Brewuk Avis 

I love BrewUK and have used them a lot over the past few years.

I have been left a little cold by a recent experience for an order that I had to cancel before dispatch and have refunded, where three of my emails were ignored over the course of 2 weeks.

I eventually received an automated refund confirmation email from their system but there was a certain lack of customer service attached to what should have been quite a straight-forward transaction.

I have spent a lot of money with this company over the years and expect more help when I get in touch with a query. Generally they are excellent and I will be putting this experience down to a blip, but it does make me wary for future orders.

I have ordered from Brew UK a number of times over the years but have never experienced their after sales support until this week. A grainfather controller I recently purchased appeared faulty so I opened a support call. Dan was brilliant! Liaising with Grainfather support for me and getting a new controller agreed under warranty. And all resolved and delivered to me within a week.

I placed an order for items they claimed were in stock. They phoned me a few days later to say that they did not, in fact, have the items, and could no longer get them, so I asked to cancel the order and they said they would refund my credit card. I had to wait almost 3 weeks before any refund was sent, but it was not for the full amount. I let them know straight away, but nearly two weeks on they have still not sent the remaining amount and are not communicating with me. Very disappointing, and I will not be using them again.

Love this company, Great advice and service. I ordered my stuff at 2.30pm and got in 9am the next day.

Used this company many, many times. Always fast to reply with lots of information over their web-chat service. Items always come as described, well packed and in a timely manner.

We spent over £1000 at Brewuk. Returned one item worth £100 that we didn't need in the end.

Brewuk confirmed the return was received in perfect condition and we would receive a refund in 1-2 days.

A month later and we still have not received a refund. We have been given a few excuses and now we are not receiving replies to our emails.

We have had to open a dispute with PayPal.

Avoid.

EDIT: On September you said "Yes, I received it yesterday in perfect condition! I have processed the refund for you and this should take 1-2 working days for the funds to appear in your account." You clearly didn't issue the refund then as promised.

I just checked in PayPal and can again see you have failed to issue a refund. Even if you had issued it like you say it is longer than you state in your terms and conditions (30 days). You will also find that distance selling regulations state you must issue a refund within 14 days so you are also breaking these even though you state "Our cancellation, returns and refund policy is in accordance with UK distance selling regulations" in your T&Cs.

just completed another order, great response from customer services, cheap easy to follow ordering and Dan organised things excellently

Always good customer service. Dispatch times could be better though.

Waited over 2 weeks for a delivery, multiple promised delivery dates arranged direct with Brew UK were not fulfilled, and very poor customer service on all touch points.

Service levels were non-existent and despite being let down on numerous occasions the 'sorry about that' response after the fourth non-delivery from Brew UK, after this was arranged is appalling.

Further to your reply, there were 2 initial failed delivery attempts as the delivery instructions were not followed. At your suggestion and arrangement on the 3rd & 4th time, despite waiting for these on the days you put forward, the delivery never turned up & was not attempted again and you were completely disinterested in this.

Very happy customer, I've shopped there a number of times. Great range, especially the yeast selection

I have just placed my third order with brewuk, and have been very pleased with the service so far. Greg has been very accommodating of my requests, and communication has been excellent.

Terrible customer service, 7 days to dispatch, avoid like the plague.

i left a bit of a scathing review earlier, monday blues after the holiday season i guess.

Iv had some smooth experiences with brew uk, some not so smooth but they have always rectified / resolved any issues that have occurred professionally.

they always try and accommodate when they can even dispatching something on a next day delivery for me as i was in desperate need for it (and next day isnt a service the offer) but royal mail blooming lost it!

I was new to Home Brew and did the usual hunt around the Internet, I came across BrewUK

What set them apart for me was their attention to the customers, especially the newbies (as I was, now a novice) The forum was incredibly helpful and if I didn't find what I was looking for they were prompt to answer questions by email and now Live Chat

The true test of a company for me is
1. Would I buy from them again?
2. Would I recommend them

The answer to the first point is yes, indeed I would probably buy more often but I use the wishlist to build my order to the "free shipping" break point

On the second point, most definitely, indeed I have a friend who lives close enough to them to visit there premises. They are as impressed by their personal contact as I am with the online service.

Are they perfect?,who is? But what I have found is that they are constantly striving to get better. My first order (over a year ago (late 2012) took about 7 days to arrive, now it's closer to 3 days, good for me.

I find they also take recommendations, I originally had the plastic CO2 cartridge holder but plastic on metal does not work. I found an alternative with a metal thread, elsewhere, and suggested they stock it. They do now - brilliant

This is a company that I appreciate, they have standards of customer service and certainly I cannot fault them.

I am sure that if I have an issue with anything I purchase they will work hard to make me a happy customer.

I look forward to being a customer for a very long time

Recommended for grain and yeast and a good selection of all things home brew. These being the only plus points.

Go elsewhere for your hops. About half of the hops I have purchased from Brewuk over the past few years have been significantly below the quoted AA% and so far from fresh as to be of little use for flavor or aroma. This change coincided with the move by Brewuk to vacuum packing hops they purchase in bulk.

Also worth noting that brewing equipment is priced at the top of the range available elsewhere so it serves to shop around.

My response to reply to Brewuk's reply:

''All my opinions are based on 20+ years of home brewing which is, I suspect, more than sufficient to assess the freshness and quality of purchased hops. I haven't complained to you direct, I just don't buy your hops anymore and wouldn't recommend anyone else do so.''

Have always had impeccable service all round from these people. Prices very competitive too, you'll struggle to find cheaper malt etc. I will certainly always use this company as long as the service stays at this high calibre.

Received very damaged beer kits because of bad packaging (lack of packaging!).

One of the kits was for a Christmas present to get my father in law into home brewing, but I'm going to have to re-order elsewhere because it looks like someone's been playing baseball with the kit. Not exactly gift-worthy!

I contacted the company immediately to report the damage and provided pictures, initially they seemed friendly and I believed they would do something.

Greg, the director, responded and at first appeared helpful. I requested replacements be sent because the products are not in good condition and I am not satisfied with them; however that seems to be where the customer service has ended.

I've now been asked for the serial numbers from the cans to try and identify which kit is which, apparently my request to send the products back for replacement was ignored. Brilliant.

Chalking this one up to bad experience, I wont be trying these guys again but I will be warning my friends not to shop here!

I would just like to say a big thank you to Greg and the BrewUK team
I’ve just received my order in super quick time and been kept up to date
Since placing my order, I will definatly be placing another order in a few weeks’ time, 10/10

I live way out in the sticks so Postage is always expensive for me. However on this occasion brewuk managed to sort out the packing in such a way that it was only one parcel which apparently worked out much cheaper, and they refunded the difference to me. There's no reason for them to do this other than just great customer service. Things like this really give you confidence in a company.