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Goodlife Homebrew. How rude!

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Stasis

Honey Master
Registered Member
Jan 10, 2014
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Malta
I have recently tried shopping around for some hard to find ingredients in Europe and was trying some online shops out. I tried a website called 'Dicountbrew.co.uk' and it seems that this company shares some of its services with a larger company called 'Goodlife Homebrew' (www.goodlifehomebrew.com). They are, however, separate companies. Yet when I paid for my goods, the invoice I received told me to take my complaints to Goodlife Homebrew. I guess Discount Brew (or Goodlife?) did not change this feature. So my questions were mistakenly directed to the wrong company. if you are confused at this point the reason is that it IS confusing.
I tried contacting Goodlife Homebrew (the wrong company) by email but all of their email addresses were not working and I got postmaster notifications that sending failed. I finally tracked down Goodlife on facebook and sent them a message. Te following is an exact copy of our little conversation:

Conversation started February 17
Brandon Grech
Hello.
I would like to inquire what has happened to the items I have ordered 3 weeks ago. I would not have thought shipping form the UK should take this long. I tried contacting through email but all 3 email adresses provided are not working.
The reference for my transaction is 20140124120538-10847-
Thanks,
Brandon

Goodlife Homebrew
Hi
Sorry, you are not a customer of goodlife.
Good luck
Paul
Customers for discount brew should log onto their customer account for an update. Goodlife only talks to it's own customers that pay premium rates for our time ands services.

Brandon Grech
wow that's good customer service. You should know that neither email works on your website. you have 3 email addresses and none work

Goodlife Homebrew
If you want service, use Goodlife and pay the price that service demands. Even answering emails at 3:30. Don't pay 99p land prices and expect Harrods service.
p.s. we are not discount brew and so cannot comment on their orders, but as I said earlier customers for discount brew should log onto their customer account for an update and history of any order.
 

Stasis

Honey Master
Registered Member
Jan 10, 2014
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You should know that I was not aware that Goodlife was not the same as Discountbrew. Goodlife did nothing to explain this until the very end after he had already been rude. This is not the 1st time this happened to them because they already knew who I had purchased my items from even though I didn't mention this anywhere. I wonder why they would react this way instead of seeming nice and hoping to win me over and purchase from them in the future. It seems that they think it is ok to ignore people and possible future clients just because they are not currently purchasing from them. I blacklisted these guys. Don't want their sugar coated words just because I am paying for their service, I want good service because you try to be helpful.
Also, they totally ignored me when I told them that their emails do not work. Their emails do not work even for their current customers but this possibility never crossed their mind because it came from the mouth of a non-customer and I was deemed only worthy to be ignored.
End of Rant
 

Stasis

Honey Master
Registered Member
Jan 10, 2014
1,123
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Malta
Was away for a week without internet. By the time I got back I found that the site is now functional (yay!) but some posts on the forums are missing. To recap what was said:
We are to believe that Goodlife.com and discountbrew.com are two sites owned by the same company. The owner, Paul Dorwick, is the one who gets payments from discountbrew and is the same guy that responded to my fb message to goodlife. I personally dislike the shadiness with these two sites and suggest people proceed with caution if they are to buy from them
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
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Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
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So who do your bank records show the deopsit was made to?

"Dear Mr. Dorwick,

As you are no doubt aware, I ordered some products from Discount and my invoice and banking records show the deposit was made to Goodlife. If you are not indeed Discount and have nothing to do with it or its customers, please 1) have Discount remove any mention of Goodlife from its invoices to prefent future confusion and aggravation since you obvoiously dislike the association between your company and Discount (maybe you could threaten them with legal action for dragging your company into this?), and 2) kindly return my funds since you are obviously not the company I ordered from and claim to be in no way associated with them."

 

Kathrine

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 24, 2014
3
1
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I have ordered from Discount Brew. I sent them emails asking where my order is, with no response. The only information I could find was an old thread somewhere and the only person speaking up for them was a 'DR Paul', who said he had ordered from them several times and they were very good. I had seen his posts elsewhere advertising them too. My confirmation order email was from 'Paul'. Paul Dowrick owns Goodlife Homebrew and refers to himself as Dr Paul.
My payment for Discount Brew was taken from my bank under the name Goodlfe Homebrew. So I contacted them and this is how it went:
"I made an order with Discount Homebrew, but Goodlife Homebrew has taken the payment. Can you advise me when I will get my order"
"Hi No Idea, we are not discount brew, we simply share a processing gateway. I will ask Gary to chase it up in the morning. Many thanks Paul Dowrick"
"Thanks, I have reported it as possible fraudulent activity to my bank as I did not make an order with Goodlife, but that is where the payment has gone."
"As I said, we share a payment gateway, that means the name is the same !!! The payment is correct"
"As I said I have not received my order as promised by ‘Paul’ at Discount Brew."

I really have contacted my bank as this all looked a bit dodgy to me. Now today as if by magic they send a message advising my order will arrive tomorrow.

Goodlife and Discount appear to be part of the same company and they do their best to hide this information, including having reviews removed and writing reviews for themselves.

I hope my order arrives tomorrow.
 
Last edited:
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moridin

NewBee
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Jun 12, 2013
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Sorry to hear about your troubles, I always hate when companies act like that. Will be avoiding them, thanks for the heads up.


Sent from The Age of Legends, trapped inside a Stasis Box
 

mannye

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Oct 10, 2012
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The homebrew world was always small and the internet has made that exponentially true (that doesn't make sense, but you know what I mean). With money being tight all over the world, jerks like this won't last long.
 

Kathrine

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 24, 2014
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I got my delivery today, not yesterday. The box had written on it that it came from Goodlife Homebrew, this after they were adamant that they had nothing to do with Discount Brew. We can only hope they will not last long.
 

fatbloke

good egg/snappy dresser.....
GotMead Patron
Sounds to me, like it's probably the same person but operating different aspects of his business under different company names.

