kegkits same as stir-plate.com?

[StMarcos]

Was poking around for some info on stir plates, and found one called stir plate 3000, sold through various places, including brewmasters warehouse. There is a review out there

http://nickrace.net/2011/06/stir-plate-com-stir-plate-3000-review/

where the reviewer got a free one to review it. The response come from a Tom Hargrave....

I've heard many a bad thing about this person over the years via kegkits.com

He's too busy to ship people's stuff and respond to emails, but has time to start a stir-plate manufacturing gig? Would brewmasterswarehouse really buy products from a bbb F rated seller, or am I getting 2 companies mixed up here that really are not connected?

Certainly not flaming anybody here, but was interested in the sp3000. Can't bring myself to support a crackpot biz though. Set my mind at east?

Cheers....

 

[StMarcos]

Sorry, should have done a search... found my answer....

 

[thargrav]

www.Stir-Plate.com, www.kegkits.com and www.towercooler.com are all owned by the same person - me, Tom Hargrave.

And yes kegkits.com did hurt a lot of people when the busiiness was failing - we finally imploded about 18 months ago. Failing at a business is no fun especially for the one failing. I'm not proud if the fact but it is what it is. Since we failed I have been growing very slowly. I still owe suppliers and my landlord many thousands of dollars, over $30,000 the last time I counted, but they all stuck with me.

If you are upset with kegkits.com I do not expect you to buy anything from me. If I were you I wouldn't. But believe it or not quite a few customers stuck with me through this mess and this is one reason I'm stil around.

As far as the review on Nick Race's site is concerned, I only asked him to compare our stir plate with another he reviewed. I also insisted that he post his findings, the good bad or ugly and I believe he was very fair with his report. But before he would review my stir plate he asked the same questions you are probably wondering. I posted my response on his web site - you can find what I wrote here:
http://nickrace.net/2010/08/brewers-hardware-stir-plate-review/comment-page-1/#comment-852

 

[StMarcos]

I do appreciate the honest reply. If I read your take, it seems PWM makes more sense, but brewershardware makes a case against it. And for a lot less $$$.

Dunno, I do feel for your position in terms of the business failure, and am sorry that venture didn't work out. But I can't imagine running a company where customers are not contacted for weeks/months/ever without shipping their stuff AND charging their cc. It only takes a jolly second to write an email. You could have even sent a mass email to all customers if you were really that tight with time. I have to say I see it as bad business practice, not only hard luck.

 

[thargrav]

Businesses don't just fail, they fail over time and just one email explaining "we are late" does not help much. Going through a failure myself I can now see the signs in a lot of other on-line businesses in this industry just by the way they fill orders.

It would not be fair for me to say who because I could be wrong and the last thing I want to do is cost someone a customer. Getting continuous excuses for late orders is one sign, no communication is another.

And BTW I still don't answer the phone, if I did I would be on the phone all the time and not getting work done. I do answer emails but not immediately because I'm usually busy working and I process emails in batches.