BrewNanny - What do you think?

[unionrdr]

Yeah, they certainly have had enough time to get the bugs out & make good on orders...

 

[AF1HomeBrew]

I would suggest that people who have "purchased" the Brew Nanny look into Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation. Massachusetts has pretty strong consumer protection laws and failing to deliver a product after taking payment for it should apply.

Keep in mind that Massachusetts state law is going to override any Kickstarter terms of service. If the law says you can't use unfair or deceptive business practices you can't just make a contract that says "my client allows unfair and deceptive business practices" and do business in Massachusetts.

The people who bought these things should really get together and file a class action lawsuit.

Thanks for the info. Just filed a complaint with the Attorney General of Illinois. Will also be sending them copies of the full page ads that were in BYO & Zymurgy.

 

[AF1HomeBrew]

Looking thru my copies of Zymurgy & BYO... the following pages show advertisements for the BrewNanny... Still looking for more, but here's a listing:

Zymurgy Nov/Dec 2014 listed in their Holiday Gift Guide with a photo and blurb p.64
Brew Your Own Dec 2014 Full page ad on p. 41
Brew Your Own Nov 2014 full page ad p. 31

These ads market this as a real product!

 

[AF1HomeBrew]

After finding the full page ads, I began putting the rest of my documentation together to send to the Attorney General...

Amazing to see how he has strung this thing along...

Apr. 3, 2014 Credit Card Charged by Amazon Payments / Kickstarter for 1 BrewNanny Pro

Jun 2014 - Original Deadline

Jun 29,2014 - Kickstarter Update -

So I am planning on shipping the first units on July 17th. The projected schedule for all units is as follows:
• Early bird Pro July 17 – 21
•Early bird Base July 21 – 26
•Remaining Pro Orders July 26 – Aug 7
•Remaining Base Orders Aug 4 – Aug 15

...No BrewNanny

Aug.18th,2014 Kickstarter Update - Mailing List Update

Sept. 2,2014 Your BrewNanny Shipment Info and More
Our new site will not launch until September 6th. Rather than make you wait until then we are sending your shipment info here. Your BrewNanny is scheduled to be manufactured and tested on Sept 25th. Shipping can be the same day or 1 -2 days later. We have had to juggle our original schedule to try and expedite manufacturing. So we will not necessarily be shipping in the order we received the pledges as originally planned. This scheme gets the entire production out in the fastest possible way and keeps the quality levels consistent with our standards. It has been a long summer here and I am sure you guys are anxious to get going with your brewing too....

...No BrewNanny

Oct 1,2014 - Email to Kickstarters: Kickstarter Founders Update
Well we are at the turning point. The product is done, the design is frozen, we are putting them together and they are wonderful. We have a snag though. We have been duking it out with the insurance company over our product liability policy. We will continue to manufacture and build up stock and as soon as this issue is resolved out the door they go. I need to show you, even though I have been advised not to, the finished product. We have been preparing for the next stage, after we ship and fulfill the Kickstarter Founders, which is to put these on the market. We have some super photographs and I am going to show you one of them and explain what we have done. The design now sports more metal for structural integrity and UV biocide lamps to keep the valve train clean. I have posted one of our ad photos at here for you to look at.

...No BrewNanny

Nov. 7,2014 - Email to Kickstarters Brewnanny is Shipping
We are out of issues, we are finishing up the products for the orders and making a minor modification to the power connector to keep the insurance guys off our backs We will being shipping the week of November 17th and will have all Kickstarter orders shipped before the end of the month. I will be giving you a full update over the weekend along with your access codes to the online ordering system. But I just wanted to let you know where we stood as soon as I knew.

...No BrewNanny

Nov.14,2014 - Email to Kickstarters BrewNanny Order Information and Update
Well we are finally here. We will be shipping in about a week and will have all orders fulfilled by the end of the month. Thank-you for your patience. The bottom of this email contains your user name and password for the brewnany.com store where you can track your orders. Please double check your order items closely, we have had to scan a lot of emails to update the information and there may be a few errors here and there. But we have time to make corrections so please take the time to make sure we have it right. Your shipping address should be listed exactly as it needs to be for your order to reach you without issue.....

