customer service and craft beer

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by terrapinbrian, Feb 21, 2016.

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  1. terrapinbrian

    terrapinbrian Initiate (0) Feb 2, 2011 California

    There seems to be two segments of breweries, ones that are about community and good beer and ones that are about being better than everyone else, and act appropriately.

    I'd like to get the opinion of the general community regarding my communication with Sante Adarius (sara). I have a short piece of communication that I'm sharing to see if I'm overreacting or if this brewery is out of line when it comes to customer service.

    I've been to a lot of breweries and have had over 1200 beers, so I'm not a newbie when it comes to communicating with breweries and bars that serve craft beer.

    To give a little back story, I'm from southern CA and travel to northern CA about once a year. Sante Adarius is about 5 hours from me, and is on the way up north, but out of the way towards my final destination. I'm married with kids, so to convince the family to take a detour to visit a brewery takes some effort.

    In order to plan the best day to visit Sante Adarius, I message them to see if they have any bottle releases over the span of 4 days. Maybe to a person that is single and can do anything in the world they want it wouldn't matter, but to a person traveling for many hours with a family, it's nice to know. So I send a message to them via Facebook, and this is what I get (please see the attached photos). If the photos don't seem to work, let me know and I can post the copy of the message here. One note, the message shown from Wednesday was the 17th.

    PS - thanks to anyone who responds, regardless of opinion.

    [​IMG]
     
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  2. GoBears1868

    GoBears1868 Initiate (0) Oct 24, 2014 California

    That is absolutely an unacceptable degree of snobbery. It's hard to blame an entire brewery, though, when it seems like it's literally the same social media man/woman who works for them that is talking to you in both conversations. I'd be pretty pissed about that too. I don't know if what you posted was all that you or they said, but from what I see, it seems like this person was totally in the wrong and you were patient and collected with them the whole time.

    If I were you and I really felt a stake in this (I probably would, as being so clearly condescended to like that would REALLY piss me off), I'd lodge a complaint via another contact means about this person, and send the brewery your correspondence. This person deserves at least some kind of slap on the wrist/crash course in customer service
     
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  3. jvgoor3786

    jvgoor3786 Grand Pooh-Bah (4,186) May 28, 2015 Arkansas
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    That was rude. I would send it to the owners/manager and see if you get a better response. I also wouldn't go back there.
     
    Badfish, edd562, jrnyc and 1 other person like this.
  4. riverlen

    riverlen Pundit (828) Sep 16, 2009 Illinois
    Society

    I would gather everyone from the village and march down there with lit torches and pitchforks.
     
  5. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand Pooh-Bah (5,291) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I'd say that somebody at the brewery was definitely having a bad day. They could have handled this better than they did.
     
    edd562, gibgink, MUTINY and 3 others like this.
  6. BrewsingBuffalo

    BrewsingBuffalo Initiate (0) Jul 6, 2015 New York

    You're a better person than I. That preferential treatment line would've ignited a fiery shitstorm and I would've ripped that condescending asshat apart.
     
  7. amano_h

    amano_h Initiate (0) Mar 18, 2014 Oregon

    I dunno, to Sante Adairus' defense, they do a great job announcing their bottle selections/draft selections on instagram (they update everyday that they're open) and on Facebook, and asking through back door channels such as private messaging on Facebook does kind of point towards "preferential treatment" even if you didn't intend it, so the PR guy might just be tired of dealing with literally thousands of people whose motives might not be as humble as yours as say wanting to know what the list is before making a long drive down.

    I think you overreacted a little, and the PR guy was a bit snappy to dismiss you as wanting preferential treatment, but this doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary. Heck, just be glad they didn't ignore you flat out.
     
  8. DrumKid003

    DrumKid003 Initiate (0) Aug 10, 2013 Oklahoma

    Whoever is in charge of their social media is a fucking cunt. If I was the one getting responses like that, I would've told them to go fuck themselves with a rusted knife and then avoided going there, or buying anything from them, ever again.
     
    Badfish, sinkas, taylordane and 4 others like this.
  9. Oktoberfist

    Oktoberfist Initiate (0) Nov 26, 2014 Pennsylvania
    Deactivated

    So, what you should do is not give them your business. Problem solved.
     
    RMoeNay, NealioATX, edd562 and 6 others like this.
  10. Cannibalgasm

    Cannibalgasm Initiate (0) Jan 31, 2015 Minnesota

    Couldn't agree with you more...
     
  11. Oktoberfiesta

    Oktoberfiesta Initiate (0) Nov 16, 2013 New Mexico

    Preferential treatment would be if you heard such and such bottle was coming out February 18th, and you asked if they could save you a bottle. You asked nothing out of the ordinary. Heck, this second time around you asked within a week. Maybe they could have said something to the effect of "look at our instagram feed or twitter feed daily for DAILY bottle release info. We don't divulge release info early in fear of garnering unwanted attention.". But he didnt do that either. Although there is now blurred lines with so many tickers and truck chasers that they treat us all like shit most of the time. They are becoming more like the customer based that is becoming a majority for them.
     
