So jet.gorilla was kind enough to offer to bring me some NB kits on his next trip over to Paris (THANKS!) so I went ahead and ordered a couple kits from NB on Tuesday early early morning, and got the 3-day UPS shipping. It sat there, ‘pending fulfilment,’ until yesterday afternoon when I called to ask WTF was going on. Apparently (and without notifying me at all) they were having problems sourcing one of the kits. I asked the guy to verify that it would be sent out yesterday and that he was 100% sure that it would be delivered in time. He said “Yeah, no problem, it’ll get there on Friday.” Well. I got the UPS tracking number, and it shows delivery as being on next. Monday.
So, WTF? Now it’s most likely going to sit on a hot Texas porch for two weeks and I’m not gonna get to brew the stuff I ordered. I am not yet pissed off, because it’s possible that it’ll get there in time, but seriously, wtf? I used to really like these guys because of their work on BTV and the other positive reviews I saw from around the forum here. But now, it looks like I’m going to be out $100 for nothing.
Has anyone else in Texas or other places in the south ordered from NB with 3-day? Did it arrive earlier than the shipping time predicted?
Their probably too busy selling their “White House” kits… I ordered $125 worth of stuff on 9/5 and didn’t receive until 9/13… almost 5 days of it waiting to be put in a box to ship out. I finally emailed them after waiting for a tracking # for days and was told they were crushed by the labor day orders (also when they were pushing the WH kits). Typically with UPS ground shipping since I am closer in Illinois it takes 2-3 max. I’ve ordered alot of stuff from them over the years and that was the first time I’d wished I ordered elsewhere.
I purchase RO membrane elements from a company in San Diego. They are shipped via UPS Ground (UPS “ground” to Hawaii - funny stuff). I have found that the delivery date on the tracking has no basis in reality whatsoever. My shipments always show up days earlier than stated on the tracking.
I used to order a lot of my stuff from NB, but I switched to other places because NB ships UPS. For a while every box that came to our house from UPS was crushed. The real deal breaker for me was Saturday delivery. I do not get to brew too often anymore, so I have limited days to brew. One of my delivery dates was the Friday before brew day. Friday came but the package didn’t and since UPS doesnt deliver on Saturday, my brew day was over Friday night. I only order beer stuff from places that ship FedEx because they deliver on Saturdays and that could be the difference for me…and the boxes arent crushed. If NB switched to FedEx I would probably order more often from them.
Back to the delivery date, we’ve received a lot of packages from UPS and FedEx before the delivery date on various shipping methods. Hopefully you get it in time. I will say that orders that are being shipped other than ground should not be held up without the customer being notified. I also dont think they should have told you that you would get it by Friday if it was shipped 3 day select yesterday. You may want to contact them if it doesnt arrive in time.
If you’re paying extra for an expedited delivery method, then they should (at the bare minimum) accept a return for a refund if they are unable to meet the date specified. I’ve had good customer service from NB in the past, so I would hope that they’d be reasonable about this.
While we’re talking about NB, I’m pretty bummed that they dropped their flat-rate shipping. It’s about the only thing that made their prices competitive for me.
Oh, and Keeler and Dawson left NB, so it looks like we won’t be seeing them in BTV anymore. Big bummer there.
I had something similar happen with Brewmaster’s Warehouse. They were out of one item and didn’t tell me about it until 5 days later. I’ve had the most luck with AHB and Rebel. Midwest sent me the wrong product once, but they were really fast with shipping me a replacement.
It does suck NB doesn’t do flat-rate shipping anymore. I doubt I’ll buy anything from them again. Rebel charges for shipping, but they can do regular postal service for small items, and FedEx, which tends to be cheaper for me then UPS. Especially for small orders, Rebel’s shipping usually ends up being a better deal for me than other people’s flat-rate.
My NB order last week took four days to ship. Not a big deal, but it would be nice if they put a note up about being back logged. IIRC the site says something to the effect that orders will ship the same or next day.
I order from them several times a year and have always had good delivery service, however, it was when they used FedEx. My first order when they switched to UPS came all banged up. Fortunately everything was accounted for. My second order is supposed to arrive tomorrow per UPS tracking so we’ll see. Not a big box, just some hardware for a keezer build, but if it doesn’t show up on time it’s gonnna screw up my schedule build time.
I didn’t realize they dropped the flat rate shipping. That sucks. Over the past couple of years I’ve ordered most of my supplies from them, both because they’ve had a good amount of stuff in stock and because of the 7.99 shipping.
I’m sure I’ll still shop there but I’ll probably be more inclined to see if I can get what I want from morebeer since they offer the free shipping on most stuff over $59.
I imagine they’ll lose a lot of customers for dropping flat-rate shipping. It doesn’t matter if their prices are better or not, a lot of people will just be mad they can’t get the same service for the same price. I bet NB has enough new customers coming in that they’ll still do OK.
The only advantage I ever saw in NB over midwest supplies was the flat rate shipping. Now I prefer midwest because they use paypal. I do stock up on my grain through morebeer for the free shipping over $59 though.
Back in April I got a full sack of pils from NB because of the flat-rate shipping. I’m pretty sure they lost money on that deal, and I’m not surprised they discontinued the program.