...No BrewNanny

Nov. 14,2014 Kickstarter Update - Final Project Update
Dec.4,2014 - Kickstarter Update - Delivery Status
Dec.23,2014 - Kickstarter Update - Shipping Daily!
Jan.23,2015 Kickstarter Update - Rant about backers pestering where their rewards are.
Feb 12, 2015 - Kickstarter Update - New Support Ticket process / new person assigned to Customer Service

Feb.16, 2015 Your BrewNanny support ticket reply was received. "ETA of shipment"
A reply was posted to one of your support tickets. The content of the ticket is: "We have experienced some production problems and are behind in our shipments. We hope to have all outstanding shipments sent within 4 to 4 weeks. We will notify you as soon as we have a firm shipment date for your order.The Support Team

...Will there ever be a BrewNanny?

 

[texwake]

AF1HomeBrew, thanks for the update. I bet they are having money issues and are embezzling money. Watch the next update be "We are filing for chapter 4 Bankruptcy".

 

[AF1HomeBrew]

Definitely will not be doing anymore backing of Kickstarter projects (I've backed 3 KS projects... I guess 2 out of 3 ain't bad). After communicating with Kickstarter and Amazon Payments - they are no help either.... These companies have no problem being the middlemen in the process and taking their cut of the money collected, but when the consumer has a problem they claim it is beyond their control to even lift a finger to make sure that the KS creator or project is legitimate. I see that someone on Kickstarter complained that the creator was having stones thrown at him, but if you look at what has transpired for almost a year nothing has been produced except false hopes (Updates from the creator since the end of June 2014 stating that the product is done and "will be shipping"...). After they created a site to market and sell these products (at a discount to what they were charging KS backers) they are no longer a person with a great idea that needs backing - but a company that has taken peoples money on false pretenses.

 

[Helloworld]

Wow, this is interesting. Glad I stayed away. Any updates from the company?

 

[AF1HomeBrew]

No updates. I have my credit card company and the Attorney General checking on them.

 

[Helloworld]

This sounds like some straight BS. Sorry to hear some of you got hosed.

 

[aviator01]

Glad you used a credit card and not a debit card. Always use a credit card for all online transactions. I hope they ship your BrewNanny, but if past performance is a good predictor of the future, I wouldn't count on it.

 

[bondra76]

if you used your credit card you should be able to dispute your charge through the CC company and get refunded. Debit card's don't always offer the same protection.

 

[unionrdr]

My debit card is backed by credit, so I can use it either way. But I prefer to use Paypal when I can. Supposed to give even more legal recourse. But I'm having serious doubts about Brewnanny.

 

[texwake]

I'm still waiting on those people that supposedly got one to say something.
I heard that you pretty much have no legal recourse if you buy something through paypal. They are just a middle man between two parties. My buddy uses them for his ticket sales and he says he tries not to leave cash in the paypal account if possible.

 

[AF1HomeBrew]

I'm still waiting on those people that supposedly got one to say something.

If you go into brewnnanny.com's support section you'll notice no one has submitted questions or comments about their brewnanny... Pretty certain there would be submissions in there from people trying to figure things out, deal with problems or share their experiences with it...

 

[cryhav0c]

Just got this from Brewnanny. I see they're still sending out offers to purchase. I already bought one and haven't got it yet. Came from Gary Lyons <[email protected]>

------------------------------------------
BrewNanny March Madness Continues

We are extending our 50% off discount until March 14th.

Get a BrewNanny regularly $498.00 for $249.00

Get a BrewNanny Pro regularly 696 for 348.00

Check out our new Learn to Brew Packages containing everything you need to start brewing the smart way with BrewNanny starting at $375.00

We have limited inventory for all deals so act now and don&#8217;t miss out on the opportunity to buy a BrewNanny or BrewNanny Pro for 50% off just use discount code MARCHMADDNESS at checkout

This notice is sent to you as a registered user at BrewNanny.com
---------------------------------------------

 

[wfstrasburg]

Yesterday (3/11/15) evening, I received the same 50% email, I replied I am still waiting to receive the unit I ordered in November of 2014.

