AHS...great service!

[Q2XL]

Recently there was some discussion on orders placed with Austin Homebrew Supply that were taking a long time to ship. Well, I ordered a few things last Thursday(Michigan sale) and I just got it today. 6 days from Texas to Michigan...I am happy with that.

 

[dsdrake219]

i normally get good service.. the last order i made was shipped the next day and i received it after 4 days total..

the thing is the order i put in before that one im still waiting on (should be here today) 10 days for this one...
im blaming the sale .. no biggie

 

[SOB]

Ordered the night of the 19th and it's being shipped out today. Took a little longer than other times I've ordered but still not bad.

 

[LaurieGator]

Mine is taking a while. I ordered on Thursday and the order shipped out on Monday. I am hoping to get the kit tomorrow night (since we are the last stop on the UPS guy's route.)

 

[SOB]

Mine is taking a while. I ordered on Thursday and the order shipped out on Monday. I am hoping to get the kit tomorrow night (since we are the last stop on the UPS guy's route.)

That's quicker than mine, as you can see in the post above yours. Not too bad if you ask me!

 

[LaurieGator]

I'll just need to make sure to budget in more time for shipping and handling the next time I have heard nothing but good things about them and the kits they sell and I am just TOO excited to try the South by Southwheat with the agave nectar...

 

[jgardner6]

Prolonged shipping has been due to their big 50 day sale.

 

[Thumper]

I'll just need to make sure to budget in more time for shipping and handling the next time I have heard nothing but good things about them and the kits they sell and I am just TOO excited to try the South by Southwheat with the agave nectar...

I try to plan it so I get my stuff middle of the week ( I usually brew on Saturdays). I know if I order on Monday I will have it by Wed. or Thur. of the next week. If I am late getting my order in then I just pay for priority processing which is the actual freight cost as opposed to the flat rate shipping. The savings encoourages me to plan better I get my stuff 2 days from the day it ships. The only variable is how long it takes to process, which depends on how busy they are. Works good for me!

 

[Raffie]

Doing mail order would drive me nuts.
I drive to Home Brew Heaven and pick my stuff up on the way home.

 

[Smoodude]

I've placed several orders with AHS and have been better happy with them. Plus I think their kits are awesome. The last 2 times took a while to process, but I blame the sale. And, hey, I got 10% off for Texas day. AHS and Northern Brewer are my favorite online homebrew shops to date.

 

[Yooper]

Recently there was some discussion on orders placed with Austin Homebrew Supply that were taking a long time to ship. Well, I ordered a few things last Thursday(Michigan sale) and I just got it today. 6 days from Texas to Michigan...I am happy with that.

I ordered the same day- Michigan sale on March 19th! I got an email that my order is shipping today. I assume I'll get it on Monday or Tuesday next week, around the 30th. I didn't pay for expedited shipping, though, and it was a BIG order ($425). I knew it would take a while.

 

[HSM]

Recently there was some discussion on orders placed with Austin Homebrew Supply that were taking a long time to ship. Well, I ordered a few things last Thursday(Michigan sale) and I just got it today. 6 days from Texas to Michigan...I am happy with that.

Never ordered from them. I've only bought from MidWest online. My last order was on a Wednesday and had my stuff on Saturday. (yeah, that's what I shouted when I checked the tracking! )

That's 4 days from point of sale *Minnesota to my doorstep Pennsylvania*.

Sorry to hear about your slow shipping!

 

[Yooper]

Never ordered from them. I've only bought from MidWest online. My last order was on a Wednesday and had my stuff on Saturday. (yeah, that's what I shouted when I checked the tracking! )

That's 4 days from point of sale *Minnesota to my doorstep Pennsylvania*.

Sorry to hear about your slow shipping!

I don't mind the slow shipping. I paid $6.99 for shipping over 200 pounds of goodies. I can wait!

 

[HSM]

I don't mind the slow shipping. I paid $6.99 for shipping over 200 pounds of goodies. I can wait!

Seriously... what did you order and what was the shipping "class"?

200lbs is freight weight!

 

[nyer]

I ordered monday morning and so far it hasn't even been processed. My last 3orders have been quite a bit longer than the stated 2-4 business days. I may try someone else a few times, it's too bad I like the quality but this $6.99shipping deal isn't what it used to be.

 

[Yooper]

Seriously... what did you order and what was the shipping "class"?

200lbs is freight weight!

