hi guys , had planned putting on a brew this weekend so i ordered a craft range wheat beer kit last monday assuming id have it in a day or two , i know its a long weekend and all that but is 7+ days acceptable for shipping in a country this size? . what is the avarage time you usualy get your stuff delivered ? im hopeing its a one off fuck up but im not best pleased
HBC is usually 2 working days. Only used HBW once but it took maybe 5 days.
Depends where you are located in relation to the home brew shop but 3-4 days is normal unless you live in the same county as the home brew shop that is, then you should have it in 3 days or less ;D
3 days max unless you placed order on a Thursday. Sometimes it's not the homebrew shop but the courier
Quote from: Dodge on June 03, 2014, 01:12:00 AM
3 days max unless you placed order on a Thursday. Sometimes it's not the homebrew shop but the courier
99% of the time i have found it's all down to the courier TBH. ;D
We try our best to offer a next day delivery service, all orders placed prior to 1pm will be dispatched on a next day service. The courier can delay some times but it is a rare occasion, we recently up graded our courier service to prevent this from happening.
Next day delivery is €5.95
We also have requested text alerts about deliveries for our customers
www.geterbrewed.ie
@Hopapot - If you happened to be in the City - The health food place upstairs in Paul Street have kits.
Have a look on their FB page, you can see kits in the background...
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Natural-Choice/136738996471453
I haven't been in there in a while but it looks like they've upgraded their homebrew section :)
(https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/t1.0-9/1506706_473937969418219_7661386079264779023_n.jpg)
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t1.0-9/1610042_473937906084892_1276266483442599642_n.jpg)
(https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t1.0-9/10150733_473938019418214_6497122600539801600_n.jpg)
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/1939730_473938016084881_1058418988411577387_n.jpg?oh=b48efc30d42ebced16c0201ffba895ed&oe=54047855&__gda__=1407794382_56685dee17eba393691c72cdfd187d00)
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t1.0-9/10371706_473938009418215_1222847443974610017_n.jpg)
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=473938162751533&id=136738996471453
We have a bit of a backlog for the last week or so because a key staff member has had medical treatment and has been off work for 10 days. It was made worse by the runaway success of The Craft Range.
But he is back today, and we are all pitching in to get up to date with orders.
Apologies to anybody who has been inconvenienced, we will add free bottle openers to every order until we catch up.
thanks for the replys guys , will check out the shop in cork next time im in town ,good to see they have uped their game a bit,hopefully they are a bit cheeper than they were. i didnt name the company in question as it would have been unfair to them without giving them a chance to sort it out.but it still hasnt been sent out :(
edit to add
gave them a ring and its being sent today ,better late than never i guess.
just to add my order arrived today all safe and sound , the craftrange kit looks great nicely put together with good clear instructions .i didnt realise they were made in galway which is a good selling point . will be putting it on tonight if i get the time .
I was about to post on this very subject when I saw this thread. I won't name the HBS but I placed an order early last Thursday but it wasn't dispatched 'till Tuesday ??? - Bank Hol or not that's just not good enough. If a HBS has increased sales they need to work faster and for longer hours and then they can enjoy their increased and well earned extra profits ::)
Unfortunately, I didn't get a free bottle opener with my order but I did get out of date product which the manufacturer has emailed me I should not use. Plus, the delay, in my case, has been repeated in all orders I've placed in the past 12 months. Our home based homebrew suppliers need to get the finger out rather than the excuses ::)
Parcel Motel from UK suppliers are starting to look more attractive these days ;)
P
Quote from: Parrot on June 04, 2014, 08:28:20 PM
Parcel Motel from UK suppliers are starting to look more attractive these days ;)
P
Also UK suppliers keep their website stocks updated on a weekly basis. ::) :P
Agreed, certain stores are poor on the occasion I've used. Placed an order on a Sunday eve, 7 days before my birthday as a present from my wife. Arrived 2 days after my bday. Total delivery time of 9 days.
