Question about insuring a wine shipment

I just had an annoying incident where I purchased two bottles of wine from an East Coast establishment and they shipped across the US ground without asking, in August. I called as soon as I saw they were doing it and they said they would try to recall the shipment from Fedex, but either they didn’t or they were not able to turn it around.

Over the weekend the wine passed through Salt Lake City where it was about 95 degrees. This despite the guy telling me that their shipping department makes sure that the weather on the shipment path will be fine.

They also stressed that the wine would be okay because of the styrofoam packaging… and it arrived in full cardboard.

Obviously I should have been explicit with them that I did not want to ship ground across the US in mid-summer, but honestly I should not have to tell any wine store not to do that.

The wines show clear signs of seepage and it appears to be recent.

To get to my question: I insured the shipment when I checked out. Should I have to return the wine to get a refund, or should they refund me and the wine stays with me? They said they would send a label so I could ship back. I asked what they would do with the wines and they said they would return them to the distributor (actually it’s not clear to me that these came from a distributor since they are not a recent release). I’m also not clear why it would ever go back to the distributor since the fault is clearly in their shipping. I asked if it would be okay if I marked the bottles as heat damaged and they said it would be okay. Anyway, I’m just wondering if I should ask for the refund and to keep the bottles, since I insured the shipment.

Sounds similar to an experience I had with Wine Library last month.

if you get a refund, whoever paid it, owns the bottles. The likelihood is they will not want them back.

While I get that it’s a bit of a pain to ship back bottles, I’m sure people try to scam wine stores regularly claiming problems with the shipment. My hunch is that if you were a longtime customer they wouldn’t have bothered making you return. But it appears that they refunded your money with no hassle, so good on them. And good on you for making sure the heat-damaged bottles wouldn’t get back in circulation.

TLDR: good, good

You will need to return the bottles if they ask. A hassle, yes, but they have a right to expect them back prior to issuing a refund.

It is thoughtful and commendable of you to want to mark the bottles as heat damaged in the interests of the wine buying community in general- but if you do that, then they have a right to refuse your return. Whatever someone is telling you over the phone, the response you get on returning the bottles is what matters.

The insurance company may require the bottles be returned to verify the loss and pay out the claim, even though certain shippers are quick to dispose of 11 bottles because one broke, pay you $100, take no photos and not notify you until you check the tracking of the package. Most shippers cover the first $100, which is all the coverage you would have if you didn’t purchase appropriate insurance, often at high cost.

We have lost sales of wine because we won’t ship ground in the middle of summer or winter and the purchaser isn’t willing to pay for overnight or second day shipping.

It boggles my mind that somebody would buy $3,000.00 worth of Chardonnay and want it shipped ground from California to Florida in August AND want it shipped on a Monday so it sits at a hub in Florida over the weekend so they get it the following Monday.

Name the wine and the merchant, so that we do not end up buying the returned, damaged goods.

You should not make the insurance claim, as the retailer was responsible for the undue risk.

Have your credit card company do a chargeback. Be sure to take a picture of the poorly insulated package.

I had the same issue with the Wine Library as well. Ian was there at that point, and he made everything right. Went way above and beyond to make me a happy customer in the end.

The new guy I deal with, Stephen, doesn’t give me the same level of confidence that Ian did. I hope they made it right for you ATaylor.

Tyler they made it right by refunding and shipping the wine back (which was seeping) on their nickel. However, like Craig I was concerned about what would happen to the heat damaged wine and I did not receive a clear answer.

What blew me away was how any wine operation could be shipping wine cross country by FedEx ground (in cardboard no less) in July, and like Craig, I explicitly stated not to ship when I ordered. Even more comical was at first I recv’d an pre-ship email and they were able to stop it leaving the warehouse with the assurance that they would wait until Oct/Nov when the shipping window opens…then one week later the wine actually shipped. Won’t touch WL again.

A friend of mine got 4 bottles of 2014 Marcel Juge shipped by Wine Library in the middle of July. Hello heat damage.

Although I know re-selling heat damaged bottles goes on, I’d suspect the reason that a merchant might want the bottles back is so that they can prove damage when they file a claim with UPS/FedEX.

I know that for most insurance policies on shipments (if it’s over a certain dollar amount) you have to show the shipping company that their actions caused the wine to be damaged. Broken bottles are easy, heat damage (without leaking) isn’t as easy to prove, so having a couple of bottles oozing wines makes the claim a lot easier to file.

That said, I’d still probably mark them “heat damaged” somewhere on the label in pen.

Mark the punt with a metallic pen. It puts you at ease and you do not deface the label. Then return them the way they instruct.

My case is Wine Library too. This is unbelievably stupid.

In my case it was also a wine that is hard too come by, and of course there is no more in stock or on the market. These guys are just wrecking precious bottles.

I know where you can get more of that Caymus…

What would the retailer’s claim against the shipper be, that they (FedEx/UPS) shipped a box when they were asked to? Unless WL specified, and paid for, cold chain shipping, it was their actions that were at fault, not the shipping company’s.

How the mighty have fallen. WL is now off my list; looks like I have 6 bottles of cheap champagne waiting shipment in the fall; they told me they’d wait until November. We’ll see. Thanks for the info.

I’ve placed well over 100 orders with WL and I’ve never had an issue like this. They always hold the wine until I request shipment.

Things change I guess. Too many people having it shipped in July for it to be a simple accident.

And I was given an email of management in order to reach out to them and never got so much as an acknowledgment, let along reply.

While they immediately refunded, as Charlie pointed out there appears to be a huge issue with their logistics. You just don’t ship cross country by ground in the summer.