Brewnanny shipments

[dnitty]

Has anyone ever received one of these? I ordered one at 50% off in early November, paying $250. Now I realize a lot of people thought that even this was expensive but the geek in me was intrigued. I emailed the company a few times during November and both times received quick replies. Now in early December when the website claimed the Brewnanny would ship, I am not able to reach the person who previously replied so quickly. I've reached out twice now with no reply and I'm starting to wonder if I've been had.

 

[AleForce1]

Has anyone ever received one of these?

Many of us Kickstarters have been waiting for our Brewnanny's to ship for several months.... Haven't heard anymore about shipments since before Thanksgiving...

 

[geoffey]

You're not the only one waiting you purchased a product from a brand new company that like many others before it is struggling to meet the goals of shipping product by its stated deadline. When I backed the kickstarter the deadline was July. I'm just trying to be patient and have faith.

 

[AleForce1]

The Kickstarter campaign has 158 backers, and to my knowledge no one has received theirs yet. The KS campaign closed Apr 25th... November 14th they were supposed to begin shipping out orders. The frustrating part about all of this is how they keep you in the dark. I would suggest commenting on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/brewnanny and if you are a kickstarter backer comment there https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lyonslabs/brewnanny-home-brew-monitor/comments too.

 

[wfstrasburg]

I've emailed both Gary Lyons and BrewNanny about shipping schedule, but received no reply. When I ordered in early November of 2014 they were quick with the response time to emails, now, I'm thinking it's a scam and I'm out money I could've used for other brewing equipment.
Anyone know if there is anyway to take action against the company?
Thanks,
Bill

 

[cryhav0c]

I got a message via e-mail a couple weeks ago stating mine was due to be shipped but nothing more. I went through this with another company last year. Same situation, I spent thousands on a product but it took them over a year to deliver. It was worth the wait but the communication factor leaves a bad taste in your mouth. I'm sure they could hire someone for basic PR. In this day and age that should be a priority. This could give them a bad rep like the company I referred to above. Great product, poor communication made their sales slide tremendously. Hope they can correct this.

 

[kh54s10]

If anyone does get contact with them, suggest an email to all the backers with an update. It should take one person less than an hour to do this.

This is one reason I have shied away from any Kickstarter programs. I am a bit cynical and always wonder how many misuse the money sent in then fail, or are total scams to start with and take the money with no intention to fulfill their promises.

 

[kickflip_mj]

If anyone does get contact with them, suggest an email to all the backers with an update. It should take one person less than an hour to do this.

This is one reason I have shied away from any Kickstarter programs. I am a bit cynical and always wonder how many misuse the money sent in then fail, or are total scams to start with and take the money with no intention to fulfill their promises.

I wouldnt say Kickstarters are scams. Im working on one right now and should hopefully have it up in the next month or so. But then again I run a distribution company and know how to fulfill orders. I'm sure most people come out with the idea that its going to cost X and it costs Y.

 

[hunter_le five]

This is one reason I have shied away from any Kickstarter programs. I am a bit cynical and always wonder how many misuse the money sent in then fail, or are total scams to start with and take the money with no intention to fulfill their promises.

I've participated in a few, none of which were scams. All promises fulfilled. Sure, there's always that risk, but I think if it were a serious problem then people wouldn't continue to participate at the rate that they do.

Most kickstarters these days seem to be more akin to a "group buy" for a manufacturing run than actually launching an ongoing business concern, which lessens the risk considerably. At least in my experience.

 

[AleForce1]

If anyone does get contact with them, suggest an email to all the backers with an update. It should take one person less than an hour to do this.

This is one reason I have shied away from any Kickstarter programs. I am a bit cynical and always wonder how many misuse the money sent in then fail, or are total scams to start with and take the money with no intention to fulfill their promises.

The problem with them is that they do not respond/reply to emails, which is why commenting on Facebook and the comments section of Kickstarter will get their attention - If enough people do it. I am surprised more people haven't made more of an effort. You'd think Brewnanny could create something as simple as an Excel spreadsheet of all their KS backers and BN website orders. Put an ETA field... then do a email merge in MS-Word... 15 minutes you've communicated to all the people who have gave you money....

I hope the technology of the Brewnanny lives up to the hype, because they haven't shown much use of it in their communication or their crappy brewnanny.com website.

 

[wfstrasburg]

My wife and I have used other Kickstarters in the past, always with (eventual) success.
Understandably, some campaigns bite off more than they figure on or are unrealistic when developing schedules, but in those cases, there has always been communications from the campaign personnel.
I'm still getting promotional emails, either advertising the BrewNanny at a savings;
on November 30th an email titled "BrewNanny Cyber Monday Coupon Codes", was sent out. Or promoting the BrewNanny Pro, Gary Lyons sent out an email on December 19th; "BrewNanny Blog Update"
With the lack of communications concerning delivery of back ordered products, but with the company still promoting sales, it leaves a smudge on their performance as far as I'm concerned. I'm trying to be positive and assure myself that I have not been scammed out of some money I set aside for buying brewing equipment.