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  12. yemenmocha

    yemenmocha Grand Pooh-Bah (4,092) Jun 18, 2002 Arizona
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Agree with others above that are critical of the brewery rep. Sadly, this sort of thing is more common these days in a variety of contexts, including beer bars that are established and seemingly don't need to give decent service to stay in business. On the one hand it's tempting to note that it is just an employee and not the higher ups, but on the other hand I'm seeing a lot more of sticking up for the employees no matter what, and the new motto is that the customer is always wrong.
     
  13. ArsMoriendiOU818

    ArsMoriendiOU818 Pooh-Bah (1,620) Nov 5, 2013 Virginia
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I think people should look at this from the businesses perspective a little bit more. Can you even imagine how many people are asking questions in messenger that can be answered ON their Facebook page itself? I can see about asking about bottle releases once. But they said they never announce them beforehand, so why ask a second time, no matter how much later? And asking what time they'll open? Again, a question that is answered right on their page. I would be annoyed if I had to answer questions like these too. There's a reason businesses make information like this is readily available on Facebook and/or their websites. It's so they don't have to answer basic questions such as these.

    I don't think anyone on either side should be getting bent out of shape over this. Personally, if I were the owner of SARA I would've used a word other than "preferential" that would've caused less offense, but I still would've made it clear that I was unwilling to field questions like these.
     
  14. teromous

    teromous Grand Pooh-Bah (3,088) Mar 21, 2010 Virginia
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Hey, for fun go back and read the replies in the voice of the comic book guy from The Simpsons. It just fits...
     
  15. jvgoor3786

    jvgoor3786 Grand Pooh-Bah (4,186) May 28, 2015 Arkansas
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    While I agree, I'm sure most other businesses on the planet get repetitive, annoying questions. They still need to answer with respect and be polite to the people keeping then in business.
     
  16. chcfan

    chcfan Initiate (0) Oct 29, 2008 California

    Not to be that guy, but their policy is their policy. They don't tip people off to avoid shit storms. The employee absolutely could have gone about it better, but it was asking for preferential treatment. If they give OP heads up about a bottle release, then anyone can make their own case for expecting that. Having a family doesn't exempt people from a brewery's policies.
     
  17. MostlyNorwegian

    MostlyNorwegian Pooh-Bah (1,912) Feb 5, 2013 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Having answered the phone for special releases. I actually have no pity for you for getting the short end of the stick for your line of questions. Not one damn given that you are traveling for it either. Been there done that. I don't have kids, but when I do travel. It's a special thing, just like you. Try relaxing and being surprised by what you wind up with. Not everything needs to be the special flower that blooms every so often. That's not the stuff that keeps the people there anyways. Those are the treats.
     
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  18. ArsMoriendiOU818

    ArsMoriendiOU818 Pooh-Bah (1,620) Nov 5, 2013 Virginia
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Yes, but most companies have dedicated customer service representatives, and the customers typically go more out of their way to ask questions in these instances. Asking for store hours I'd imagine isn't all that common. A lot of companies on Facebook have a low response rate for good reason. If I received questions like "when do you open?" I would most likely ignore them. It's true though that there are pretty simple solutions that would make for a better customer service experience, like implementing an AutoHotKey response, where you type a couple keystrokes and polite message is automatically inputted that also includes the companies website or something. But regardless, people should think about whether a busy brewery, who do not have dedicated customer service centers, should take time out of their hectic day to answer simple questions you can find yourself. Quicker than typing out the question in the first place, even.
     
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  19. Breaking_Beard

    Breaking_Beard Initiate (0) Oct 17, 2014 Michigan

    I am a business owner(not anything to do with beer). Answering questions over an over again, no matter how obvious the answer may be is a part of running a business, and there is pretty much nothing you can do or say about that to change it. Any business owner who has a problem with this should opt for a different occupation. When you work in a any retail capacity, it is YOUR JOB to answer questions and help people, regardless of how many other people have been asked.

    The brewery in question handled this the wrong way, and deserves to be called out here and on social media for their actions. The other folks posting here can give all kinds of excuses for the way they responded, and it will not change the fact that they were totally uncalled for.

    OP, you are right to pissed, and I would be too. I cannot imagine treating a customer in this way. Anyone sticking up for this brewery should be ashamed of themselves.
     
  20. ArsMoriendiOU818

    ArsMoriendiOU818 Pooh-Bah (1,620) Nov 5, 2013 Virginia
    Pooh-Bah Society

    To be fair, as a business owner you personally have a vested interest in coming off as providing good customer service, i.e., really caring about your customers. I have no idea what you're demand is like either. For most employees this isn't the case, and if you are selling everything you make out quickly anyway, there's little incentive for every employee to offer the best customer service they can. Not saying that they shouldn't though, like, on a human level. When you are working in a very busy position you can direct your customer the right place to find the information they are looking for without wasting time to answer their question. In certain positions this is necessary. Like I said, I believe that the wording should have been different and personally, I would've implemented the AutoHotKey solution I offered above so I wouldn't have to waste much time on this. I just think customers should know that certain information can be found for pretty much any business and they should look for it before reaching out to customer service.
     
    Loops likes this.
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