Buyer Beware

[porky]

So you waited for stuff you didnt get charged for,then came on here and complained about it without raising the issue with the business involved.
What is that going to achieve?
If they dont know they cant fix it.

Again, read the OP once more, you don't seem to understand it.
They do know about it, the jury is still out as to weather they fix it or not.
I still have something on order with them, or so I think. <_<
Time will tell. Maybe a few more weeks will work.

Bud

 

[Bribie G]

I work in an inbound call centre for a company, and our mantra is P.A.C.E which is an acronym for "passionate about customer experience" because we fully realise that if the customer doesn't get a good experience they are going to go elsewhere.

An excellent example is today, when I rang Ticketek to order a couple of tickets to attend my buddie's PhD ceremony in March. I had a smooth and faultless experience as they extracted my eighteen dollars per ticket out of me (big pissup and feed afterwards that should compenate )

The point I am making is that we are talking phone and internet transactions, as opposed to lobbing into a shop in person. There is an expectation that when we go online or on the phone we can be totally confident of a good and secure experience. Examples are Wotif, the hotel motel mob that I use when travelling on holiday. They are faultless and totally dependable. Another example is Quikflix that I use for my DVD hire. The best example I can think of is CraftBrewer.

If you are in this game then s**t or get off the pot because in 2009 amateur hour is long long gone.

 

[porky]

Don't you just hate it when you send an email in good faith and for some reason it doesn't get thru / gets lost / isn't read

Yes, and that does happen, :huh: but when one receives a copy of the order with an order number on it within 24 hours one thinks things are on the way.

 

[clean brewer]

I had the same thing with a Meat Company I had used for years..

• Placed an Order for Meat for 2 Weddings, $1400 worth.
• The Meat was taken to Courier Company so they could deliver to me.
• Courier Company now only delivered 1 day a week, so meat Company took meat back to Depot.
• I rung Meat company and asked when the meat was coming.
• Was then told the courier company only delivered on a certain day and it could not get to me in time.
• I then told them, I would call them if I could make alternate arrangements. Which I couldnt.
• Rung Meat company the next week to organise re-delivery/pick-up..
• Was told that the order has been cancelled and what I ordered was no longer in stock.
• I said that I still had a $1400 Invoice in my hand, was told that the invoice has been cancelled.
• Very f--ked off at this point, telephone girl had made this decision to cancel order.
• Rung guy in charge Fuming, he gave massive apologies, I didnt order again from them for 6 months, they probably missed out on $10 000 worth of Business.

I dont think in this day, it is economically viable to give this kind of service, unless, THEY MAKE TO MUCH MONEY..

I know its not related to beer, but the same principle applies..

 

[SJW]

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...mp;#entry416993

This is what we like to see more of

 

[Tony]

Placed 2 small orders on line within 5 minuites of each other last week.

Craftbrewer order.......... on doorstep with in 24 hrs.......... from QLD.

ESB order........... still not seen (2 hr drive away)

Never had a problem with them before and been buying bits and pieces from them for over 5 years but seems to have slipped latley.

Cheers

Edit: Just checked and no payment taken from them from a week ago.

Too bad if i wanted it in a hurry

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Placed 2 small orders on line within 5 minuites of each other last week.

Craftbrewer order.......... on doorstep with in 24 hrs.......... from QLD.

ESB order........... still not seen (2 hr drive away)

Never had a problem with them before and been buying bits and pieces from them for over 5 years but seems to have slipped latley.

Cheers

May be ESB have caught wind that we are in a recession and have cut back in staff? A bit like selling hotdogs?

A humble hot dog man had a successful business selling quality hot dogs. Every customer was served with a smile. One day the man’s son came home from college and told his father a recession was coming so he better cut costs. The hot dog man stopped advertising and garaged some of his hot dog carts. Sales fell. He retrenched staff and used cheap sausages and sales fell further. Eventually he decided he would go back to doing what he was doing, that is selling good quality hot dogs with a smile … and sure enough… sales went up.

You might be asking yourself what’s the point of the story? The motto of the story isn’t whether or not Australia is heading for recession - this depends on whose point of view you wish to take and which newspaper you read after October’s Black Friday.

The point is, the story is about how gloom and doom can become self fulfilling and how you have the power to create or avoid your own recession. If you’ve been a sheep and docilely followed the pack by madly buying stock at the height of the stock market rise and now you’re desperately trying to recoup your losses by selling, just like the rest of the pack, then the sensationalist media predictions of loss and financial devastation are likely to come true for you.

Sorry could not help myself.


BYB

 

[bulp]

With me if i don't get good service once i put it down to the seller having a bad day, but if it happens twice then i will never shop with said seller again and don't really care for excuses, these days there is more than one person/business willing to take your money and if they offer better service/price why would you look anywhere else, and big ups to anyone who shares their bad service expierience much appreciated , . I've found the CB lads to have unbeatable service/price and attitudes and have dealt with other site sponsors and to be honest Craftbrewer wins hands down.

p.s But i'm still grateful for Ahb site sponsorship

Cheers

 

[samhighley]

If a business promotes that they do business using modern technology, such as email and web, then they need to take it seriously. If they are not serious about it, then they should not promote these methods as viable ways of transacting business with that company.

I've lost count of the number of times that i've sent emails to businesses and never received a response. If they're not serious about interacting with customers in this way, then they should remove all mention of email from their advertisements.

