Marks Home Brew confirmed to stay open then sold

[SJW]

This thread is turning into some very cheap advertising for Mark.
It should be renamed the Markshomebrew appreciation thread.

 

[Dropper Grogan]

Orderd my grain Wednesday, received confirmation email instantly and picked up my order Thursday. A bloke who put his order in Brewbuilder that morning arrived & Mark did it on the spot.

This thread should now be closed. It's turned into an area just for people to bag Mark out. If you live in Newcastle, have the decency to go see him rather than slag him off here.

The reason he hasn't posted on this thread is that he is too busing trying to get by.

A moderator should step in and remove this crap.

 

[SJW]

Kill this thread

 

[Bribie G]

 

[Weizguy]

It's odd that Mark has not been on to comment on this thread.

I'm certain that Mark has given AHB a bit of "time out, in the corner", as he goes about his business with a care factor of about zero for whatever goes on here, or even if his name is being mentioned.

 

[TheWiggman]

Dropper, I don't see this as a thread to bag out Mark. It started as something different but it's turned into a general feedback thread. There are plenty of positive remarks and a fair share of bad ones.

I've done two orders - one pickup and one delivered (I live 5h out of Newcastle). Pickup order was excellent, quick turnaround and he gave me a polite call about some stock he didn't have.

2nd order has been nothing but a frustration for me. I don't have a LHBS so rely on so I order recipes as I need them, about 3 at a time. I put in my order in April, 3 weeks before planning to do a brew, and tried numerous times to contact him. The fact his website number is different to his current one made it impossible - I had to get a relative to go to the store to get him to give me a call. I've called him 3 times about this order, and 3 times now he's said he'll call me back but didn't. I still don't have my stuff and I have no idea when to expect it. In the meantime I've used another supplier I know I can rely on.

Had I not seen the feedback from others in my situation in this thread I wouldn't know what the hell was going on. It seems everyone expecting a delivery can expect not to get one.
Regardless, had I not seens others' feedback I'd be completely in the dark. Feedback doesn't need to be positive. I've had a good and bad experience and I'm sure if I still lived in Warabrook I'd be in there every 2nd week throwing my cash at him and continuing to give him positive feedback. As it stands I don't have the luxury, and I won't be dealing with him for delivered stuff again. If he can't fulfil delivery orders then he really shouldn't have that option available on his web site. Imagine you weren't a member of AHB and had just come across the web site? Wrong phone number, no response to e-mails, nothing turning up in the mail etc. etc. Just an order sitting in limbo.

Otherwise I'm very much keen to drop in and check the place out when I'm about next. In the meantime I'm joining the milling brigade and am going to get some sacks of malt to tide me over whenever I might want to brew. As it stands I have 2 empty kegs and no grain.

 

[Dropper Grogan]

The Wiggman

Very well posted comments. My gripe was with people in Newcastle who are giving Mark some mouth. If they have a problem, it's far better to call in and see him rather than post stuff on this forum.

As for people like you who don't live close by, I can't comment re your orders.

Regards

Dropper

 

[dicko]

Orderd my grain Wednesday, received confirmation email instantly and picked up my order Thursday. A bloke who put his order in Brewbuilder that morning arrived & Mark did it on the spot.

This thread should now be closed. It's turned into an area just for people to bag Mark out. If you live in Newcastle, have the decency to go see him rather than slag him off here.

The reason he hasn't posted on this thread is that he is too busing trying to get by.

A moderator should step in and remove this crap.

I cant see why any moderator should do anything with this thread.

We have already been ask to move it, to rename it and now you are asking to remove it.

Settle down..... Mark is the one with the problem not any of the moderators.

Common courtesy was mentioned in one of the preceding posts....

Ok! And by the way, all moderators on this forum are members just the same as all others on here and are entitled to their opinion and comments as long as it is within the site guidelines and site rules.