Quote from: Parrot on June 04, 2014, 08:28:20 PM
I was about to post on this very subject when I saw this thread. I won't name the HBS but I placed an order early last Thursday but it wasn't dispatched 'till Tuesday ??? - Bank Hol or not that's just not good enough. If a HBS has increased sales they need to work faster and for longer hours and then they can enjoy their increased and well earned extra profits ::)
Unfortunately, I didn't get a free bottle opener with my order but I did get out of date product which the manufacturer has emailed me I should not use. Plus, the delay, in my case, has been repeated in all orders I've placed in the past 12 months. Our home based homebrew suppliers need to get the finger out rather than the excuses ::)
Parcel Motel from UK suppliers are starting to look more attractive these days ;)
P
Quote from: Parrot on June 04, 2014, 08:28:20 PM
Unfortunately, I didn't get a free bottle opener with my order
Wonder who it was so......
I had an order delayed recently too. Bank holidays will do that in Ireland, or snow, wind or rain.
Overall though I'm very happy with the delivery service in general.
I've only had a small few occasions when things got inconvenient, the rest of the time things have gone like clockwork.
I've even named my delivery man, his name is Kevin. I'm not sureif I made up that name or it's his real name.
Either way, he calls to me more often than my family and i love him for it! :-*
On the small few times that things have been delayed i was able to just crack on with something else by asking on these forums if anyone had a loan of whatever I was missing.
That's the joy of being in a community like this, there's no shortage of materials or help once you ask for it.
And if someone really wants a bottle opener I'll give you one myself <3
Below is a lifting hymn to solidify the point, just replace god with NHC or our beloved leader Rossa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvte9rcSiZ8
Or if you hate god and all that kinda stuff, try this one. replace all words that rhyme with you/too/clue etc with 'brew'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ogQ0uge06o
Guilty as charged.
We shipped 85 orders Tuesday without the free bottle openers. One staff member got in deep doodie because of it. We only announced it here, not online.
About 100 went out today with the free bottle openers.
If you are missing one, please email us or PM and we will ship the bottle opener as promised.
The craft range caught us by surprise.
But, we will get there !
Quote from: Parrot on June 04, 2014, 08:28:20 PM....
Unfortunately, I didn't get a free bottle opener with my order but I did get out of date product which the manufacturer has emailed me I should not use.....
P
I emailed the HBS in question....3 times...I've also forwarded the email I received from the manufacturer and I'm getting silence from the HBS who is an affiliate to NHC with associated privileges. Supplying sub-standard goods (e.g. beyond '
Best Before Date') ; ignoring a legitimate complaint from a member of this club etc., are transgressions that should carry some consequence other than a link to a lovely song posted by Eoin. ::)
Seriously not a happy camper with this affiliate >:(
P
Quote from: Parrot on June 05, 2014, 08:53:15 PM
Quote from: Parrot on June 04, 2014, 08:28:20 PM....
Unfortunately, I didn't get a free bottle opener with my order but I did get out of date product which the manufacturer has emailed me I should not use.....
P
I emailed the HBS in question....3 times...I've also forwarded the email I received from the manufacturer and I'm getting silence from the HBS who is an affiliate to NHC with associated privileges. Supplying sub-standard goods (e.g. beyond 'Best Before Date') ; ignoring a legitimate complaint from a member of this club etc., are transgressions that should carry some consequence other than a link to a lovely song posted by Eoin. ::)
Seriously not a happy camper with this affiliate >:(
P
I had similar when dealing with the HBS in question so just don't use them anymore tbf.
Plenty of alternatives out there.
i started an order with them and initially i was getting free shipping and by the time i got to checkout they no longer do free shipping for big orders
however i think they are simply experiencing growth and that they are product focused rather than customer focused
I think you're probably right there Tigger, the fast growth in homebrewing and craft beer must have caught a few folks off guard.
And with Murphy's law will make sure that everything goes wrong at the same time, especially after a bank holiday weekend and with people off sick etc.
I'd say give them a call Parrot and talk with someone directly. I've dealt with them all at some stage and they're all lovely folks and very helpful, just a bit slow when it comes to emails.
Or send them a PM here on the forums. I'm not sure how often they check them but at least you'll get through to the guys in charge :)
I put an order in late on BH Monday night. It arrived at lunchtime today. The was the Homebrew Company.
I'd like to have a moan too >:(
Recently I ordered a Coopers DYI kit from a HBS - which was promptly delivered in fairness.
However, when I started my very first batch it turned out that the tap was leaking heavily.
I promptly contacted the HBS to get the tap replaced.
