Austin Homebrew Supply

[NorthRiverS]

I agree with all of the above. I liked the old website layout. Sure it could have been tweeked to improve it, but this was NOT an improvement.......

NRS

 

[Homercidal]

Moved thread to the Company Review forum.

 

[one-L]

Just tried to go check it out, only to get a smart donkey popup response saying "Old fashioned values are great, but you should really update your browser if you want this site to work properly. We're just saying..." and the site wont load at all. So what I am "just saying" is I guess I wont be buying from them anymore. You know, just saying...

 

[garcia]

Prices on kits are higher, unless my memory doesn't serve me well. The dry yeast can no longer get omitted, etc. Several things are not all that cool.
Oh yeah, I couldn't keep my account either. :-(

I shop Texas first, so will continue to purchase from them, but will consider looking elsewhere.

 

[dford]

I think Austin blew it with the roll out of the new web site. Just checked prices for an order of grain,hop's and yeast and compared them to another major online retailer. $73.16 compared to AHS price of 85.99 including shipping on both for the exact same products. I'll compare price's from now on but AHS had been my go to homebrew supply in the past.

 

[r2eng]

OK... wasn't going to post, but feel I have to.

Retro is in, and the retro logo is solid in design and current trends. You may not like it, and that's totally fine. But it is not a ill-conceived, crap design by some kid with Adobe Illustrator.

Website usability is always a crapshoot. I totally get the differing opinions, though. I am a bit agnostic on whether the new or old site is easier to navigate, but I use the search functions mostly, anyway.

However, if you like the vendor and the goods sold, it's not like you need to hunt for what you need any more than before. In all honesty, there are other vendors that have far worse sites to navigate.

I totally get airing the opinions, do not get me wrong. Having many more years in the business than I care to admit, the design is not bad. My $0.02 - yes, it's only my opinion, feel free to disagree, but I still order from them!

 

[Pappers_]

Love the new website, much easier to use and looks great. Found what I wanted easily, no problem in ordering and received it in 5 days.

 

[Yellowirenut]

The new site is not bad.. just different from what they had.
I thought the old one was clumsy and a bit frustrating. You still have to backtrack when filling out a grain bill is my only complain. I get a few items from them if there is a large gap in price from someone more local. As with what was said above, they try to choose Texas distributors, I try to choose ones from Indiana/Michigan because its "local"

Personally I think AIH Has the best site design for malt and hops selecting.

 

[Tippsy-Turvy]

I always buy from AHS nowadays. They have more recipes kits than i can brew in a lifetime and I love how their kits offer so many choices, such as mini-mash or extract, DME or LME etc.

Sure, their new website had teething problems but since then it seems no worse than the old one.

 

[DromJohn]

I miss the old website's ability to sort search results.

 

[Pappers_]

A reminder to keep the posts in the Company Review section to reviews. If you are a customer and want to share your experience, please do. Positive or negative reviews are welcome, but they must be reviews and you must be an actual customer.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

I've never had any problems with Austin Homebrew, and I've used them a lot...I have to admit, since a LHBS opened just 2 miles from me, and now have 2 home brew shops withing 7 miles from me, I don't shop on line much anymore.
Does Austin Homebrew still have the extremely cheap shipping rates?

 

[livetaswim06]

Some notes from the order. Called AHS and asked what kind of yeasts were included in the kits and they were US-05 for the Budget IPA and US-04 for the Toasted Coconut Porter.

Just got my kits, everything was packed really well. No issues with repackaging of yeast or anything, the Safale yeasts were in retail packs.

 

[Rhumbline]

I just placed an order, I had to re-enter all my info but I was prepared for that.

The site hung up several times during the order process. I'll have to see if I get three orders or whatever.

Updated to add.

This is the receipt I just got... What am I supposed to make of this? The amounts are correct, but could it be any more confusing?


