Hey folks,
I’m making an inventory of my grain supplies, and I came across a still-sealed bag of Special B from AHS. For kicks, I threw it on the scale. It weighed exactly 1.76lbs with packaging, but it said 2lbs on the label. Is it possible the grain lost weight during storage? I ordered the grain in March, and I’m kind of annoyed, but I feel kinda weird telling them about it at this point. Maybe I should just let them know that it happened, so it won’t happen to someone else? Am I being completely insane and unreasonable?
Next time I get grain from them, it’s going on the scale right away.
What’s an acceptable variance to you? I feel like +/-0.05lbs is OK, and +/-0.1lbs is pushing it.
Let them know about it, but be nice. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Chances are it was a mistake.
If I were in that business and that happened I’d want to know about it, and I’d make it right ASAP. Businesses with unhappy customers don’t stay in business very long.
I tend to look at it as a percent variance. 2% I’m totally OK with; 5% is where it starts to bug me.
I used to order small quantities of specialty malts from Brewmasters Warehouse and stopped because they were always off. I once got an “8 oz” package of black malt with 6.3 oz in it. That’s a recipe-changer.
Thanks for the heads up. I’ve never taken the time to weigh out my grain from them, so I’ll be sure to double-check. FWIW, I’m not sure if they package their hops themselves or just relabel them, but they have always been accurate to the hundredth of an ounce on my scale.
Their customer service has always been stellar, so I’m all for politely letting them know what happened. Double-check your scale first to make sure it’s reading true.
Checked the scale today with 1L of water. It was actually reading 15g heavy, so it was actually 1.73lbs. I’ll probably shoot them an email today. It’s not that big of a deal, but maybe I can get the 1/4lb I’m missing on my next order or something.
It took a few days, but I heard back from AHS. They apologized, said there was a 30 day limit for resolving issues, but said in this case they’d give me a coupon code for the value of the whole two pounds of Special B.
So, that’s pretty cool, and more than I expected or asked for.
Glad to hear, and not really surprised either. Sad to say, but the customer service at the online homebrew supply shops is leaps and bounds above my LHBS.
I’ve always had great service from AHS, although I may weigh my next order just out of curiosity. Fast shipping from them too. I live in OK, so their ground saver shipping is 2 day. I can order on a Tuesday and still have supplies in hand Friday for a weekend brew.
AHS is one of the best I’ve used (as far as shipping quick, and shipping the correct items). This was the first issue I’ve had with them. I won’t name any names, but I’ve had way worse experiences with other mail-order places. My "L"HBS is 1.5 hours away, so most of the time I use mail-order.
“Mail order is a term which describes the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote method such as through a telephone call or web site. Then, the products are delivered to the customer.”