Blichmann Shortage

[surfingpl]

For anyone who recently received their top tier stand and burners - are the brackets for mounting the burners to the stand polished on the wrong side? I finally got my stuff (hooray) and the burner mounting brackets are shiny and nice on the inside, and scratched up and etched on the outside. Seems like it should be the other way.

 

[emjay]

My Blichmann stuff (15Gal kettle, Therminator plate chiller, HopRocket, and HopBlocker) arrived at my LHBS on Friday. I can pick it up whenever I want. I live about an hour away though, so I need to wait for a good chunk of time to go grab it

I could have had it mailed to me, but the items are big and heavy so I imagine it'd be pricey, and I don't want to risk even the slightest dent to that sexy hunk of metal if I don't have to Besides, if I can't find a few hours to go get it, I certainly won't have the 7-8 hours required for my next brewday!

 

[Mayday99]

My problem with this whole thing is the lack of communication from Blichmann. I sent off an email to them and they just referred me back to the retailer.

Your telling me they can't look up my name and address since THEY are the ones shipping it to me? 1 month for a burner seems a tad ridiculous. I love my Boilermaker, but I'd like to see a little more on the customer service end or at least an "your order will ship on xx/xx" email.

 

[ruffdeezy]

For anyone who recently received their top tier stand and burners - are the brackets for mounting the burners to the stand polished on the wrong side? I finally got my stuff (hooray) and the burner mounting brackets are shiny and nice on the inside, and scratched up and etched on the outside. Seems like it should be the other way.

Nothing stood out for me, I think both sides look the same. But I could have easily missed it. Will check it out later.

 

[emjay]

My problem with this whole thing is the lack of communication from Blichmann. I sent off an email to them and they just referred me back to the retailer.

Your telling me they can't look up my name and address since THEY are the ones shipping it to me? 1 month for a burner seems a tad ridiculous. I love my Boilermaker, but I'd like to see a little more on the customer service end or at least an "your order will ship on xx/xx" email.

Why? Your business wasn't with Blichmann, it was with whatever homebrew supply shop you placed the order with. You were referred to the retailer because not only should you have been, but you also should have contacted the retailer to begin with.

As a manufacturer/supplier, they generally only deal directly with the retailers regarding matters of logistics, and so it's unlikely they're really equipped to be dealing with every single end-user's concerns about their orders because they have no reason to, and aren't really reasonably expected to. The email you got back is exactly what I would have expected, as they simply wouldn't have the staff/resources for communicating about such matters with every single customer, and if they were going to employ the people and do everything else necessary, they might as well just start selling the products from their own website.

I'm not trying to blindly make excuses for Blichmann here, but the fact is that you ordered it from another company, and part of their role as a retailer is to commit the time and resources to both conducting sales/taking orders, and providing support for the sales/orders. That's pretty much the purpose of a retail business. They can talk with their suppliers about certain supply/logistics matters if necessary, in which case they would talk to the right people from Blichmann ONCE, and then they'd have the information needed to provide support to all of their own customers - people like you and me. The fact that Blichmann often dropships doesn't change their role, responsibilities, or this hierarchy in general.

That's not to say Blichmann doesn't provide any customer support. As a manufacturer of their own brand of products, they almost certainly deal with questions and issues regarding the actual products themselves. They employ and train the people necessary to deal with this end-user aspect of customer service, and it's quite likely these people don't even have access to information on specific orders that are being dropshipped. They probably employ 1 or 2 people to deal with retailers on a day to day basis that do.

Heck, if they suddenly decided to pay for the people and resources necessary to provide direct customer service to individual end-consumers - time, money, and resources that are typically the retailer's responsibility - they would have to raise prices for the sole purpose of changing the email address I need to type in when asking about a delay or whatever, something of no real benefit to consumers.

Or if they wanted to keep the price the same, they could really piss off retailers and cover the cost by keeping MSRPs or retail price agreements the same while charging more to the retailer - which makes some sense because these ARE costs that are traditionally paid for (and handled) by the retailer. But this also highlights how stupid it would be, because the retailer can do it much more cheaply; since providing order support is something they already have to do anyways - some of them in far larger volumes than a single supplier would have to - their marginal cost for providing support for orders containing solely Blichmann products (since they'd still have to provide support for mixed orders regardless) would be far smaller than the cost to Blichmann.