 

[mikem108]

ESB has been slipping for a while ever since Mel got "sick" and the shop closed temporarily and was then bought out by the other fellas. Have had nothing but disappointing experiences there since then.

 

[petesbrew]

Quick question, Are the kits still the same since Mel left?
I have a desire to try the smoked belgian ale again.

 

[Carbonator]

I dont think in this day, it is economically viable to give this kind of service.

Very true, since the everyone else is wanting to compete with your business and take your money!

Communications and payments for sold items on eBay are almost instant now, well, can be complete within 2 or 3 minutes, so sellers should be attempting to reciprocate with mailing and or return communication of a postal delay, because the money for the purchased product is gone towards the seller's account as soon as the buyer clicks on "confirm payment"!

The bar has been lifted somewhat for internet orders of products. I personally check my email 5 to 15 times a day, and sometimes have stuff I sell on eBay, paid for with Paypal, delivered to the buyer in their hand the next or second business business day, thanks to Aus Post Express satchels.

It's a 2-way street! Believe me, there are some very slack eBay buyers out there and their "Customer Service" towards me has been very retarded, even though they have full intentions of paying for something (in the next couple of weeks).

 

[PostModern]

Wow. This thread has grown and grown, nearly as long as the list of satisfied ESB customers.

I used to shop at ESB almost exclusively, until other options opened up online and in the Illawarra. Mel, and those close to Mel, inspired and created the craft as we know it in Sydney today. I always enjoyed popping in there for bulk ingredients once every few months and having a chat while I was there. A shame that all that history and effort can be wiped from our memories by one bad transaction.

I take it Mel is out of the business completely now? He was very old school, the interweb was an ad/brochure more than a business processing service, I think. Seems like the new owners are doing things the same way, which is a shame and counterproductive in this day and age.

 

[mje1980]

Wow. This thread has grown and grown, nearly as long as the list of satisfied ESB customers.

I used to shop at ESB almost exclusively, until other options opened up online and in the Illawarra. Mel, and those close to Mel, inspired and created the craft as we know it in Sydney today. I always enjoyed popping in there for bulk ingredients once every few months and having a chat while I was there. A shame that all that history and effort can be wiped from our memories by one bad transaction.

I take it Mel is out of the business completely now? He was very old school, the interweb was an ad/brochure more than a business processing service, I think. Seems like the new owners are doing things the same way, which is a shame and counterproductive in this day and age.

Same here rob, i found mel to be of great help, and would gladly answer stupid newbie questions. I used to drive up there from the gong once a month or so.

 

[Peter Wadey]

......
I take it Mel is out of the business completely now? .....

If you want to talk to Mel, you will still find him at the Lorraine St shop.

 

[warrenlw63]

I don't agree with a lot of things you say PoMo but you're spot on the money there. When I was HB newb 12 years ago. I did a bit of buying on the phone down here in Vic from Reagan and Mel. Both top blokes and really helpful. Mind you I only bought from them what G&G (or Southern HB) at the time could not provide. Even G&G at the time applauded the fact that if they don't have it it's perfectly alright to get it somewhere else. Such is the raport HBS proprietors "used" to have with each other.

I sometimes wonder if more harm than good is being inflicted here by bagging the LHBS on this forum? Sort of runs counter to what we stand for really.

Give the bloke a break he may be just finding his feet.

As per a rumbling I had the other week when somebody was bagging G&G's website. Maybe just a phone call as a "concerned customer" maybe all that's required personally I think it shows better character and more balls than bearing your souls on AHB. This is liable to make or break a retailer.

Warren -

 

[peas_and_corn]

I bought some iodophor from them a few years back, was the only thing I've ever bought from them- no worries at all.

 

[porky]

Maybe just a phone call as a "concerned customer" maybe all that's required personally I think it shows better character and more balls than bearing your souls on AHB. This is liable to make or break a retailer.

Warren -

Too bad you didn't hear the call. I can't explain the total indifference I got.
Never would have posted this if they even tried to help and not lose me as a customer.
With the number of others that have had bad experiences it would have been nice to get a heads up and I wouldn't bothered to order from them.

Bud

 

[boingk]

...doom and gloom can be self-fulfilling.

Bing bing bing! Winner, contestant #1793! I totally agree. Excellent situational analogy, too.

As for my experience, I got a phonecall almost a week after placing (and paying for) my order. A small order, only 3kg of grains and a half-kilo of PoR. No biggie. Anyway, I was told over the phone that I would be right to have a few hundred grams of PoR, but that was it. I was free to change quantities or specify another hop, so I said yes to 200g PoR and 300g Cluster. I thought that was pretty good, and was told the order would be to me by the end of this week.

I'm not complaining, or extolling the speed of service, but am glad I was kept in the loop. Whilst its far from overnight service, I wasn't in a rush and can handle a week-and-a-bit turn around time due to still getting my AG setup together.

Cheers - boingk

 

[Pollux]

As others have said, if you want to advertise yourself as an on-line retailer, you should have the planning and resources to easily have sales going out within 24-48 hours.

If you suddenly discover that you are struggling to keep up, hire another staff member.


Having spent years in various forms of customer service I have high standards of what I expect when I am a customer, and I also understand when a situation is beyond the control of the business I am dealing with, and provided they keep me in the loop then all is well....

We have a quote painted on the walls in back of house at work.

"We are not in the coffee business serving people, we are in the people business serving coffee"

Truer words never spoken.