Be wary of Interbrew keg refunds policy, says licensee

Publicans have been warned they may not get full refunds for kegs of beer they suspect to be off, following a recent case involving Interbrew.

Customers at the Falcon in Cleveland complained to licensee Ian McNaughton that their pints of Trophy Special were off. After investigation, Mr McNaughton realised the beer was unfit for sale and tried to get a full refund for the keg.

However, he was refused by brewers Interbrew because of its new policy of not refunding for kegs that have had more than three gallons taken from them.

The case was resolved earlier this month but Mr McNaughton believes that other licensees may not be aware of Interbrew's rules and may not be so fortunate.

"I only got my refund because I kicked up a stink. I kept asking Interbrew for a refund and they kept refusing me as they said that they had applied this rule across the board. If I hadn't kept at them I would have lost nearly £400," he said.

In December 2002 Interbrew enforced a new policy for the return of beer unfit for sale. The brewer, whose brands include Stella Artois, stated that three gallons (24 pints) was considered to be the maximum amount of beer that would need to be removed from the container before a problem was detected.

Mr McNaughton said this rule shouldn't be applied across the board. "We had a dance night that night. We were serving, on average, about 20 or 30 pints of Trophy every 10 minutes. Then we changed onto this new keg and shortly after people were bringing their pints back and we had to refund them all.

"The fact is that by the time I knew anything was wrong I had whacked out 30 pints. When I cleaned the lines the next day, I lost another four pints, as always happens when I clean my lines. Then I tested the beer again to see if it really was a faulty keg.

"So by this time I was well over the three-gallon limit. I can understand why they are doing it but I think they should treat each case on its own merits rather than applying a rule across the board."

A spokesman for Interbrew said: "On the rare occasion when product quality issues arise, Interbrew UK will work with the customer to resolve the situation. The company will refund an unsatisfactory container when there is a genuine product fault and specified criteria have been met."