Order Summary:

Item
Qty
Brief Description
Options
Rate
Amount
8 x 1 3/4 First Quality Corks (120 Corks) 1 #8 x 1 3/4" corks Amount: 1, Fractional Amount: 0, Group Number: X8J84ZEL $16.99 $16.99

8 x 1 3/4 First Quality Corks 1 8 x 1 3/4 First Quality Corks Additional Items: 4558;, Additionals: 8 x 1 3/4 First Quality Corks (120 Corks) (Adds $16.99), Amount: 1, Fractional Amount: 0, Group Number: X8J84ZEL $0.00

Bottle Caps (4.5 oz) 1 Standard 26mm bottle caps. Amount: 1, Fractional Amount: 0, Group Number: w8d9atId $1.79 $1.79

Wyeast Belgian Saison 3724 2 Wyeast Belgian Saison 3724 Amount: 2, Fractional Amount: 0, Group Number: w8d9atId $6.99 $13.98

AHS Hibiscus Ginger Saison (21A) - LEX 1 AHS Hibiscus Ginger Saison (21A) - LEX Amount: 1, Fractional Amount: 0, Group Number: w8d9atId $56.59 $56.59

AHS Hibiscus Ginger Saison (21A) 1 Select Recipe Style Milling Option: Milled Grain, Additional Items: 8226;1190;1190;4576;, Additionals: AHS Hibiscus Ginger Saison (21A) - LEX (Adds $56.59)Wyeast Belgian Saison 3724 (Adds $6.99)Wyeast Belgian Saison 3724 (Adds $6.99)Bottle Caps (4.5 oz) (Adds $1.79), Amount: 1, Fractional Amount: 0, Group Number: w8d9atId $0.00

Wyeast Belgian Witbier 3944 1 Wyeast Belgian Witbier 3944 Amount: 1, Fractional Amount: 0, Group Number: bUsmIjU7 $6.99 $6.99

AHS Belgian White Beer (16A) - LEX 1 AHS Belgian White Beer (16A) - LEX Amount: 1, Fractional Amount: 0, Group Number: bUsmIjU7 $36.99 $36.99

AHS Belgian White Beer (16A) 1 Select Recipe Style Milling Option: Milled Grain, Additional Items: 7569;1196;, Additionals: AHS Belgian White Beer (16A) - LEX (Adds $36.99)Wyeast Belgian Witbier 3944 (Adds $6.99), Amount: 1, Fractional Amount: 0, Group Number: bUsmIjU7 $0.00

Subtotal $133.33
Shipping & Handling $7.99
Tax 0.00
Total $141.32

 

[livetaswim06]

I think their system is still having issues with separation of back and front office systems. Your receipt looks back office, and god forbid anyone tries to go to My Account>Enter an Order and then attempts to fill out the form which is 100% back office (should the customer really be able to see this stuff?)

 

[aubiecat]

Thanks for losing my order history AHS.

 

[Mad4sax]

I have ordered several times from AHB. Today my login didn't work. I tried to enter my email for password change and the site said my email was not known. But then it did email me a link to reset my password?? I did and now I am logged in. But it has lost all my info and orders.

 

[Rhumbline]

I got my order. Ordered on Sunday, came on Friday. That's fine.

Fortunately they haven't fooled around with the kits except for the useless dry yeast addition but maybe I can use it for pizza.

The real gripe is the site. I don't care about the appearance, that's a personal preference thing.

It's the function that sucks. Yes they lost all my data and order history, the order confirmations are illegible, the order update page doesn't work, and I have to log out and log back in every time I visit the site.

I'd love to hear what the reasoning was behind the shift. I suspect they hired somebody's nephew as the new IT guy.

 

[Pappers_]

I just placed an order with Austin and found the website to be exceptionally easy to use. Found what I was looking for in two clicks, paid and was done in two or three minutes.

 

[krenshaw]

yeah what is with their change online? i ordered a couple batches from them a couple weeks ago, after being a customer for probably 30 batches or so, and they don't have a history or anything of my previous orders any longer.. made the process a bit longer than usual

 

[czmkid]

Customer service, what's that? I hate writing things like this but feel the need to after my In store experience today.

Went in on Friday to pick up two kits that I was going to brew back to back on Saturday. Started to brew with kit #1 and finished that one, cleaned up and went to start kit #2, but noticed 1lb of dme was missing....bummer. Had to wait till Sunday as it was late to go back down to the store to pick up the dme. So now I have to make time to brew this other kit today instead of when I actually had time on Saturday. Not to mention the hour round trip to get back down to the store.

