I got terrible service from Addy Bassin's MacArthur Beverage

For those who think a rant about my experiences with a retailer is out of place here or otherwise inappropriate, I suggest you read elsewhere. I ordered some wine a while back from MacArthur Beverages in D.C. I called the day the wine was to go out to ask that they wait one week to ship as the high temperature in D.C. that day was above 90 and the highs the next few days here in Maine were well above 80. I was told on the phone that they would ship the following week. I was away form my computer and home for the next couple of days. The wine was shipped that day. I tried a bottle (the order was for 6 bottles of the same wine) with a tasting group recently, one of the members being very familiar with the wine, and everyone agreed that the wine had been damaged. I have asked to return all 6 bottles for a refund as the wine should not have been shipped. A manager at this store has been extremely rude to me, telling me they did as I asked (not as I asked on the phone, though I did give the ok some days beforehand) and that they always check the weather before shipping. If that’s true, what the heck are they checking for?? I never got a response to that question. This guy first told me they wouldn’t take the wine back, then barraged me with rude emails (I’ve gotten 9 so far for I think 4 or 5 that I’ve sent), and finally agreed to take the wine back if I paid to ship it down there and they won’t refund me for shipping either way. He then made up the idea that I didn’t ask them not to ship the wine until it was already in Maine. That is a lie. I was clearly told on the phone, several hours before they shipped, that it would be shipped the following week. This is by far the worst customer service I’ve ever received from a wine shop. I wonder if I walked in there in person with heat damaged wine if they’d tell me I was wrong and I couldn’t get a refund. Now this guy tells me not to ship until September because if I ship now “the wine will be cooked”. It’s already cooked. Obviously he’s calling me a liar and they’re going to resell the wine. This after telling me the wine must have been damaged from sitting on the truck up here (I didn’t get the delivery on the first attempt), which he wrote after telling me that it was plenty cool up here and I shouldn’t be worried about the wine. He’s contradicted himself several times. I don’t think I’ve ever been treated this rudely by a business where I’ve spent money.

This is yet another example of a time when written communication pays off. With the advent of e-mail, covering yourself is way too easy to take a chance on verbal agreements.

I agree, Bob, and am obviously paying the price. Unfortunately I did not think to contact them ahead of time. I checked the weather that morning and saw how hot it was and would continue to be, so I though the best thing was to call and make sure they got the message right away. I usually try to be more on top of such things, but I would never expect this level of rudeness and argument. A simple “we’re sorry, we’ll ship the wine back to ourselves”, which is the response I’ve gotten from more reputable retailers when I’ve mentioned ANY problems with their wine, would have earned this retailer repeat business. They chose another route.

I’ve dealt with them a few times and they have been great. They even sent me the wrong case once and were quick and helpful about switching it out.

Sorry, didn’t take your suggestion.

So there was a mixup in communication between you and a store - they shipped you the wine you had paid for and was waiting for delivery of - after 2-3 exchanges (and decision changes) they accidently shipped the wine.

I’m not even going to get into the very small chance that someone could tell a wine sat in too warm a temperature for 2-3 days, literally days ago. Especially if the wine was served at a cool, proper temperature.

And the manager was rude to you after you were certainly the perfect, apologetic, forgiving customer?

ok…

So for this you post about them on a front page where literally thousands will read about them having the worst service ever, quite possibly damaging their reputation for literally hundreds and hundreds of possibe new customers -

I would have loved to have been a fly inside your skull as you rationalized that one to yourself…

I have had nothing but excellent service from this wine shop and I have – and will continue to – recommend Macs to my fellow oenophiles. I suspect that there is more to this story than is being relayed here and I would love to hear what the folks at Macs have to say about this situation.

Alex

While I am certain there are 2 sides this story, your tale just doesn’t ring true to me. Especially since my dealing with MacArthur Beverages over quite a few years have all gone very well. There have even been a few mistakes, but they’ve all been remedied quickly and fairly. Having dealt with almost every one who works at MacArthurs in one capacity or another over the years, I find it extremely difficult to believe that they were not interested in resolving your issue amicably and that they became rude over it.

So, since you’ve seen fit to accuse them, you’ll need to add some details starting with:

1.) If you were so clear as to when the wine was to be shipped and they shipped against your orders, why didn’t you simply refuse the package and have it returned?

2.) Cooked wine is cooked wine, one does not have to be familiar with that particular wine to know it is cooked or not. Since you didn’t mention what wine you purchased could it be that when you tasted the wine it as painfully young, or simply suffering from normal shipping shock?

3.) You don’t mention the actual dates in question. It would be quite easy to check the high temperatures along the route, instead of hypothesizing that it was in the 80s or 90s or whatever.