But each email reply takes at least 2 days. We're now 6 weeks down the road since my initial email - and I'm still waiting for that tap.
I've only just started with this hobby and I plan to spend many €€€€ in the years ahead.
But probably not with the HBS in question....
Just for a bit of balance Il post my good experiences as with most company reviews online its always the bad & rarely the good.
All my HBC orders arrive next day. I can walk into HBW and collect my online orders in person. Never had an issue with either supplier. Great service & between the two I can get everything I need for all grain brewing at a decent price.
If I require my order next day for a brew or something I write that in the comments box on checkout & call them asking if its possible to get it out to me same day. This is usually on a Thursday (probably like most other brewers) or a Friday (pick up myself from DPD depot on Sat morning) & I always get it next day.
@RedWino, is that a Cooper's fermenter? (Have a look at the pic below)
I didn't know you could get spare taps for them? Let us know how you get on please :)
(http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f204/winalonsowin/Tap-1.jpg)
@Garry: It's a Coopers DIY fermenter alright, but the tap is different (see attached).
Cheers RedWino. I found it here (http://store.coopers.com.au/coopers-diy-beer-snap-tap.html). It looks like the same fitting where it goes into the FV as mine. I don't need one, I just wanted to know if they could be got. I remember reading somewhere before that Coopers didn't do spares.
The bad news is; I'd say you'll be waiting :(
Those taps usually only leak if they're not pushed in hard enough.
I think I have that type of tap that I wont be using for a while.
PM me your address and I'll stick it in the post for you.
I'll need it back later on though once you're sorted with a replacement.
When you need something ask, don't just sit there stewing over it.
Otherwise email customerservice@coopers.com.au and mark it c/o Paul (PB2)
Quote from: RedWino on June 06, 2014, 10:17:01 AM
I'd like to have a moan too >:(
Recently I ordered a Coopers DYI kit from a HBS - which was promptly delivered in fairness.
However, when I started my very first batch it turned out that the tap was leaking heavily.
I promptly contacted the HBS to get the tap replaced.
But each email reply takes at least 2 days.
The "computer fu" is extremely weak with all the HBS here bar one, since most of us have to order online saying how great it is that you can walk in and pick it up in person is not a fair comparison of how the transaction went,by same token if you live in the same county as the HBS same thing applies.
I got two element controllers in from UK this week, ordered Monday, delivered Wednesday, if the HBS shops here are not doing it like that then there is an issue. For the most part here i find you have to order a week in advance, not completely the HBS fault, that one is down to bad Irish courier system.
The big issue i have is they all need to practice their "computer fu" (bar one which is consistently well stocked, does not have multiple items out of stock, and somehow manages to to maintain their displayed stock on the website when no one else can it seems) ::) :P
I should clarify that for the most part i have always gotten my orders in a week(in fairness it should be less that that), but tbh you wouldn't want to be stuck for anything, which is partly down to poor stock keeping on the home brewers part mostly, but also down to an inefficent delivery system by the HBS and that is down to them to sort and quick smart if they want to stay in business IMHO. :D
Quote from: LordEoin on June 06, 2014, 11:27:11 AM
Those taps usually only leak if they're not pushed in hard enough.
I think I have that type of tap that I wont be using for a while.
PM me your address and I'll stick it in the post for you.
I'll need it back later on though once you're sorted with a replacement.
When you need something ask, don't just sit there stewing over it.
Otherwise email customerservice@coopers.com.au and mark it c/o Paul (PB2)
Thanks for the kind offer, LordEoin.
The problem with the tap is visible on the red rubber band. There's a chunk missing from the ring where the liquid escapes.
But I'm not sitting on my hands me ;-) I have already reached out to Coopers Customer Service, and a very helpful and friendly soul called Frank promised to send me a replacement tap via a UK HBS.
I shouldn't have to though. If you buy a faulty anything you would normally go back to the shop that sold it to you. Not to the manufacturer.
Quote from: Hop Bomb on June 06, 2014, 10:25:09 AM
Just for a bit of balance Il post my good experiences as with most company reviews online its always the bad & rarely the good.
All my HBC orders arrive next day. I can walk into HBW and collect my online orders in person. Never had an issue with either supplier. Great service & between the two I can get everything I need for all grain brewing at a decent price.
