EliteBrewing.com has a nice site and good prices, but it's all a scam. I ordered on 10/2/05, and they charged my Visa that same day. Their site clearly states they "ship most orders within 24 hours, and if something is backordered, we will contact you immediately." I didn't hear ANYTHING for 5 days, so I emailed them to ask what was up.
[email protected] emailed back the same day (10/7/05) saying simply 'my order had shipped'. They provided a FedEx tracking number (509592160000472), but it didn't work. I emailed them again asking why, and they said "it takes a while to get into the system." I ship alot of FedEx packages myself, and it does sometimes take 24 hours for their system to reflect changes, so I decided to wait a bit.
Three days later, the tracking number still didn't work, so I emailed them again. (10/10/05) I told them I would consider the order cancelled and wanted a refund to my card the next day (10/11/05) if I didn't get proof that they had shipped.
I got a response saying 'be reasonable', and that my order had shipped 'Thursday evening (10/6/05).' They also told me that 'if I wanted a refund, that's fine, but you will have to wait until it arrives, as it is already en route'. I had no proof of this, and began to smell a rat...
As of 10/13/05, eleven days after ordering, the FedEx number still didn't work. I called FedEx, and they used the respective addresses to confirm that EliteBrewing had never shipped anything to my address, nor did they have any pending pickups for my location.
So that was it. I'd had it. I filed a fraudulent merchant report with my credit card company, and informed Elite that I considered the order cancelled, and expected a full refund to my card. It is now 11/11/05, and they still have not done so. (Nor does the tracking number work, and I certainly have not received my order. I also have not heard back from their customer service department since 10/10/05.)
I occasionally send them an email asking for a refund, but it really doesn't matter, as I'm sure my credit card company will refund my purchase once their investigation is complete. Beware this 'company' as all they do is take your money, then stall you forever with bogus claims. (If you are looking for the same types of supplies and equipment, I suggest BeverageFactory.com. They handled my order quickly and perfectly.)
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