The Bar Towel

instantkamera wrote:

JProulx wrote:

instantkamera wrote:My bottle was delivered to my local ... SMASHED.

Words. I dont.

Stay tuned to see how well (or poorly) this is handled by the LCBO.

The bottles did sell out this year. Hopefully somebody cancelled their order and you'll get theirs. Otherwise, tough situation to be in... you'll certainly get a refund. Hopefully you'll also get a guaranteed opportunity to purchase next year's edition, instead of waiting in line again. No nice result here if they don't have any replacement bottles for you.

Keep us informed on this... I'm holding out hope for you!

Thankfully my local and the Vintages head were able to make this right (well, I haven't actually received it yet, so...). They found a bottle and will be shipping it to me with extra care this time. Though, from what I was told, shipping likely didn't break this bottle and there are some questionable practices around packing and shipping ...

As long as it arrives intact, that's pretty much the best case scenario in this kind of situation. Glad it worked out.

JProulx wrote:
As long as it arrives intact, that's pretty much the best case scenario in this kind of situation. Glad it worked out.

Definitely, and I'm very thankful that the people I dealt with (primarily the one lady at my local) were 100% commited to helping me out. They were very quick too.

Happy to hear about the replacement for the smashed Utopias. Except I guess that's a loss of product they roll into the tax burden, ie. they collected & then wasted liquor tax dollars to pay for their expensive negligence.

For something like this I'd be surprised if they didn't hold back a few bottles on purpose just in case of breakage or items getting lost.

Toss me into the pile that received (or didn't receive) a broken bottle. After seeing so many bottles recieved I went down to my local LC to ask if it had come in yet when they, very nervously, explained that it broke in transit. Im a little disappointed that they've known for a while and instead of calling me waited for me to come investigating, because at this stage of the game I doubt there will be another bottle to be had, given that this is the 6th breakage ive heard of. So close, but short of a Christmas miracle, it looks like there will be no Utopias under the tree until next year.

The Mick wrote:Toss me into the pile that received (or didn't receive) a broken bottle. After seeing so many bottles recieved I went down to my local LC to ask if it had come in yet when they, very nervously, explained that it broke in transit. Im a little disappointed that they've known for a while and instead of calling me waited for me to come investigating, because at this stage of the game I doubt there will be another bottle to be had, given that this is the 6th breakage ive heard of. So close, but short of a Christmas miracle, it looks like there will be no Utopias under the tree until next year.

That's absolutely fucking shitty, but for what it's worth, I probably won't either since they haven't called me yet.

Worse, though, is that I was informed by the manager at my local (who was absolutely awesome) of a few disturbing facts surrounding my breakage:

- All packaging is in excellent condition, meaning the bottle DIDN'T break in transit. There is no evidence of any moisture having soaked the box(es), let alone staining from the dark liquid.

- The box was actually labelled "damaged product - PLEASE ACCEPT and file a complaint with ATS" (I think that's it - the company that handles their shipments). So they knew it was damaged prior to boxing it, but how could they unless they received it broken or broke it themselves.

- the package was sent with the highest level of care possible with the shipper (I want to say 'attended delivery' sine they have an attended delivery option on their site. I'll have to go back trough my notes to be sure.


Needless to say, the implication here is one of intentional buck-passing, all at the customer's expense. I realize I have very little recourse with a monopolistic corp like the LCBO, but I WILL be raising a stink about this, even if I do get my bottle. I would suggest anyone else affected by this do so as well.

instantkamera wrote:

The Mick wrote:
Needless to say, the implication here is one of intentional buck-passing, all at the customer's expense. I realize I have very little recourse with a monopolistic corp like the LCBO, but I WILL be raising a stink about this, even if I do get my bottle. I would suggest anyone else affected by this do so as well.

That seems presumptuous. There is no way to know "where" along the chain the product was broken.

Why doesn't someone send a message to Boston Beer Co and see what their story is? They've always been very receptive to questions in previous years....and there were no breakages in the past as far as I know.

El Pinguino wrote:That seems presumptuous. There is no way to know "where" along the chain the product was broken.

It's less about where it broke than where it DIDN'T break; that being in transit from the warehouse to me. That is something I inferred (an educated assumption) from the limited knowledge I have (which I have already presented and will not repeat here). However, it was more than implied by my local rep, who flat out stated that someone knowingly shipped a damaged product to the end-user.

Why doesn't someone send a message to Boston Beer Co and see what their story is? They've always been very receptive to questions in previous years....and there were no breakages in the past as far as I know.

I intend to, along with a few others, once this has concluded/I have time to do so.

This is appearing in the system right now:
http://lcbo.ca/lcbo-ear/lcbo/product/de ... ber=104711

Returns? Or maybe being processed different than in the initial orders?

Just wanted to give an update. Thanks to the efforts of Joan at LCBO #44 I received my replacement bottle, intact.

It didn't make it by Christmas, but before NYE is nice.

Im especially pleased considering this is not my regular beer store, yet we were chatting and she ordered in some Backwoods Bast for me as well. Very impressed with the front-line service here. There are still some unanswered questions and letters to write (I feel I owe it to future purchasers), but this was a most satisfactory resolution.

My bottle: http://imgur.com/sVFQ7Xn.jpg

(Note: Edited by moderator to replace the embedded image with a link, as it was massive.)

TheBeeraholic wrote:

groulxsome wrote:

TheBeeraholic wrote: Email the same lady and copy the same email mentioned in link above. I did day I called in and glass came earlier this week.

Are the glasses, like, free with this year's Utopias?

Yes

I bought a bottle this year - had no idea a glass or glasses was part of the deal. Did not see it mentioned anywhere.... just sent the email, here's hoping they still have them.

She never replied back after I sent my address, never got one. Thanks for reminding me.

instantkamera wrote:She never replied back after I sent my address, never got one. Thanks for reminding me.

I got a note right back last night

"Congratulations on your purchase and thank you for supporting Samuel Adams!

We would be happy to send you a glass as soon as the glassware arrives in Canada. "

so here's hoping....

Urotsukidoji wrote:

instantkamera wrote:She never replied back after I sent my address, never got one. Thanks for reminding me.

I got a note right back last night

"Congratulations on your purchase and thank you for supporting Samuel Adams!

We would be happy to send you a glass as soon as the glassware arrives in Canada. "

so here's hoping....

I got my glass very quickly after e-mailing. I seem to recall mailing on Sunday and getting it the following Thursday, very well packed and couriered.