Hops Direct Service

[Baldy_Beer_Brewery]

Me, I paid like $7 to ship 2 lbs from WA to VA.

So yeah, don't worry about the shipping quote. They won't send you one. They'll just ship it. No tracking #, no quote, just one day you'll come home and there'll be hops on your doorstep.

My shipping for two pounds was $13 to Kansas UPS and I got a tracking number. My only regret ordering from them was I didn't order more at those prices and I didn't use the tracking number to my advantage to make a starer so I could brew the day they came in.

 

[bhs668]

I ordered on 9/8 and have received no shipping notice yet. I've emailed twice and talked to their answering service all three with no reply. I'm also concerned because my credit card has not even been charged yet.

 

[thedigitale]

You are calling them liars...

When they clearly have a disclaimer on thier site.

Thier discalimer is an ammendment to the email you recieved.

Go buy your hops somewhere else then... no need to complain.

First of all... show me where I called them a liar. I said that other people are telling me that they were lied to.

Second, email is a legal communication that has been upheld by courts, and so by if they do not send a shipping quote, then yes, they are lying.

While it is a annoying they are taking a little longer then usual. They are busy, it happens to everyone. They will still ship you your hops. Do you really need your hops by a certain date. Is it going to effect your life that much if you don't get them when you wanted?

Yes, I do need my hops by a certain date. The fact that they are busy doesn't take away from the fact that I am also busy, and can't always brew when they decide to get my hops here.

This thread wasn't meant to be a thread bashing hops direct. I was explaining what happened and asking what other people's experience was, so that I could determine what to do with my order to ensure that I would get my order when I needed it. While a few people actually answered the question, most of you decided that it was prudent to tell me to shut up and be patient, which does no one any good.

For those of you that think their prices make up for everything, I personally value my time, and have no problem paying a few dollars more to get something when I need it. That's why I started the thread, so I could determine if I should cancel my order and pay more elsewhere.

 

[bhs668]

I have dealt with them twice placing 2 orders over the past 2 weeks. The first order I placed on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, September 6th. The order was processed on Tuesday or Wednesday (2 or 3 days later) and I received them on Wednesday, 9-16. I placed my second order on Monday 9-14, received shipment confirmation on Wednesday 9-16, and have no complaints at all.

Am I not allowed to complain either seeing that Brutus ordered 6 days after me, got shipping notification two days later and I still haven't received shipping notification 12 days later?

 

[ISLAGI]

Not extremely helpful, but to get back to your original question...

I ordered 10# from HD on Saturday the 5th. I received a confirmation on Tuesday the 8th (Monday was Labor Day). I had my hops delivered on Weds. the 16th, so all told 11 days.

On the plus side, unlike some vendors that have been outed around here, HD has not charged your credit card.

Kind of s*x having your brew schedule messed up, but I guess just RDWHAHB.

Hope it works out for you...

 

[HenryHill]

I cannot break Law One.

 

[SCBrew]

I see no problem with people complaining. This is America right?

What you need to keep in mind is that this is a small family run farm. You are going to have quirks like delayed shipments etc. If it were me, and I needed my hops by a set time AND it was in the middle of their harvest, I would take my business elsewhere.

However, if I was not in a rush, they would have my business hands down. In fact, they are pretty much the only place I buy hops from.

I have been ordering from them for a while. I have had some issues from time to time but they have always been very good about making them right.

 

[Whut]

Considering how much overweight my past orders have been, I won't complain one bit.

I was surprised someone hadn't mentioned this earlier. When I ordered from them a few months back mine averaged 1.5oz. extra per package. I also recall reading in another thread where The Pol stating he had ordered 50lbs and his order was 4lbs. over. So yes they're busy, yes they're at a great price, and yes I agree with almost everyone else on here. Their statement on their web site explains everything. So RDWHAHB.

 

[LarissaEsq]

Am I not allowed to complain either seeing that Brutus ordered 6 days after me, got shipping notification two days later and I still haven't received shipping notification 12 days later?