If Mark wants this thread closed then I suggest that he personally contact any of the moderators or admin and we will lock the thread, but until then the good and the bad will be forthcoming regarding the service he offers.

Back to brewing beer.

 

[mr_wibble]

I still don't have my stuff and I have no idea when to expect it.

I'm in the same boat.
My money has been taken, but no order received.
Why are orders placed "yesterday" turned around immediately, whereas orders placed weeks ago are unfulfilled?

It's turned into an area just for people to bag Mark out.

No it hasn't. It's turned into a both positive and negative log of how this business interacts with its customers.

News that others' orders are done when mine sits waiting (for weeks) doesn't sit too well with me.
Is my order somehow less-worthy because I'm not a local ?

 

[pk.sax]

Reminds me of when Beerbelly used to get bagged out on here.

Now that I'm local - the shop gets so incredibly busy on Saturdays that I could see where their time disappears, excellent service in store. I've been doubtful from the beginning about how much the smaller stores with both brick and mortar and online presence are geared to handle both. The workload really pushes.

 

[Kingy]

It's good to hear other peoples experiences as I was thinking it was just me and I need to be more patient lol.

 

[SJW]

I can't believe anyone is dumb enough to pay for something in advance when you don't even know if he has it in stock, especially for the local guys who are picking up anyway. When I was using him for my orders, before I got in on the Sydney bulk buy ( when he said he was closing ) i just ordered one day, said pick up next day and went in the day after. It sounds like the Mail Oder side of things has fallen over for some. But I still don't understand. All my years of dealing with Mark I can't imagine he would take money off someone and not fill the order. He is obviously not reading this thread, so if I was Kingy I would ring him and put the hard word on him. There is no way Mark would knowingly screw someone over, unless you have pissed him off in some way? I would not want to upset him.
So until I use up my 75kgs of malt i just drop in for hops and yeast and specialty malts.

 

[StalkingWilbur]

People pay for things in advance all the time. Have you ever ordered something online?

 

[SnakeDoctor]

People pay for things in advance all the time. Have you ever ordered something online?

Exactly - i've paid in advance every other time ive ordered from MHB, this was back prior to the "issues" so I had no reason to believe otherwise.

You choose the product, the system tells you if it's in stock or not (I had no reason to doubt it) you pays your money and the product gets shipped to you.

I'm another person who is currently paid up and waiting on it. SJW I understand you and the locals are being looked after but back when we all paid up there wasn't exactly a "locals only" sign on the website.

 

[SnakeDoctor]

I can't believe anyone is dumb enough to pay for something in advance when you don't even know if he has it in stock,

Just on this point, Brewbuilder is linked to (or meant to be) the inventory in the shop - i've seen ingredients marked out of stock previously so i've had no reason to doubt it's accuracy.

 

[SJW]

Well you won't do it again I bet, with Mark anyway

 

[SnakeDoctor]

Well you won't do it again I bet, with Mark anyway

Order online? I order stuff online all the time and won't be stopping any time soon.

And no - i'll order my spec malts / hops from Craftbrewer.

I expect that eventually i'll recover the product and or funds - either that or us lowly peasant mail order punters have subsidised the upper royal class local pick up guild

 

[SJW]

Good move I would say

 

[Boozed]

Country brewer in East Maitland are starting an AG supply service. You can currently order malt in 25kg, 4kg and 500g packs. Digga who runs the joint tells me that they are going to provide a service similar to Mark's, they are just getting their shit together buying mills etc and they should be up and running in a few weeks.

 

[TheWiggman]

That's actually what I'm doing Boozed. They have a reasonable range and average prices, but can do custom stuff by request. Normally their prepackaged grains are crushed but I've requested whole, which they can do. A much better option to go for a 45 min drive and pick up 80-odd kg of malt than continue to pay $20kg per 5kg recipe in deliveries. Plus, the store owner Brian was very helpful and replied to me twice with order status updates which was much appreciated.