Have THBC stopping delivering to UK?

[An Ankoù]

DHL - (Shipping EU & Worldwide, they have lots of different services and currently it defaults to show the most expensive express service, I've asked my tech team to look at this to show all options clearly as the rates are putting some people off)
We don't make profit or margin on shipping we just pass on the couriers rates. We recognise DHL is a premium price but we have noticed they are successfully shipping anywhere and fast.

What Jonathan doesn't seem to get is that DHL are just too dear. A bag of malt used to cost £12 delivery and now with DHL cheaper rate it's £32! More than the malt itself. This means that I now have to order all my stuff from thehomebrewcompany instead of just some of it. I like HBC, they're a great bunch, but I also like Crisp's malt. My stuff from HBC comes via DPD and, yes, it's taking about a week longer than it used to, but I can plan for that.
So come on GEB. You've got to sort this out or lose customers like me.
(When I explained this to Deborah, some weeks ago, she seemed to understand straight away!)

 

[Get_Er_Brewed]

What Jonathan doesn't seem to get is that DHL are just too dear. A bag of malt used to cost £12 delivery and now with DHL cheaper rate it's £32! More than the malt itself. This means that I now have to order all my stuff from thehomebrewcompany instead of just some of it. I like HBC, they're a great bunch, but I also like Crisp's malt. My stuff from HBC comes via DPD and, yes, it's taking about a week longer than it used to, but I can plan for that.
So come on GEB. You've got to sort this out or lose customers like me.
(When I explained this to Deborah, some weeks ago, she seemed to understand straight away!)

Hi, DPD aren't shipping to France atm when they resume you can choose that service , not sure how you think I can do more here? Just to reiterate we don't make anything on shipping. Thanks Jonathan

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Hi Guys

Firstly I hope you are all safe and well during the pandemic

Regarding Brexit we have put significant effort into planning for this as we ship so much outside of our HQ in Northern Ireland we didn't want to lose our valued customers . We took on a new full time customs officer on with extensive experience and recruited extra admin staff and even a full time php coder so we could carryout express digital customs clearance.

We took on a new warehouse in Southern Ireland in Dundalk and then the government make a last minute deal which actually places us in a unique position as we are based in Northern Ireland....you can imagine what a roller coaster this has been. We have also stock pilled months of goods to prevent shipping delays affecting us. The NI Protocol means we remain part of the EU with a customs border down the Irish Sea but we also remain part of the UK with unfettered access to GB.

I can honestly say we couldn't have put more effort into preparation, the main issue is that whilst we have planned and invested in protecting our customer base not all companies have and a lack of knowledge of the systems and procedures is causing chaos with shipping companies.

In relation to shipping
We now offer two options
DPD - (Currently only shipping into UK & Ireland) They are experiencing huge delays and it's frustrating us with the lack of communication between dpd and our customers. We have been reshipping alot of orders to provide best service at our own expense and we have worked with dpd to palletise and ship our parcels to their main hubs broken down into regions to try and expedite the service level
DHL - (Shipping EU & Worldwide, they have lots of different services and currently it defaults to show the most expensive express service, I've asked my tech team to look at this to show all options clearly as the rates are putting some people off)
We don't make profit or margin on shipping we just pass on the couriers rates. We recognise DHL is a premium price but we have noticed they are successfully shipping anywhere and fast.

We actually see huge opportunity for expansion and we are trying our best to continue to bring best value and not allow the extra bureaucracy increase prices, we have always had a Euro (.ie) website and a Sterling (.com) website but made a decision to sell at the same rate taking into account the currency fluctuations as we don't want to treat anyone differently.

We have recruited extra team members in the warehouse and have an application process out at the minute for a further two, I'm really proud of our team and how well they have handled this and currently we are getting all orders dispatched exceptionally quickly

We did a blog post about this with some extra info here if your interested: Brewing Ingredients Supply after Brexit - Get Er Brewed

We are trying to get the message out there that we can ship across Europe and UK without any problems and will be doing some youtube videos etc showing you all the steps we have taken

Thanks so much

Jonathan
https://www.geterbrewed.com/https://www.geterbrewed.ie/

Hi Jonathan,

Thanks very much for your feedback. Are you also able to say anything about import duties to England?

 

[Get_Er_Brewed]

Hi Jonathan,

Thanks very much for your feedback. Are you also able to say anything about import duties to the UK?

There isn't any being added by Geterbrewed at this stage and we are aiming not to have to change that unless governments make further changes

 

[Get_Er_Brewed]

Hi, DPD aren't shipping to France atm when they resume you can choose that service , not sure how you think I can do more here? Just to reiterate we don't make anything on shipping. Thanks Jonathan

Can you double check what service level you are selecting with DHL please

 

[An Ankoù]

Hi, DPD aren't shipping to France atm when they resume you can choose that service , not sure how you think I can do more here? Just to reiterate we don't make anything on shipping. Thanks Jonathan

My apologies, Jonathan . No wish to offend and your customer service is and has been second to none even to the point of correcting an error at your own expense, which I would have waited for, but you were too quick! Companies over here, like Rolling Beers for example, could learn a lot. AND I have never thought that you made even a penny on shipping.
BUT While dpd.uk are not shipping to France, dpd.ie are shipping to France, I have just mocked up an order with HBC and it went through fine (I pulled the plug just before payment). Now I don't know whther that info is useful to you, but as you now have a warehouse in the Republic, it may well be. In the meantime, I shall wait patiently and look forward to our being able to do business again in the near future.

