OOPS Or Not?

I had a customer that’s ITB bring a bottle back today, he said " I bought this earlier today and it has a little bit of TCA." I looked at the bottle and was surprised to see it had the equivalent of maybe a glass left in the bottle. Of course my mouth overloaded my brain and I before I could stop my mouth I said, “most people would be able to tell it had TCA before the bottle was almost empty.” I would not normally respond like that but had an OOPS!
He said “forget about it, it was only a $20 bottle.” I told him to please grab a replacement bottle or I would get him one but he said “FORGET IT” as he kind of stormed out the door.

As a retailer what do you think about someone ITB bringing back an almost empty bottle, what would you do ???

I would have screamed at him “Are you fcking trying to steal my money, motherfcker?”

But I don’t have your business savvy.

Whether he’s ITB or not, he’s a paying customer. Having said that, he’s taking the piss by returning an almost empty bottle. I always give customers the benefit of the doubt, but if he tried it again I’d have no problem telling him where to go.

Anyone who can point out TCA by name should be able to recognize it before even taking a sip.
I’d like to think I would have responded, “When did you first notice it?”. Realistically I would have taken a sniff, and just handed him a replacement, corked or not. I’m too easy.

P Hickner

Can you describe his ITB label?
Restaurant?

Oops.

Possibly, he poured multiple glasses before tasting, they discussed and agreed it was corked.

Anyway, if it was corked, why does it matter to you what he did with it?

If you people keep this up, we will have to change the forum name to “Wine Wimps”.

Works at a local winery.

He didn’t pour multiple glasses, he and a friend tried it a few times according to him. It doesn’t really matter other than we’ll eat the cost, the brand has changed distributors and the new one won’t cover/replace previous inventory of others.

I’m curioius, does it take you and others almost an entire bottle to determine if a bottle is corked? Anyone we know ITB can detect it by smelling the cork or at least after a couple sips, but we don’t see people returning a bottle that is almost empty. I have no problem replacing any bottle for any reason and do but found it odd that someone ITB from a winery wasn’t able to detect it sooner.

TCA should become more prevalent with air, maybe he has a higher tolerance for it and didn’t notice till it opened up all the way?

Assuming it was corked, what difference does it make how full the bottle is, realistically? I can easily see the situation where a wine is poured into several glasses, and some are dumped in a spit bucket or down the sink, before the person that opened the bottle says ‘Wait, wait, I need to take it back for a refund’. Unless you think that they actually enjoyed drinking the corked wine, or poured a different corked wine back in the bottle, why do you need 600ml+ to be returned to determine that it deserves a refund?

And looking at your first post again, since the customer seemed to be upset (and you seem to acknowledge that you might have been a little snippy), I would go out of my way to get him a replacement bottle if he didn’t take it originally. Maybe with an apology, if you think it is deserved.

It’s easier to get an almost full bottle replaced. When I return an “off” bottle to my supplier and there’s only an inch or two left in the bottom, I’m almost always given a hard time, as in, “Well it couldn’t have been that bad - they drank most of it”. We can explain that the bottle was poured around at a dinner party before someone noticed the problem, but that’s often met with skepticism - they think the customer is looking for a freebie. (And, frankly, sometimes they’re right.) Bottom line is that it just adds to the hassle.

Let me fill in some gaps. I waited on the individual when he came in to “check us out” while his car is being worked on at Big O Tire. He “Didn’t know you were here.” “Want to see what you’re about.” “I work for XYZ winery just down the road.” I turn him loose in the wine room for 10 minutes before I join him. He’s impressed with the selections and pricing. He points out wines talking about drinking many bottles with the winemakers, a number of which are now retired and his personal interactions with Bill Harlan. When he starts looking at WA wines, he wants to know their profile and how they compare to CA wines. Sounds a little like a tasting room employee but may have good local wine experience so I invite him in to the back room so he can see some of the wines we don’t have on display. Again, he starts pointing out wines and professing his knowledge in the wine making business, but doesn’t recognize Saxum, Sine Qua Non, Kongsgaard and number of others. He loves our place and wants to know the best times/days to bring his friends down to “share” wine. He decides to buy a bottle of wine to share with his great friend, the 70 year old “bass player for ABC band.” It’s a 2002 Washington Syrah for $19.99 and I give him the ITB discount.

