- Joined
- Feb 11, 2010
- Messages
- 149
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As the second vendor review I've done, I wanted to start providing honest and timely feedback on my ordering experiences to help the rest of the HBT population.
The majority of the pieces of my kegging equipment came from KegCowboy.com. I've been bottling for two years now and the stars aligned as it was the day before my birthday and KegCowboy offered a 5% coupon. I ordered my kegs from another source, so this order included my regulator, CO2 tank, disconnects, hoses, clamps, and faucets.
Ordering Experience:
I think the web interface is very user-friendly and easy to navigate. I provided some feedback that I think the clamp page should remind the customer that you need a special tool to open and close the clamps, but otherwise things seemed clear and intuitive. That being said, unfortunately a glitch occurred with my order causing the web form not to pass on any of my credit card information and thus my order was rejected. After two days with no notice, I finally learned this by contacting them.
Timeliness and Order Fulfillment:
The site has a note that kits take 1-4 days to ship so I patiently waited despite the fact that I really just ordered piece parts and not an assembled kit. Finally after one week I submitted another inquiry after not receiving any shipping notification or contact otherwise and over the course of the next few days I was notified in three different communications that three of the seven parts I ordered were not in stock. This provided some frustration as I would have ordered elsewhere had I known that almost half of the pieces weren't ready to ship. Eight days after my order was placed I was notified that the order was being shipped short one faucet.
Shipment and Product Quality:
Five days later my order arrived. The box was somewhat damaged, but everything inside was fine. Each piece was individually packaged and wrapped. All of the parts looked to be of good quality. Unfortunately I knew something was wrong when I unwrapped everything but the regulator (I ordered a dual) and found that there were two boxes remaining. In addition to being shipped one faucet short, I was provided with two single regulators instead of one dual regulator that I ordered and was charged for.
Customer Service and Communication:
I immediately (that same day) contacted KegCowboy via email to notify them of the error. I volunteered to do the modification myself if they would prefer that to issuing an RMA. At this point, with all that had happened, I would have really expected that the connection piece was shipped out overnight the next day. One week later, I had still not received the parts, nor any communication on status. Although all of the replies to my emails and PMs on this forum were friendly, there definitely didn't seem to be any sense of urgency for customer satisfaction about this vendor.
Twenty-seven days after my order (29 after my original order that didn't go through), I finally had all of the pieces that I ordered. Although I appreciate the friendly responses to my emails, I would not say that this vendor was very proactive about communication. Based on posts on this site, it sounds like others have had good success with them and that they seem to be a good local shop if you live in the area. I really appreciate the quality of the products for the price and the fact that they frequently offer 5% coupons. Unfortunately, due to the mistakes and the lack of communication, I would probably not order from this vendor again myself. Little touches like providing proactive feedback that my order was received but that they were awaiting shipment of disconnects, hoses and faucets would have helped along with doing something extra for the difficulties and time taken to fulfill my order. I don't expect a business to do things like that, but it would certainly go a long way to make up for the issues experienced. Unfortunately the long delay and frustration took a birthday present for myself and made it into a long and drawn-out exercise in frustration. I'm looking forward to moving on and putting everything together now that I have all of the parts for a multiple keg system!
I hope this is helpful, I will be happy to provide any additional details.
The majority of the pieces of my kegging equipment came from KegCowboy.com. I've been bottling for two years now and the stars aligned as it was the day before my birthday and KegCowboy offered a 5% coupon. I ordered my kegs from another source, so this order included my regulator, CO2 tank, disconnects, hoses, clamps, and faucets.
Ordering Experience:
I think the web interface is very user-friendly and easy to navigate. I provided some feedback that I think the clamp page should remind the customer that you need a special tool to open and close the clamps, but otherwise things seemed clear and intuitive. That being said, unfortunately a glitch occurred with my order causing the web form not to pass on any of my credit card information and thus my order was rejected. After two days with no notice, I finally learned this by contacting them.
Timeliness and Order Fulfillment:
The site has a note that kits take 1-4 days to ship so I patiently waited despite the fact that I really just ordered piece parts and not an assembled kit. Finally after one week I submitted another inquiry after not receiving any shipping notification or contact otherwise and over the course of the next few days I was notified in three different communications that three of the seven parts I ordered were not in stock. This provided some frustration as I would have ordered elsewhere had I known that almost half of the pieces weren't ready to ship. Eight days after my order was placed I was notified that the order was being shipped short one faucet.
Shipment and Product Quality:
Five days later my order arrived. The box was somewhat damaged, but everything inside was fine. Each piece was individually packaged and wrapped. All of the parts looked to be of good quality. Unfortunately I knew something was wrong when I unwrapped everything but the regulator (I ordered a dual) and found that there were two boxes remaining. In addition to being shipped one faucet short, I was provided with two single regulators instead of one dual regulator that I ordered and was charged for.
Customer Service and Communication:
I immediately (that same day) contacted KegCowboy via email to notify them of the error. I volunteered to do the modification myself if they would prefer that to issuing an RMA. At this point, with all that had happened, I would have really expected that the connection piece was shipped out overnight the next day. One week later, I had still not received the parts, nor any communication on status. Although all of the replies to my emails and PMs on this forum were friendly, there definitely didn't seem to be any sense of urgency for customer satisfaction about this vendor.
Twenty-seven days after my order (29 after my original order that didn't go through), I finally had all of the pieces that I ordered. Although I appreciate the friendly responses to my emails, I would not say that this vendor was very proactive about communication. Based on posts on this site, it sounds like others have had good success with them and that they seem to be a good local shop if you live in the area. I really appreciate the quality of the products for the price and the fact that they frequently offer 5% coupons. Unfortunately, due to the mistakes and the lack of communication, I would probably not order from this vendor again myself. Little touches like providing proactive feedback that my order was received but that they were awaiting shipment of disconnects, hoses and faucets would have helped along with doing something extra for the difficulties and time taken to fulfill my order. I don't expect a business to do things like that, but it would certainly go a long way to make up for the issues experienced. Unfortunately the long delay and frustration took a birthday present for myself and made it into a long and drawn-out exercise in frustration. I'm looking forward to moving on and putting everything together now that I have all of the parts for a multiple keg system!
I hope this is helpful, I will be happy to provide any additional details.