Bottom line, there are a bunch of valid reasons why Blichmann would tell you to contact the retailer, mainly because your question is one that retailers are responsible for dealing with. I could see how the dropshipping might confuse things for you, but that really doesn't shift the job to the supplier and/or manufacturer, and you should have contacted your retailer in the first place, which would be the normal thing to do. You're complaining about their customer service when they did precisely what they should have. Maintaining the resources necessary to be able to answer every email like yours to your satisfaction would cost money and, ultimately, increased product prices. It might be a small increase, and I'm actually the kind of person who would rather have good customer service rather than save a few dollars. But in this case it would be sheer stupidity because it would be completely redundant - the retailer already has the resources to provide the EXACT same responses, and there is absolutely no reason to waste even more money just so we can have two sources for the same info. If the retailer's customer service is insufficient, rather than expect Blichmann to pick up their slack, I'd instead start looking for a more competent retailer.

You're free to go ahead and judge Blichmann's customer service poorly if you want, but I'll reserve my own judgment for if/when I have a question or issue that is actually appropriate for a manufacturer.

 

[surfingpl]

Nothing stood out for me, I think both sides look the same. But I could have easily missed it. Will check it out later.

Thanks. If anybody else's look rough - I hit mine with a scrubbie and some bar keeper's friend and they look good now. Almost ready to fire the burners for the first time. :rockin:

 

[ruffdeezy]

Actually mine are a bit scratched and nice and shiny in the inside. Not really that bad though and I'm not worried about it.

 

[SourHopHead]

LHBS still has not got any in, but AHS shows inventory arriving on May 6th. I can only hope we get a few here. I am almost out of beer!!!

 

[NattyBrew]

I placed an order for three 20 gallon Blichmann Boilermakers way back on March 13th and haven't heard on that status of my shipment yet. The site I ordered through, Rebel Brewer, said "End of April" they were expected to ship. I am hoping I get some shipment information soon. I'll update everyone if I get a tracking number here in the next week or two.

Matt

 

[cyraxx]

My friend and I just bought a 15 gallon Boilermaker yesterday at our LHBS. It was a "blemished" item, which turned out to just be some small markings on the inside of the kettle, but we got 10% off which was nice.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

My Blichmann stuff (15Gal kettle, Therminator plate chiller, HopRocket, and HopBlocker) arrived at my LHBS on Friday. I can pick it up whenever I want. I live about an hour away though, so I need to wait for a good chunk of time to go grab it

I could have had it mailed to me, but the items are big and heavy so I imagine it'd be pricey, and I don't want to risk even the slightest dent to that sexy hunk of metal if I don't have to Besides, if I can't find a few hours to go get it, I certainly won't have the 7-8 hours required for my next brewday!

FWIW, you can buy it from one of the online HB shops that has free or flat rate shipping. I can't remember if I paid $5.99 or nothing when I had mine shipped. It gets shipped to your LHBS so the risk of dentage is about the same. At today's gas prices, even $7.99 might be cheaper than a trip back/forth an hour away! Not to mention it just shows up at your doorstep.

There was also a shortage of Boilermakers back when I got mine around christmas-time of '09. They weren't shipping but their website made no mention of it and encouraged people to order. I didn't think Blichmann handled it very well at all. I really like the FB but other than that they're just OK. And the lid falls off if you just look at it wrong (very poor design for the lid imo).

 

[pfooti]

FWIW, you can buy it from one of the online HB shops that has free or flat rate shipping. I can't remember if I paid $5.99 or nothing when I had mine shipped. It gets shipped to your LHBS so the risk of dentage is about the same. At today's gas prices, even $7.99 might be cheaper than a trip back/forth an hour away! Not to mention it just shows up at your doorstep.

Heh, yeah- I had my entire order (toptier, three burners, three pots, therminator, fb, etc) shipped from NB for $7.99.

 

[emjay]

Unfortunately, flat-rate shipping is a pretty rare phenomenon in Canada

 

[SourHopHead]

LHBS got an email from Blichmann's saying backorders are being filled. Hope to be brewing again next week!

 

[bumstigedy]

Congratulations! Hopefully lhbs will give u a tracking # when it ships.

 

[NattyBrew]

Nice! Now I can finally get my hands on the products I paid for almost two months ago! If I get tracking number on my order which was placed through Rebel Brewer I will let you guys know.

Matt

 

[Option]

Read this thread on Monday and started to get worried since ive been waiting on a 15gal Boilermaker for a while now, then got a call on Wednesday saying it was in!!! Yay! Im excited! Hope everyones orders get filled soon.

 

[icenine]

Anyone else receive word on whether stock is indeed in/shipping?

 

[NattyBrew]

I just got in touch with Rebel Brewer asking the same question regarding an update and they have been told by Blichmann that they received stock and began filling orders last week. They have started with the oldest orders first so it all depends on when your order was placed. I had mine in by mid to late March for three 20 gallon kettles and haven't received any shipping info yet.

