Experience with Yakima Valley Hops?

[nickmv]

Anyone here have any experience with whole leaf orders from Yakima Valley Hops?

I ordered 2 half-lbs of pellets, and 2 6oz bags of whole leaf (Cascade and Centennial). The pellets were fine, but the whole leaf were absolutely horrible.

The Cascade was completely shredded, and I liken the consistency to what you'd find in a lawnmower leaf bag after it's been chopped up and picked up. Additionally, both whole leaf bags seem to have been packaged by someone who isn't familiar with a vac sealer, as they tried to seal them with tons of shredded leaf material in the seal. Naturally, it didn't seal, and couldn't possibly have been sealed even at the "factory".


Anyone else have this experience? I emailed the guy so hopefully they'll make this right, but I was shocked, after my experience with Hops Direct and Label Peelers.

 

[eastoak]

i've ordered from yakima a few times and everything was fine. i love their prices and the hops have been quality.

 

[nickmv]

i've ordered from yakima a few times and everything was fine. i love their prices and the hops have been quality.

While I don't question the bittering and aroma quality, I'd like to warn others about their Cascade crop. They are absolutely chopped to hell and a lot of lupulin pulverized to powder. And their vacuum sealing on whole leaf isn't great (mine didnt arrive sealed and had whole leafs INSIDE the seal....which defeats the purpose of the seal).

Their pellets were just fine. The Centennial I ordered were fine too, aside from the lack of vac seal. But beware of Cascade.

 

[theveganbrewer]

I order my hop extract from them and have been pleased with their pellets too. Nice guys.

 

[MoeFoties]

I placed an order for hops and yeast with Yakima Valley Hops on 2/8/13. I received an incorrect order on 2/14/13. I called them that same day and told them exactly what I was missing. They said they'd send out the correct order. I received the "correct order" on 2/25/13, and it was yet another incomplete order (SEVENTEEN days into the process and well beyond the brewday I planned for these ingredients). I called that same day and AGAIN told them my order was incorrect (politely & patiently, actually). Specifically, I was still missing 8-oz of Simcoe and 8-oz of Cascade. They said they sent out the Cascade that day, but went on to tell me they're "having trouble sourcing Simcoe" and for that reason it's unavailable (wonder when they planned to tell me that). The guy said he could send me out another hop variety instead or just refund my money (he sounded like a guy who should be sweeping the warehouse instead of running the show). It sounded to me like he was hoping I'd just forget about the Simcoe AND the fact I'd already paid for it. I asked if he'd replace the Simcoe with Amarillo. He said he'd send me out 8-oz of Amarillo to replace it, but made it sounds as though I was getting "the sweet hook-up" because Amarillo is so tough to get right now. He actually told me he'd send the Amarillo if I'd "keep it on the low." It's now 2/27, and I still don't have what I ordered. I'm an understanding guy who always give folks the benefit of the doubt, but these guys have been unbelievably unprofessional and have the worst customer service I've experienced in the homebrew community. What a disappointing experience...I'll never deal with them again. I live in WA and thought it'd be nice to try and keep it local...NOPE! Back to Farmhouse...those guys are solid!

 

[nickmv]

I got a similar attitude from him, minus some of the drama. Regardless, he never sounded sincere about any apologies, etc. Just move on, call your bank about any outstanding items, and don't buy from again.

 

[gbarron]

Completely different experience here. Fast shipping to the east coast, great prices, great selection. Highly recommended.

I know they are in the process of moving into a larger space and expanding their inventory of non-hop homebrewing items. So maybe they are going through some growing pains.

 

[tagz]

I've read a few complaints about these guys on HBT.

 

[FermentNEthinG]

I ordered a can (100g) of hop extract and a 1/2 of columbus from them recently. Fast to return my emails and received ordered product in a timely manner. The columbus looked and smelled great.

 

[Grantman1]

I've ordered from them before. Prices were great and shipping was fast to the east coast. I'll certainly order again.

 

[badlee]

I ordered a lb of glacier from them at a great price.
I paid for it to be posted to a friend in texas, they pisyed it directly to me here in thailand and charged me for us flat rate shipping. Sweet. Pellets in great condition. I couldnt be happier.

 

[daksin]

The owner used to have an account on here where all he would do was talk up Yakima Valley Hops and never made any mention of his affiliation with the company. He got outed by a mod and hasn't posted since. I won't be buying from them.