 

[wfstrasburg]

I went to:
http://www.mass.gov/ocabr/consumer-...olve-a-problem/file-a-consumer-complaint.html

and filed a complaint against Lyon Labs LLC, 134 MASS MoCa Way, North Adams, MA 01247.

 

[Arrheinous]

We have limited inventory for all deals so act now and don’t miss out on the opportunity to buy a BrewNanny or BrewNanny Pro for 50% off just use discount code MARCHMADDNESS at checkout

This notice is sent to you as a registered user at BrewNanny.com
---------------------------------------------

I guess you could consider zero to be "limited" after all.

 

[AF1HomeBrew]

Came from Gary Lyons <[email protected]>

You sure it didn't come from Gary's Lying?

 

[cryhav0c]

This is just amazing to me. How can someone legally collect all this revenue, that he's obviously collected from all over the world, not communicate with purchasers in any way, (other than to stall or misuse a mailing list to contact them for new sales, attributable to ineptness or a further scam?), continue not deliver a product AND nobody's looking into it? This is beyond an annoyance and a curiosity. Somebody needs to investigate this and get people whom have spent money some answers. We deserve it.

 

[bondra76]

Will never buy from a kickstarter.

These people are just burning cash and using marketing/special deals to fund their ongoing failing operations.

 

[geoffey]

It's all very strange. How/why would he continue to spend advertising dollars if he's just been running a scam? But if it's not a scam and he's just continuing to have problems rolling out product, then why not communicate with his backers and why continue taking orders when there's clearly a problem? It doesn't make sense.

I don't think Kickstarter backers have much or any recourse. That's the nature of kickstarters is my understanding. But anyone else who's placed an order through his website probably has much stronger legal recourse.

 

[AF1HomeBrew]

The One thing we can do is let other Homebrewer's know how Brewnanny treats their backers/customers... 100% of his potential new customers are forum readers of HBT and AHA forums.

 

[AF1HomeBrew]

I don't think Kickstarter backers have much or any recourse. That's the nature of kickstarters is my understanding. But anyone else who's placed an order through his website probably has much stronger legal recourse.

Since he is also trying to sell via his website, I think KS backers might have a case....

 

[Andyoesq]

I didn't buy one, but here is the problem I have with it.
He says in his email "We have limited inventory for all deals so act now and don&#8217;t miss out on the opportunity to buy a BrewNanny or BrewNanny Pro for 50% off just use discount code MARCHMADDNESS at checkout".
As far as I can tell, not a single unit has shipped. so it appears to me either 1) this statement is an outright fraud (i.e. there is no inventory) or 2) there is inventory, but he is shipping them to people who are buying now, instead of filling many month old orders (unlikely, but if that was happening, you would think some of the people who are getting them would be posting reviews / questions etc.).

 

[rockydog101]

I didn't buy one, but here is the problem I have with it.
He says in his email "We have limited inventory for all deals so act now and don’t miss out on the opportunity to buy a BrewNanny or BrewNanny Pro for 50% off just use discount code MARCHMADDNESS at checkout".
As far as I can tell, not a single unit has shipped. so it appears to me either 1) this statement is an outright fraud (i.e. there is no inventory) or 2) there is inventory, but he is shipping them to people who are buying now, instead of filling many month old orders (unlikely, but if that was happening, you would think some of the people who are getting them would be posting reviews / questions etc.).

Their website says things like "33 in stock."

Clearly he hasn't shipped any known units. This has to be a big scam. Scary.

 

[texwake]

Great article on when kickstarter investers want their money back:

http://www.inc.com/eric-markowitz/when-kickstarter-investors-want-their-money-back.html

Sounds like yall better file suit.

 

[Andyoesq]

well, if anyone in NJ bought one, PM me. I may file suit on principle.

 

[Roadliner]

well glad I read this thread.. I was pretty interested in this when I saw it on an ad.

 

[rockydog101]

You sure it didn't come from Gary's Lying?

Has anyone looked up "Gary Lyons" in whatever city this vaporware is supposed to be produced in? And called him at his house? Or shown up on his doorstep? I had a crooked landlord in Brooklyn who owed me several thousand dollars and he avoided me like the plague. That is, until I showed up at his house in Long Island....