50% of my online orders have been screwed up

[The Pol]

I don't know why you would want to boil bitter orange peel in the first place.. maybe you should have sucked it up and just waited for it and put it in your secondary.. I think the point is that no company is perfect, but if they are willing to own up to their mistakes and rectify them right away then whats the big deal! In my opinion, if you have enough free time to post threads on a homebrew forum, you probably have enough time to wait for some miniscule ingredients..

Because in every recipe I have seen it is placed in the last 10 miunutes of the boil...? The only online order that I ever had that went bad, went bad in a BIG way and the vendor, a MAJOR online HB supplier didnt offer to do anything to rectify it, so I cancelled, and I will never shop with them again.

 

[The Pol]

I have ordered 3 times from Morebeer.com, new to the home brewing thing, and every time they have shipped everything quickly. 2 of the orders did have out of stock items, but they were very quick to let me know, and to offer other ideas. For example my last order on 1FEB09 had some 1 gallon jugs that were not in stock, they let me know on the 3rd that they were out but should be in stock on the 5th if I wanted to wait, or if they could ship what was in stock, and ship the bottles at a latter date. Since I am in no hurry for this shipment (being APO customer being in a hurry is a bad thing) I had them hold till in, and they picked the order on the 5th. Very good communication from morebeer, and great customer service.

Just my 2 cents.

Oddly this came a week after I blew up this board about how they never called me, never emailed me, and never offered to fix a problem with my 2 week delayed order. Maybe my promising here never to use them again struck a cord with them.
They recieved 100% of my business until that botched order in January where there was no communication and then when I PURSUED THEM, they offered no solution, so I left them for good. Granted that finally set me out looking for a new vendor and I just placed an order for ALL of my HB ingredients for 2009 with Brewmasters Warehouse.

25 items, 20 different malts, 110 pounds of malt, multiple yeasts (which they guaranteed me GOOD dates on through 2009) and it shipped in LESS than 24 hours. Should be here 3 days from the time I ordered. I have ordered from them all, and none of them can beat that. Not to mention Ed, the owner, called me to discuss my yeast needs and dates... then offerd to send me the yeast I needed, WITH FREE SHIPPING, later in the year if he could not get me a date that was far enough out for my needs. Any other vendor would have told me tough luck, order your yeast later in the year then. Keep in mind, Ed was less costly with shipping than anyone else out there as well... including the place with FREE shipping. I cant wait to drop an order like this on Ed again, he and his employee (soon to be employees) are all HBT members and have a vested interest in serving this group (and all customers) with the utmost care.

 

[Bigsnake]

I use Austine Homebrew Supply and Midwest almost always. I've placed many orders and no serious screws up with either. The stuff that has messed up they fixed immediately. I don't even remember who did what anymore. It's like one place forgot the spigot for a bottling bucket. Another sent me iodine test strips instead of chlorine. But, one phone call fixed it all.

 

[dagamore]

Oddly this came a week after I blew up this board about how they never called me, never emailed me, and never offered to fix a problem with my 2 week delayed order. Maybe my promising here never to use them again struck a cord with them.
They recieved 100% of my business until that botched order in January where there was no communication and then when I PURSUED THEM, they offered no solution, so I left them for good. Granted that finally set me out looking for a new vendor and I just placed an order for ALL of my HB ingredients for 2009 with Brewmasters Warehouse.

25 items, 20 different malts, 110 pounds of malt, multiple yeasts (which they guaranteed me GOOD dates on through 2009) and it shipped in LESS than 24 hours. Should be here 3 days from the time I ordered. I have ordered from them all, and none of them can beat that. Not to mention Ed, the owner, called me to discuss my yeast needs and dates... then offerd to send me the yeast I needed, WITH FREE SHIPPING, later in the year if he could not get me a date that was far enough out for my needs. Any other vendor would have told me tough luck, order your yeast later in the year then. Keep in mind, Ed was less costly with shipping than anyone else out there as well... including the place with FREE shipping. I cant wait to drop an order like this on Ed again, he and his employee (soon to be employees) are all HBT members and have a vested interest in serving this group (and all customers) with the utmost care.

Glad you found a good place to order. I hope that your post did make morebeer a better place to work with. I might give BrewMasters a look next time. Shipping time/prices are almost never free for me, mostly due to the fact that they have to use USPS and must due a customs form. I loved the fact that MB put 'cooking supplies' (with the quotes) on the customs forms.

