Get Er Brewed - stupid delivery prices

[mcphail]

I'm going to be working in Inverness for a couple of weeks, and thought I'd order a 5kg bag of malt from GetErBrewed to do a bit of brewing. They quote "Get Er Brewed delivers across the whole of the Mainland UK. £5.95".

I typed in my work address. Shipping? £18.95!

It would be cheaper to have it sent to Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Monaco or the Netherlands.

Well, I guess I won't be brewing after all

 

[mcphail]

Just had an interesting conversation by telephone with them. Apparently Inverness is not mainland UK. I thought I'd be able to drive there for work, but I suppose I'll need to be buying a boat.

 

[LesTom]

Wow!! £18.95 I'm approximately 50 miles east of Inverness and the 3 orders I've placed with Geterbrewed have always been charged at £5.95 delivery. Perhaps get in touch with them and ask if their quote is a mistake.

 

[mcphail]

Nope. Not a mistake. Apparently Parcelforce say the highlands are not part of mainland UK. I hadn't noticed them drift away overnight, but it has been a bit wet and windy recently.

I asked them politely if they would amend their website and got an earful from the manager. "Why should _we_ change anything when Inverness is not part of the mainland?". I'm sure they won't miss my business, but I won't be using them again.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
There's only 47,000 living in Inverness - not much demand for products there! It's only the capital of the Highland region - why should we worry about them?
[Sarcasm, for those who can't spot it].
Vote with your feet - if we all followed suit the site in question may choose a different delivery method.
"Royal Mail’s universal service obligation meaning that delivery by this method costs the same across the UK" https://www.cas.org.uk/system/files/publications/Postcode Penalty with covers_0.pdf

 

[anders]

Think the anger is slightly misdirected. Surely you should direct it at ParcelForce or whatever courier as it's them who are charging the additional rates? Fair enough, Geterbrewed could do more to investigate alternative couriers, maybe that's the approach you could take with them?

 

[Dads_Ale]

Irrespective of what Parcel Farce define as mainland UK Get-Er Brewed should honour their own delivery policy, or change the wording to make it clear that when they say the 'whole of mainland UK' they don't really mean 'whole' but 'most'.
I'm sorry but if you are going to have a delivery policy set out on your website make it clear exactly what is covered rather than just leave out the expensive bits.

 

[mcphail]

Whilst it is a pain in the backside having to pay the "Highland Tax" for deliveries, I don't mind so much if a company is transparent about it. I would have had it delivered to my home address last week if I'd known about the price difference. But I thought I'd get freshly-milled grain directly delivered to my work address for the same price, as the wording on their website is quite clear.

Anyway, lesson learned. I had liked them as a supplier and would have used them again (to my home address) if the woman hadn't been so aggressive on the phone. I wish them well for the future but I'll be shopping elsewhere.

 

[lagerlad]

this is not unusual and dare i say not geterbreweds fault I live 9 miles from dundee and with a lot of companies have to get stuff sent to my workshop in dundee rather than my home adress which incurs a "not uk mainland" or "highlands" surcharge,its down to the postal companies and i know geterbrewed can change that but it may incur extra charges for every customer which i presume would be unpopular lagerlad

 

[MickDundee]

Nope. Not a mistake. Apparently Parcelforce say the highlands are not part of mainland UK. I hadn't noticed them drift away overnight, but it has been a bit wet and windy recently.

I was going to comment and say that Parcelforce have some crazy ideas of what constitutes a “remote area”.

I used to work with someone who lived in Forfar, which is about 20miles north of Dundee by dual carriageway. She had to get things delivered to work because Parcelforce reckoned she lived in a remote part of the UK!

 

[Bigcol49]

Think the anger is slightly misdirected. Surely you should direct it at ParcelForce or whatever courier as it's them who are charging the additional rates?

Hi!
Citizen's Advice Scotland suggest that well over half of websites do not offer shipping by cheaper means.

