Beer,Beer More Beer

I have ordered 3 orders in the last 3 weeks and none of them have been correct?
is anyone else having problems? The first came with items missing and I was charged for them. When I called there attention to it ( though an Email) they refunded my money.
The second order was out of stock? and partial shippment was made. The third order was for 6 pounds of Rye Malt for Denny's Rye IPA and was shipped with 6 pounds of Melanoidian Malt ? Who's in charge out there? And no one answers there Damn Phone 1-800-600-0033

 

I've had a wrong size sight glass sent, no response to questions submitted, and tax problems (I was charged tax for an out of state order). The sight glass and tax issue were eventually corrected; I guess I still order from them because I have come to realize that almost anywhere you go, you can pretty much expect less than perfect quality customer service. It's pretty much become the standard.

 

Bummer, I have had good luck with them, too (like Lorena). They are selling bre stuff so maybe they are just .

I guess it goes around... http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=24702

 

sadly that is very true.

 

I have had good service from Morebeer. They will get late on your order when the wine season is in full swing but usually they are good to me. I would send an email or speak with someone there and I bet they will take care of you.

 

Other than the lengthy trip from California to PA, ordering from them has never been a problem for me.

 

I've never ordered from them but Austin Homebrew is great. They sent me the wrong yeast once and when I called about it they sent the correct one ASAP at no charge.

 

No problems with Austin; they're good. I ordered some stuff from them and had it a couple of days later - quick turn-around and good service. Only thing is they don't have everything I need, and they charge shipping.

 

I've had great experience with Austin Home Brew, Williams Brewing, Morebeer, and Northern Brewer. No one has P.O.d me yet

 

My first order from morebeer was a bad experience also. The 3-piece airlock came in a 100 pieces and the circle cutout in the bucket lid for the stopper was more oblong than an egg and putting the stopper in to the widest diameter part still left a gaping hole. I had them send a new airlock and the next larger stopper and said I'd make the hole larger and rounder. Yes, they fixed my problem but I couldn't make my first batch for another week. Not the end of the world, but I haven't ordered from them since. I wonder if they realize they lost about $500 in business because of poor quality control?

In contrast, I made a large order with brewbyu.com out of NH. I mean, 50 lbs of a bunch of different grain in 1lb increments. They shorted me one pound. In that same order, they backordered 4 packs of Windsor yeast (no charge). When they sent the replacement pound of grain, he threw in 4 packs of Windsor with a note saying. "These are a a few days past expiration but no charge, thanks for your business". THAT is customer service. Hey, you screw up an order and inconvenience someone, you have to go a small step above just fixing it to leave an impression.

 

Bobby, That's my kind of customer service. I recalled the customer service number several times and did'nt reach anyone? So I called the northern california store and reached a sales person who after 5 min of waiting helped me, any way they are sending the correction? We'll see? I just can't believe how many times it happend to me? I own my own business and we (my staff and myself) bend over backwards and go the extra mile to solve any problem my customer has. It costs about $25.00 to attract a new customer so you better take care of the ones that already patronize your services!!!!!!!

 

I just ordered 4 better bottles (1x6 gal, 3x5 gal) from morebeer on monday, got an e-mail the next day saying they were out of the 6 gal and the whole order would be held until they have the 6-gals in on the 26th...oh well, wish they had updated the page beforehand (it says out of stock now) but thats life, I have enough carboys to make do for now.

 

Help me out. What do you need that we don't carry?

Forrest
Austin Homebrew Supply

 

I feel your pain man, not from morebeer, but from a smaller brew suppliers store called hoptech. SUPER nice guys, but they just didn't have it all together in the shipping area. I placed a lot of orders from them and all but one had an issue. Everytime I ordered grains for an AG brew the bags would bust open while shipping and I'm stuck trying to get loose grain out of a cardboard box... I know this hurt my efficiency. One time they forgot 3lb's of DME when I was making a barley wine... turned out to just be a heavy ale. That was disappointing as well.

I started shopping with northernbrew and they are awesome. Not one bag has leaked, everything's been in perfect condition and it gets here fast. Not to mention they charge WAY less for shipping. These guys at hoptech were charging me too much, they said they were charging exact shipping costs, but northernbrewer has been 20 bucks cheaper on shipping cost everytime with the same weight.

 

Forrest!

Good to have you here! I order from you guys all the time--even though I have a local HBS and even an online one closer than you guys. Your prices and customer service are over the top! I get everything shipped in 2 days--can't beat that for the price.

Keep up the awesome work!

 

I have used Williams a few times and love them. 2 days from placing the order to having it on my doorstep. With only 6 bucks for shipping its cheaper for me to order from them and I don't have to pay 8.8% sales tax or drive anywhere.

 

Since you're here... how about some hop rhizomes?...

 

Mashpads.

http://www.homebrewadventures.com/shopping/index.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=homebrew&Product_Code=MP-13

http://www.homebrewadventures.com/shopping/index.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=homebrew&Product_Code=MP-17

I consider you among the big 3, but I find Northernbrewer and B3 easier to navigate. They seem to present more photos per click to help identify what I am looking for. This is especially true for small hardware. Not everyone knows what a 1/2' close nipple is until they see it. I hope that you look into that because I would use you more often.

