Brew Dog founder criticises ecommerce supplier for online delivery problems over Christmas
Beer brewery Brew Dog has apologised for its ecommerce service, blaming delivery failures on courier firm Yodel, packaging firm Expect and online beer retailer My Brewery Tap.
In the company's blog section, Brew Dog co-founder James Watt has posted a statement condemning the service of the three companies as an explanation to its customers about its online shop and the failure of many purchases to arrive in time for Christmas.
The post explained; “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.”
Watt continued to state that the partnership ‘has not went well’, explaining that My Brewery Tap, which handled Brew Dog’s fulfilment, was going through ‘some organisational changes’ that it said did ‘not work out well’.
“The first disaster was Yodel,“ added the post, which described the firm as ‘perhaps the most pathetic excuse for a courier on the planet.“
He claimed that some of its shipments were either lost, left in gardens, hidden in sheds, stolen from or damaged more frequently than they were delivered by the firm, that the brewery describes as ‘incompetent’.
“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 company did conceded.
The post then highlighted the work of packaging firm Expect; describing the company as having; “managed to provide the most terrible picking and packing service imaginable.”
On Expect, the explanation said: “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.”
Brew Dog also admitted that new Equity Punks shareholders were also using their new discount codes during the busy Christmas trading period, which meant that the ‘unprecedented order volume’ saw My Brewery Tap unable to cope with demand.
“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.”
Watt revealed that My Brewery Tap staff would now also directly pack boxes in future, rather than use Expect, while a new courier, UK Mail, had been hired.
Those affected by poor service was asked to contact Watt by email to claim a £10 gift voucher for its bars, concluding by stating that the company was looking to make its customer service through its online shop ‘awesome’ as its New Year resolution.
Later, in the comments section below the post, in which many customers voiced their dissatisfaction with the service, Watt again commented; "as MD of BrewDog I take full responsibility for the whole thing and am doing all I can to put a much better structure in place for this year."