There is less than four ounces left in the bottle he returned.

Carrie was posting about a kinda funny mistake (lesson/reminder) she made for everybody’s entertainment and intended to get some good natured teasing, while dealing with a “wine expert.”

I don’t see anything in the my comment where I implied snippy.
My exact comment :

Of course my mouth overloaded my brain and I before I could stop my mouth I said, “most people would be able to tell it had TCA before the bottle was almost empty.” I would not normally respond like that but had an OOPS!

As you can see I said nothing about using a snippy tone, that’s your assumption, and there was not a snippy tone involved. How about assuming I said it with a joking tone. I also have no problem apologizing and I did or offering him a replacement, I did that too. I don’t know if he was really upset, that may have been my assumption when he said “forget about it” maybe he acutally said “fagettaboutit” and “kind of stormed out,” that may be how he always acts, I don’t know the guy other than him being from a winery.

Chuck, I know you don’t know me and reading words on a computer screen often give the wrong impression of a situation. I often avoid posting anymore because of how situations get misunderstood on here.
I appreciate your input. (no snippy tone meant)
[cheers.gif]

FYI: we’ve replaced completely empty bottles that people have claimed were corked, it’s all in the delivery

The only question, IMO, is whether those four ounces were corked. If so, the rest of the details (what he was doing before he came in, why he checked you out, what position (if any) he holds at a winery, who he knows, how much the bottle costs, or if he is even ITB) is immaterial.

Carrie,I was reading between the lines, and interpreted what you posted in a light you didn’t mean. You did say that you would not normally respond that way. Mea culpa. I would normally (in person) take your comment as a lighthearted response, and use it as a reason to explain why the bottle only has 4 ounces left.

I know you offered him a replacement. Not sure why he didn’t accept it, given that he went at least a little out of his way to return the bottle. Why at that point he would say ‘forget about it’ instead of accepting your offer is beyond me. But since he didn’t, and since you implied he might have been less than satisfied with your response, I’d go out of my way to make sure he was satisfied. Now if he did it again, I’d go all WWOTW on him.

Carrie,
IIRC, you don’t get snippy, you get even. [stirthepothal.gif]

In any case, did get Randy get this interaction on video? newhere

Btw I have had a glass of wine from a bottle that did not show obvious TCA until the following day. So I’d say TCA isn’t always obvious at first pour, or maybe that’s just me. pileon

Chuck,
Panties untwisted and thanks for
[rofl.gif] [rofl.gif] [rofl.gif]

flirtysmile

WWOTW

A couple of things:

Sometimes the wine is poured at a dinner table and if you serve 4 people before you figure out the wine is corked and you don’t want to make the effort to put the wine back in the bottle, it could be fairly empty.

I’ve had people come in with empty bottles or simply a receipt to complain about corked bottles. At least with an empty bottle I could make an attempt to get some type of credit, but no bottle=no credit/exchange in my store. I’ve also tasted bottles, and in 30-40% of the cases the wine is fine but not what the customer was expecting. If I or another staff member made the recommendation in most cases I’d take the wine back and offer and exchange for something different.

Price point & ease of replacement should also be considered. Consignment or private cellar inventory which has no chain of custody for a return/credit to me make it a more difficult decision.

However, at the end of the day it’s a judgement call, and you have to go with your willingness to adhere to a fixed policy or endure the chaos of a gaggle of customers who expect ‘special treatment.’ I’m going through this now as I manage a store taken over by a new owner and trying to evaluate the quality of the inventory ‘carried over’ from the old owner without a carte blanche ticket to evaluate the higher end wines. I have to identify and research the ‘special customers’ from the old regime and evaluate whether or not they deserve the previous ‘special treatment’ formerly given vs. the cost of keeping these customers. In some cases I’ve even upgraded a few, but in other cases where the customer is not willing to be situationally aware that it’s a new regime, new employees who do not know/recognize them as among the set of special customers and are unwilling to speak up are sort of slipping into the herd of unknowns.

Last but not least, sometimes the $15-20 bucks it costs to get rid of a problem customer is a bargain. :slight_smile: