Tom Hargrave and Kegkits.com (www.ic3.gov)

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

bigpal

Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2010
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
Location
New York
I'm bringing up Tom Hargrave / kegkits.com again, because I see Tom is still doing business. I want to address the issue once and for all, and put him out of business, and save others from losing their money. He is a criminal, period. Most importantly, don't listen to him, he's a liar and has no character.

If you've been scammed by Hargrave by ordering from kegkits.com, whether it be in the last week, or the last five years, please file a complaint with the internet computer crime complaint center, or IC3, at www.ic3.gov. IC3 is operated by the FBI, and compiles small complaints into larger cases, and passes them down to local, state, and federal authorities for prosecution. This is the best way to stop Hargrave. I filed my complaint there recently.

I bought $135 in merchandise from Tom, and after 2 weeks, I e-mailed him and got no response. I called several times and e-mailed again, with no response. I called his cell phone, which he won't answer. I called the Huntsville PD, and they called him. Hargrave told HPD that he had already shipped it! He now has lied to the police, probably typical. I called my credit card company to cancel the transaction, and they removed the charge.

Don't let this guy continue to take advantage of the good people in the home brewing community. Not only should be not be allowed to do business, he should face prosecution. Here is an interesting news clip about his business, conducted by a local news reporter.

http://www.whnt.com/videobeta/?watchId=294b9857-01fe-4a43-9a0a-cbc8a92a5f66

BP
 
HAHAHAHAHA! That was the funniest video ever! I have been scammed by Tom also. I mean when the local news is doing a story about your horrible business practices and ripping people off constantly, maybe its time to close shop! I really don't understand why no one is shutting him down? This guy is ridiculous!
 
This video also needs to be put in the "sticky" about kegkits.com at the top of the general beer discussion!
 
Yeah, there are a lot of threads here. Don't stop with the police dept and the internet crime center. I went to my own state's attorney general's office, the Alabama attorney general's office, his local Better Business Bureau, and finally the IRS. He's stealing from us (he got me for approximately $50), and I can guarantee you that he is not reporting that money as income. The only people who have replied to my complaints are my state's attorney general's office (TX), but that was only a reply telling me that they were "looking into it". That was months ago, so no confidence there. The Better Business Bureau of North Alabama also responded, they have sent him one letter that he ignored, and have sent him a second which he has until 3/18 to respond. The BBB can't really do a lot, but maybe - just maybe - they have enough interest to push this thing. Obviously the state of AL doesn't care. There have been hundreds, if not thousands of complaints made to their AG office and he is still scamming more people. He always has an excuse - I had the flu and got behind, we had more orders than expected and got behind. He always tells the authorities that he "is trying to make things right". However, he has been claiming that for years and he still is in the business of being a thief and a criminal. Doesn't speak very well for his state nor his city. Huntsville, AL.
 
I filed a complaint with IC3, my local attorney general, and Alabama's a year ago when I was robbed. I got response from AL saying they are too busy to look into it now. Then I got contacted by my AG saying they couldn't get a response from him and recommend I contact Alabama AG office. I have never heard from IC3.
I am disgusted that this guy still operates, and that he brags about his Google rankings that he gets due to our complaining. This guy continues to blatently steal from people, and will never stop. What does it take to get the attention of someone with the ability to stop him? I'm all ears.
 
He has a pretty slick site. Can't be faulted for getting sucked in.

I had a similar situation with another company who I tried to buy an apple crusher from to make cider in the fall. Never got it, one lame e-mail from them saying "Didn't you get it?", never heard back from daily phone calls. VISA refunded my money.

Major pain in the a**.
 
The video is no longer available (I searched for his name and found the article, but the video was down)
 
I guess I am new to these problems, and I have ordered from him without any problems. I am not going to take this off topic, but are there any good stories about this site, he does have some excellent stuff on there, but I don't want to be taken for a ride.
 
There's a sticky thread at the top of the general beer discussion forum (I see it in the "similar threads" section at the bottom of this page too), that links to several other threads about this shady business. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/read-before-you-buy-kegkits-com-120110/

Also, if you just Google the business name, you'll find no shortage of customers that have been separated from their money by this criminal.
 
A bump to keep this alive. And to show those who are on here attempting to state that he is "trying to make things right". Here is the response the BBB got from the guy. And the state of AL allows him to continue to steal from consumers.