 

[TroubleBrewing]

After reading this horror-story of a thread, I'm somewhat glad I live in Australia. Sure, I'm paying about double what you guys are for ingredients and equipment, but using Craftbrewer for ordering has been a *very* pleasant experience. Prices are great, the orders are always 100% correct, and everything ships the same business day as you order! And amazingly enough, he must have convinced the postal service to move it quicker, because it arrives the day after it shipped, which in Aus is nothing short of a miracle. For any Aussies that read this, Ross at Craftbrewer *deserves* your business. Just order from him once and you'll see why!

For everyone that's had problems with a homebrew supplier, you have my commiserations. Nothing's worse than waiting a couple of days for things you've ordered, which turns into a couple of weeks, then half of it doesn't arrive.

 

[gingerdawg]

After reading this horror story of a thread, I sure am glad that Midwest is about two miles out of my way on my drive home from work.

 

[zanemoseley]

I've ordered 3 good sized orders so far with MW and they've all been great, well packed and complete even with 10+ items. This last order was for 2 recipes and a few pieces of gear, I compared the prices from MW with AHS and even with AHS's cheaper shipping they were still 10-20% higher. MW's shipping can be a bit intimidating sometimes however I feel they provide the best overall prices possible and let you pay the actual shipping instead of hiding some of the shipping in higher prices. I'm sure AHS as well as ohers are wonderful suppliers however MW was the first I used and plan to continue

 

[Eves]

I don't know why you would want to boil bitter orange peel in the first place.. maybe you should have sucked it up and just waited for it and put it in your secondary.. I think the point is that no company is perfect, but if they are willing to own up to their mistakes and rectify them right away then whats the big deal! In my opinion, if you have enough free time to post threads on a homebrew forum, you probably have enough time to wait for some miniscule ingredients..

You bothered to quote my original post but then didn't bother to read it. I did not realize the ingredient was missing until after I started the brew. I even admitted I was foolish for not having checked my ingredients before started. What does having the time to post on the boards have anything to do with waiting for the ingredients when I was in the middle of the boil?



This thread was about how 1/2 of my orders from one online store have been screwed up. Sorry but just as 2 out of 4 is 50%, even though 4 total isn't a huge number, a screw up of an order, even though we're talking about miniscule ingredients, is still a screw up of an order.

 

[Nikobrew]

right here.. yeah here looks good We mainly just have hops, but even considering shipping ($5) it typically costs you less than buying just about anywhere else. No mistakes as of yet to our knowledge, and fast shipping.

 

[the_bird]

100% success with Northern Brewer (many orders), 100% success with the couple of small orders through AHS, 100% (one order) with Williams. In fact, never had a problem. But, I've deliberately avoided one of the major suppliers because I've heard of too many problems; why deal with that when I'm happy with the others?

 

[neuron555]

I have ordered from both Austin and Morebeer several times. The only error I had was one kit from Morebeer was missing a bag of extract. I didn't catch it until brewing day but fortunately I had some from an upcoming recipe to use. When I contacted them, I got a prompt response and they sent me an entire free kit of my choice. I don't think you can complain about that.

 

[the_bird]

I have ordered from both Austin and Morebeer several times. The only error I had was one kit from Morebeer was missing a bag of extract. I didn't catch it until brewing day but fortunately I had some from an upcoming recipe to use. When I contacted them, I got a prompt repsonse and then sent me an entire free kit of my choice. I don't think you can complain about that.

Sure you can. You got lucky that your brewday turned out fine because of inventory you already had. But, fixing a problem is NOT the same as not having those problems to begin with.

I've just heard of a LOT more issues with one particular supplier than with all of the others combined. If you want to gamble with that, go right ahead... but I'm going to look at the totality of everyone's collective experience and use that to determine who to order from.

 

[neuron555]

The reality of life is that no place is going to be perfect 100% of the time. As long as they don't make a habit of screwing things up and try to give good customer service and make it right, then I can forgive the occasional lapse. If other people are seeing repeat offenders, then that is important to know, but I'm reporting my experience.

It's also my repsonsibility to check my order when it arrives and not on brew day.

 

[SumnerH]

100% success with Northern Brewer for me, my friend has had no problems with AHS either.

 

[the_bird]

The reality of life is that no place is going to be perfect 100% of the time. As long as they don't make a habit of screwing things up and try to give good customer service and make it right, then I can forgive the occasional lapse. If other people are seeing repeat offenders, then that is important to know, but I'm reporting my experience.