If I require my order next day for a brew or something I write that in the comments box on checkout & call them asking if its possible to get it out to me same day. This is usually on a Thursday (probably like most other brewers) or a Friday (pick up myself from DPD depot on Sat morning) & I always get it next day.
Same experience here and it's the main factor that influences my decision on where to order. All things being equal, the faster service will usually win. When shipping is free with one or the other, I go with that option.
Actually shipping is an issue too. I mean if I have to pay €5.95 shipping regardless of weight anywhere in Ireland I expect pretty prompt delivery.
I wish there were lower rates for small items though. I could wait longer for a bag of hops if the shipping cost didn't cost more than the hops. So now I end up having to order way more stuff to make it worth while which means I need to be home when its delivered, etc
Thanks for all the comments guys, please let me try to address them as best I can. But first, to try to make it up to you guys on this thread, we are offering you a 20% discount for just 2 days (until midnight Sunday); just use this code at checkout:
sorryForDelays
OK, here goes:
1. Emails: we are Ireland's biggest HBS by a long shot. Our Irish retail alone is much larger than all the other stores combined. And we have several additional sales channels. This meant that we were the only HBS that had to submit Intrastat returns for all of last year, and this year too. The admin overhead for the past few weeks has been horrific. BUT, its now up to date (as of this weekend), so that overhead is largely gone. Since Bianca handles emails and Intrastat returns, email responses should now be much better. Even so, all emails should still have been answered within 24 to 30 hours. If you don't get a response within 24 hours, the please PM me here and I'll sort it out.
2/ Order delays: a key staff member was off sick for almost two weeks. Unfortunately, this coincided with the launch of The Craft Range which is a total runaway success with hundreds of kits already sold. Bad combination, bad timing. Its just not possible to replace key staff at short notice. So yes, orders were delayed. We did work throughout the bank holiday weekend, but it still was not enough. But he is back now, and we have recruited part time staff so things are already getting back to normal and we have nearly cleared the backlog.
3/ The free bottle openers: I asked staff to ship them as of Monday, but for some reason, they didn't start doing it until Tuesday. Sorry. To compensate a little, I've now instructed them to keep doing it indefinitely (we could add fridge magnets too if you like . . . let us know).
4/ Expired finings: Parrot, the worst offence of all. We shipped you a superior 5 star product today (and the missing opener). The original order was packed by a new part time staff member. The lads checked what he placed in boxes before he closed them up (to ensure nothing was missing), but didn't take everything back out to check the expiry dates. We have virtually no expired stock on shelves, it was just very unfortunate that those particular finings are not that popular, and slipped through the net. As usual, it has to be a combination of several factors that permit this to happen. Fortunately its very rare.
5/ Out Of Stocks: Greg2013, out of stock items are dispayed so that customers know we do carry them, and that they will be coming back in. But they are clearly marked as out of stock. So I don't fully understand what the issue is here.
6/ Parcel Motel from the UK: Parrot , this is indeed very interesting, and the final trigger for us to reduce RRPs on some 3 Kg kits (Woodfordes and St. Peters to start with), which we have just done. We have known for months that we are losing a lot of business to discount stores in the UK, and we have discussed this with Muntons. The new pricing is such that it really is not worth while anymore going to the UK. I hope! Let me know if you can still get goods cheaper in from the UK (or anywhere else) including shipping, and we will fix it immediately. In fact, let us know why anybody would import homebrew goods (range? price? speed of delivery? etc) and we will try to address this.
7/ Free delivery: Tigger, bad timing! How unlucky can you get! Next order, email us and ask us to add Euro 10 worth of free goods to your order. Then just list the goods, and we will include them with your order.
8/ Leaking Tap: RedWino, I was furious when I read about this so I asked the lads what happened. Bianca swears she posted a replacement out to you, and presumed all was well when she didn't hear back. To be honest, this is why we don't use An Post except for shipping small replacements (usually missing yeasts etc). Even when weighed, and thus properly stamped in the post office, the goods often just disappear and unless the customer contacts us, we will never know. I've now instructed them to use An Post ONLY for single yeast replacements, and to use the couriers for everything else. PM me the order number (or the email address you used when you placed the order), and I'll get you out a replacement by courier.