 

[An Ankoù]

Excellent news from GEB. It turns out there was a bug is DHL's shipping calculator, which has now been fixed and we're back in business. Thanks to Jonathan, Deborah and all.
:hat:

 

[Drunkula]

I marginally prefer Crisp's Best Ale Malt to Hookhead for some beers

I just bought 25kg of the Crisp. Can you describe what it's like or what's good about it? It's Hook Head that I've just ran out of and maris otter. I won't derail the thread if you reply for anyone already annoyed. Thanks.

 

[Clint]

Excellent news from GEB. It turns out there was a bug is DHL's shipping calculator, which has now been fixed and we're back in business. Thanks to Jonathan, Deborah and all.
:hat:

So what does that mean to the cost etc of shipping?

 

[An Ankoù]

I just bought 25kg of the Crisp. Can you describe what it's like or what's good about it? It's Hook Head that I've just ran out of and maris otter. I won't derail the thread if you reply for anyone already annoyed. Thanks.

I'm not a massive fan of M O, but that's a matter of personal taste- I don't hate it. Crisp's Best Pale Ale and Hookhead are not disimilar in flavour although I think Crisp's is a tad, and I do mean a tad, maltier. Hookhead is kilned a little bit lighter and so goes in my lighter ales especially a SMaSH and I find Crisps a bit darker. It's horses for courses and I wouldn't say one was better than the other. I don't like crystal malt very much unless there's a bit in a strong beer so I tend to go for a slightly darker malt, even a mild malt to make a bitter. But: whichever bag I've got open, I'll use it up before opening another sack.

 

[An Ankoù]

So what does that mean to the cost etc of shipping?

A nominal 30Kg used to cost my £11.25 from GEB and £12.95 from HBC. One uses dpd.uk and the other dpd.ei, which might account for the difference. I just put a mock order together of 28Kg wih GEB using DHL and it's £17.88 (it was £32 before the bug was fixed) BUT, I added another 3Kg to take it over the 30Kg just to see what would happen and the freight cost only moved to £18.41 so I might be able to save by getting heavier loads. Even so, their bulk hops and method of calculating part-sack grain prices still represents a saving.

 

[nickjdavis]

I (in England) placed an order last night with THBC....got charged 21% vat.....got an email this morning confirming "dispatch".

Will wait to see what happens with delivery.

Just been confirmed that DPD will deliver on Monday....so effectively 1 week from ordering to delivery. I'm guessing from the tracking that DPD would have got the parcel on Wednesday....so were looking at 5 days in transit....not an issue if you are buying hardware or grain but I wouldn't want wet yeast hanging around in the courier network that long.

No mention of "other additional charges".

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Just been confirmed that DPD will deliver on Monday....so effectively 1 week from ordering to delivery. I'm guessing from the tracking that DPD would have got the parcel on Wednesday....so were looking at 5 days in transit....not an issue if you are buying hardware or grain but I wouldn't want wet yeast hanging around in the courier network that long.

No mention of "other additional charges".

There shouldn't be any additional charges , my order didn't as I too paid 21% Irish VAT.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Brew UK have a very poor reputation for bad customer service.

To their credit they gave a full refund having been contacted by email. My only complaint was that having decided not to honour any EU based purchases, they should have gone through their orders and refunded them proactively, rather than waiting to be asked to refund.

 

[nickjdavis]

My order actually arrived on Saturday.

No issues except they had sent the wrong item.

 

[Clint]

My order actually arrived on Saturday.

No issues except they had sent the wrong item.

Did you only order one item? Coz if you did I'd say your order DIDN'T arrive as you got something else....

 

[nickjdavis]

Did you only order one item? Coz if you did I'd say your order DIDN'T arrive as you got something else....

Technically I ordered 601 items. 600 of what arrived were what I ordered. 1 wasn't. You could argue that my order was therefore 99.83% accurate.

The only reason the 600 items (crown caps!!) were ordered was to flesh out the order to make the shipping costs worthwhile...(the one single item cost more than all of the crown caps).

I'm sure they will sort it out.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Did you only order one item? Coz if you did I'd say your order DIDN'T arrive as you got something else....

Can you imagine paying a supplement and then finding you've got the wrong item.

 

[Clint]

Forgive me if I'm wrong but GEB and THBC both quote UK delivery at around the £7 mark,with limits up to 28kg (I think!), Can't see any mention of any import taxes...
Had another look...THBC home page says they're having some shipping delays etc but then say "all UK orders £7.95"..

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

It isn’t GEB or THBC that charge. It’s the courier on behalf of the government when the goods cross over to our side of the border.