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Northern Brewer Suppresses Negative Reviews

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by JolietHomeBrew, Apr 18, 2014.

?

Has anyone had their honest review of a product suppressed in such a fashion?

  1. Yes

    5 vote(s)
    55.6%

  2. No

    4 vote(s)
    44.4%
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  1. JolietHomeBrew

    JolietHomeBrew Initiate (0) Apr 18, 2014 Illinois

    I am relatively new to Home Brewing so I was kind of raw when it came to finding the right vendor for my home brew stuff. So, I selected one of the biggest names in the business – Northern Brewer. After several months of brewing with my make-shift brewery, I decided I would design, engineer and build my own nano-brewery in my basement.

    I took a great deal of time reviewing all my options and vendors. I found that Blichmann Engineering manufactured several components I needed for my brewery. So I began ordering my parts.

    I needed a means of measuring temperature if my wort after it passed through my plate cooler and Blichmann Engineering had what I was looking for; introducing the Blichmann Engineering “ThruMoMeter”.

    I bought the ThruMometer and installed it in my system only to find that I could not get it to fit properly into my 1/2” stainless steel piping system without leaking. Long story short, I wrote to Blichmann and received nothing but excuses and lies. So I wrote a negative review about the ThruMometer and tried to publish it on the Northern Brewer website (the place where I bought the item) and Northern Brewer refused to publish the review. Instead they choose to protect the vendor, Blichmann Engineering.

    My review was not spiteful, rude, inappropriate or ignorant. It simply stated that the product was not suited for all applications.
    My Review:
    This product is a very nice concept and works very well with regard to indicating temperature. However, it has bastard connections? The connections are too big for 3/8" compression fittings and too small for 1/2" compression fittings. So, the option is tubing and hose clamps, right? That's what I ended up trying. However, hose clamps and tubing are not the answer when you have a pump!! The ThruMometer connections are not serrated and therefore cannot participate in the sealing process. The very simple solution would be to have made the connections 3/8" or 1/2" OD; then it can adapt to just about any application. Instead, you’re forced to use 3/8” ID hose and you cannot have a pump!! End review: nice product, easy to read temperature indication, fast response, but Blichmann fell way-way short of a good design and their customer assistance fell way-way short of actually assisting.    ​

    So, a word of caution to my fellow home brewers: Don’t trust the reviews you read on Northern Brewers Website. They only publish what they feel will help their sales and their bottom line.
     
    #1 JolietHomeBrew, Apr 18, 2014
  2. FarmerTed

    FarmerTed Pundit (916) May 31, 2011 Colorado

    I agree that the thrumometer blows. It's a total waste of money because of the fittings, and because you can't run hot wort through it to sanitize it. You probably shouldn't have put 'bastard' in the review, as it may not have come off properly (I understand what you meant, but NB may not have liked it).
     
    #2 FarmerTed, Apr 18, 2014
    GreenKrusty101 and JolietHomeBrew like this.
  3. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,363) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    I thought about purchasing some carboy wedges from Northern Brewer in the recent past. There are 14 reviews with an average score of 2 stars out of five. A number of the reviews were negative with only 1 star.

    I decided to not purchase the carboy wedges because of the negative reviews.

    Northern Brewer did not suppress negative reviews for that product.

    Cheers
     
    #3 JackHorzempa, Apr 18, 2014
    GreenKrusty101 likes this.
  4. JohnSnowNW

    JohnSnowNW Initiate (0) Feb 6, 2013 Minnesota

    Well, Midwest and Northern Brewer a basically the same company now...so I'll say that Midwest has rejected my negative review of their MLT cooler.

    So, yes, seemingly they do cherry pick reviews.
     
    #4 JohnSnowNW, Apr 18, 2014
    GreenKrusty101 and JolietHomeBrew like this.
  5. JolietHomeBrew

    JolietHomeBrew Initiate (0) Apr 18, 2014 Illinois


    That may be because they were not interested in supporting the particular vendor. In my case, Blichmann Engineering is quite proprietary and by large, their products are also as such. Carboy mfgrs are a dime a dozen.
     
    #5 JolietHomeBrew, Apr 18, 2014
  6. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,363) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    That is possible. To be perfectly honest I do not regularly peruse the reviews on Northern Brewer. The consideration of the carboy wedge was just something I did recently.

    Cheers!
     
    #6 JackHorzempa, Apr 18, 2014
  7. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,363) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Have you started a thread/discussion on the Northern Brewer forum about the ThruMometer?

    Cheers!
     
    #7 JackHorzempa, Apr 18, 2014
    JolietHomeBrew likes this.
  8. JolietHomeBrew

    JolietHomeBrew Initiate (0) Apr 18, 2014 Illinois

    That is a possibility. However, I was in communication with Northern Brewer extensively. They even offered me a credit for my purchase amount. I believe if there were a language issue they would have told me.
     
    #8 JolietHomeBrew, Apr 18, 2014
    FarmerTed likes this.
  9. JolietHomeBrew

    JolietHomeBrew Initiate (0) Apr 18, 2014 Illinois

    I did not know I was able to do that. Now you have given me some additional ideas. However, they will most likely suppress those posts as well.
     
    #9 JolietHomeBrew, Apr 18, 2014
  10. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,055) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Did you ask them why they rejected your review? If not, why would they have told you a reason for rejecting your review in an exchange presumably not about the review?
     
    #10 VikeMan, Apr 18, 2014
  11. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,363) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    You won't know until you try.