Looks like there's more than one person who's dissatisfied.

I don't see any bitching, though. I see an honest few questions: Is it normal for me to not hear anything? Has this happened to anyone else? And when can I expect my hops?

Those are reasonable questions. Personally, I'd love to know what's precipitating the overly snarky reactions. Do you people have stock in this company, or what? Why do you sound so personally affronted because a vendor was merely questioned?

The guy wants to brew. He wants to know if he's going to be able to. You all should be able to understand that.

By the way, here's how a contract works:

Offer and acceptance, in this case, in writing. The vendor is offering it's wares by posting them on the site. The original poster accepted those wares by placing an order, yes, subject to the notice on the site that there may be something of a delay.

Any subsequent changes to the contract must be done, in writing (since the original contract was in writing). The confirmation email, whether drafted prior to the order, whether an automated email or not, is a subsequent communication. It therefore, under contract law, takes precedence over the notice on the site.

This vendor needs to learn a couple things:
(1) Edit your communications to accurately reflect your circumstances. This does not take much.
(2) If you want to run a good business, do not take advantage of your customers. Especially your new customers. Loyal customers are a wonderful thing, but you people will not live forever. You might not even keep brewing forever. A good, ongoing business needs a constant influx of new customers. Making them happy is key.

I know. I run TWO businesses, in two very different arenas.

 

[RayInUT]

Wow! Thanks for the heads up on the new low prices. I'll be placing an order tomorrow. Who cares how long they take to get here? I've ordered from them plenty. No worries!

 

[LarissaEsq]

People who have other things to do with their time and have schedules from which to work care how long products take to get to them.

 

[ISLAGI]

So is thedigitale the brewer mentioned in your profile?

 

[LarissaEsq]

If he was, would it change the fact that one of the businesses of which I spoke was my law practice? Either way, I happen to know what a contract is.

Would it change the fact that I have successfully run my other business for the past 6 years, consistently keeping both old and new customers happy? Either way, I know the value of good customer relations.

I also am bright enough to see that thedigitale was the only person being targeted with snarkiness when he was not the only person speaking up and questioning the business practices of the vendor in question. The other people were simply ignored. Why? Aren't we too old for cliques?

 

[HenryHill]

What was the name of that movie....?

Ya know, the one where this lawyer guy from out east goes down south to defend his cousin, but doesn't quite understand how things work outside of his urban experience?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104952/quotes

 

[LarissaEsq]

One of my favorites. He also happened to be an excellent, if low-brow, attorney. Plus, this was one of the few law-related movies that was actually fairly accurate with regard to procedure.

I must ask, though, what on earth has this got to do with whether a contract is valid, what terms are housed therein, and what makes for good customer service?

Urban or sticks, my friend, law is law. Customer service is customer service. You can't get around it by saying "Hey, y'all, we just move slower out here." If by moving more slowly, you're breaching a contract, you need to either (1) move more quickly or (2) edit your stated policies to fit your actual practice.

No one's asked them to move faster. Just to edit their confirmation email to accurately reflect what they plan to do.

By the way, with regard to my non law-related business, I deal with vendors all over the country, and in fact the world. I've never had an issue like this one... even with the vendors in Texas.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

NOTICE:

There are now a few deleted posts in this thread. We do not tolerate personal attacks, insults, name calling, and the like. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

 

[LarissaEsq]

I am amused, by the way, by the fact that I can get supplies faster from Scotland than you all can from Washington.

 

[bhs668]

After realizing another person on the boards placed their order the same day as me and got email confirmation 6 days later while I have heard nothing at all is not good service.
Especially having since discovering this information having sent two emails with no reponse and then calling trying to get an answer to determine why with no call back, is NOT good customer service, no matter how swamped and cheap they are and how much I need to plan ahead.
I agree that the service leaves much to be desired.