As I understand it,it's a trick used quite often,so that if one bit goes belly up, it doesn't take the rest of the business with it and the business operator doesn't lose the house and shirt etc.

And it's a trick I've seen a number of times with some very large setups....

I think you'd find it's "tax efficient" as well........

Just that it's rare for such things to be exposed to the public .........

Hopefully no-one loses anything by it in this case........
 

mannye

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Oct 10, 2012
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My problem is why the f--k does the guy find it annoying when his obviously transparent scheme is noticed by clients. He doesn't need to be rude. In addition, he seems to be either completely clueless or a liar. Neither of which bode well for his business.


Sent from my galafreyan transdimensional communicator 100 years from now. G
 

fatbloke

good egg/snappy dresser.....
GotMead Patron
My problem is why the f--k does the guy find it annoying when his obviously transparent scheme is noticed by clients. He doesn't need to be rude. In addition, he seems to be either completely clueless or a liar. Neither of which bode well for his business.
You'd still be surprised how often such small businesses treat a few of their customers with an off hand, casual arrogant attitude........

They're quick to adopt big business practices but take a little time to learn about good customer service.......
 

mannye

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Oct 10, 2012
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You'd still be surprised how often such small businesses treat a few of their customers with an off hand, casual arrogant attitude........

They're quick to adopt big business practices but take a little time to learn about good customer service.......

It seems you're right. I am surprised! Especially in such a "chummy" area as homebrew. This is supposed to be fun! Everyone knows there are way easier ways to get drunk if that's the goal!


Sent from my galafreyan transdimensional communicator 100 years from now. G
 

Stasis

Honey Master
Registered Member
Jan 10, 2014
1,123
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38
Malta
Nice of Kathrine to chime in with her own experience. Proves I have not simply been an unlucky customer who happened to catch management on an off day. This makes it even clearer for me who to buy (and not buy) from. Not that I wasn't already convinced
 

Get_Wiggly

NewBee
Registered Member
Feb 4, 2014
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Time to threaten! Tell them you know a chief of police or a good lawyer and you're ready to get legal.
 

Kathrine

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 24, 2014
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Time to threaten! Tell them you know a chief of police or a good lawyer and you're ready to get legal.

Actually I do know the chief of police. ]
Glad to chime in and share my experience too.
The goods seemed ok, but today when I opened the boxes of bottles to fill them up with delicious homebrew....there are three bottles missing.
We have no local brew shops, so mail order is my only option. Never had a problem until coming across Dr Paul.
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
8,443
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Ottawa, ON
Wow, that's really rude... not only were they jerks to you (and others) but also defrauded you of product. I hope everyone who hears about this tells all their brewing friends!
 

Stasis

Honey Master
Registered Member
Jan 10, 2014
1,123
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38
Malta
I'll just cut to the chase because really, I'm speechless. I was rather surprised that 2 sites were by the same guy. However, I have been browsing the net and discovered another site, clearly by the same Dowrick guy (Dowrick.com).
Needless to say I was flabbergasted :O
But.. it gets better. Or worse, whatever. I looked at the link just below the search result and see another site, clearly by the same Dowrick guy (Dowricks.com). Yes, this guy added an s behind his surname and created another site. The sites are almost identically spelled but once you click on the links you'll see they are different..
4 sites. At this point I wouldn't be amazed if there are even more sites by the same guy :/
 

Canori

NewBee
Registered Member
Dec 27, 2014
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0
Update and Good Companies

I'll just cut to the chase because really, I'm speechless. I was rather surprised that 2 sites were by the same guy. However, I have been browsing the net and discovered another site, clearly by the same Dowrick guy (Dowrick.com).
Needless to say I was flabbergasted :O
But.. it gets better. Or worse, whatever. I looked at the link just below the search result and see another site, clearly by the same Dowrick guy (Dowricks.com). Yes, this guy added an s behind his surname and created another site. The sites are almost identically spelled but once you click on the links you'll see they are different..
4 sites. At this point I wouldn't be amazed if there are even more sites by the same guy :/

Hey all,

Just came across this thread and thought I would share some December 2014 info about Goodlife/Dorwick. I learned about this company through Amazon where they sell some of their products now, but I always have avoided them as they will charge £4 and up for 11gm of yeast with the same cost for standard 2nd class postage; that is way more expensive than it should be. I have researched it a little and see now Dorwick.com is now no longer up; however, Dorwicks.com, goodlifehomebrew.com, and discountbrew.co.uk are still up. Dorwicks.com and goodlifehomebrew.com both are managed under the same company, Fayre Maiden Foods Limited who also have the copyright on both sites. Also, the contact details for both are identical, down to the local phone number (01603 418 408) and the same post code and address: 3 Barrow Close, Norwich, Norfolk, NR3 2AT. Now if that is not dodgy enough, discountbrew.co.uk which is apparently associated in someway with Goodlife Homebrew, has no business address registered anywhere! And the website has only a built in web form to contact them, no phone number, no postal address, and no email address. Again I agree with everyone else, its best to avoid these guys.

That said two of my favorite folks to work with who I have never had a problem ordering from (their courier charges and very reasonable for bulky items like carboys) are Balliihoo.co.uk and 247homebrew.com Both of them also sell on Amazon and Ebay and usually offer free postage on most items. My wife for Christmas got a bunch of stuff from Balliihoo via Amazon with free postage not fulfilled by Amazon (meaning the free postage was offered by the company) and it arrived in 2 days by courier! Also, Ebay is a brewers friend and you will always have the Paypal guarantee which is worth its weight in gold and saved my butt a couple of times.

Stay thirsty friends, XX
 
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