Oh, I ordered a Cellar Craft wine kit, several sacks of grain (50 pounds of 2-row, 40 pounds of Vienna malt), 20# packages of several other grains like Munich malt, pilsner malt, etc. Some other miscellaneous stuff like hops and beer line. It came to $425, before the 10% off Michigan discount. I'm sure they don't make much money off of me when I do a bulk order like this, but I often order much smaller items too! I was just almost out of everything, and I really wanted that nice wine kit.

It's coming in 4 50 pound packages via UPS.

 

[Nurmey]

I ordered on Monday and it shipped on Tuesday. I've never had a problem with their service and have always been pleasantly surprised by how fast the $6.99 shipping gets sent out.

Just check on where the package is and it's due to be delivered tomorrow. Yipee!

 

[nyer]

I ordered on Monday and it shipped on Tuesday. I've never had a problem with their service and have always been pleasantly surprised by how fast the $6.99 shipping gets sent out.

Just check on where the package is and it's due to be delivered tomorrow. Yipee!

What the hell?? I ordered early monday and mine still hasn't been processed. They told me it's going to be awhile due to the sale.

 

[HSM]

Oh, I ordered a Cellar Craft wine kit, several sacks of grain (50 pounds of 2-row, 40 pounds of Vienna malt), 20# packages of several other grains like Munich malt, pilsner malt, etc. Some other miscellaneous stuff like hops and beer line. It came to $425, before the 10% off Michigan discount. I'm sure they don't make much money off of me when I do a bulk order like this, but I often order much smaller items too! I was just almost out of everything, and I really wanted that nice wine kit.

It's coming in 4 50 pound packages via UPS.

It's coming in 4 50 pound packages via UPS... way to get around freight weight.

Reading on, the 6$ shipping is a special deal? Sound like you got the best deal!

 

[Nurmey]

What the hell?? I ordered early monday and mine still hasn't been processed. They told me it's going to be awhile due to the sale.

I'm beginning to think that it depends on what you ordered. All I ordered was a wine kit and a new capper so mine was probably pretty easy to pull.

 

[Yooper]

It's coming in 4 50 pound packages via UPS... way to get around freight weight.

Reading on, the 6$ shipping is a special deal? Sound like you got the best deal!

No, it's ALWAYS $6.99 shipping.

You have to figure the best "delivered" price. Midwest has better prices, for example, but the shipping can be very high. (They charge actual shipping, I believe). Morebeer.com has free shipping over $59, but they are often out of things, and their prices are higher overall. NorthernBrewer.com has $6.99 shipping, too, but they seem to always been out of one or two items I need. Brewmaster's Warehouse looks awesome, and I'm planning on trying them soon when I have to order again. Their prices look good for hops, and I like the software brew builder they have.

So, AHS is awesome and I"m happy with them. But I still recommend shopping around for the best deal for you. All of those places I mentioned have fresh ingredients, and to me that is the key.

Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled thread!

 

[nyer]

I'm beginning to think that it depends on what you ordered. All I ordered was a wine kit and a new capper so mine was probably pretty easy to pull.

I ordered the ingredients for 2 AG recipes. I just checked again and my order still hasn't been processed, tomorrow is 4 days. I'm going with northern brewer, it's $1 more for shipping and it's been faster. I think it's great Austin is doing this sale but doubling the shipping time isn't acceptable. I really needed to brew these 2 batches this weekend.

 

[HSM]

No, it's ALWAYS $6.99 shipping.

You have to figure the best "delivered" price. Midwest has better prices, for example, but the shipping can be very high. (They charge actual shipping, I believe).

I want you and everyone to breath that in deep... and take another sniff.

Breath it in again and again...


Midwest shipping CHARGES will be actual shipping charges and much lower!

 

[Rubberband]

I ordered the same day, live about 100 miles north of the original poster and I still do not have my order. Let me say, I have made several brews from AHS and bought several products and they are all very good. There has been a delay in shipping for my last two orders, however. It seems that it takes a minimum of 3 days to ship out an order so, it pushes out delivery to Michingan to about 10 days to 2 weeks.

The best brewshop that I have set foot inside of is Adventures in Homebrewing in Taylor. That is about 2 hours drive for me, so I don't get down there very often. I think that I'll probably go back to AHS but I going to make sure I don't need anything for at least 10 days. FWIW, I'm going to try Midwest for my next order, they are closer to me, so I'm hoping this equals quicker delivery.