 

[cryhav0c]

I got a message a couple of days before Xmas that they had endured some shipping delays but were moving forward. I hope they understand that a little information disseminated properly to their clients goes a hellova long way toward customer satisfaction. Ahh....growing pains. I figure all will be fine. Got a brew ready to go to test with.

 

[AF1HomeBrew]

Still nothing....

 

[cryhav0c]

No further info here either. Had mine paid for for almost 3 months now but no word on shipping.

 

[wfstrasburg]

For reference, I have sent Mr. Gary Lyons an email this morning inquiring about shipping status.
It has been two months and a day since I received an email from Gary Lyons that read:
"Your BrewNanny is ready to ship!

We are making final plans today to ship your order. Please confirm that the information below is correct and reply with corrections if necessary or confirm that the information is correct.



Product(s)
BrewNanny (, ) [Qty: 1]

Thanks
The BrewNanny Fulfillment Team"

The next day, on 12/23/2015, I received this email:
"Shipping Update

Hi all. We are shipping daily! That is the good news. However, things are moving slower than expected. We are having some issues due to the time of year, our carriers are not picking up on schedule and are not taking as many shipments as we have, so we are backed up with orders ready to go but unable to get them out the door. Just one more example of growing pains. Once the holiday crunch is over we should be able to get everything out the door pronto. So a lot of things are happening here, we are working hard and finding that Plan B is the normal operating procedure in a lot of cases.

First let me explain what is not happening. We are not getting crates of product shipped in from some sweat shop where children are assembling our product and putting them in cartons and shipping them out to you. If we did do this everyone would have their order, we would have more money in the bank and things would be a lot less tense around here. But we don't do this, and as a result there are no children being abused to produce the product and our employees have a job. We manufacture each BrewNanny by hand in our facility in North Adams, Massachusetts. We buy as many of our components from domestic suppliers as possible.

Now let’s talk about what is happening. We are a startup company, with a great product and we are experiencing growing pains as we scale up to produce our products in quantity. As a result our support staff are making product instead of answering emails on time, our office staff are doing the same. We are making getting the product out our first priority and as a result we are falling down in the area of customer service. A few weeks ago we were stopped dead in our tracks because one of our suppliers failed to send a shipment to us overnight Saturday delivery. The package arrived on Monday instead and we were unable to work all weekend as planned. Even retail giant LL Bean is having issues with their boot line. They are behind in production by about 100,000 pairs of boots, see http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/12/ll-bean-is-fresh-out-of-snow-boots.html . I know you are looking for your orders, not excuses and I understand that some of you are really frustrated. I just want you all to know that we are working hard, our staff is doing a great job and they deserve a pat on the back. I have not done a great job anticipating how difficult the end game would be and I take full responsibility for all of your frustration. So if you need to vent your anger, please point it at me and not the great people we have working here. They are doing a fantastic job under a lot of pressure and will get the job done if you give them a little breathing room.

So this is not the message that I had hoped to send you at this time but I know when you do get your packages and start using BrewNanny to help you make better beer you will look back on these times and agree that it was worth the wait.

I hope you and your family have a happy holiday, please stay safe if you are out and about.

Best

Gary Lyons CEO
Lyons Labs LLC"

I then emailed Gary Lyons (3) times in January [on the 5th, 13th & 26th] with no responses.
All of my correspondence have been cordial, simply stating time frames and inquiring on shipping status updates, suggesting increased communication by the BrewNanny team either through email, on their facebook page or their website to inform their customers.

I can find no mention of anyone having ever received a BrewNanny unit, but this does not mean none have shipped, simply that no one who HAS received one hasn't posted anything.
I will keep this forum updated.

Bill

 

[kjr1953]

Hi

My experience is identical, I also received the email on 12/12/2014, having ordered mine on October 15th. Have emailed a couple of times but it just seems to be going into a bit bucket - no reply.

I am beginning to wonder...

 

[wfstrasburg]

Yesterday I received an email from Gary Lyons, I've attached the content here.

"BrewNanny March Madness Continues

We are extending our 50% off discount until March 14th.

Get a BrewNanny regularly $498.00 for $249.00

Get a BrewNanny Pro regularly 696 for 348.00

Check out our new Learn to Brew Packages containing everything you need to start brewing the smart way with BrewNanny starting at $375.00

We have limited inventory for all deals so act now and don’t miss out on the opportunity to buy a BrewNanny or BrewNanny Pro for 50% off just use discount code MARCHMADDNESS at checkout

This notice is sent to you as a registered user at BrewNanny.com"

I replied back that I am still waiting on the BrewNanny I ordered in November of 2015.
I do not understand how they are offering BrewNanny units with a backlog of ordered units, and I still have not heard or seen evidence that anyone has actually received a BrewNanny they ordered.

Bill

 

[AF1HomeBrew]

I ordered in November of 2015.

Wish many of us Kickstarter backers could have warned people like yourself about how they've been dragging things along... Although many of us have been trying to get responses via Facebook, Kickstarter and HBT. I would suggest contacting your credit card company & your state attorney general, which is what I have done after Kickstarter and Amazon Payments wouldn't lift a finger.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/brewnanny-what-do-you-think-467757/index7.html