Any Issues With Northern Brewer?

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AussieBrewerInColorado

AussieBrewerInColorado

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I made a purchase from Northern Brewer a few months back for a grain mill and a march pump. Grain Mill was great. March Pump had some threading issues on the "IN" (something was out of whack on threading and barbs go on crooked causing a leak), so I sent them a message on their website but haven't heard anything back. Not sure what to do, anybody else have similar experience? If so, let me know and i'll give them a call with our concerns.

There are so many other suppliers here that I think that can step-up and earn business when stuff goes wrong.
 
jfulton said:
I placed an order at the end of February, which I am still waiting for the rest of the items to arrive. I have asked a few times when they will be mailed, and each time told they were recently shipped. After waiting almost two months, I have asked for a refund for the items that were never shipped. They haven't responded to my request. I no longer shop with Northern Brewer.
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They ship by fedex. What did the tracking info say? What did you order that took so long?
 
That sounds really odd, i do over 90% of my orders thru them and have never had a single issue. Why don't you try calling them instead.
 
AussieBrewerInColorado said:
I made a purchase from Northern Brewer a few months back for a grain mill and a march pump. Grain Mill was great. March Pump had some threading issues on the "IN" (something was out of whack on threading and barbs go on crooked causing a leak), so I sent them a message on their website but haven't heard anything back. Not sure what to do, anybody else have similar experience? If so, let me know and i'll give them a call with our concerns.

There are so many other suppliers here that I think that can step-up and earn business when stuff goes wrong.
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Since you are having a problem specifically with the March Pump, you might want to talk with the manufacturer directly. Walter works for March Pump and is a member here:

http://iam.homebrewtalk.com/WalterAtMarchPump

I'd shoot him an PM.
 
I've never had issues with NB personally but i have had tracking issues with Midwest Supplies. Both orders I've done have been sent out without an email confirmation stating they shipped them out with a tracking number, and yes i did check my spam and my email address is correct.
 
I was just in their store yesterday. Nothing out of the ordinary. Give them a call, they will fix your pump issue.
 
AussieBrewerInColorado said:
I made a purchase from Northern Brewer a few months back for a grain mill and a march pump. Grain Mill was great. March Pump had some threading issues on the "IN" (something was out of whack on threading and barbs go on crooked causing a leak), so I sent them a message on their website but haven't heard anything back. Not sure what to do, anybody else have similar experience? If so, let me know and i'll give them a call with our concerns.

There are so many other suppliers here that I think that can step-up and earn business when stuff goes wrong.
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Why don't you call them with your own concerns?
 
They have always been great in my book, multiple orders, fast shipping, no backorders.
They have a live chat on their website I used once, they should be easy enough to get in touch with.
 
Northern Brewer & Midwest are my go-to sources for about everything. My guess is they will make it right, but you need to do your own due dilligence. Dont just rely on an email that they may not have had time to reply to.
 
astropunk said:
Northern Brewer & Midwest are my go-to sources for about everything. My guess is they will make it right, but you need to do your own due dilligence. Dont just rely on an email that they may not have had time to reply to.
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shortyjacobs said:
+1. This forum is not a customer complaint database, and they might not read your post. They are stand-up guys and girls, and I'm sure they'll work with you.
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+1000 to these comments. If you shoot them an email and you don't hear back, the next step is a phone call, not to complain on a discussion forum for all to see.

This thread is only a few hours old and we've already had the the people coming to NB's defense, those coming out and saying they've had crappy customer service from NB, and even people who feel they need to complain about another homebrew mail-order shop, completely unrelated to NB. What's the point?
 
I have ordered from NB several times. I have never had an issue with timing or product quality. They have been the best online store I've used so far.

I just placed a small order (with no grain) on Sunday afternoon and it arrives today. Considering the shipping time is 4 days, that's pretty impressive.
 
I had a regulator go bad on my banjo burner and the sent a new regulator free of charge out to me quickly. I am not sure why you just didn't call them in the first place.
 
I had the same problem with the March pump ordered from MoreBeer. the issue is with attempting to screw a metal coupling onto a plastic nipple.. the easy crossed threads destroys the nipple on the pump. You have to thread your coupling on extremely carefully. After crossing my threads and crushing the plastic nipple on my pump, I had to bust out my set of fine files and painstakingly reform the threads enough to get the coupling on straight and liquid tight.
 
Malintent said:
I had the same problem with the March pump ordered from MoreBeer. the issue is with attempting to screw a metal coupling onto a plastic nipple.. the easy crossed threads destroys the nipple on the pump. You have to thread your coupling on extremely carefully. After crossing my threads and crushing the plastic nipple on my pump, I had to bust out my set of fine files and painstakingly reform the threads enough to get the coupling on straight and liquid tight.
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Protip: Place the coupling against the nipple, then slowly turn it backwards, (CCW). You will feel it "click" down as the threads align at a certain point in the rotation. Then slowly thread forwards.

This works very well with spark plugs too to avoid cross-threading.
 
jfrank85 said:
I've never had issues with NB personally but i have had tracking issues with Midwest Supplies. Both orders I've done have been sent out without an email confirmation stating they shipped them out with a tracking number, and yes i did check my spam and my email address is correct.
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I had a similar issue with them and I talked with one of the guys there. He told me that they were having issues where emails weren't being sent out and were working to fix it, and that I could check my account with them or contact them if I ever need info about shipping. He also pointed out (because some of my orders had tracking numbers and some didn't) that you only get a tracking number if you use fedex. If I were you, I'd just check your account to see the status.
 
