(Originally posted this in the old Bruery RS/HS allocation thread, which was locked shortly thereafter, so trying again here) I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience to what I encountered recently (since originally posting this, turns out at least one person has): I joined Preservation Society last year and upgraded to Reserve this year. One of the big selling points for joining Preservation, which I did in Q1, was the guarantee of a bottle of Black Tuesday in Q4. I received the first three quarterly shipments without a problem, but I never received, nor was I billed for, the Q4 shipment that included Black Tuesday. It admittedly took me a long time to realize I never received it (too much beer to keep track of), so I called a month ago to find out what happened and see if it could still be sent to me. After leaving a couple of messages that were never returned, I finally reached someone in the society office a couple weeks ago and was informed that due to a glitch in the computer system, my credit card info wasn't carried over to Q4, and therefore I wasn't billed and sent the allocation. The guy I spoke to tried to put the onus on me since I didn't log in and check to make sure my credit card info was current, even though it hadn't changed and therefore I didn't have a reason to do so. Since the item has since been removed from current inventory for sale, they can't/won't sell it to me. I tried to work with him to come up with an alternate way that I could purchase the bottle of BT that I should have received, and while he was somewhat sympathetic, he was also pretty unhelpful. He admitted it wasn't a problem with inventory, just technical. Attempts to come up with easy solutions to the technical problems that wouldn't require much effort on the Bruery's part were rebuffed. I'm wondering if other people have encountered anything like this? How has the society customer service generally been? The only other time I've reached out to them was to see if they could re-send the Reserve Society welcome packet/gift that I never received in the mail. They admitted lots of the packages had problems and said they'd look into re-sending it, but then I never heard back.
Hi there, Sorry for the complications with last year's Q4 PS membership. I know it's a bit late, but I'll definitely be able to help you out now if you're interested. Can you please email me at [email protected]? Cheers, Matt Olesh The Bruery Director of Retail Operations
My only interaction with the Bruery's customer service occurred when they made Smooth Criminal and Bois Fume available to Preservation Society members. When I signed into the web site, I could see the beers, but when I tried to select them, it told me "Out of Allowed Quantity for Purchase". I sent the Bruery an email explaining the problem. I received a response the next day, I was told it was a configuration issue with my account, which was fixed and that I should try again. I tried again. It worked as expected and I place my order. I have to say my overall experience with the Bruery to date has been very good to exceptional. I just joined the Preservation Society this year, So far, I am a happy customer. I will probably upgrade to the Reserve Society when it opens up to Preservation Members.
@mattolesh - I'm in the same boat as well. @JBlaze84 - I replied to your post in that thread: Post #1183 in http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...s-2014-rs-hs-allocation-thread.141376/page-30 I'm in the same boat as you. I was ASSURED that I would get my Q4 pack and their email even stated that we would have to cancel our PS membership so we wouldn't get billed. This also happened earlier in the year for me (a glitch in their system caused my CC info to be lost), but I caught it before it was too late that time. And I never got a 2013 BT.....I bought 3 bottles during the public sale, but those were bought for friends because I was SUPPOSED to get one in my Q4 PS pack. I'd love to buy a bottle of 2013 BT, but guess I'll have to wait for a cellar sale if that's the stance they take on this. This is from an email they sent out about joining RS if you were a current PS member and decide to upgrade: Please note that joining the Reserve Society does not automatically cancel your membership to the Preservation Society. If you would like to cancel your Preservation membership, you must do this manually on the 'my account' page of our webstore. However! Your Reserve Society membership does not begin until 1/1/14, so if you would like to receive the 4th quarter Preservation Society allocation, which includes a bottle of Black Tuesday, you should wait until after January 1st to cancel your Preservation Society membership. Don't worry, you won't be rebilled for the first quarter of 2014 until March 1st, so no need to log in right away on New Year's day. And, of course, you're more than welcome to double up and be a member of both the Preservation Society and the Reserve Society.
I had this same issue, followed the exact steps you did, and had the same outcome. This is my first year as a part of the Preservation Society. So far, my friend and I are very happy and look forward to possibly joining Reserves next year.
Quick update: Huge thanks to @mattolesh for responding quickly and working through a technical glitch to get this all worked out! He has restored my faith in The Bruery's customer service.
Same here, thanks to @mattolesh. Now I'll get to enjoy the 2013 Black Tuesday. I've never doubted Bruery's customer service aspect, as it's always been great. Cheers!
I checked out your account and it appears there is still a Q4 package waiting for you here at The Bruery. Maybe I'm missing something or I just need more clarification to better understand where the problem lies. Please email me directly at [email protected] and we'll get to the bottom of this. Cheers, Matt Olesh
It's unfortunate that going through The Bruery customer service, with one-on-one interactions, doesn't fix false advertising issues, while going public on a third-party website, visible to all, brings the issue to light. While I applaud the customer service of The Bruery rendered in this thread, it should have been rendered directly in the first place.
talking to an unnamed associate over the phone is not the same as having this reach the attention of Patrick or the Director of Retail Operations. Judging from the way the associate answered it sounded like he only said what he could assure at his level and should have forwarded the OP's issue up to a decision maker to get a solid resolution. I will say though that I'm less than impressed with the integrity of their online store. It seems that they have issues with being able to order things(Bois Fume & Smooth Criminal to PS members), maintaining CC info(since it wasn't just isolated to the OP), and let's not forget the shit show that is their stress tests and BT sale where their host/server can't handle the load.
I have no issues but as a member of this website I appreciate you solving these guys problems. It says a lot about your company. One thing though I ordered a case of 2009 Black Tuesday 5 years ago and still haven't received it. Can you go ahead and send that to me.
The Bruery is one of the breweries with too notch customer service when it comes to answering questions and emails from myself and my friends. They are too notch IMO.