My personal apologies to any of you that were affected by recent delays or other customer service issues. I suppose it is fair to say that I have recently been more product focused. There are upsides to that though, The Craft Range is only the beginning, we have hundreds of related products on the way soon. Did you know that the ciders are the first in the world? If you get around to trying one, I think you will be happy that we brought them to Ireland. In my opinion they are better than commercial ciders, and that is defo a first! I'll be drinking one tonight. I am also hoping to put about 50 great new products at great pricing online over the weekend.
Meanwhile, take a look at our 25 Kg base grains; as we don't wholesale these at the moment, we should be able to make them available at good prices.
Finally, the HBS in St Paul's shopping centre is continuing to expand their product range, the pictures posted look very impressive. A goal for this year is to supply about 20 more health food stores throughout the island of Ireland with a wide range of homebrewing goods. That should be good news for everybody.
Fair play HBW. Sounds like you lot had a pretty mad few weeks.
20% off. Damn wish I hadn't ordered stuff this week already.
Good man Brian, I just stocked up :D
No panic with the delivery :P
Well tbh we have discussed this before elsewhere HBW and i was not aiming that at you specifically but at all HBS nationwide,however seeing as you asked, if we are only talking about 5-6 items up on site marked out of stock that is not a big deal, however all too often its more like 20-30 items out of stock at once and they are not back in stock soon, in stock soon is in a week or two not a month or more, if it takes longer than a couple of weeks for multiple items then it is either bad supply chain or bad stockeeping on the part of the HBS in question, in my opinion (just mine) it gives a very bad impression that the shop in question cant keep up to speed or just cant think far enough ahead to realise that they are going to run out of something in a couple of weeks so they better order now to mitigate that.
The one thing i will say is that for the most part your prices HBW are quite competitive even with the UK shops, however it is my belief that what draws people to using parcel motel these days is not so much the price but the reliability of stock levels and the reliability of knowing that when they say back in stock soon they mean weeks rather than a month or more,also 90% of the time you can get items in from UK for the same price in a week or less and faster in most cases, that is why people use the UK and parcel motel, its not the price its that they are faster and more consistent IMHO. :D
Never thought the home brew shops would be so flat out. Good sign! Cheers for the response Brian.
Greg, we carry about 1000 products from Belgium and Italy; we carry just short of 3000 products in total (hundreds not yet on the web site). To get the prices down, we need to get a container at a time delivered . . . so we only reorder every 3 months or so. Its very hard to predict that far ahead in Ireland. Also, our suppliers are often out of stock themselves. I sooo wish we were only out or 30 or so products at any one time; unfortunately the real figure is often closer to 200 (now about 140, we just restocked).
i didnt start this tread to bash the hbs but to see how long deliverys are taking for people ,i feel the delays have been adiquidly explained ,. i personaly dont mind the out of stock items as at least i know what is getable maybe not in this order but probaly the next .
the offer of a 20 0/0 discount is very generous , and i have found homebrew west good to deal with in the past we are in fairness lucky to have them as the last homebrew shop i was in was across from the bemish brewery years ago and lack of a car makes me an online only shopper .
i would say dpd is the better of the couriers imo , the text letting me know the expected time is helpfull as im most likely still in bed lol
Quote from: HomeBrewWest on June 06, 2014, 05:32:21 PM
8/ Leaking Tap: RedWino, I was furious when I read about this so I asked the lads what happened. Bianca swears she posted a replacement out to you, and presumed all was well when she didn't hear back. To be honest, this is why we don't use An Post except for shipping small replacements (usually missing yeasts etc). Even when weighed, and thus properly stamped in the post office, the goods often just disappear and unless the customer contacts us, we will never know. I've now instructed them to use An Post ONLY for single yeast replacements, and to use the couriers for everything else. PM me the order number (or the email address you used when you placed the order), and I'll get you out a replacement by courier.
Thank you, but as it happens I received a replacement tap directly from Coopers (via Innhousebrewery.co.uk) yesterday. Nothing received from HBW via AnPost and the last email was on 27/5 to say that "We are waiting for our supplier to send us the spares".