 

[tenglert]

I placed an order with them last May and they sat on it for more than a week. Then they shipped it out the Friday before Memorial day weekend. The weekend I was hoping to brew. It took 5 days to get here when it should have taken 2. And temperatures were in the 90's. I wasted $2 on ice packs and my poor yeast was very hot. It took 2 1/2 days for one of them to start.

I ordered from William's 4 days after I ordered from AHS, and it got here before Austin even shipped. And they're more than twice as far as Austin.

I still order most of my stuff from AHS, but I don't get in a hurry for it. I also don't buy any more live yeast from them.

I've also found they can be quite rude over the phone. They don't seem to be very good at giving advice, and they don't take criticism over their slow shipping very well.

 

[nyer]

I placed an order with them last May and they sat on it for more than a week. Then they shipped it out the Friday before Memorial day weekend. The weekend I was hoping to brew. It took 5 days to get here when it should have taken 2. And temperatures were in the 90's. I wasted $2 on ice packs and my poor yeast was very hot. It took 2 1/2 days for one of them to start.

I ordered from William's 4 days after I ordered from AHS, and it got here before Austin even shipped. And they're more than twice as far as Austin.

I still order most of my stuff from AHS, but I don't get in a hurry for it. I also don't buy any more live yeast from them.

I've also found they can be quite rude over the phone. They don't seem to be very good at giving advice, and they don't take criticism over their slow shipping very well.

I have noticed they are very rude on the phone too, the guy I always talk acts like I'm bothering him. I thought it was just me since everyone here loves them. I have always had great luck with their products and AG kits that's why I have continued to order from them. It's weird though when I first started brewing I would have my order at my door 3-4 days after ordeing online. Now it's at least a week and my yeast is either frozen in the winter or boiled in the summer. I also had a situation where they back ordered my yeast but didn't bother to tell me so I had all my ingredients to brew but no yeast. I had to drive all over to find yeast. It sucks because the closest brew store is over an hour away and they just don't stock much. I think the delayed shipping is going to hurt their business eventually. I hope they get it straightened out soon, I'd like to keep using them.

 

[SOB]

Midwest shipping CHARGES will be actual shipping charges and much lower!

OK...we talk about this all the time it seems and this is the last time I'm getting involved

It depends on where you are in the country. For me in Ohio (and probably you in PA) Midwest has always been the cheapest even with the "real" shipping charges. But someone in Cali or Texas will have to pay more shipping from Midwest.

I went with Austin this time only due to the 10% off deal. Yeah, they have fresh products and nice kits but their grain selection isnt as good as Midwest, IMO.

We always get in these conversations in threads like these...you just ahve to shop around and see what suits you best. I have found that 4 times out of 5 Midwest works best for me. So that's where I go.

 

[gabeweisz]

A placed an order last Thursday, same day as the OP - but mine did not ship till yesterday - 6 days from when I ordered to when it shipped. That means that took 6 days to ship, and it will take 11 days from when I placed the order to when it arrives in Maryland. Quite a long time I think.

 

[Austinhomebrew]

Thanks for the props. I agree the shipping times got a little long. We usually have a one day sale and that brings in around 700 orders in one day (2 weeks worth of orders in one day). So I stretched out the sale so we could keep up with the volume. This sale brought in over 1,000 sale orders (not including the regular orders on top of that.

The shipping manager has been working 70 hours a week since the sale started and I have doubled the staff in the shipping for the sale. I have even started a second shift so we are putting together orders almost 24 hours a day. During the sale we got behind by a couple of days but that shouldn't be a problem now that we are now able to ship 50% more orders a day due to the second shift. I have also worked a couple 20 hour days to get us caught up. We are completely caught up now.

I have come to the conclusion that we can no longer have store wide sales. While it is an excellent deal, it causes delays and then there are page after page on this forum about our service. The customers have spoken and the delays are not worth the savings to them.

I plan on having more specific sale promotions that won't cause delays.

Let me explain the shipping policy. The flat rate $6.99 shipping leaves the store in 2-4 business days. Choose this option if you can wait.
If you want your order to ship the same day simply choose the expedited shipping. There are no extra charges, you just have to pay the regular UPS charges (what we pay for the shipping).

The $6.99 flat rate shipping is on average only 40% of the shipping charges we pay. If I were to hire enough people to get every order out the same day I could afford to offer the $6.99 shipping. You save a lot of money if you can wait. If you can't wait then choose the regular shipping mode. Please don't choose the $6.99 and expect it to go out quickly. Northern Brewer's site says its flat rate shipping takes up to 4 days to ship as well. And Midwest charges full shipping on every order. Neither of them do storewide sales. If they did, they would have the same delays.

