful, plus they stand behind their products in a very good way. I had bought a used fermenter with the FTSs system, and even being used, they helped me with a few things the previous owner had messed up.

Once they get your email in cue and answer you back, subsequent emails on the same thread seem to come back quickly. The products are quite nice, so hope your experiences remain positive.
 
Her reply asking me to go ahead and palce my order came after I had already gotten upset with their process and really was concerned abuot the overall customer service experience,

Seems like they offered a military discount and asked you to send the order number once you completed the purchase.

Edit: Also, it doesn't come off well when you say in this thread your plan is to eventually by 4 of these yet in your inquiry you explain your budget and need for a discount. Maybe there was a budget for this purchase, but again it doesn't come off very good if I'm the vendor.

My wife and I had agreed that I could withdraw $1000 from savings to get this Chronical ordered, In the mean time I would sell my spare vehicle (unnecessary adult toy) and once sold I would replace the $1000 to savings and there would be plenty of funds to finance the rest of the Ss Brewtech equipment I had on my list. I could have made the purchase without the military discount and just not ordered things like leg extensions, bottom shelf, casters, CIP ball, pressurized transfer coupling and been under my $1000 budget but if they offer a 10% military discount what is the fault in asking for that.
 
What My impression of this thread leaves me at is that you are airing out some dirty laundry regarding a vendor who did try to help you, and instructed you on how to go about attaining the rebate. Your initial posts never once led me to believe that you were trying to get a discount for a business endeavor.

I absolutely was not airing dirty laundry and was honestly looking for customer service experiences from others and I truly still wanted to purchase this fermenter and never gave specifics until I was specifically asked for them. I also never named anyone specificaly until Ss Michael threatened to do so. The only discount I was trying to get was the Military Discount which is on their website.

I think perhaps looking back you should have contacted them directly, discussed your proposed project and budget and needs. They could have then discussed how to attain what you wanted. I think SS did a fair job trying to work with you, but at the same time if you are operating a business (which it sounds like you are) you should have talked to them and came out very clearly with what you were looking for, your budget, and your timeline. It would then be on SS to see if they can make it work for you.

I did contact them directly and because the amount of the Chronical was pretty close to being in my initial budget, give or take 10% I asked what the Military discount was before proceeding. The problem I had was that once I told her I wanted proceed it was two business days later and after a second email that she replied and never once apologized for the delay even though the email I sent made it clear that I was concerned about response times and how that would relate once they had my money.
 
Her reply asking me to go ahead and palce my order came after I had already gotten upset with their process and really was concerned abuot the overall customer service experience,



My wife and I had agreed that I could withdraw $1000 from savings to get this Chronical ordered, In the mean time I would sell my spare vehicle (unnecessary adult toy) and once sold I would replace the $1000 to savings and there would be plenty of funds to finance the rest of the Ss Brewtech equipment I had on my list. I could have made the purchase without the military discount and just not ordered things like leg extensions, bottom shelf, casters, CIP ball, pressurized transfer coupling and been under my $1000 budget but if they offer a 10% military discount what is the fault in asking for that.

Bob, I don't think there is any issue with you asking for the military discount, and IMO anyone that serves should have perks for the rest of their life. I was saying the wording made it sound like you might have been asking for a little bit more, which is why SS posted something about the bulk sales discount.

Again, I think the biggest issue here is the miscommunication between you and the sales rep. When she said "let me know if you would like to proceed with your order", you thought she would process it when she was actually waiting for you to confirm your purchase, send her the order number and your military info. I don't think either party is "at fault", this just happens with email communication.

I agree there probably should have been more information available on the SS website or the rep should have given you more instruction to get your discount and order processed in the beginning. I do think SS is correct that the full story should have been mentioned up front so people can understand the situation better.

It looks like this has eaten at you for a month, which is unfortunate. Maybe take this chat offline with SS_Michael and see if both sides can agree to forgive and forget. I know I sound like a rep for the company myself, but my experience has been great and I will continue to recommend them. Either way, I hope you can get back to brewing soon.
Thank you for your service! :mug:

P.S. SS_Michael - I wear an XL t-shirt and a brew bucket would look nice with my 10G SS Brewtech kettle :D
 
I've had great service as well. Had an airlock clog on a brew bucket and the pressure buckled the lid and hings and they walked walked me through how to fix it so I wouldn't have to buy anything. I will always go to SS Brewtech for new equipment first.
 
I was saying the wording made it sound like you might have been asking for a little bit more, which is why SS posted something about the bulk sales discount.

Never asked for any other discount and as I said, had there not been a Military Discount mentioned on their website I would have ordered the 14gal BME and the FTSs for $908.95, well within my budget and ordered the accessories with the second order for the additional fermenters and chiller.

The only reason that it got to this point is response time was extremely slow and even though I made reference to that in my next to last email to the CS rep she did not address my concerns. I had purchased a whirlpool attachment for my boil kettle from Ss in the past but that was the extent of my dealings with them so the CS issues when spending $1000 scared me. Hell, I still have all of the items in my cart! I just can't seem to empty it!
 
This is exactly why my wife hates it when I ask for my military discount, NO we are not entitled to stuff just cause we are in the military. Sorry, but asking for a discount and then complaining on this site about them is just not cool.

My complaint had absolutely nothing to do with any sort of a discount and I have stated that I would have completed the transaction without any discount! I did a search to see if they ever had sales and was pleased to find out they do not because the only thing that bothers me more than poor customer service is buying something and then see it two months later on sale. During this search I saw that they offered a Military Discount so I contacted them to see if with the discount it would bring my order within my initial budget with all of the accessories I wanted.
 
For those of us who dutifully served, I find it very warming for companies to recognize our service with a discount. While I don't feel we are necessarily "owed" anything, I do shop at Lowes and Home Depot since they do respect us Veterans enough to offer a discount. I am proud to show my ID and I appreciate Ss BrewTech for recognizing our contribution.

I realize Paulaner's point as well, and this issue seems more a matter of communication rather than anything else.
 
I had purchased a whirlpool attachment for my boil kettle from Ss in the past but that was the extent of my dealings with them so the CS issues when spending $1000 scared me. Hell, I still have all of the items in my cart! I just can't seem to empty it!

Out of curiosity, how did that whirlpool attachment work for you? I've been interested in it, but am also reviewing other options.
 
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