Quote from: HomeBrewWest on June 06, 2014, 05:32:21 PM
Thanks for all the comments guys, please let me try to address them as best I can. But first, to try to make it up to you guys on this thread, we are offering you a 20% discount for just 2 days (until midnight Sunday); just use this code at checkout:
sorryForDelays
This was just the kick I needed to get a mini keg system http://www.homebrewwest.ie/brewferm-mini-keg-starter-kit-1614-p.asp (http://www.homebrewwest.ie/brewferm-mini-keg-starter-kit-1614-p.asp). I'm bottling a spiced ale next weekend, so I'll even do up a review here on the site as a thank you and hopefully it's of some use to the rest of the members. :)
Fair play to the HBS I say!
I have just skimmed the revenue VIES and INTRASAT info!
FFS: Europe is allegedly a free market ecconomy - you are ferking joking us!
Free market mean FFS FREE of BS and paper work!
The amount of paper work that the 'effing bean counters in Europe (not just Revenue.ie) are requiring for a FREE markey is ridiculous!
I just thank traders like our HBShops for being 'arsed enough to comply wilth this BS!
As for the nay sayers who expect 24 hour delivery for six quid - get REAL.
Some large letters/packages in .ieland can cost a 1/4 or a 1/3 and take days to arrive.
You get up to 25kgs or more delivered in 24/48 hours and ye're moaning!
I remember when parcel of "stuff" I used to order were shipped by TRAIN form London to S.Wales. Hardly next day service and certainly not cheap!
However BritRail Freight did not have stupid 'elf n safety regs about what was in the parcel else why did they ship half a kilo of Sodium (under oil) to me! (True Story) Why I wanted it is another story altogether.
So to sum up:
We have an amazing 4 or so HB shops that carry a humungeous product line at very competive prices and ship a huge parcel for €6. When its been picked up from them its down to the courier and where you live!
[/Rantoff] Feck I enjoyed that!
We were the only HBS here (until Jan / Feb) that had to comply. There is a minimum threshold that you have to import before you have to comply. We tried sooo hard to fight it, but lost that battle. Then we had to go back and do all of last year's as well as this years. Over 200,000 items last year alone. Absolute nightmare.
Quote from: Will_D on June 07, 2014, 08:30:21 PM
Fair play to the HBS I say!
A very big +1 from me.
I have never had any problem with delivery times. If something is out of stock that i need , ok it can be a bit of a pain but then i think that's a good thing because some amount of the product must have been sold.
You have to remember all the home brew shops here are still small enough businesses in the grander scale of things and with the explosive interest in home brewing they are bound to have problems from time to time.
Get over it. If your willing to come on and give out about a service you are not happy with and possibly discourage others you would be better off shopping elsewhere.
As will said, rant over.
Nobody is expecting miracles, but there are some anomalies such as the guy earlier in the thread ordering from the UK on a Monday and getting it that Wednesday. I personally have made plenty of orders to all the Irish HBS and never gotten it that quick.
Also, I ordered a big order from the States a few months back and got it within 10 days, pretty impressive if you ask me.
All anecdotal of course and I personally will try my very best to order from an Irish site.
But the modern way of shopping online is pretty cutthroat so shops have to keep up.
Wasn't an anomaly m8 that's what happened (i assume of course you are referring to me), as to the others that have basically said stop complaining, i am delighted in fact that ye seem to have no issue with services from HBS here, however not all of us have been that fortunate, and when i complain in spite of what people may think its not to discourage others from using the services of the HBS here its to keep said HBS on their toes and to alert others to issue thus enabling them to make their own decision as to what service to use.
Quote from: cochised on June 07, 2014, 09:42:02 PM
Nobody is expecting miracles, but there are some anomalies such as the guy earlier in the thread ordering from the UK on a Monday and getting it that Wednesday. I personally have made plenty of orders to all the Irish HBS and never gotten it that quick.
Exactly my point m8, if the UK can do it across the Irish sea then i see no reason shops here can't.
Also if slow service is down to crappy couriers then its up to the HBS to get better ones not us, charge 10 euro instead of six if you must to garauntee this, i personally would prefer that setup. ;D
Think it was yourself alright Greg :)
As some one who works in a small business in Ireland, I know how important supporting a local company is.
But bad service will not encourage return business and from that POV things can be quite ruthless.