It's also my repsonsibility to check my order when it arrives and not on brew day.

Well, you nailed it. From the countless "DAMN THIS RETAILER!" threads that I've read, I'm convinced that one particular place DOES have the habit of screwing stuff up a lot more than others.

 

[flylock_jac]

I do about 85% of all my shopping online. Very few glitches and those were solved with a quick phone call or email. Mistakes do happen (think erasers on pencils) but most business's will bend over backward to resolve the problem. They would rather correct a problem than lose a customer.
Also most online stores have a comment area in check out. Make a note .. no substitutions or please call 555-555-5555 if back ordered or out of stock.

 

[bkov]

i placed an order on the 15th and its been a week and still hasnt shipped

 

[vav]

100% success with AHS.

 

[taylornate]

So far I've only ordered from Midwest, and I've made 3 orders. On my first order, they sent me the wrong extract kit - Irish Red instead of Irish Stout. Being excited about my first batch I brewed it anyway and they offered me a 50% refund which I accepted.

Later on, before racking batch 2 to the glass secondary, I noticed a small crack. I sent them an email about it and they asked me if I shocked it by pouring in hot wort. I said no, and they immediately sent out a replacement. That was over a month after receiving the carboy. That really impressed me.

I wish people weren't so reluctant to name names. These stories are useless without them.

Also, my LHBS sucks. They are barely more than a liqueur store. The stock is just barely useful and I could stare at that wall for 10 minutes and not get any help.

 

[shecky]

I have ordered online just twice, both within the last few weeks, as my LHBS is very good. Not having time to make a trip there, I went the online route, ordering from two different vendors so as to compare and contrast.

Both orders shipped in a timely manner and arrived as expected with the correct ingredients. One, however, arrived with the kit ingredients for the beer I had planned but with instructions for a different brew. If I were just starting out, this would have made me nervous. But with Beersmith and my own knowledge (most of it gleaned here) I'll be fine. It's just mildly annoying enough that I might think twice about ordering from there again.

 

[neuron555]

I wish people weren't so reluctant to name names. These stories are useless without them.

+1. This shouldn't be an exercise in random complaints. People are saying where they got good service, but if there is the feeling that some sites don't do the job, say so.

 

[defroach]

After reading this horror story of a thread, I sure am glad that Midwest is about two miles out of my way on my drive home from work.

I got AHS 2 miles from my house

 

[conpewter]

Austin Homebrew supply has always done really well for me. Also I am very happy about how Forrest really tries to get orders shipped out quickly even when you use the flat rate shipping.

 

[Homercidal]

Well, th lesson here is that we all need to remember to check our supplies and equipment before we brew!

Also, that if you can make it to the grocery, you can use FRESH orange peel in such an emergency.

I also agree that it counts if you mention the name of the place you have problems with. There's nothing wrong with helping others steer clear of potentially problematic suppliers. If they frequent the site, then they have a chance to state their side, and rectify any problems. If they are a well-liked and reputable place of business, then people here would back them up.

 

[MacBruver]

Also, that if you can make it to the grocery, you can use FRESH orange peel in such an emergency.

If you're gonna do this, it would probably be best to zest the orange... the pith has a lot of bitter, astringent flavors in it... unless that's the point.

I had a problem with Midwest with my first order from them. I ordered two different ingredient kits, and they shipped two of the same kit. I called them and they shipped me the right kit, along with a label to send back the old one. Drat! I was hoping I'd get a free hop scare.

They also have packing sheets with the names of who "picked" the order and who "packed" it. They asked for both of those names when I called in to complain, so it sounds like they are keeping their staff accountable for mix-ups. Makes sense... because they ended up having to pay 2x shipping for the wrong kit.

I was disappointed at first, but they fixed it in a pretty speedy fashion, so it's all good.

 

[TexasStu]

I have ordered from several online stores (no LHBS within 50 miles of me). I have had a couple if discrepancies (different stores) but all were resolved quickly and to my satisfaction. That is what keeps folks coming back. Obviously if one of them has had problems it's good to hear they have made changes to eliminate their losses (both in $$ and customer 'churn'). Over-all I think we have a great selection of online venders to choose from. I am very glad we HAVE enough to be able to choose (rather than forced into being disatisfied with no recourse)!
I'm certain the venders that wish to remain in business will make alterations (or die trying ) to their methods/prices/etc. and I imagine they look at these threads as another source of customer input.