In Wellington, we are generally pretty lucky with the brew shops, and I guess I have gotten spoiled by how cool each of them are. Maybe they do not always have exactly what we need, but the service is great.

Brewtopia - I have gone to them whilst in lower hutt, then in the city, and ordered from the online. Never an issue.

BrewShop in Newtown - Corey and Aiden have always been helpful, and go out of their way to get what is needed.

Homebrew Store - Kenepuru - Always helpful. If something is not in stock, they will try to order it, and always great with a "hiya mate."

Now to the real issue. I realize that I must have been really spoiled by these guys after making a visit to "The Occasional Brewer." Their customer management skills are far from stellar. Let me explain.

I have been looking for Special B for a while, as I like it in my stouts and PKB clone. So, I looked online, and saw that The Occasional Brewer sells grain, and had this in stock. I thought this was great! So, I lickety split drove from Tawa to Newtown.

The shop was a bit busy, and that was awesome to see. Once getting to the counter, I asked for the grain, and the counter person asked if I needed it milled. I said no. Then, he asked another person to help get the grain, and I was flat told by the staff member, "We don't have time for that!"

Shocking!

As I was confused, I answered with a quizzical, "You do not have time to sell grain?" He responded yes.

Now I can understand being busy, and needing to prioritizing what needs to be done. A "can you come back in an hour", or a "I can have it for you tomorrow", or nearly any other response would be good. However, telling a customer that you do not have time for them is not good for business.

I suppose the work outing where I was going to bring some team members, will not be at the occasional brew. In kind, it is my belief that they really do not want any business from all grain brewers.

Hopefully their owner sees this post and advises the staff on customer service.