Malintent said:
I had the same problem with the March pump ordered from MoreBeer. the issue is with attempting to screw a metal coupling onto a plastic nipple.. the easy crossed threads destroys the nipple on the pump. You have to thread your coupling on extremely carefully. After crossing my threads and crushing the plastic nipple on my pump, I had to bust out my set of fine files and painstakingly reform the threads enough to get the coupling on straight and liquid tight.
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+1, same supplier, same issue, same fix

I had two pumps, I cross threaded one but the other went on fine. Both are leak free now.

When they die I may suck it up and lay out the 300 bones for the SS head variety. I know that is just way too f'n much money for a lot of folks, but I understand from Kal the 3/4 inch inlet makes priming much easier as well.
 
I had an issue with Northern Brewer, called them, they apologized and i had my order sent overnight to me. Then, the order was missing two items (2of 25 mind you) and they not only overnight shipped those, but also gave me a $25 credit. So basically...CALL THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I bought some ingredients for Denny's Wry Smile in the store in St Paul. When I got home I realized they had charged me for an extra ounce of hops. I just let it go. Maybe I should call, but it's been 3 weeks now....
 
shortyjacobs said:
+1. This forum is not a customer complaint database, and they might not read your post. They are stand-up guys and girls, and I'm sure they'll work with you.
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1st, I have contacted them. 2, I'm not using it as a customer complaint forum, i'm just seeing if anybody else has had issues for my future purchases. Seems like a reasonable thing to do imo.
 
I order 95% of my stuff from NB, the other 5% I get from the LHBS only out of necessity.

One of my many orders included a Better Bottle when I got the package I noticed that the bottle had a dent the size of a silver dollar on the top side. I called them and explained the issue and how I was concerned that even if I pop the dent out there might be a few small inconstancies that could be a comfy home for infection. The man on the line told me not to worry they use many BBs that have dents without issue, but he offered to refund me the money for the bottle and let me keep it!!

Now thats customer service, bc of that move I will always order with NB.
 
Lots of great customer stories, i'm sold. My mill works great too and was pretty fast delivery. Now i'm wondering if I screwed up the thread myself reading what Malintent and joety said.
 
broadbill said:
+1000 to these comments. If you shoot them an email and you don't hear back, the next step is a phone call, not to complain on a discussion forum for all to see.

This thread is only a few hours old and we've already had the the people coming to NB's defense, those coming out and saying they've had crappy customer service from NB, and even people who feel they need to complain about another homebrew mail-order shop, completely unrelated to NB. What's the point?
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What's wrong with asking on a discussion board? We are a community here, we can offer advice on how to deal with the situation and the OP can get other peoples experiences.
 
The only thing wrong with putting something on this board is you are getting only one side of the story. The age old adage we have all heard is true: There are 3 sides of the story each persons and the truth somewhere in the middle.

As an operations officer for a top company, I know I would rather hear what we are doing bad and can improve on than being told we are great all the time.

With this being said how the customer approaches serving up the compliant or improvement goes a long way. If they are respectable, clear on the problem and tell me what the would like or see changed, you will get a better outcome. Putting it on this board isn't going to solve anything.

Any company worth anything will welcome the bad news and make a quick and fair decision to fix the problem. If not, that is a huge red flag to not do business with that company. If you continue that is your problem. Competition is a good thing if utilized.

NB included. My last two orders have been with them. They have arrived on time, good packaging and a little extra goodie thrown in.
 
Fair enough. Our opinions will just differ on the matter.


I just dont know why people are so attached to these vendors and cry foul when somebody posts an issue. Most of the time its a legitimate issue and its not like the OPs are trying to trash their business, but trying to get other peoples opinion on the vendors.

There have been homebrew vendors which have sucked, and should be avoided. People with bad or unethical business practices should be outed. Now northern brewer is great, they are awesome, but how is the OP suppose to know if he cant ask about them or share his experience on a discussion board. Because of the feedback on the forum the OP is probably more likely to use then again.

I take issue with a popular vendor on hbt, ive gotten several bad kits and messed up orders. Im probably just unlucky but i cant say anything because ill be crucified on here. (yes ive contacted them and they havent been great in rectifying the situation).
 
doctorRobert said:
I just dont know why people are so attached to these vendors and cry foul when somebody posts an issue. Most of the time its a legitimate issue and its not like the OPs are trying to trash their business, but trying to get other peoples opinion on the vendors.
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People get upset because one email to a vendor does not equal a satisfactory effort on the part of the consumer to get a problem rectified. Whenever I have had an order screwed up, regardless of the vendor, the first thing I do is pick up the damn phone and call them...

Threads like this should be reserved for companies that are habitually bad or do not respond to any avenue of communication.
 
+1 on the Phone Call. If you send an e-mail you don't know if the person who gets the e-mails is out on vacation and somebody is supposed to check that person's in-box. Even though this is the information age I don't understand why people don't communicate either in person or over the phone. If my LHBS, www.rebelbrewer.com was to screw up my order I wouldn't send them an e-mail. I would call first to let them know that something isn't right with the order and that I am on my way back to get whatever was needed to make the order right.
 
1234 said:
+1 on the Phone Call. If you send an e-mail you don't know if the person who gets the e-mails is out on vacation and somebody is supposed to check that person's in-box. Even though this is the information age I don't understand why people don't communicate either in person or over the phone.
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Slightly :off: but this is a big beef of mine at work. Folks will send me an email and then wash their hands of the issue like it's been "solved". When I inquire several days later what the status is I get a "well I sent you an email." I get 200 emails a day at work, sometimes things get missed.
 

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