    Cheers!
     
    #11 JackHorzempa, Apr 18, 2014
  12. JolietHomeBrew

    JolietHomeBrew Initiate (0) Apr 18, 2014 Illinois

    They actually tried to reverse engineer my system. They wanted pictures, dimensions, pump make, model, capacity, etc. I am a skilled union Pipefitter. Piping is my profession. The Thrumometer simply does not work in all applications and they would prefer to NOT publish that information. Perhaps the profit margins are too high on Blichmann items. Or perhaps Blichmann sends the Northern Brewer Execs to Cancun every year. The point is that a review is a review. They should moderate and publish all appropriate reviews. I have since learned that Northern Brewer cannot be trusted.
     
    #12 JolietHomeBrew, Apr 18, 2014
  13. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,055) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    That may be one of your points. But another point you made is that the reason they rejected your review was not likely because of the language. You believe that if language were the issue, they would have told you. Yet you didn't bother asking them what the issue was. Instead, you assumed they chose to protect the vendor, and posted that assumption as if it were fact. Do you think that's fair?
     
    #13 VikeMan, Apr 18, 2014
    jmw and getteronwithangs like this.
  14. JolietHomeBrew

    JolietHomeBrew Initiate (0) Apr 18, 2014 Illinois

    Yes I do. I spent a great deal of time communicating with both Blichmann and Northern Brewer on this issue. They also spent time communicating with each other on this issue. In fact, the photograph of the ThruMometer on the Northern Brewer website has changed as a result of my issue. Another fact is there is an additional photograph of the Thrumometer on the Northern Brewer website that was not their previously. Another fact is that Northern Brewer told me that the information about the Thrumometer on their website is "long overdue for an overhaul".

    No disrespect intended VikeMan, but I do not have the time or ambition to quote every e-mail message I sent and/or received regarding this issue. I have stated the facts as they unfolded. Like them or not, believe them or not, feel they are fair or not, its your choice.
     
    #14 JolietHomeBrew, Apr 18, 2014
    HerbMeowing likes this.
  15. FarmerTed

    FarmerTed Pundit (916) May 31, 2011 Colorado

    Well, the Blichmann brew gloves suck balls, too (imo). Maybe I'll try posting that on the NB site and see if it makes the cut. The thrumometer and the gloves are the only Blichmann products I've ever bought, so I can't say that I'm dying to shell out money for their pricier items.
     
    #15 FarmerTed, Apr 18, 2014
  16. GreenKrusty101

    GreenKrusty101 Initiate (0) Dec 4, 2008 Nevada

    I don't know, but here on BA, the Thrumometer was ripped (by me) on the thread about biggest waste in brewing equipment...now that you mention it, carboy wedges seem kind of useless also...and brew gloves also for that matter.

    If Northern Brewer/Midwest is cherry picking reviews...they wouldn't be the only ones...I think there might be a new word for that particular internet practice if I remember correctly.

    edit: I mean false praise/phony reviews
     
    #16 GreenKrusty101, Apr 18, 2014
  17. ToddJ_NB_CS

    ToddJ_NB_CS Initiate (0) Apr 18, 2014

    Hey guys- I am here to shed some light on how we work reviews. I know we mentioned it to Joliethomebrew in our emails back and forth, but the rest you should know too.
    We take every negative review as an issue. We try to solve the issue first, before posting. This Review wasn't rejected until the conversation ended without resolution.
    Our goal with reviews is to make sure we are carrying the right products. If it isn't good, or we need to get information posted about it, we make the changes. Hopefully the changes make it so that the review is no longer accurate. If it is still applicable, then it gets posted. As JolietHomebrew states, changes have already come from it.
    I hope it makes sense. If you want to email me, feel free. I am at [email protected].
     
    #17 ToddJ_NB_CS, Apr 18, 2014
  18. od_sf

    od_sf Initiate (0) Nov 2, 2010 California

    I'm sorry, but this is rubbish. I have written 3 reviews on the NB web site. One positive (5 STARS) and two negatives (ONE and TWO stars). My positive review was promptly published on the site, while my negative reviews were not. No one at NB ever contacted me to "solve the issue" when I wrote the negative reviews.
     
    #18 od_sf, Apr 19, 2014
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2014
    Mag00n, HerbMeowing, PortLargo and 2 others like this.
  19. redmaw

    redmaw Initiate (0) Jun 30, 2013 Pennsylvania

    Wow, great, so the vendor just publicly stated they filter out negative feedback on products they sell. If you want to be honest about this practice, post the review, and your response to the review, but don't refuse to post it. That is simply dishonest.
     
    #19 redmaw, Apr 19, 2014
    HerbMeowing, jrnyc, jlordi12 and 1 other person like this.
  20. phishterrrrrrr88

    phishterrrrrrr88 Initiate (0) Mar 18, 2014 Florida

    I also believe this is true. For evidence simply go on their website and browse around. Only on a couple items do you see less then 4 stars. And if you want to really read a lot of reviews the only bad ones in there will have 4 stars for some crazy reason. Example "this carboy cracked after using it once, will never buy again but it is a nice design." will have like a 4 star rating. It just doesn't add up. And by the way I also had a negative review that was politely worded modded.

    Also it's funny someone mentioned the carboy wedge as having poor reviews. I saw that their the other day and thought how amazing it was to find something with less than 4 stars on NB.
     
    #20 phishterrrrrrr88, Apr 19, 2014
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