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Paul W.

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1 Review by Paul

  • The-online-homebrew-company.co.uk

2/17/12

The first thing to say is that THIS SITE is accurate, so IGNORE 100% the "Trustpilot" reviewer this company refers buyers to, AS YOU CAN ONLY REVIEW THERE IF PROVIDED WITH A CODE FROM THIS AWFUL COMPANY. Does everyone get a code? NOT on your Nelly! You only get one if you are one of the few customers that they can actually dispatch items to in a reasonable time... (IE: IF THEY KNOW YOU ARE LIKELY TO BE HAPPY!). Hence the 4 stars that they are rated there!
So what can we say about this bunch of jokers. The best way I can describe my experience is; "Welcome to the Victorian age of shopping"... Absolutely awful shopping experience, for the following reasons.
1) This company have no telephone number for buyers to contact them... Emailing is the only way (although even they themselves agree that the most common email servers may have problems getting a message to them). The reply to my emails were mostly answered via standard electronic replies that told me nothing about why I was still waiting for a paid order to be dispatched 28 days post-purchase.
2) On their site they have messages everywhere stating that abusive emails will not be tolerated & may even warrant them to press criminal charges! The suggestion that customers don't get too irrate with them is also included in their emailed "electronic updates". What does this tell us about our likely experience with this company, I wonder?
3) When you buy from this company items showing "in-stock" may well be out of stock (mine were showing in-stock, and it is a common complaint).
4) You don't pay on dispatch of your purchase, you pay immediately & wait until the company either get it in stock, or decide to get around to sending it... Convenient that... Despite promises to the contrary in the emails, you will not receive in-stock items in advance of those that are out-of-stock...
5) Don't get excited if you have received constant emails delaying your order time after time, then to receive (joy) another email announcing dispatch "tomorrow". The likelihood is that "tomorrow" will never come, as the same message (as in my case) can be displayed for 2-3 days before getting yet another gut-wrenching email stating (yet again) an expected receipt date (from "the warehouse" to their premises) of a further week or two in the future!
6) Break their rule of politeness (even slightly, as although I was dissatisfied & let them know it, I was NEVER rude) & they will henceforth ignore your emails completely, only sending out the interminable automatic weekly email updates informing of delays.
7) Complainants putting stuff on their facebook site have all been banned & removed (there are quite a few reviewers complaining of this).
8) They ignore requests to refund you, and will only do so if you have waited 28 days since the order was placed. There is then a 10-20 day wait on top of this (according to other reviewers) before you actually get your card recredited.

Conclusion: This site is not a scam, and I have yet to hear of a customer not actually (eventually... yawn...) either getting their money back or receiving their purchases.
The problem is a combination of clear greed (cash is clearly king here... good practice is only to take a payment on actual goods dispatch) coupled with constant special offers (meaning that new orders are billed immediately in the full knowledge that buyers will be waiting a long, long time for the actual items to reach this company's warehouse. This really does create a very poor customer experience with this company (unless you are one of the lucky ones whose purchase really IS in stock)... In the current economic climate, this company is really cutting its own throat with its clear disorganisation & lack of customer respect. My advice... DO NOT RISK IT... this company really is the absolute pits

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