 

[strange-steve]

I'm going back to homebrewcompany after a few issues with GEB. The most annoying one was a couple of weeks back when I ordered the ingredients for my next few brews then the following day got an email saying one of the yeasts I ordered was out of stock. No apology for the inconvenience, just "what would you like instead?"

This has happened to me at least twice now, why can't they keep their stock updated on their website?

Anyway I contacted them and said "look I'll take a different yeast but I'll need a bag of Vienna malt to change the recipe to suit". Now I happened to be passing fairly close to their store later that day so asked if I could pick up the extra malt on the way. "You can but we won't have it ready till 5pm" she said. How does it take 6 hours to pack up 3kg of malt to correct an error that was their fault?

I told them that didn't really suit me. There was no "sorry for the inconvenience", in fact they didn't even reply to that. Poor customer service, and if I'd known that particular yeast was out of stock I could have changed my order to suit.

 

[Ciaran12s]

Just wondering if anyone placed an order with the homebrewcompany over the past week or so?

I got my days mixed up and ordered Saturday (thought it was a friday) night hoping for delivery tail end of this week. I haven't had anything from them other than the auto generated order confirmation email. I'd have though most places would be open a few days this week. I think I've enough ingredients to get one of my planned batches on anyway so not a show stopper. This is my first time using them also so not sure what they're like for dispatch emails etc.

 

[Thumper]

I'm a bit peeved with get er brewed at the moment. I asked for their Basic BIAB Starter Kit (Kit brewers upgrade) for Xmas, which my family duly got me and I am dead excited to use.

Anyway, their website states that the kit includes "1 x Homebrew Thermometer for monitoring the brew". I assumed, I think quite naturally, that this meant a long glass thermometer. It turns out to be a stick-on strip thermometer for an FV. Why they've included this in a "kit brewer's upgrade" is beyond me.

The point is, it seems that misleading website pages are a common theme.

Also slightly telling, I submitted a review basically saying that this was slightly disappointing but the kit otherwise looks great and for the price is an amazing buy. 4 stars. This went off for review, and hasn't appeared on the website 3 days later... Which may explain why they only have two reviews, and they're both 5 stars.

On the other hand, I emailed asking them to confirm if the all grain kit that came with it was crushed or not and they got back to me the same day. Pros and cons.

 

[Gunge]

I did consider giving them a go, but their 27Kg ceiling before incurring extra postal charges stopped me. I mean, if an order includes 25Kg of base malt that only leaves room for another 2Kg of stuff! C'mon geterbrewed - sort it out! Meanwhile I've got nowt but praise for the HBC over the course of 5 orders, now.

 

[trueblue]

Can't fault the maltmiller. Dogs bollocks customer service and next day delivery by DPD where you can track the parcel.

 

[Deadhead]

Welcome to the Highlands!! Yeah, I totally gave up on GEB when they were going to charge me £35 for shipping ingredients alone. Yeah, last I checked we were on the mainland........
I order from the Edinburgh Homebrew store, free shipping over £60, or the Homebrew Company, with free shipping over £70, so I order a bunch of stuff at once to qualify. Malt Miller often has things I need, and charge around £9-£11 to come up to the Highlands for shipping, so again, order a bunch at once.
If you're needing anything basic, you can get some brewing supplies at Farm and Household stores in Inverness. They mostly cater to kit brewing, but you can find odds and sods there.

 

[Saisonator]

Can't fault the maltmiller. Dogs bollocks customer service and next day delivery by DPD where you can track the parcel.

They are good but unfortunately they still don't have the recipe builder section which was lost when they started the new website.

 

[trueblue]

They are good but unfortunately they still don't have the recipe builder section which was lost when they started the new website.

Not something I have ever used and can't see me ever using to be honest. I go for quality and choice of ingredients, customer service and a reliable delivery service and the maltmiller has never let me down.

 

[aamcle]

Can't go wrong with The MM.

aamcle