Date Activity Description
03/19/2010 Case Closed - UNANSWERED
03/19/2010 Inform Business - Case Closed UNANSWERED
03/19/2010 Inform Consumer - Case Closed UNANSWERED
03/19/2010 Inform Consumer No Response from Business
03/19/2010 No Response received from Business on 2nd Notice
03/04/2010 Second Notice to Business
03/04/2010 Consumer - Have You Heard From the Company
03/04/2010 No response to first notice to business
 
HAHAHAHAHA! That was the funniest video ever! I have been scammed by Tom also. I mean when the local news is doing a story about your horrible business practices and ripping people off constantly, maybe its time to close shop! I really don't understand why no one is shutting him down? This guy is ridiculous!

The puns alone are too much for me.
 
I've never attempted to do business with this guy, but thanks for the heads up.

FYI, for those of you looking for keg stuff... I just did $900 worth of business with KegConnection.com and I've got to say, I don't think I'll be shopping for kegs/keg accessories anywhere else. Those guys rock. I went down to their warehouse this past Friday and they were professional and courteous. Hell, they price-matched Austin Homebrew (and then some) on the few things that AHS had cheaper.
 
I have made several purchases in the past from Tom's business, KEGKITS.COM with no problems. However, recently I was sent an email sales flyer rearding the "Angle Tap Handle Adapter" (leans your handles away from your fridge so you can attach longer handles) so I ordered $25.00 worth. Here was an automated email I recieved at the time of purchase:
Thank you for your order.

Our goal is to ship most items within 3 business days but we are a small business and are buried with orders. Currently, most orders are shipping in 2 weeks and we are working 7 days / week to catch up.

If you selected UPS Ground then we will send your tracking number to the email you entered into our system - the email will come from Quantum View. If you selected any mail service, your tracking information will come from [email protected]. We may switch between or upgrade services at no additional cost to you if one gives better delivery time than the other for about the same cost.

For warranty issues, cancellations and returns - please see the Product Warranty, Returns and Cancellations policies on the left panel of our online store.

Thanks again - your business is very important to us,
Tom Hargrave
www.kegkits.com
1-866-kegkits

Order Number : 9094
Placed : 03/20/2010 09:06:47 EDT


That was 30 days ago. I have sent several emails to the "sales" and "shipping" department with no answer. Tried to call several times, and the recording says my call cannot be completed as dialed.

For those that have had good experiences from him, keep ordering and eventually you will probably get burned. I am contacting my CC company for a refund.
 
I've been ordering from Tom once or twice a year for about five years now so I did'nt feel the need to research his reputation when I placed an order for a 60lb pail of extract on April 8th. Suffice it to say that I am now in the same boat. I've been calling and emailing for two weeks now with no response. I wish I had looked for all this feedback beforehand.
 
I finally got mine. When I called my card company they wouldn't refund charges until 30 days past the actual date promised. I got a shipping confirmation from them on the 30th day.
 
I've been ordering from Tom once or twice a year for about five years now so I did'nt feel the need to research his reputation when I placed an order for a 60lb pail of extract on April 8th. Suffice it to say that I am now in the same boat. I've been calling and emailing for two weeks now with no response. I wish I had looked for all this feedback beforehand.

I thought he had quit selling ingredients? That is what I had heard after the cops stopped by........
 
Wow. I am in the process of buying kegging equipment too. I stumbled upon his site and I am glad I didn't order anything from him.

The part I don't understand is why he is doing this. I work full time as an engineer and run my own online store. I sell snowmobile, atv, motorcycle and trailer parts and accessories. I sell everything at a discount and know how busy things can get. During my peak season I have my wife help me at almost a full time basis. Then I come home from work and run the business as well. I know what growth feels like but I know how important customer service is. I always try to ship everything the same day the order comes in unless after 4PM. And, most of the time it still goes out before 5. I have almost 100% satisfaction and feedback. In the rare occasion something didn't go well I make it right with the customer. I do a lot of drop ships from my suppliers when I can, which helps but also sometimes adds another party to make a mistake. But like I said they are rare. I guess some people just care enough. He should hire someone if he can't keep up.
 
To be blunt about it, he is doing this because he is making tons of money by doing it, and the AL attorney general's office obviously doesn't care that he is making a ton of money by doing it. So, if you are a thief, and the state has basically told you that you can rip off consumers as much as you like, then a dream has come true for you.
 
To be blunt about it, he is doing this because he is making tons of money by doing it, and the AL attorney general's office obviously doesn't care that he is making a ton of money by doing it. So, if you are a thief, and the state has basically told you that you can rip off consumers as much as you like, then a dream has come true for you.

Yeah, but what I'm not sure he understands is it is very short lived. Once you have a bad reputation it is hard to recover. It probably won't matter anyway once the law catches up.
 
