Does craft beer have room for this type of customer service?

Honestly, there shouldn't be room for this in any business let alone craft beer business.

I once had to email Deschutes for something and they could not have been friendlier and more helpful. It made me feel that much better about buying their product.

There's so much good beer out there, if a brewery is run by an asshole like that, you can stop buying their beer without missing a beat.

I'm sure plenty of bosses are assholes, but when you're responding to customer inquiries and you don't even attempt to hide that side of yourself, that's an issue.

Surprised to see he was a firefighter captain. I'm guessing he wasn't the type to visit it schools and get out in the community.

 

Quality of beer trumps customer service & customer experience, I doubt anything will come of this. Pat sounds like a huge asshole, but it won't stop people from wanting to track down his world class beers.

Your best bet is a charge back on the card and spreading the info online - maybe send the screenshots to a dozen beer blogs and hope they write an article on it.

 

As Herm Edwards would say, "DON'T PRESS SEND!"

 

The customer is always wrong.

 

Douche reply, to be sure, but I think it's pretty well established that douchey proprietors haven't stopped people from frequenting their establishments for ages, be they food, drink, or otherwise. Whether it's the, er, courteous folks @ FFF, or the disgruntled brushings off of Shaun Hill, folks will continue to drink good beer, no matter how poorly they're treated. But I do think it's totally valid to vote with your wallet and not purchase Alpine stuff. It doesn't bother me enough to stop, but I think that's a reasonable position to take.

By the way, @PorterPatron, didn't you happen to post a false rating of Kiwi Herman hours after it was released? If so, have you had a bad run-in with these dudes or something?

 

You paid by credit card? Dispute the charge - whenever I have disputed a charge for non-delivered goods the card company always takes my side. With a dick response email chain like this, I imagine it is a lock... Still a dick move, but at least they don't get your money.

 

When I run across a business that treats it's customers like this, I absolutely refuse to do business with them again, period.
Unfortunately, most people will accept it as a necessary evil, and continue to do business with the offender, resulting in an acceptance of said behavior, that does nothing to deter it in the future.
There are way too many beers in the world to put up with this kind of service.

 

Nicely put

 

Fuck 'em. And all of their beer.

 

As more and more breweries open up the customer experience will become more and more important to stay in business. Every episode of bad customer service will eventually come back to haunt them when they are not the only game in town. As a consumer I will take my dollar elsewhere.

 

Shitty customer service there, period. Even if the answer was, "Sorry, you're out of luck, bud, those are the rules." That would still be vastly more professional than what you got; there's just no excuse for injecting that kind of adolescent douchebaggery into a customer service situation.

Luckily for consumers, being an asshole to your customers isn't all that good for business. Just this one incident may not seem like a huge deal right now, but things like this DO have a cumulative effect over time, and sure as shit not a positive one. Just look at the general feedback on this thread so far...

 

Something tells me this saga isn't over, especially once the Alpine people see the thread. The next response could be even more entertaining.

 

I hope they do respond. I'd be interested in seeing how they try to spin the fact that the owner comes across that way.

 

What were the original terms? Were you paying for the placement or "hold" for the item? And then an additional amount when you got there? I'm confused by what you paid for and then DIDN'T get. It sounds like they robbed you, and are laughing all the way to the bank

 

Hmmmmm. I think it goes like this . . . .

"I sold company. Tired of whiny people. Drank a bunch of my beer that everyone on BA says is the best in the world. No vested interest. My reply shall be . . .."

 

Please don't lump Shaun Hill in with this type of exchange. He's an introverted dude that just wants to brew his beer and not be woken up at 5 in the morning by crazed neck beards. By all accounts, he's a rather nice guy.

 

He paid for 2x Kiwi Herman with a very specific window stated. He did not meet that window, so the beer was consumed on-location, as outlines in the terms of the sale. They will not refund his money or replace the beer. No one is really disputing that though. Just the response given.

 

I visited Alpine last year and everybody there was really polite, didn't have a problem, Nelson is one of my favorite IPAs, sad to see them treating a customer that way.

 

Wow, kinda reminds me of an old Seinfeld episode where he makes a rental car reservation and when he shows up they have no cars. " the reservation keeps the car here". The OP paid up front, he's either entitled to bottles or a full refund. Don't worry Op. There are many, many other quality breweries to support. No need for this one.

 

i heard it was way over priced and under good this year anyway. That prick should have offered you up something else. What a dick. Good lord he will crash and burn...and you my friend will smile when it happens!