 

I like More Beer's prices and selection. I avoid them because of their:

3 day picking/packing process.
Frequent backorders.
Unwillingness to ship a partial order when something is on backorder (unless you make a 15 minute phone call).

As for Austin Homebrew:

Forrest! Thanks for becoming a part of the forum! I've had nothing but positive experiences with AHS thus far. I agree with olllllo, your site tends to be a bit more difficult to navigate than others. The search function is particularly annoying. Check out More Beer's search layout - I find it a lot easier to use.

 

Wow, personally I like the AHS layout. I find it well organized and easy to find what I'm looking for through browsing categories. I've never used the search feature on there.

 

Example: 1/2" Full coupler. You may not know what it's called but you need it to make a keggel.

4 clicks to get to this list (Still no pictures)
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/index.php?cPath=178_33_82_89
and you may end up clicking several from this list to see a picture.

2 clicks to get here: With pictures
http://morebeer.com/browse.html?category_id=1177&keyword=&x=1&y=1
and the next click gives you even more detailed pictures.

2 clicks to get here: With pictures.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/plumbing.html

Austin uses this logo in leiu of a picture waaay too much.

 

You get that CO2 pump fixed yet? I would be nice to be able to fill a bottle on a Saturday or Sunday again.

 

I have never ordered from them, so I can't comment directly. I have put in three or four orders recently from Northern Brewer and I have nothing but good to say about them. All of my orders have been correct and they arrived amazingly fast. I recommend them highly.

 

It is up and running.

Forrest
Austin Homebrew Supply

 

I have a new person working 60 hours a week to fix all of the descriptions and photos. It should all be revamped shortly.

Forrest
Austin Homebrew Supply

 

I got the test in on Northern Brewer right now . . . I have jury duty starting Monday and forgot to get a book, so I ordered Designing Great Beers at about 1PM local time (UPS ground delivery, should take 1 business day). . . if it gets here before I have to go to the courthouse on Monday I'll be their be-yotch

 

Excellent!

 

x2 that was my only compliant about AHS, I like to see what im buying, even if i know what it is. :rockin:

 

I third that, Dr. Jeckels in Arlington is only a few minutes from me, and I'm sure closer to you Ryan, but I prefer to use Austin Homebrew (and don't like Dr. Jeckels). Even with the shipping, which isn't much, it is still cheaper than driving to any of the other shops around here, and their selection is far better. They can also get your order here in two days, as long as they aren't too backed up.

To anyone in the DFW area, I prefer Austin Homebrew Supplies because...

Homebrew Headquarters (Dallas) - Good selection, and nice helpful staff but, it's in the busiest part of DFW just North of 635 & 75 on Coit at the bottom of the Compass Bank building. (like hell driving over there), and it is a little pricier than Austin. Also, bulk LME may not be as fresh do to less turnover, and no shop can mach Austin's selection. They have a great selection of really fresh yeasts from White Labs and WYeast though.

The Winemaker Shop (Fort Woth) - Smaller selection, obviously geared more towards winemaking, no bulk extract, unhelpful, unfriendly staff. A little hard to spot in a strip center off of south Loop 820. I havn't spent much time here because I don't feel very welcome when there, like I'm intruding on their little club.

Dr. Jeckels (Arlington) - Smallest, somewhat poor/dated selection. If you don't know where it is, chances are you won't try to find it. In Pantego (a small town in the center of Arlington for those wondering) on Park Row next to Captain Billy Whizbangs Hamburgers (which rocks :rockin: ), a mile or so from UTA. Pat is a nice guy, but a little unhelpful IMO, I know others that disagree, besides, they don't have much stuff for him to help yuou with. They do have a great micro brew selection though.

 

I have been going to winemakers shop, I love their prices on equipment, the are by far the cheapest i have seen. Funny enough though, I had never heard of Dr. Jeckels until the other day, I was talking to a guy up at the Liquor store about beer and home brewing came up and he told me about the place. I was planing on going their to get my stuff for my next brew, or should i not waste my time. Thanks for the info, I wanted to try out the place in Dallas, but i try to stay away from Dallas if it all possible, I hate the traffic. I do have to agree about the unfreindly part at Winemakers shop, you have to pry info out of them.

 

Dr. Jeckel's doesn't have WYeast, and I wouldn't trust their LME. I don't think that they get much traffic, so some stuff may be old. Pat (the big guy that owns the place, and I think the only employee) is a nice guy though, I would say at least check it out and see how you like it. It's where I got most of my equipment when I first started out, don't expect to a great selection though.

You can check out homebrewhq.com for the place in Dallas, they have an online catalog.

 

They also have the Buffalo Theory of Drinking Beer on their website:

Quoted from hombrewhq.com

A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first.
This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.

In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells.

But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.

That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers.

 

I agree with olllllo that Austin Home Brew needs to have more pictures of their products and their web site is harder to navigate, I think Williams has a great web site but their prices are high. Probably to pay for the web site?

 

Williams has the best looking site, but it's not all that easy to navigate either. As far as ease of navigation, Midwest is tops - especially if you use their javascript menus.

Pictures are key, but being able to navigate to the product list in one click from the main page is important too. If stuff is hidden below 3 levels of clicks, it's tough to find.

Their search is also nice because it includes pictures with the results

 

Very nice! im a noob here and have been reading every post. looked at so many websites looking for my gear to buy and was not likeing your website for just that reason. But will be very happy to see it in it's new light