Flavourly - Unsatisfactory beers but no full refund

[Deleted User]

Good evening everyone, this is my first post on the forum, although I've been a regular browser of the forum and reader of the MSE e-mail for quite some time.

In last week's MSE e-mail, Flavourly were featured as having a promotion on a case of beer. I'm a big fan of craft beer and welcomed the chance to try some new brands and different styles.

Unfortunately, the box of beers I received were of a really poor quality. By that I mean, they weren't just "not to my taste", they were simply terrible beers!

Did anyone else on the forum try this offer? Any thoughts on the beers? As bad as mine were?

I didn't expect every beer to be my favourite - in fact part of the fun was the chance to experience some new brands and flavours. There were a variety of brands and styles of beer (IPA, light bitter, stout, low alcohol, etc.) included, so it was a (very unwelcome) surprise that all of the beers were so terrible.

I contacted Flavourly explaining that I felt each of the beers I had tried were really poor. And I asked them for a refund. I even offered to send back all of the beers left, which is the majority (perhaps 19 of 24).

Flavourly's response was to offer me only a partial refund - Only refund the beers that had not been drunk. Which I feel is quite disappointing and unacceptable.

The comparison I would make is - if I buy a punnet of raspberries from the supermarket, and after eating the first spoonful I discover they are rotten, the supermarket refunds me for the full punnet. They don't count how many I ate and then only refund me for the ones that are uneaten!

Unfortunately, I did have to drink a few of the beers to find out how bad they were. Believe me when I say - I really wish I hadn't! So it seems very unfair and wrong that Flavourly are not offering me a full refund.

I accept that MSE can't be held responsible for the quality of products or services featured in their e-mails. Although I am a little surprised that the MSE e-mail featured a company whose customer service seems to be the opposite of the 'customer first' ethos that MSE work so hard to promote.

I would be interested to know what the forum's thoughts are on this. And also whether you think I have a right to a full refund under the Consumer Rights Act?

I believe I do, as the quality was so unsatisfactory. Flavourly's response was that I could write to them with the batch number and best before dates of each beer and then they would consider it. I'd have thought them simply taking a swig of the beers they are sending out might be sufficient to know that they are taking the mickey!

Not great service, particularly for a first time customer, and a really terrible product. Have you had similar/contrary experiences with Flavourly? Any luck with refunds?

powerful_Rogue

Their reposnse sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

[Deleted User]

Does that mean that if you bought a packet of assorted biscuits, ate a couple, discovered they were rancid, then returned them to the shop, you'd expect the shop to only refund you for the uneaten biscuits??

powerful_Rogue

TMTL_500 said:

Does that mean that if you bought a packet of assorted biscuits, ate a couple, discovered they were rancid, then returned them to the shop, you'd expect the shop to only refund you for the uneaten biscuits??

All well and good using other scenerios,  However you purchased 24 bottles of beer, drank 5. They are offering you a refund on the remaining 19. Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

KatrinaWaves

What’s the difference between ‘not to your taste’ and ‘terrible’

were they off? Gone bad? Brewed incorrectly? 

ssparks2003

TMTL_500 said:

The comparison I would make is - if I buy a punnet of raspberries from the supermarket, and after eating the first spoonful I discover they are rotten, the supermarket refunds me for the full punnet. They don't count how many I ate and then only refund me for the ones that are uneaten!

Sadly you comparison is not very realistic, perhaps it would be better to say that it would be like you buying a punnet of raspberries from the supermarket and after eating some deciding though they are perfectly fine raspberries, they are "just not to your taste" and expecting a full refund. 

You have drunk 5 bottles of beer, but don't fancy paying for them? Sorry but they are being very fair in their offer.

bris

So you drank 5 got offered a refund on the other 19 and thought that was unfair? You're having a laugh, unbelievable really....

walwyn1978

I’ve had various mixed cases from Flavourly and not had issues with taste etc. Yes maybe one or two I don’t like (there was a banana beer that I simply couldn’t finish) - but is another possibility that your sense of taste was/is affected by an illness? Sometimes something as simple as a cold or infection in the mouth can throw off your taste glands which might also cause the affect you’ve mentioned.

+1 for their response being reasonable btw.

wellyftw

If the beer was actually off - such as they were flat, had infections, were out of date etc. then I think you may have had a valid argument. Did you finish each of those 5 bottles off? Or take a sip and decide they were not for you? If the former, there's no good reason for you to be refunded beer you finished even if you didn't like them.

Taking your example of the punnet of raspberries - if you ate one and found it was rotten or had a worm in it, would you then go and eat a bunch more of them and expect a full refund? In all likelihood a supermarket possibly would refund you but if you took them 3 empty cans of Stella and said the beer was crap, I can't imagine for a second they'd offer you a refund for 3 empty cans.

I'm just looking at the deal I assume you bought:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/flavourly/
None of those are bad beers. Rudgate, Four Pure, Moor Beer, Bad Co are all great breweries. They're not cutting edge craft beers but to say "simply terrible beers" is objectively wrong. They're "not to your taste".

prettywowers

OP - I'm not going to disagree with the others here - the fact that you didn't like them isn't Flavourly's fault. Suck it up, move on.

However, I agree with you - their beers ARE terrible. You sound like the kinda guy that appreciates a brew from the likes of Wylam, Northern Monk, and Cloudwater. Flavourly seem to occupy this weird middle ground where they're trying to "do" craft to a price point - and failing. I no longer buy anything from them. Their collabs are woeful, and they seem to stick to sub 5% abv brews, no doubt to hit a price. 

Avoid them.

DoaM

Did they ask you to return the unopened 19 beers? If not then their offer is more than fair.