 

[jtucker101]

to me, 1-2 business days and a note on the website stating they are experiencing delays would mean if I ordered on the 15th they probably won't look at the order until the morning of the 16th. If I haven't heard anything from them by Friday maybe I should be calling Monday morning about my order?

(or have Saturday and Sunday become business days?)

Call me stupid, call me an idiot, whatever you want (I could care less). I subscribe to the 6 P's. Proper Planning Prevents P!ss Poor Performance. Brew days just don't "happen" for me, it takes some planning and effort (cleaning, yeast starter, ingredients, propane, etc, etc).

If I'm on a tight schedule and wanting to brew, I'm going to have my ingredients on hand. I'm not going to be planning a brew day with the hopes that my ingredient order gets shipped on time. Why? Because Murphy lurks everywhere.

If you're concerned (and you have every right to be), wait until Monday and get them on the phone. Talk to a real person. I've ordered through them and had a pleasant experience, and it looks as if the majority of the people here have had great experiences with them as well. If there is a problem, I'm sure they will do everything in their power to fix it. For future reference, I'd recommend placing a phone order instead of internet order to get any questions answered.

 

[LarissaEsq]

to me, 1-2 business days and a note on the website stating they are experiencing delays would mean if I ordered on the 15th they probably won't look at the order until the morning of the 16th. If I haven't heard anything from them by Friday maybe I should be calling Monday morning about my order?

(or have Saturday and Sunday become business days?)

Call me stupid, call me an idiot, whatever you want (I could care less). I subscribe to the 6 P's. Proper Planning Prevents P!ss Poor Performance. Brew days just don't "happen" for me, it takes some planning and effort (cleaning, yeast starter, ingredients, propane, etc, etc).

If I'm on a tight schedule and wanting to brew, I'm going to have my ingredients on hand. I'm not going to be planning a brew day with the hopes that my ingredient order gets shipped on time. Why? Because Murphy lurks everywhere.

If you're concerned (and you have every right to be), wait until Monday and get them on the phone. Talk to a real person. I've ordered through them and had a pleasant experience, and it looks as if the majority of the people here have had great experiences with them as well. If there is a problem, I'm sure they will do everything in their power to fix it. For future reference, I'd recommend placing a phone order instead of internet order to get any questions answered.

Except bhs668 says that he has called and has not received a response. And the original poster says that he placed the order on 9/15, five days ago, not Friday. All he asked was whether he could expect to reach it within a week and a half after he placed the order.

Thing is, the majority of the people here have had what they consider to be great experiences with the company because they're not actually expecting anything beyond cheap prices - they're not expecting an adherence to stated policies, contracts that are followed, or proper communication with the company. For them, cheap prices are the bottom line. Unless that's your only priority, that does not a "great experience" make.

 

[thedigitale]

to me, 1-2 business days and a note on the website stating they are experiencing delays would mean if I ordered on the 15th they probably won't look at the order until the morning of the 16th. If I haven't heard anything from them by Friday maybe I should be calling Monday morning about my order?

(or have Saturday and Sunday become business days?)

Call me stupid, call me an idiot, whatever you want (I could care less). I subscribe to the 6 P's. Proper Planning Prevents P!ss Poor Performance. Brew days just don't "happen" for me, it takes some planning and effort (cleaning, yeast starter, ingredients, propane, etc, etc).

If I'm on a tight schedule and wanting to brew, I'm going to have my ingredients on hand. I'm not going to be planning a brew day with the hopes that my ingredient order gets shipped on time. Why? Because Murphy lurks everywhere.

If you're concerned (and you have every right to be), wait until Monday and get them on the phone. Talk to a real person. I've ordered through them and had a pleasant experience, and it looks as if the majority of the people here have had great experiences with them as well. If there is a problem, I'm sure they will do everything in their power to fix it. For future reference, I'd recommend placing a phone order instead of internet order to get any questions answered.