I am sorry to hear of your issues with Bassins but like a few other posters, I have nothing but very good interactions with them from ordering on online, or being in the store and getting great personal service.

Hope things end up with a good outcome for you.

Maybe I misunderstood, but it sound like this was a relatively recent shipment… Why would you ship once the temps have risen to summer levels? Short of shipping overnight, first morning delivery, you’re just asking for trouble.

I don’t ship anything after mid april.

I’m not picking any dog in this fight, but I wanted to point out the one time I had a transaction with Bassin’s was flawless. It was a summertime transaction and was overnighted exactly to my specifications.

Doug, I’m very sorry to hear that your experience differed, and I hope that things work out for you and Bassin’s.

Geez. A guy tells his tale a a couple of you call him a liar, etc., etc. You can question his story without being so nasty about it.

No one is calling him a liar, but many of us who have had wonderful interactions over several years with this retailer have had radically different experiences and that makes us question this very public lambasting. Again, I suspect that there is more to this story than what has been posted thus far.

Alex


Paul - it had nothing to do with the tale - it was a regretful mistake - and should be rectified by them -

  • it was the heading of your post - very damaging - this is a very well thought of store nationally - you should have just said - “I got horrible service from MacArthur Beverages!”

Not implying that they have the worst service ever - that’s pretty dramatic -

I’m sure every retailer has had some miscommunication and/or disagreement with a customer. There are some customers you just can’t please on the far left and opinionated, mistrusting or an incompetent individual at a retailer on the far right.

Many retailers, including us, notify customers that ground shipping in extreme heat or extreme cold is problematic and that we can’t guarantee the product if the customer insists on ground shipping. We offer to hold the wine until better weather for shipping. Carrie also thermal wraps the bottles on 3 day and ground shipping when the weather isn’t the best.

We also recommend all shipments be received at a business address, to ensure the wine doesn’t sit in trucks or hot warehouses for several days because the customer isn’t at home. It is also cheaper to ship to a business.

This sounds like some miscommunication involving both parties, compounded by the problem of nobody available to receive the package.

Weather in your area and our area don’t mean much on ground shipping.
Example: Wine ordered from us in Napa, headed for New York City. Its 72 degrees in Napa and 80 in New York. The ground shipment goes through Arizona, 101 degrees; New Mexico, 92 degrees, El Paso Texas, 100 degrees, etc. You get the point. Neither UPS nor Fed Ex use refrigerated trucks. 80 degree, sunny weather brings the back of a UPS truck to about 105 degrees by early afternoon. Wine in pulp lay-downs can cook off in as little as 3 to 5 hours at those temperatures. Styro will probably survive 6 to 8 or more hours, more if there is a cooling period, but your wine just got some unintended age. If ground shipping is two days or more in that heat, now how many hours have the bottles endured that heat?

We get complacent, save a buck, ship ground. I think DC to Maine is probably only 2 days for ground shipping. The wine should have made it okay. Any additional days for delivery attempts could have put it over the edge and cooked it.

PLEASE, ship to your/a business. Its cheaper and guarantees somebody will be there to sign for it. Consider the distance the wine has to travel and figure how many days the wine is cooking or freezing. If the bottle cost is high by your standards, then spend the money for overnight or second day air for long distances.

Some of the responses to this post remind me of the responses that were posted when another person and I “outed” Vinfolio for some bounced checks. I will acknowledge that there are some differences in this situation but the original response from some of the “holier than thou” were the same. Cut 'em some slack, they’re a great merchant, etc, etc. Shortly thereafter the shit hit the fan and it was determined that Vinfolio was in a whole lot of trouble. Rather than be critical of the guy why not contact this favored merchant, notify them of the thread and let them tell their side of the story? If the OP is at fault it will very likely come out via the “other side of the story”.

If someone said to me “your story doesn’t ring true”, I would consider to have been told that I was lying.

You may see that otherwise, but that is how I would see it.

Asking more polite questions is certainly fine. Implying someone is full of shit and making them prove otherwise seems presumptuous and pretty rude to me.

Tom,

Not my post. Just commenting on the tenor of the replies.

Paul,

All I am saying is that there are two sides to every story and this initial post – with a very damaging title – was only one side of the story. Having seen multiple threads such as this one over the years on various wine BBs, I have become skeptical as more often than not, the situation described is not black and white but rather various shades of gray. For example, did the original poster make multiple and conflicting requests regarding where and when to ship his order? Was the order not able to be delivered to the original address after more than one attempt and then had to be rerouted to a different site?

Alex

Well said Alex.

The only thing I’d add, is that knowing the people at MacArthurs makes me even more skeptical.

Alex,
As I said, I see absolutely nothing wrong with asking questions. How that is done is what I am commenting on.