Some shopkeepers just don't get it!

[wines just fine]

My wife ended up with a $25.00 coupon from a local Wine Kitz store. So I take the coupon in and explain that I want to buy a kit and start it at his shop, but, I want to be involved in the process so that I can learn how wine is made.

Great he says and we start a kit. When I go back to the shop on the 14th day because it's supposed to be time to stabilize he says "I'm going to do that tomorrow, don't worry your wine is going fine, it will be great, you'll be happy!"

Well, no, I won't. I don't want him to prove he can make a good wine from his kit, I want to make good wine. I ended up going to a different shop and buying a starter kit and a wine kit and now I've got a batch in my carboy and I will probably be getting another kit very soon. (Since the primary is now free, ) but chances are it will come from another shop.

Even if he does produce a great batch of wine I don't really think I'll be happy with it.

However, I do appreciate that it was a coupon from his shop that got me started on this hobby.

 

[smurfe]

Well, I don't know the entire situation but just because it is the 14th day doesn't mean the wine is ready to stabilize. When fermentation is done it is time to stabilize. I don't really know how these ferment places work though.

 

[cpfan]

The FoP operator (depending on the size/business of the store) would likely be planning to work on several/many kits at the same time. It's what makes sense when making a lot of wines (at least it's what made sense to me when I ran an FoP).

As a former FoP operator, I would have given you two choices...

1) Pay more to do all the work on your wine. (Why pay more? because you will be interfering with my schedule).
2) Come in to the store occasionally to see how certain things are done. No charge.

But every store owner is different.

Steve

 

[Malkore]

I think that's where the problem arises. Most of us enjoy the entire process, start to finish, and then of course the consumption.

I think some people (myself included) get into the FoP/BoP business and will treat all the batches like our own. I know if I could, I'd brew more than I could ever drink or give away.

He probably needs to be more up-front with his customers as to who does what process, as it sounds like your expectations weren't communicated correctly.

But like you said, it was at least a gateway to better things

 

[wines just fine]

That is where I have an issue I guess.

I thought that I had communicated my wishes clearly at the start. I wanted to be involved. At first it seemed he understood, but when I went back it seemed like suddenly he was going to turn out a great batch of wine. Which is great but I was looking more for a situation where I could make it and he could just keep an eye on me and collect his fee.

If he couldn't do that, then he should have told me out front that it wouldn't work and encouraged me to buy a kit and take it home.

In his defence it could be that after getting all those coupons out he was overwelmed by the business. He did seem to be quite busy.

Oh well, all part of the learning curve I guess.

 

[Madriver Wines]

I think you hit on it there about being too busy. He probably got swamped by the response from his promotion and was a bit grouchy??
We are glad you ended up here, Steve