I'll post back here once I do, hopefully soon.

Matt

 

[jmark]

If it helps, my order of 3 20-gallon kettles arrived today. My order was placed on March 13th - maybe that'll help guage where you might stand. I also ordered a Hop Rocket, but that's still on back order.

EDIT - also done via Rebel Brewer

 

[NattyBrew]

Just an update for everyone out there, I received my three 20 gallon kettles yesterday via Fed Ex successfully. I had placed my order on March 23rd via Rebel Brewer. Sadly one of my kettles had a golf ball size dent on the base so I am working with Blichmann to get that resolved.

Happy Brewing all!

Matt

 

[hinke]

I ordered three 20 gallons BoilerMakers yesterday from Northern Brewer. We'll see how long it takes'em, but they said about 4 weeks.

 

[Wobbegong]

Ordered a 10 gallon pot today.

I Was told they are in stock at Blichmann, but they are working thru shipping the backorders. They estimated a week or two.

 

[hinke]

I also got the top tier with three burners. Can't wait....

 

[SourHopHead]

My order arrived at the LHBS yesterday and we picked it up today!!!

 

[hinke]

Did any of you guys receive a tracking number or notification that the product was shipped from Blichmann?

 

[jmark]

I got a note from the HBS (Rebel Brewer) that included the tracking numbers, but nothing directly from Blichmann.

 

[tandom590]

I ordered 2-20 Gallon Boilermakers and 1- 30 Gallon, along with false bottom and hop blocker from Brewmasters Warehouse on 3-14-11 and have yet to receive my order. I have contacted BMW multiple times (Probably 20) and Blichmann. BMW never gave me an update about what is going on, unless I asked. I already have a job, it should not be my job to track my own order. Blichmann did tell me that they received my order on 5-12-11. So basically, BMW didn't send my order into Blichmann until two months after I ordered the items but they were quick to take my money out of my account within 2 days (3-16-11). I have never been so disappointed/frustrated. I know alot of people on this forum praise BMW on their service but in this case they Fail. I haven't brewed beer in 3 months because I thought I was going to receive my kettles two months ago, my fridge is empty. I have 3 all-grain kits that have been sitting in my basement for 2 months. I just want my stuff so I can move on with my life. Here's to brewing some time this year "Cheers"

 

[Mpez]

I ordered 2-20 Gallon Boilermakers and 1- 30 Gallon, along with false bottom and hop blocker from Brewmasters Warehouse on 3-14-11 and have yet to receive my order. I have contacted BMW multiple times (Probably 20) and Blichmann. BMW never gave me an update about what is going on, unless I asked. I already have a job, it should not be my job to track my own order. Blichmann did tell me that they received my order on 5-12-11. So basically, BMW didn't send my order into Blichmann until two months after I ordered the items but they were quick to take my money out of my account within 2 days (3-16-11). I have never been so disappointed/frustrated. I know alot of people on this forum praise BMW on their service but in this case they Fail. I haven't brewed beer in 3 months because I thought I was going to receive my kettles two months ago, my fridge is empty. I have 3 all-grain kits that have been sitting in my basement for 2 months. I just want my stuff so I can move on with my life. Here's to brewing some time this year "Cheers"

That is crazy. Screw both of them. Cancel and get your money back and order some kettles from morebeer. They are nice and you will get them quick.

 

[Nwalesmith]

I ordered 2-20 Gallon Boilermakers and 1- 30 Gallon, along with false bottom and hop blocker from Brewmasters Warehouse on 3-14-11 and have yet to receive my order. I have contacted BMW multiple times (Probably 20) and Blichmann. BMW never gave me an update about what is going on, unless I asked. I already have a job, it should not be my job to track my own order. Blichmann did tell me that they received my order on 5-12-11. So basically, BMW didn't send my order into Blichmann until two months after I ordered the items but they were quick to take my money out of my account within 2 days (3-16-11). I have never been so disappointed/frustrated. I know alot of people on this forum praise BMW on their service but in this case they Fail. I haven't brewed beer in 3 months because I thought I was going to receive my kettles two months ago, my fridge is empty. I have 3 all-grain kits that have been sitting in my basement for 2 months. I just want my stuff so I can move on with my life. Here's to brewing some time this year "Cheers"

I am with you. Ordered my gear at the beginning of April and was told it finally shipped today after multiple delays. I asked for consessions or discounts on shipping and was told no. If I was not so far along in the process, I would have cancelled. I will think twice before buying from Blichmann again....