Online Shop Statement
Just wanted to give you guys an update on the online shop. As we stated in our year end video review (above) we are ashamed and embarrassed as to how bad the service has been. As we have let many of your guys down, I just wanted to go through the whole saga with you.
In September we took the decision to outsource the fulfilment of the online shop to our friends at My Brewery Tap who specialise in online beer sales and fulfilment. As we struggled to get to grips with the growing volumes going through our online shop our lack of experience in dealing with couriers and small parcel logistics were all too apparent. So we decided to use the experience of My Brewery Tap to help us provide a better delivery service and better customer service. We felt this was a better solution that one of our brewers packing the online boxes on his tea break.
Dan at the MBT HQ.
However it has not went well, as I am sure many of you guys can testify. You are all valued customers and we realise how much you have been let down through all this.
We let My Brewery Tap handle our fulfilment just as they were going through some organisational changes. The changes did not work out well.
The first disaster was Yodel. Perhaps the most pathetic excuse for a courier on the planet. Shipments were lost, left in gardens, hidden in sheds, stolen from or damaged more frequently than they were delivered. This put a huge pressure on Dan and Craig (who provide the customer service) and they have never really been able to recover from this and despite the fact we have changed courier have still been dealing with the legacy issues of Yodel’s incompetence. However we also accept the blame here- we chose My Brewery Tap who chose Yodel. We are not trying to pass the buck, only explain the situation.
The nice vans are just for their press photos.
For just how bad Yodel are check out http://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/yodel.co.uk We learned the lesson here the hard way and it was you guys who suffered.
The second disaster was Expect. From their shiny, glossy warehouse Expect managed to provide the most terrible picking and packing service imaginable. Despite being experienced fulfilment professionals they mis-picked orders more often than they put the correct items in the box and caused a whole host of issues. Again this was My Brewery Tap’s choice. But we chose My Brewery Tap.
Expect Dedication? Erm, no.
Furthermore we had loads of new Equity Punks shareholders using their new discount codes at the same time as loads of people were buying beer for the Christmas period, combined with the launch of the prototypes meaning we had an unprecedented order volume through early December and My Brewery Tap, as I am sure you are aware, simply could not cope.
They are meant to provide full customer service through a dedicated helpline and through Dan and Craig’s email addresses. However the response time and lack of response from customer service has been abysmal. Many customers not getting through on the phone and emails not being responded to for over 2 weeks if at all.
The lack of customer service recently and the issues with orders came from a vicious spiral started by Yodel and the issues they created, exaggerated by Expect’s incompetence and completely compounded by the early December order volume which caught My Brewery Tap out.
To be honest the whole team at BrewDog feel very let down by My Brewery Tap and they have fallen a million miles short from the standards they promised us when we entered into the agreement. However we have also been heartened by their resolve to work through the issues and put a new structure in place for 2012.
So, we are now fully set up in the new warehouse which will be completely run by My Brewery Tap staff. Rather than using Expect to pack the boxes there will now be My Brewery Tap staff directly packing the boxes. We are now also fully set up with our new courier, UK Mail who are proving much more reliable than Yodel. We also now have a new email management system which should make it easier for multiple customer service operators to respond to customer service and order queries quicker. And a much better service should reduce incoming emails to a manageable level.
We realise how bad it has been and we are pretty devastated about the level of service that people who want to buy our beer with their hard earned money have been given. I (James) am visiting the new warehouse this week plus we have a new person starting with us in 10 days time who will also be working on the online shop from the BrewDog side and helping ensure the quality of service provided by My Brewery Tap is where it needs to be throughout 2012.
Anyone who has been affected by the poor service in November or December then please send an email to me james(at)brewdog.com with your order number, order date and a brief overview of the issues with your order. Please also include your postal address and as an apology I will send you a £10 beer bucks voucher that can be used in any of our BrewDog Bars.
Making the online shop customer service awesome is our New Year's resolution.
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