I will do everything we can to avoid delays in your orders. We have a top-notch buyer I hired at the beginning of the year that has been able to keep up with the 38% increase in sales so far this year. You should not see any outages of supplies like other stores that seem to have that problem (or so you tell me).

We can't have the best price on everything but if you add up your total delivered price we should have the best price, best selection, and everything in stock. Now that the delays have been resolved and will stay resolved, you should have the best homebrew experience.

Let me know if there is something you need me to carry. Let me know if you find a better delivered deal on an item. You can either PM me or email me at:
[email protected]
I am here for you.

Forrest
Austin Homebrew Supply

 

[nyer]

Thanks for the props. I agree the shipping times got a little long. We usually have a one day sale and that brings in around 700 orders in one day (2 weeks worth of orders in one day). So I stretched out the sale so we could keep up with the volume. This sale brought in over 1,000 sale orders (not including the regular orders on top of that.

The shipping manager has been working 70 hours a week since the sale started and I have doubled the staff in the shipping for the sale. I have even started a second shift so we are putting together orders almost 24 hours a day. During the sale we got behind by a couple of days but that shouldn't be a problem now that we are now able to ship 50% more orders a day due to the second shift. I have also worked a couple 20 hour days to get us caught up. We are completely caught up now.

I have come to the conclusion that we can no longer have store wide sales. While it is an excellent deal, it causes delays and then there are page after page on this forum about our service. The customers have spoken and the delays are not worth the savings to them.

I plan on having more specific sale promotions that won't cause delays.

Let me explain the shipping policy. The flat rate $6.99 shipping leaves the store in 2-4 business days. Choose this option if you can wait.
If you want your order to ship the same day simply choose the expedited shipping. There are no extra charges, you just have to pay the regular UPS charges (what we pay for the shipping).

The $6.99 flat rate shipping is on average only 40% of the shipping charges we pay. If I were to hire enough people to get every order out the same day I could afford to offer the $6.99 shipping. You save a lot of money if you can wait. If you can't wait then choose the regular shipping mode. Please don't choose the $6.99 and expect it to go out quickly. Northern Brewer's site says its flat rate shipping takes up to 4 days to ship as well. And Midwest charges full shipping on every order. Neither of them do storewide sales. If they did, they would have the same delays.

I will do everything we can to avoid delays in your orders. We have a top-notch buyer I hired at the beginning of the year that has been able to keep up with the 38% increase in sales so far this year. You should not see any outages of supplies like other stores that seem to have that problem (or so you tell me).

We can't have the best price on everything but if you add up your total delivered price we should have the best price, best selection, and everything in stock. Now that the delays have been resolved and will stay resolved, you should have the best homebrew experience.

Let me know if there is something you need me to carry. Let me know if you find a better delivered deal on an item. You can either PM me or email me at:
[email protected]
I am here for you.

Forrest
Austin Homebrew Supply

Forrest, can you explain why two orders placed by different people on Monday 3/23 wouldn't be processed around the same time? Another posters order was shipped on Tuesday, mine was shipped on Friday and isn't expected to arrive until 4/2. Thats 5 days to process and 5 days to ship. I used to get my orders in under 5 days total. I love your products and AG supplies but to be honest I won't order again and wait 10 days. I really needed to brew tomorrow, I'm leaving for vacation and now my shipment is going to be sitting until I get home.

 

[Austinhomebrew]

Im am not sure what the delay was but I assure you that we have solved any delays. I doubled the staff in the shipping department and added a second shift.

You always have the option of shipping the same day if you pay the full shipping. If you go with the flat rate, our turn around time should be 2-4 days. The reason it will be 2-4 days is the volume of orders we receive. We have received the most orders so far this year for the company. Only 10% of the customers choose the expedite service so 90% of the volume is the flat rate option.

Most people don't want to pay for the shipping, if they can wait a couple days the flat rate shipping is a great value.

Other stores may be able to ship your order out that same day without asking, but they will charge full shipping. That is the same as our expedited same day shipping.
Forrest

 

[SOB]

Would someone that is buying things that can be pulled and shipped quickly (ie. equpiment, kits, etc.) possibly ship faster than someone who made their own recipe and needs bulk grains weighed, milled and packaged? Not sure if that's the case but I could see how an "easier" order could go out faster even if shipped on the same day.