I suggested to the guys out front that it might be nice to throw in some beer line for my trouble. They went back to ask the manager and came back with a 'no' the manager said so. I don't know what is worse, the fact that the manager didn't bother to come out and tell me himself or the fact that obviously my time and trouble for THEIR MISTAKE was not worth a bit of plastic tube. Hell, it would have even been a nice gesture on their part if they picked up 1/2 the cost of the new liquid out line IMO.

Been a long time local customer, 5 years every 3 weeks I'm picking up kits....didn't expect this type of customer service.

 

[Teromous]

Since when did customer service equate to getting free stuff?

Bad customer service: "I went back and told them I was missing 1lb of DME and they told me to screw off."

Good customer service: "I went back and told them I was missing 1lb of DME and they gave it to me."

 

[ron,ar]

Teromous has it close to right, but it would have been nice if they had offered on their own to help make it right. You can always use online shopping from hundreds of miles away.....it's always convenient...not!!!

 

[czmkid]

Since when did customer service equate to getting free stuff?

Bad customer service: "I went back and told them I was missing 1lb of DME and they told me to screw off."

Good customer service: "I went back and told them I was missing 1lb of DME and they gave it to me."

Wow.....

How about it should have been in the bag in the first place. Not that hard to get it right. Should the customer have to double check the ingredients/ contents of the bag every time they leave ANY store? Nope.

So what is your time and trouble worth Teromous?

 

[Airplanedoc]

Bad customer service: "I went back and told them I was missing 1lb of DME and they told me to screw off."

Good customer service: "I went back and told them I was missing 1lb of DME and they gave it to me."

Outstanding Customer Service: "I went back and told them I was missing 1lb of DME and they gave it to me and gave me me __________ for my troubles."

 

[kcmobrewer]

Dunno about everyone else, but I check my bag(s) to make sure I have all the stuff I went there for...

 

[Weezy]

Since when did customer service equate to getting free stuff?

Bad customer service: "I went back and told them I was missing 1lb of DME and they told me to screw off."

Good customer service: "I went back and told them I was missing 1lb of DME and they gave it to me."

You're right. Customer service ≠ free stuff.

But

Going to a public forum and relating your customer service experience is an important part of a free market economy. When people stop relating their experiences, we loose choices. We end up having to buy what is available and not necessarily what we want.

 

[Teromous]

Wow.....

How about it should have been in the bag in the first place. Not that hard to get it right. Should the customer have to double check the ingredients/ contents of the bag every time they leave ANY store? Nope.

So what is your time and trouble worth Teromous?

Yeah, and people mess up. I ordered a bunch of stuff from Bargain Fittings and they forgot to send me the entire weldless cooler bulkhead kit. I called the guy up and he sent me one. I ordered a bunch of stuff from Northern Brewer and they forgot a couple of ounces of hops. I got on their live chat and they sent me the hops lickety-split. I went to my LHBS and the lady forgot all of my crushed base grain and only gave me the specialty malts. I commented that the the bag seemed light and she apologized and went to get it. I didn't receive one of my issues of BYO, so I called them up. They said that sometimes things get lost in the mail and sent me a new magazine. All of these people are good to go in my mind, because they corrected the issue.

I understand that it is nice to get free stuff when somebody messes up, but that should come as an offering to you, and not as an expectation or a demand.

In any event you've stirred up enough attention in this thread that it will likely attract Forrest and he'll probably end up giving you a coupon or something to squash the beef.

 

[Pappers_]

Moderators merged this into the Austin Homebrew Supply review thread. Keeping all the reviews together makes it easier for other brewers to find them.

Please keep posts in this thread (and all review threads) to factual sharing of your experience as an actual customer. Responding to other people's experiences as customers isn't helpful, in the long term. We can all interpret someone's customer experience for ourselves. There are 12 pages of reviews in this thread, plenty to give someone a sense of what they might expect as a customer.

Back to the reviews . . .

 

[Rhumbline]

I'm ready to bottle the two kits I ordered recently so I went back to check out some more kits, I thought I'd maybe do a couple stouts for long term aging and maybe another Belgian.

Almost every kit I looked at was out of stock, I think all of the Belgian kits were out. I hope it's just a computer glitch.