Whats up with Perfect Brewing?

[Waldo]

Any of you Chicago area brewers shop at Perfect Brewing? Just wondered if they are still in business, they stiffed me for $50 they don't reply to emails and they don't answer the phone.

I've used them before and they've always been a bit slow but I always got the stuff, this last order was placed on April 9th its now the 10th of May and no repsonse from them, I know they received the order because they charged my debit card.

 

[chillHayze]

I don't have any experience with them but that seems pretty shady. I've only used northern brewer and wow did it ship fast and the yeast "born on date" was less than 3 weeks from when I used it. Good stuff there.

Good luck with perfect brewing; hope you get your money back or the product you paid for.

 

[Waldo]

I love NB I use them all the time, I'm 4 hours south of them so all orders placed by noon are on my doorstep the next day. I guess I was trying to spread the wealth around a bit and used Perfect Brewing again, the previous slow shipping and poor packaging should have been enough for me but I guess I thought I'd give them one more try, my bad!

 

[Waldo]

Well I turned the credit card company loose on them, hope they have better luck contacting them than I did.

 

[Dude]

Good...let us know how it turns out.

 

[Waldo]

I'll do that. I really hated to bring this up on the message boards, I thought I'd check with all of you guys first before starting some severe action against them. I think giving them a month to deliver the order and the fact that I've been trying to contact them for the last two weeks is fair enough, all they have to do is answer my emails guess thats to much to ask.

 

[Cheesefood]

I feel bad about switching from LHBS to NorthernBrewer, but the selection can't be beat and the shipping cost puts it about equal to the local cost. I love going to the LHBS for some ingredients, but my yeast is so much fresher online and the premade kits weren't premade 5 months ago.

And since you guys have turned me on to Freshops, I can't deal with ugly 6 month old pellets any more.

However, NB doesn't give me free beer when I shop there, nor do they give me a chance to show off my wares to other home brewers (who I should really be referring to this board).

Tx, you should make up some signage that we can post on our LHBS to draw traffic to your site.

 

[Caplan]

I really hated to bring this up on the message boards, I thought I'd check with all of you guys first before starting some severe action against them. I think giving them a month to deliver the order and the fact that I've been trying to contact them for the last two weeks is fair enough, all they have to do is answer my emails guess thats to much to ask.

I applaud you for bringing it up on here - It may save some other people from being stiffed by them. You're quite right - A month without the goods you paid for in good faith is only excuseable by prompt communication on their part explaining the problem with delivery well before it got to this timescale. You certainly haven't had that. I just hope the credit card company can get your money back. Good luck!

 

[Rhoobarb]

I just found this today, posted by the owner:

Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 12:41 pm Post subject: Perfect Brewing News
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I haven't got a chance to get on the board for a while, so I thought I would let everyone know what is going on.

I have found it impossible to keep up with the mail order traffic, and it looks like I will not get caught up anytime in the near future. I get over 100 emails per day, and our answering maching is full each morning. We are therefore going to drastically scale back our operation, focusing on hardware and wine labels. Wine labels is actually about 30-40 percent of our business.

We may or may not continue carrying beer ingredients. We have virtually no walk in traffic. This is not due to the move, as we had very little at the other location.

I realize this may be dissapointing to the few local customers that we have, but I am unable to provide good service and delivery times with the volume we are doing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A direct link to this is located here.

 

[Lou]

I just found this today, posted by the owner:

Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 12:41 pm Post subject: Perfect Brewing News
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I haven't got a chance to get on the board for a while, so I thought I would let everyone know what is going on.

I have found it impossible to keep up with the mail order traffic, and it looks like I will not get caught up anytime in the near future. I get over 100 emails per day, and our answering maching is full each morning. We are therefore going to drastically scale back our operation, focusing on hardware and wine labels. Wine labels is actually about 30-40 percent of our business.

We may or may not continue carrying beer ingredients. We have virtually no walk in traffic. This is not due to the move, as we had very little at the other location.

I realize this may be dissapointing to the few local customers that we have, but I am unable to provide good service and delivery times with the volume we are doing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A direct link to this is located here.

that seems incredibly dumb to me. instead of hiring people to meet customer demand, he's scaling back the operation???
i bet he cried while he wrote that email...some people just weren't meant for the big show, i guess.

 

[Dude]

that seems incredibly dumb to me. instead of hiring people to meet customer demand, he's scaling back the operation???
i bet he cried while he wrote that email...some people just weren't meant for the big show, i guess.

Wow...no kidding.

For all of you midwest guys that shop online--I'd assume Northern Brewer would have pretty comparable rates and pretty good shipping. They seem to have everythign you'd need. I'm all about supporting the LHBS, but I can only put up with never having everything I need so many times. It is a royal PITA when they won't work with you.