Have to say f I'd had your experience is just never use that HBS again. Thing is I've had the opposite problem, HBC and HBW have been pretty good for me( tbh HBC went above and beyond) but I tried to order from an English crowd and gave them my CC details yet got no confirmation mail and have no idea where my order stands.
Quote from: Qs on June 08, 2014, 12:07:32 AM
Have to say f I'd had your experience is just never use that HBS again. Thing is I've had the opposite problem, HBC and HBW have been pretty good for me( tbh HBC went above and beyond) but I tried to order from an English crowd and gave them my CC details yet got no confirmation mail and have no idea where my order stands.
Exactly what I did to be fair, to the extent I do feel a bit silly as we are all human and do make errors.
As I said I strive to use Irish companies as much as I can. I realise operating conditions are extremely tough and nobody is getting rich from it so we ain't getting shafted (I hope).
As said above, nobody wants to screw anybody over, we'd love to see an improvement in service across the board resulting from a thread like this :)
Inded there are 101 storis of great/crap deliveries:
Here's one:
Due to a finger cockup I ordered 2 off 3.6kW controllers from China.
One was to be delivered via Parcel Motel via Belfast t'other to me direct in Dubland.
Needless to say the PM one arrived in just over 2 weeks. 6 weeks later no sign of the Dubland one.
Now the good news: email to China, "Please deliver replacement to PM Belfast". 2 weeks later PM is ready for collection. No probs whatsoever with Chinese supplier -
Moral of this story: Sh**e happens. Talk to the supplier and always use PM! ! !
In my instance a phone call and email resulted in zero back from the HBS so methinks my end was covered
Was a busy time of year so can give some leeway there, but had spent a significant amount of money with them and my issue wasn't addressed at all. How far are we meant to go really?
Anyway, at this stage I will probably use the store in question again as I said above, we are only human ;)
I guess that unless you read the entire thread (and we hope you will), you may miss the discount. Since it ends tomorrow night, I figured I should put a reminder here for those that may have missed it: we are offering a 20% discount until midnight Sunday; just use this code at checkout:
sorryForDelays
Let's stop saying the HBS and just say who it is. We all know, they've even apologised and offered us a discount. They'd a busy period and that's fair enough.
Right now I will still use both. All things even I'd use HBC but I like those bulldog hops on HBW so of I need a big order of hops I'm there. Or if I need something and it's cheaper there. They've both done a decent job for me but HBC were just great and as I said went beyond good service.
I wish I didn't have a fridge stuffed full of hops because if be all over that offer otherwise.
Just got a bounced email that might explain a lot. First off, our retail section ships more than twice as many orders as the next biggest HBS. So this just happens at lot more to us. Bounced email:
-------@@email.com
I presume that should be:
-------@@gmail.com
So there is a customer that's going to be well pissed off because they will not get order notifications etc. The lads can't possibly check this stuff and try to second guess fixes.
Recently, we emailed and called another customer several times. To no avail, but eventually got through to his wife. To cut a long story short, because we send email notifications to all customers, it seems it got marked "spam" in his email so he never got the emails. The moral of that story is: please white list us with your email program.
We are taking all comments here very seriously in order to improve the service we offer. But I can assure you all that our customer service is every bit as good as the major UK retail stores, of comparable size to us.
They too are not perfect. We know this, because like us, they also sell on Amazon. If you want to compare, then simply look at our Amazon ratings compared to all the other major UK stores. We are top (Brewsmarter).
See:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B002JMJUDU/ref=ag_xx__xx/?condition=new (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B002JMJUDU/ref=ag_xx__xx/?condition=new)
and just look at that page. Or any other page where we sell on Amazon.
We are the only major homebrew seller on Amazon with 100% positive feedback.
Yes UK companies do offer a great service, but if enough of you use them, you will eventually run into a lot more problems! Last year, we shipped about 20,000 orders, and will ship up on 30,000 this year. And yet, complaints on forums only appear every couple of years. Still, its no escuse for those we fail; I hope the 20% discount will help a bit.
OK Brian, as far as I'm concerned you've redeemed HBW and I'm satisfied with your explanations - shit happens!
Hopefully that will all be reflected in my orders, and others, being dispatched and delivered pronto ;) say, ordered Monday delivered Tuesday (Wednesday if ordered late on Monday)?? :-\ That would be really great.