You have a valid point about the planning, but that's exactly what I'm trying to do and why I am concerned. I generally don't consider 10 days in the future being poor planning. However, I do have a tight schedule, and the whole point of this thread was to figure out if I should cancel my order and get my supplies elsewhere, in order to brew when I want.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Hops Direct is one of very few (two, AFAIK) farms that sell hops directly to homebrewers all over the US. They are a reputable company and have provided prompt service and great prices in the past. Their recent price cut prompted an unexpected spike in demand that they were unable to manage well. They did make an effort to notify potential customers of a possible delay, but they didn't catch all instances of their stated service on the website. While a few of you are frustrated, isn't it reasonable to give 'em a break in this case?

I'd hate to see these guys stop selling to individuals over a few negative incidents during what appears to be an isolated period of high demand.

No, I'm not affiliated with the company or farm in any way.

 

[jrkettle]

If it was me and I had to have the hops, I would probably buy the hops I need for that brew day somewhere else but not cancel my order because the price is really good and I can never have too many hops on hand. I don't know how far you are from Washington, but my order was shipped on a Wednesday and I received it the following Wednesday. So 3 days to pack and ship and a week in transit to Michigan.

 

[LarissaEsq]

Hops Direct is one of very few (two, AFAIK) farms that sell hops directly to homebrewers all over the US. They are a reputable company and have provided prompt service and great prices in the past. Their recent price cut prompted an unexpected spike in demand that they were unable to manage well. They did make an effort to notify potential customers of a possible delay, but they didn't catch all instances of their stated service on the website. While a few of you are frustrated, isn't it reasonable to give 'em a break in this case?

I'd hate to see these guys stop selling to individuals over a few negative incidents during what appears to be an isolated period of high demand.

No, I'm not affiliated with the company or farm in any way.

I also hope they don't stop selling to individuals, and I don't even brew. I'm not hoping anything negative happens to them over this. What should happen is that they recognize the error and work on managing things more efficiently. A good company will do that. A good company will say, "Holy crow, did we mess that up and not plan properly! How can we fix this for next time?!"

A good company might also "make whole" the customers who have been harmed in any way they can. Their poor planning should not simply be accepted just because people like them. I get it. They're generally a good company. Hooray for them. But when they falter, it can only be to their benefit to have them take notice and improve. Acceptance of the unacceptable leads only to poorer and poorer customer service.

What no one seems to recognize, though, is that this didn't need to turn into a riot. Original poster simply asked, "Hey, is this delay normal? Should I worry? Should I get my hops somewhere else, or am I safe waiting for these?"

I've yet to see anyone answer those questions.

Instead, everyone went looney tunes, defending the indefensible. No one actually gave reasonable responses, even if the response would be, "Hey, yeah, those guys rock but are really overloaded. If you're on a time constraint, buy elsewhere for now and use this place for your surplus hops when you're not under the gun."

 

[LarissaEsq]

If it was me and I had to have the hops, I would probably buy the hops I need for that brew day somewhere else but not cancel my order because the price is really good and I can never have too many hops on hand. I don't know how far you are from Washington, but my order was shipped on a Wednesday and I received it the following Wednesday. So 3 days to pack and ship and a week in transit to Michigan.

Except this guy. THIS guy gave a real answer. Finally!

 

[thedigitale]

Hops Direct is one of very few (two, AFAIK) farms that sell hops directly to homebrewers all over the US. They are a reputable company and have provided prompt service and great prices in the past. Their recent price cut prompted an unexpected spike in demand that they were unable to manage well. They did make an effort to notify potential customers of a possible delay, but they didn't catch all instances of their stated service on the website. While a few of you are frustrated, isn't it reasonable to give 'em a break in this case?

I'd hate to see these guys stop selling to individuals over a few negative incidents during what appears to be an isolated period of high demand.

No, I'm not affiliated with the company or farm in any way.

The fact that they are busy means that they need to better set expectations. In my opinion, a "slightly longer" lead time means a day or two. I placed the order on the 15th. They are now four days late on the promised shipping quote, and three days late on actually shipping the order, or providing an updated schedule.

