I've been good about tavour, nothing major has popped since my last crate. They may get me with that one.
Still waiting on $400+ worth of bottles from my crate that I closed in December 2021. Pretty ridiculous at this point (or perhaps we were already past that point?). As mentioned in my last post, my box was damaged in transit and sent back to Tavour by the local carrier over a month ago. In the last email I received from Tavour they were expecting to receive it a couple weeks ago (somehow it took a month to get from Washington to MN and then ALSO took about a month to get from MN back to Washington). Multiple emails from me to Tavour over the past 2 weeks, but still no response or confirmation that my box has been received back, what was damaged, what will be resent vs. refunded, or anything whatsoever to let me know where this is at. Just sent them another email today asking for a confirmation my bottles are being sent or a refund.
I felt honored just to be nominated. I view it as a tie, since the local carrier told me there were multiple damaged/leaking boxes which they had to send back to Tavour. So presumably there's other folks out there in the same boat as me who just aren't bothering to complain about it on BA.
I've only rarely ordered, and ordered cans. They have had small dents. Packing is eh. Is the packing better for glass bottles? Seems like if you're sending 30 dollar bottles there would be. Cans I guess I get not having a lot of "filler." But then again I don't get how many people must be ordering NEIPAs from some warehouse and then 2 weeks in transit in variable weather either.
I am not a Tavour user, as I've already mentioned. That said, it seems like their issues are self created due to trying to pinch every penny. Not sure if anyone has ever used the Uhaul website, but at least as of about 7 years ago, when you go to rent a Uhaul they have a list of "services" and companies for those services that you might want to purchase. They include every portion of the continuum from "John doesn't know dick" to "We're a professional, licensed and bonded company with 1k reviews". With that obviously comes a variety of prices and timetables. It seems clear to me that Tavour is using companies that are very cheap that "Do it when they get a chance". Why, I don't know. Are their margins that slim? If so, I'm sure most people would be willing to pay an extra $10-20 shipping/crate just to have it be shipped UPS/Fed Ex (with appropriate alcohol designation). This reminds me a lot of asking a contactor for a price, asking if there is any wiggle room, and them saying, "Yea, I can lower it, but we'll have a longer timeline." That's code for, "We'll use our least expensive guys and we'll fit in wherever is convenient for us. Could take 2 months instead of 1 week, and the quality is questionable at best."
Tavour uses UPS in my area. $15 for two big heavy boxes at a time is pretty sweet. From what I've read their biggest issue is simply communication. Shit is gonna happen sometimes, most people are pretty forgiving about it if you just answer your damn emails. For the record, in my experience their communication has been fine. I do feel vicarious outrage for the experiences others have shared in this thread.
I've had at least one 750mL or 22oz bottle size in each of my orders. It always shows up in a similar box, with an accordion cardboard insert that keeps each bottle separate. The boxes are generally tall enough that they can put two stacked 16oz cans in each slot too. All beers sit flush with the bottom of the box, so any big drops would be a guaranteed break. So, no, the packaging is not robust, even for bottles. They don't use those flat carboard inserts that have space for 3-4 bottles laying horizontally that other online beer services use. These are marginally better at protecting beer, since no bottle/can sits adjacent to the outer edge of the box.
That sounds terrible. Craft Beer Kings are ridiculous with their pricing, but their packaging is top notch at least. It's hard to think bottles would break after a real good drop with those boxes.
It is pretty frustrating, especially if Tavour doesn't own up to it and refund customers. Considering the nature of some of these bottles, a little extra protection goes a long ways. Hell, just put a layer of foam or large bubble wrap below the carboard insert to at least pad the bottom....
My feed has been pretty weak lately. It's like they ran through their good stuff prior to Christmas and are now going through their b and c lists.
Any signs of DO ADWTD yet? I was sort of expecting it to drop today as in the past several BA beers they've been a pretty quick turn around from the actual brewery release. I heard the notification on my phone a few minutes ago, saw it was an Anchorage offering, open up to get Monovision. I haven't started a crate in a while so wondering if I won't make the algorithm cut...
No sighting here, and my crate just closed an hour or so ago.... So if there is an algorithm for recent orders, I'd see ADWTD DO. I do have that Monovision in my feed though (latest offering on my feed.) Almost extended my crate in anticipation of this, but didn't want to chance losing my Medianoches, especially since they seem to 'lose' bottles when you delay.
Keep your eyes peeled. I've seen an ipa and now a wild from them, I'm sure ADWTD will be dropping soon.