I purchased $500 worth of keg stuff and it took a threat from my credit card company and 4 mos for the stuff to arrive. I received all the merchandise (a few custom modifications -all ok), so I can't exactly call the guy a "scumbag." Poor business person and someone I wouldn't order from again...although I still recieve his newsletter, which is actually pretty good! I would recommend KegConnection or some other place. I'm not sure what Tom's issue is. Maybe it's too much ambition with too little time. He should hire an assistant to handle the operations.
 
He should dig a deep hole and never come out from it. He still owes me 2 kegs from over a year ago. I complained in every way possible to him and every authority figure I could think of and was ignored or brushed off by everyone. I am going to throw a party this weekend to celebrate the demise of his business. :D
 
He should dig a deep hole and never come out from it. He still owes me 2 kegs from over a year ago. I complained in every way possible to him and every authority figure I could think of and was ignored or brushed off by everyone. I am going to throw a party this weekend to celebrate the demise of his business. :D

Another party to be thrown by me for his demise! I did the same, complained to every authority I could think of, including the IRS. Complained twice to the AL Attorney General's office - got no replies from anyone - not a single word. Be careful, I would imagine this guy will pop up with a new website sometime down the road. Ripping people off is simply too lucrative for a thief to give up on.
 
You know, if you really wanted to get to him, then you could go viral with a video. Just like they famous "United Breaks Guitars" music videos. It got huge results after the video got millions of hits on youtube. It's being touted world wide as an instance of web based consumer activism.

you can read a good article on it here
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/24/united-breaks-guitars-did_n_244357.html



I've heard the story mentioned on both Irish and Australian radio, and as you can see it hurt United's reputation immensely.

Or the one where the guy dealing with the phone company posted all those calls between him and various customer service operators, and caught them in a lie.

If you did something eye catching and humorous, stated the facts without being libelous, where you would end up having him sue you for slander, it could do more for getting the word out and embarrassing him than anything he could ignore like a summons from the BBB.

I would something like the song above, but make it like the I am a homebrewer video, where each person screwed does a verse or something. That might even end up getting picked up by all the brewing podcasters out there, which would get the word out to more people as well. If you generate a buzz, it's going to start affecting him, and that might provoke him into action.....

Or you could find an attorney and do a class action suit against him, filing jointly. But I think the viral video would probably be cheaper for you guys and may get more publicity.

Or you could do both.

Just my 2 cents. Although I'm sorry you guys got screwed, but I am glad this site exists and you guys have spoken up to us about it so we know to shy away. Hope my ideas help. :mug:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You guys that haven't gotten anything in several months to 2 years haven't gotten a refund on your credit card yet? I would think all companies would refund after the 30 day wait period I mentioned earlier.
 

Neat video/story. Had not seen that before. The reason this kind of approach works is because with big corporations you can eventually get the attention of someone that is allowed to use common sense and is not bound by a written policy. With KegKits there is just one guy and he does not care, at all. I think in the end the only way to get this guys attention would be through criminal and/or civil action. We can only hope that the reason he is closing is b/c someone (an AG's office, the police, a lawyer, etc.) have made it clear that what he is doing wrong and if he continued to do it he was going to end up in court if not jail.
 
Hmmm. Site says they're going out of business -- unless that's BS too.

"kegkits.com is going out of business

We just finished cancelling and refunding about $5,000 worth of orders orders that were placed and have not been captured yet.

We will ship the remaining orders over the next two weeks from inventory we have in stock and in some cases, inventory we need to bring in to cover back orders.

Once we finish filling open orders we will put our remaining inventory on sale to cover any final expenses.

We have not decided if we will keep the kegkits.com site open as a information site for brewers."
 
You guys that haven't gotten anything in several months to 2 years haven't gotten a refund on your credit card yet? I would think all companies would refund after the 30 day wait period I mentioned earlier.

Unfortunately I paid using Paypal. They were completely unwilling to do anything about it, and the account was tied to a bank savings account. The bank would only take action if it was a checking account. Lesson learned for sure.
 
Beware. Stir-plate.com appears to be the same guy.

Contact Information
Postal address
12021 South Memorial Pkwy, Suite N-4, Huntsville, AL 35803
Electronic mail
General Information: [email protected]
Sales: [email protected]

Yes that is the same guy. Note that that is stir-plate with a hyphen. Stirplate dot com is a reputable vendor who is active on HBT and makes good products :)
 
Wow, thanks everyone for the heads up! I was about to pull the trigger on a gas manifold that I need in about 2 weeks for our club jockey box. If he went out of business I wonder why the site is still active.
Man, what a slimy of a character! He must have figured out early on that credit card orders were getting refunded with ease. Now he is set up only to receive paypal or check.
thanks again!
 
Back
Top