Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:24/08/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Purchased 2x 25kg 2-row pale malt from ********** and came to me in unmarked/unstamped bags. When I was milling the grain I had some damage done to my milling machine and upon further inspection noticed that the grain was contaminated with lentils, yellow peas and green peas which are hard as a rock and causes a solid steel drive shaft on my mill to bend which permanently damaged and affected operation of the equipment. When I confronted ********** about the contamination and damaged equipment I was told the unmarked bags of grain are prairie malts responsibility and that it's unreasonable to expect them to not sell contaminated food and beverage products. ********** owner ***** says she will not send a new grain mill, or recall the grains so I have exhausted any potential remedy with the buisiness owner and require third part assistance from BBB and Inspections ****** for fraud and food contamination. When I reached out to ************ boortmalt which is a multinational corporation, they claimed that ********** is lying and they do not deal in lentils, or peas nor do their suppliers resell unmarked grain as this is frowned upon. I have collected evidence thru email correspondence with ********* and ************ via email and screenshot.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/09/2023

  Hello,
  
  We are having issues submitting our response on your website. I tried calling you and left a voicemail. When I click "Proceed" nothing happens. As a result, I am writing our response below, and attaching the relevant files to this email.
  
  The morning of August 22nd, when we arrived to work at 8:30, we had a voicemail from someone saying they bought a bag of two-row from us and it had peas and lentils in it. He did not leave his name (it turned out to be *********************** who left the voicemail), but we immediately began to investigate and did in fact find a pea in our mill, and a small amount of peas and lentils in the grain.
  
  At 9:03am, we received a call from **** at **************** in *********, saying he had a customer complain that he had found peas and lentils in his 25kg sac of ************ Two-Row Pale *************. I told him this is a problem weve just been made aware of, and we will reach out to our supplier and see what they have to say.
  
  At 10:22am, *********************** called and asked to speak to a manager. He was transferred to *****. He explained to ***** that he had found peas and lentils in his grain, and that it had damaged his mill. ***** agreed that thats not a good thing, and that we will investigate and work to resolve the issue after reaching out to our supplier. ***** asked **** to send pictures and video of the mill, so he could reach out to our supplier with all the relevant information. **** requested that ***** email **** with our contact information.
  
  We checked ***** phone number with the number of the person who left the voicemail, and it was indeed **** who left the voicemail and complained to **** at **************** in *********.
  When ***** went to email ****, we had a notification from ****** telling us we had been given a 1-star review. That 1 star review is attached. Also attached is the email. In this email, we tell **** that we did not package this product. (It arrives pre-packaged from our distributor ***** Malt Sales)
  
  At 12:25pm, we had our first order for a 25kg sac of ************ Two-Row Pale malted barley. ***** took the order, and explained to the customer that there may be peas and lentils in the bag, and that he should look out for them and if there are any, do not let them damage your mill. (Order copy attached). The customer did not have an issue with this, and picked it up the following day. One other order for this product has happened since, and we have had a similar conversation and made a similar note.
  
  At 2:27pm, **** called and spoke to *******. He asked to speak to *****. ******* told **** that ***** is on break.
  
  At 3:06pm, after ***** was back from break, he called ****************** was quite upset. He asked to speak to the owner. ***** told him the owner, *******************, isnt in right now, but she should be in tomorrow morning at 8:30.
  
  At 12:18pm August 23rd, **** called. ******* answered the phone and transferred him to *******************, the owner. ***** spoke to **** for 7 and a half minutes. Attached are ****** notes from the conversation. To summarize: ***** listened to the problem, took down information on the mill, took down ***** address, and refused to immediately send out a new mill without first doing some more investigation.
  
  After this call, ***** attempted to contact ************ directly, trying every ******** number we could, and sending an email to ********************* (attached). At 1:06pm, we heard back from ***** at ************. She said she is not the right person to deal with this, but she took down as much information as she could and said she would send it along to the right people.
  
  All other correspondence has been over email.
  
  Note: This is the only product we purchase from ***** Malt Sales.
  
  Note: This problem is ongoing. We believe that we have taken ***** issue seriously, but feel **** has not given us adequate time to address this issue for him. We are still in contact with ****, ***** * ****, *****, and ************. Attached emails are as up-to-date as possible.
  
  Attached are 1 ****** review, 1 work order, 1 copy of ****** conversation notes, 4 email conversations with ****, 1 with *****, and 1 with ************. Also attached are the attachments from ***** emails.
  
  Please let us know what other action we must take with you to address the complaint.
  
  Thank you,
  *****

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/09/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I still have not received a grain mill, and I also believe it is completely unreasonable to be knowingly selling contaminated food products to the public.

  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  Business Response

  Date: 15/09/2023

  At the time of *********************** BBB response on Sept. 6, the replacement mill was on its way to ********* from the supplier. Its not a mill that we carry, so we didnt have one on hand. We placed the order for it on Aug.28. It arrived on Sept. 8 and we shipped it to **** the same day. I emailed **** on Aug. 28, Sept. 6, and Sept. 8 to inform him of its progress. According to the tracking, it was delivered on Sept. 11. ****'s last message to ********* was on Sept. 6, checking for an update on the mill.

  Screenshots of our emails to **** are attached.

  He had already received a refund from ******* Wine and Beer Makers in ********* ** for the 2 x 25kg bags of malt. He had purchased the malt from *******, who had purchased it from *********.

  Between Aug. 23 and Aug 31, *************************** at ***** Malt,our supplier of the malt, investigated to find out the source of the peas and lentils. Initially, she thought that it might have been a case of the lines in their bagging facility not being blown out sufficiently when switching between commodities. On Aug. 31, she informed us that this was not the case: the peas and lentils were already mixed into the malt when ***** received a bulk shipment from ************/Boortmalt. We had given ************** contact info,and she was and still is willing to talk to him. As of today, to our knowledge,**** has not contacted her.

  Screenshots of emails from ***** Malt are attached.

  We have told ***** Malt that, for future shipments of this malt, we require the bags to be tagged with a lot number.

  It is unfortunate that the peas damaged Joels mill. We have rectified the damage with the replacement mill. We have carried ************ barley malt since 2012. In the past year, we have sold 115 x 25kg bags and 762 kg bulk. From time to time, we do notice a few lentils in the bulk bin. It is such a small amount that it would have no effect on the quality or flavour of a beer brewed with this malt. Even in this lot, where there were enough peas to cause problems with milling, the proportion of peas and lentils is very minimal compared to the proportion of malt.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 25/09/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: The replacement grain mill has been received, however ********* is continuing with full knowledge to commit fraud by selling lentils which are valued much lower than grain prices to 'bulk out' the high priced grain commodity. I would like ********* to issue a recall and make a statement to the public about what has happened and the steps they plan on taking to prevent it in the future, such as marked bags with lot numbers. 

  Sincerely,

  ***********************