 

[kornkob]

that seems incredibly dumb to me. instead of hiring people to meet customer demand, he's scaling back the operation???
i bet he cried while he wrote that email...some people just weren't meant for the big show, i guess.

On the other hand, answering emails is not a revenue stream and it might not be cost effective to hire someone if the customer service hours chew up his margin.

Some folks don't WANT a big show. They want their little store and personal service and to be their own boss. There's a point at which a business grows beyond that and the customers stop being individuals you know each and every one of and start becoming an aggregate.

 

[Waldo]

I turned the whole thing over to the Better Business Bureau and Master Card, I hated to do it but didn't really have any choice.

 

[Rhoobarb]

... Some folks don't WANT a big show. ...

But if that were the case here, he wouldn't or shouldn't have plowed so much money into a slick website.

Out of sheer curiosity, I went to their place on Seton once last Summer on a Friday night after work. It was hard to find, located in a small industrial park with no place to park and, worst of all - there was nobody in the shop! I mean nobody. I had the place to myself for a good half an hour before somebody (I assume the owner) came in from out back - just as I had given up and was heading back to my car. He had to chase after me. I bought some extract and hops and never went back.

OTOH, I've been pretty loyal to The Brewer's Coop (still my fav LHBS) from the beginning.

 

[Waldo]

Well I finally got my money back from Perfect Brewing, so all is well. Northern Brewers gets all of my business from now on.

 

[budbo]

I feel bad about switching from LHBS to NorthernBrewer, but the selection can't be beat and the shipping cost puts it about equal to the local cost. I love going to the LHBS for some ingredients, but my yeast is so much fresher online and the premade kits weren't premade 5 months ago.

And since you guys have turned me on to Freshops, I can't deal with ugly 6 month old pellets any more.

However, NB doesn't give me free beer when I shop there, nor do they give me a chance to show off my wares to other home brewers (who I should really be referring to this board).

Tx, you should make up some signage that we can post on our LHBS to draw traffic to your site.

A guy who owns a specialty liquor store (they have a whole section of craft beer and will get you a case of anything allowed to be sold in the state) Started selling basic stuff (kits, yeast, hops, 1lb bags of specialty grains, thermometers etc) cheaper than the LHBS that happens to be around the corner.. I'm told that made the prices and attitude at the LHBS much better.

 

[pgarrett]

I've recently had problems with Perfect Brewing myself. Detailed here: http://www.psychophil.com/weblog/?p=1251

I've seen the new message where he's claiming over 100 messages a day. 1/2 of those are probably people (like me) writing again and again trying to get a problem resolved. I'll also point out that a few weeks ago he claimed an 'aggressive spam filter setting' block a lot of his email. So its either not enough email or too much depending on the cycle of the moon.

Finally, like somebody said earlier; For someone not interested in the big time business, he sure has one hell of a web site. Funny how he's not too 'overwhelmed' to miss charging customers credit cards.

 

[icenine35]

Agreed, I myself have been ripped off by this "operation" within the past few weeks. I recommend everyone avoid this scam artist and purchase from other, reputable retailers. I wish I had done my homework first before placing my order with those guys. Anyone else find it fishy that his voicemail is full every morning yet he doesn't publish a phone number on the site? I had to do quite a bit of digging just to get a number, and of course his voicemail system was "full" and didn't allow leaving a message. In a word this guy takes your money and leaves it up to you to try and get it back.

I've recently had problems with Perfect Brewing myself. Detailed here: http://www.psychophil.com/weblog/?p=1251

I've seen the new message where he's claiming over 100 messages a day. 1/2 of those are probably people (like me) writing again and again trying to get a problem resolved. I'll also point out that a few weeks ago he claimed an 'aggressive spam filter setting' block a lot of his email. So its either not enough email or too much depending on the cycle of the moon.

Finally, like somebody said earlier; For someone not interested in the big time business, he sure has one hell of a web site. Funny how he's not too 'overwhelmed' to miss charging customers credit cards.

 

[Exo]

Boy, I'm glad this post got a bump so I don't make the same mistake.

I have to say, a nice website that was recently updated. www.perfectbrewing.com forwards you to some other site... www.undergrounddigital.com

I just got Northern Brewer's catalog today. Nice. I also shop at www.midwestsupplies.com as well. I love giving my LHBS business, but when I don't have time or don't have the desire to drive 2hrs to get there and back they are nice alternatives.

 

[iloman]

I'm glad this got a bump too. I just bookmarked them as a possible site to order from in the future. "Hello Delete Key!"

Jason