Ah- found it: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/members/theneighbrohood

 

[dawgmatic]

The owner used to have an account on here where all he would do was talk up Yakima Valley Hops and never made any mention of his affiliation with the company. He got outed by a mod and hasn't posted since. I won't be buying from them.

Ah- found it: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/members/theneighbrohood

I actually emailed him about that during that whole amarillo dust nonsense. He told me that neighbrohood was his friend, who is also in the band with him. Not a very definitive, or assuring, response. But I do have to say that the amarillo dust was great

 

[Hoser_brewing]

Guess I was lucky... I just had 4# of hops delivered from them, all pellets, all in great shape, all here four days after my order.

Could be luck of the draw, but I'll be going back.

 

[nickmv]

Luck of the draw? Every experience I've seen that's "positive" is just you getting what you ordered. That's the baseline expectation. It's how things are handled when your experience is negative that defines the service. Most of you don't experience that. A few of us have.

 

[daksin]

I actually emailed him about that during that whole amarillo dust nonsense. He told me that neighbrohood was his friend, who is also in the band with him. Not a very definitive, or assuring, response. But I do have to say that the amarillo dust was great

The neighbrohood is definitely the owner.

 

[bluelakebrewing]

I placed an order for hops and yeast with Yakima Valley Hops on 2/8/13. I received an incorrect order on 2/14/13. I called them that same day and told them exactly what I was missing. They said they'd send out the correct order. I received the "correct order" on 2/25/13, and it was yet another incomplete order (SEVENTEEN days into the process and well beyond the brewday I planned for these ingredients). I called that same day and AGAIN told them my order was incorrect (politely & patiently, actually). Specifically, I was still missing 8-oz of Simcoe and 8-oz of Cascade. They said they sent out the Cascade that day, but went on to tell me they're "having trouble sourcing Simcoe" and for that reason it's unavailable (wonder when they planned to tell me that). The guy said he could send me out another hop variety instead or just refund my money (he sounded like a guy who should be sweeping the warehouse instead of running the show). It sounded to me like he was hoping I'd just forget about the Simcoe AND the fact I'd already paid for it. I asked if he'd replace the Simcoe with Amarillo. He said he'd send me out 8-oz of Amarillo to replace it, but made it sounds as though I was getting "the sweet hook-up" because Amarillo is so tough to get right now. He actually told me he'd send the Amarillo if I'd "keep it on the low." It's now 2/27, and I still don't have what I ordered. I'm an understanding guy who always give folks the benefit of the doubt, but these guys have been unbelievably unprofessional and have the worst customer service I've experienced in the homebrew community. What a disappointing experience...I'll never deal with them again. I live in WA and thought it'd be nice to try and keep it local...NOPE! Back to Farmhouse...those guys are solid!

Had a similar experience as above. I live in washington as well and I figured my "hop dust" would make its way quicker to my doorstep than other online retailers. Unfortunatley, after making its way from yakima, roughly three hours away, to a post office a block from my house and back, TWICE, i requested a refund. Dont know why this didnt workout but the dudes at yakima hops blamed it on the government. Im thinking maybe their user error. Idk. I prefer farmhouse brewing and hops direct.

 

[bottlebomber]

I had a bad experience with them, and the dude who owns/runs the biz has been caught by the mods several times trying to promote his business pretending to be a satisfied customer giving a glowing review. I try to steer clear of dishonest people myself. Label peelers for hops FTW. Just picked up two pounds of current crop Simcoe on sale for under $15 a pound, and they're good people.

 

[Lagger]

Chalk another one up to a poor experience with Yakima Valley

Shop somewhere else

 

[nickmv]

Glad to see others had the same experiences. Confirms that it wasn't just bad luck or someone overreacting to something minor.

Shop elsewhere. Label Peelers, Hops Direct, Freshops, etc

 

[gargarean]

Just left the same answer at Yakima Valley Hops company review thread:

I am an overseas customer (Greece). I ordered hops from them and since their site quoted $66 shipping to my country for less than 8 lbs I proceeded to pay for the hops and waited for a separate invoice for shipping. I was very surprised when I received a $90 invoice. Then I started writing to them and no one answered for days. After many unanswered emails I checked online and found they had a very bad record. Also that they were impersonating customers and leaving good feedback to their own company (start of this same thread in 2012). Finally I had to dispute the payment through Paypal and luckily I got my money back. Without even one email from their side. Will never again buy from them.

Stay away.