Suppliers Who will offer discounts to winesathome members

[fasteddy999]

Fasteddy,

Whats the minimum purchase to obtain the 5% discount, also who foots the shipping ??

There is no minimum and the customer pays the shipping. I ship the cheapest way availible. There is a $0.50 packing charge which pays to deliver your package to the shipper.

[Axl]

I visited one of genie's outlets at the weekend, i just wanted to say thankyou for your time and talking to me. Let me take this opportunity to big up these people, well worth the time and effort to find you and i hope to visit again very soon.

[Hippie]

Genie, thank you for being a good friend of this forum and a nice member to have anywhere!

[lockwood1956]

Yup I concur

I ordered stuff mail order and it was with me pretty quick amd with no fuss

10 out of 10

Good job Paul


regards
Bob

[lednugenna]

has anyone ordered form this place? http://www.creativespirits.com

I get no response to my emails at either email address.
Anne




thanks to fasteddy999 for giving the same 5% discount to US members
His mailing address is Creative Spirits, 4386 N. Essex Ave. Springfield MO 65803. His phone is 1-800-333-4145 it only works on calls within the US. His website is at http://www.creativespirits.com.
__________________
Lockwood Cellars...... Traditionally Crafted Award Winning Mouthwash

[lockwood1956]

They are closed Sunday and Monday so they may have only got the email yesterday, so a reply may be on the way...

Did you try the 1-800 number?

[lednugenna]

Ok, thanks. no I didnt call because I didnt see the number(selectively blind?) I will give it more time. I think I just want to get started and so far I keep goofing on the little things. Like I ordered bungs the exact size of the opening of the jugs so they will fit but I might not be able to get them out. So I would like to know excatly how you know what size bungs to get? I should have started asking before ordering I think.
Anne

openings are 1 1/8, 1 1/4and 1 1/2 inches

[Nobby]

Good to see you've not gone daft and converted to metric. We've been on it for years but you can't beat the real measurements, although, you colonials seem to have a slightly different definition on liquid measurements. What's with American fluid ounces and British Imperial fluid ounces. Let's all meet in the middle.

[sparky Paul]

I used BrewGenie's mail order service this week after discovering them on this forum - and they get a big thumbs up from me!

If I had a local HB shop within a reasonable distance I would gladly support them - but for those of us who don't, a good mail order service is a boon. BrewGenie's price are great too, and the 5% discount makes them even better value.

[suefreck]

If I had a local HB shop within a reasonable distance I would gladly support them - but for those of us who don't, a good mail order service is a boon. BrewGenie's price are great too, and the 5% discount makes them even better value.

I notice your North Notts - you cann't be far from Newark, Mansfield, Chesterfield or Nottingham all of which have homebrewshops! :

[lockwood1956]

One of the reasons this site was set up was to try to help fledgling winemakers find things like home brew shops, the industry in general just doesn't seem to take customer service seriously enough,(and I don't just mean making the customer welcome etc...most Home brew shops do that bit OK) part of the service that should be offered to customers is to make it easy to find you, I would respectfully suggest that if a customer can't easily find a shop, then it's mainly the fault of the shop. Most of the home brew shops don't have a website and don't do mail order, and if you ask for something unusual they just shrug their shoulders. I have many Winemaking toys, most of which I imported myself, from Italy Vienna and the U.S.A. because of being unable to ...a,) find a supplier who could help..the few home brew shops that have websites aren't listed on search engines (because it costs money) ..and b) once located, find one that was interested, I have spent hundreds of pounds (perhaps more than hundreds...don't want to think about it) and if I could have found a supplier willing to help, they could have had the markup on those sales. I did eventually find one supplier thinking "outside of the box" from whom I purchased my crusher-destemmer (£350 of which he probably received a markup of say 15% but more like 20%, but even at 10% that is £35 he wouldn't have had if he hadn't put himself out...how many grand Maison kits would he have to sell to make the same profit? he also now has a customer on his books who he knows is happy to spend big bucks on quality products. and he sends me a newsletter telling me whats new, follows up my phone calls enquiring about stuff.

Now I don't want this to seem like a rant at suppliers.... but the industry if it wishes to survive needs to ...well to put it bluntly..get it's finger out. (again this is a generalisation, I have had good experience visiting many shops who have helpful and friendly staff, but they just aren't 2007 business savvy) I have spoken to many home brew shop owners and they all bemoan the demise of the industry, when asked what are they doing about it, they either look at me like I had a nerve asking, or they shrug their shoulders....(I stopped asking a while back)

I had my eyes opened when I visited the States, it is possible to walk into any home brew shop and walk out with electronic (accurate) PH meters, crusher/destemmers, fruit/grape presses. an array of test kits for acid, SO2 malic acid etc etc Now I appreciate that they carry them in stock because they know they will sell them quickly, but the home brew industry in the UK has for far too many years sold to it's customers at the cheapy end of the market, "because thats what they want" you need to create demand for product, Young's have been doing OK with this by offering free kit to ferment in when you buy a big kit...but I know a lot of suppliers who won't supply that "deal" because they lose the sale of that kit themselves (DOH!) repeat business is the name of the game in service industries.

And to answer the inevitable "who are you to tell me how to run my business" that has been fired at me when I ask what have you done to move your business forward?.....I Train new driving instructors how to run their business, how to market, how to generate customers, how to deliver great customer service, so those customers tell their friends. How to be savvy with advertising spend, how to generate business for free, how to use the internet, how to create a market from nothing. To date there are over 1,000 of my little darlings making their way in the hard cutthroat business world that is driving instruction.

[Mamgiowl]

Do you feel better for that?

Seriously though, I do agree with you. I have to travel a long way to find a good shop, but even that is not a specialist, (he sells tobacco and lighters and knives and odd things like that) He does stock quite a lot of winemaking things, but if you want something out of the ordinary, even if you show him a picture with manufacturer's name etc., etc., it's still "Oh not one of my suppliers" or something of that nature so I do without. Postage makes it rather expensive to buy over the internet so my equipment is still rudimentary.

[lockwood1956]

Do you feel better for that?

YES!

It does (looking back over it) seem like a bit of a rant, I didn't mean it to be, I have met some really nice helpful people in the industry but it has to be said , a lot of people who still live in the "arkwright" school of business.

[lockwood1956]

I have to travel a long way to find a good shop, but even that is not a specialist, (he sells tobacco and lighters and knives and odd things like that)

Oh my word......he IS Arkwright!

[sparky Paul]

I notice your North Notts - you cann't be far from Newark, Mansfield, Chesterfield or Nottingham all of which have homebrewshops! :

Sorry, only just noticed your post. Why the mad smiley in your reply? I was only saying that not everyone has a good local HBS...

Living in North Nottinghamshire, even the nearest of the shops you suggest is 25 miles away from me at Newark - that's a 50 mile round trip. On the rare occasions I visit Newark, I do actually call into Newbrew for a browse.

However, I can't justify nearly two gallons of petrol and parking charges just for regular homebrewing supplies, when BG are cheaper, have more choice, and deliver free.