While I am currently a home brewer, I may at some point decide to go pro. If this happened to me as a pro brewer, it would mean a loss of time, a loss of revenue, and would be damaging to my business. Would that still be ok? Should we still give them a break if it costs money to do so?

Airlines get busy around the holidays, so by the "cheap prices mean delayed service is ok" theory, would it be ok if you booked a flight before Christmas, and the airline said "Sorry, we got busy, but it was cheap and we'll have you at your destination by the 27th? Seems to me that a delay there would probably make people upset.

 

[jtucker101]

yes, 9/15 was 5 days ago, but not BUSINESS DAYS. our homebrew club has called no less than 4 times in the past week, and never had to leave a message (we placed a large combined order from them). email responses have been pretty timely, too. why you aren't receiving the same type of service doesn't make sense. obviously, from all the positive feedback about them, you are experiencing something out-of-the-ordinary.

thedigitale, I'd be calling monday morning just to be on the safe side. I don't trust the internet orders and would rather order by phone anyway (but that's just me....Would you trust something that was invented by Al Gore?)

bhs668, I don't know what to tell you, other than keep trying. If you truly are experiencing those types of problems and have some sort of order number form your email, I'd be willing to bet that hopsdirect will do everything in their power to correct the situation and make sure you are 100% satisfied.

sometimes things fall through the cracks, and sometimes companies only know there is a problem when the receive complaints. I'd say to give them the benefit of the doubt for now, and if they don't come through for you let us all know.

 

[LarissaEsq]

yes, 9/15 was 5 days ago, but not BUSINESS DAYS. our homebrew club has called no less than 4 times in the past week, and never had to leave a message (we placed a large combined order from them). email responses have been pretty timely, too. why you aren't receiving the same type of service doesn't make sense. obviously, from all the positive feedback about them, you are experiencing something out-of-the-ordinary.

*****

sometimes things fall through the cracks, and sometimes companies only know there is a problem when the receive complaints. I'd say to give them the benefit of the doubt for now, and if they don't come through for you let us all know.

I know 9/15 wasn't five "business days" ago. Someone, though, talked about an order being placed on a Friday so you can't expect a response over the weekend. I was pointing out that the order was not placed on Friday, it was placed, apparently, on Tuesday.

That said, as a business owner, if I'm swamped and need to get things done, I work weekends too. I'll work 24 hours straight if I have to. Hell, I pulled a 36-hour stint to make a deadline in January. If you do something like lower your prices, you must know it's a pretty good bet you'll be swamped for orders. It's your job to accommodate for it, whether that means working longer hours or hiring temp help.

OR... stop sending the rote email saying "we'll get to you in 1-2 days."

You're right, though, the inconsistent service doesn't make sense. And it's not right. In fact, it's almost worse than if they were ignoring everyone equally.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Hops Direct is one of very few (two, AFAIK) farms that sell hops directly to homebrewers all over the US. They are a reputable company and have provided prompt service and great prices in the past. Their recent price cut prompted an unexpected spike in demand that they were unable to manage well. They did make an effort to notify potential customers of a possible delay, but they didn't catch all instances of their stated service on the website. While a few of you are frustrated, isn't it reasonable to give 'em a break in this case?

I'd hate to see these guys stop selling to individuals over a few negative incidents during what appears to be an isolated period of high demand.

No, I'm not affiliated with the company or farm in any way.

I was going to post something similar. Thanks for saving me the trouble.

I'm amazed that they will even deal with us at this price level.

Inconvenient? Yeah, a little. A tremendous price saving to us minion home brewers? Definitely. They supply breweries. I consider the fact that they will deal in such small quantities as a sservice to beer lovers.

I will happily eat up the inconvenience and poop it out as rainbows of gratitude that they even took the time to deal with me.

 

[Yambor44]

Except this guy. THIS guy gave a real answer. Finally!

Yeah, isn't it amazing how you ask a simple question and everyone goes into defense/attack mode???