I wish I was near enough to drop in to HBW or any HBS but we've nothing remotely useful like that in the "Sunny South East" - more's the pity or should I say, 'more's the PITA' :D ;D
BTW the UK thing was just a dig to get you going Har! Har! :P
Thanks for the replacement product - the Harris stuff is gone in the bin :)
P
I think its only fair that i hold my hand up and say "fair cop guv" to Brian and HBW and the other HBS we use. Anyway i actually reviewed some past orders and it seems that if say i order on Wednesday morning the stuff is sent out from say HBW at latest that evening, that being the case it is down to the couriers because anytime in the past when i have done an order on Wednesday i don't get it until the following Monday. :(
That being the case is there any better courier service out there that can actually get orders from say HBW to the sunny south east next day delivery ? Is there a way to pay a little extra and maybe get a fastrack delivery, say 10 euro to garuntee next day delivery ? Maybe Brian you could look into that, i don't know if it's possible but no harm in looking i suppose ? It would save you a lot of hassle from feckers like me ::) :P
I should point out that given the exchange rate prices are on a par with UK and better in some cases, the main reason i use UK when ordering is because the orders take so fecking long for the couriers here to deliver, they won't listen to me but maybe a bit of a push from the big boys would wake them up ? 8)
Sales have gone totally nuts since we launched the Craft Range, with nearly 400 beer and cider kits sold since we launched them a couple of weeks ago. We are trying to recruit new staff to keep up.
In the meantime, will you please PM me order numbers and I will try my best to prioritise NHC member's orders.
Hi,
Just read through this thread. We were away in Brouwland all weekend so just catching up on my reading now. If anyone ever has a problem with an order from us, please contact us via email or landline during shop hours and we will get to it straight away. For the most part our orders go out within the next business day, with Monday being the exception sometimes due to roll over from the weekend. There is the odd rare occasion where it will take longer but these instances are in the extreme. We have adequate staff numbers, all of which brew and are not let near the phones or shop until they have. The last order to be dispatched today by us came in at 16.07. With our new expanded premises and clean room we are geared to handle any volume. If you want to brew this weekend stick your order in with us. There is no need to send me a PM. It will ship tomorrow.
Shane
Quote from: HomeBrewWest on June 11, 2014, 05:27:15 PM
In the meantime, will you please PM me order numbers and I will try my best to prioritise NHC member's orders.
Just a thought: If they are paid up members they will be using the discount code so that will tell you they are a priority. Will save you getting lots of emails!!
So one more perk for becomming a paid up member - priority shipping
Quote from: Will_D on June 11, 2014, 07:46:25 PM
Quote from: HomeBrewWest on June 11, 2014, 05:27:15 PM
In the meantime, will you please PM me order numbers and I will try my best to prioritise NHC member's orders.
Just a thought: If they are paid up members they will be using the discount code so that will tell you they are a priority. Will save you getting lots of emails!!
So one more perk for becomming a paid up member - priority shipping
Now that's a funky idea if it was implemented. That said, I ordered my mini kegs at the weekend and they arrived today, which is probably the fastest I've ever gotten an order from HBW. Well pleased :)
We recently upgraded our courier service to Parcelforce Worldwide, we still have the use of Fastway too but have been trialling GLS who fulfil our Parcelforce orders in Ireland. We have already found increased delivery times and a huge reduction in delivery related issues. We do get all orders pre 1pm out on a next day service guaranteed, if possible we pack orders received after this time for dispatch the same day.
We have the courier now providing text updates if we have your telephone number also.
We also have the collect in shop facility at the farm shop. We have recently upgraded our stores and have bought new mills, we have been milling whole grain to order for anyone collecting at the shop and will soon be expanding that service too. We are fully certified with environmental health and strive to have the freshest ingredients possible.
We store all our leaf hops in walk in fridges and have just bought the largest range of Weyermann whole malts which will be added to the website in the coming days.
We have fully trained staff and myself and Deborah deal with all the customer service issues, we pride ourselves in having first class customer service. I wouldn't expect you to put up with these sort of issues.
Let me know if we can improve our service we genuinely put the customer first, we wouldn't exist without you guys and we thank you for choosing to shop with us. We don't profess to be perfect we just take pride in what we do and strive to be number one for customer service and fast delivery!