Caution About - Yeast orders - Big "A" online site - Seller NOT shipping what they Advertised

[Scooter68]

Ok I tried to order 3 packages of Vintner's Harvest SN9 yeast on the big A site. Today I received my order, ahead of schedule.

NOW for the RANT !

Sadly NOT the brand I ordered. I received "Mangrove Jack's" brand of that strain when their advertisement stated it was Vintner's Harvest. This was both the picture they posted on the ad and in the product description. When I checked their "Store" on "A" they don't even list the strain of yeast in the brand they shipped me. Elsewhere I did find the brand they sent me for as low as $2.79 a package instead of the price I paid which came out to $5.59 per package. Yes, free shipping but really folks, I almost ordered the brand I wanted from someone else at $20.80 for 5 packages plus shipping

Sigh - sometimes it's ridiculous trying to find good suppliers. This brand of yeast is hard to find AND from someone else on her Mangrove Jack' is an iffy product and their support is non-existent.

Already received a response from the seller stating that the Mangrove Jack's brand is actually repacked for the Vintner's Harvest company ECKraus ??

Not thrilled and I'll wait until I have tried the yeast before giving it a thumb's up/down.

 

[franc1969]

Mangrove Jack and Vintners Harvest seem to be the same yeasts. I thought VH was licensed for USA, MJ for Europe/Australia etc, based on my previous internetting, but found MJ for sale at Adventures in Homebrewing recently.
Same strain names should be the same, I don't know exactly who grows and packages.

 

[mainshipfred]

I had the same issue with R56 I ordered this past fall. After doing some research I agree with Franc that it is the same yeast. I too was disappointed when I received it. I did have a bonus though, my original 5 pack order never showed up after a month and the vendor sent me a new order. Got both within days of each other.

 

[Scooter68]

The idea of licensing for certain areas of the world makes sense and would explain why someone in the US might not get a response from a company label NOT licensed for US sales. (That's the comment and issue that made me shy from A MJ's products.)

 

[wildhair]

Is it possible that the companies merged or VH was bought out or sold? I use SN9 a lot and still have some packs in the fridge. I have some in my cart at Adv In Brew (which I assume is the "Big A" ?) and it shows -
SN9 Vintners Harvest Wine Yeast, by Mangrove Jack

When I just did a search for SN9 yeast - every thing came back with Mangrove Jack's SN9. Walmart & Amazon shows both packages for almost $7 ea. HomeBrew has it for $2.71. EC Kraus has it for $4.45. Carolina Brew Supply has some with the MJ label and it was "out of stock" at FH Steinbart.

So it seems it's either been repackaged or changed hands. I hope it's just as good as the VH has been. Be sure and post a thumbs up or down once you tried it, Scooter.

 

[Scooter68]

"Big A" = Amazon. Yeah. The seller did refund me 15% but their price is still pretty high compared to the prices for what I ended up with as you noticed. Sellers comment was that MJ is the actual maker and it's just repackaged with a VH label.

I have noticed fewer and fewer listings for VH products with some actually stating that a particular product has been discontinued. Not sure if they mean VH has stopped making it or the sellers are discontinuing carrying the product.