Thanks for the update Joe!
This is good news – for us I guess. Though the selfish wine part of me had that little evil voice in my ear saying: “More wine for me.” But, I think I am better than that and wish the best for Joe and his family selling his vino. It is hard having a kid matriculate into Harvard while still in elementary school 
Anyhow, I love Joe’s wines, and when I was in Paso last year, there were even stories there of Joe superhumanly lifting full wine barrels that had fallen off a forklift. And yes, someone told me a story about this.
k.
Thank you Joe for responding to this thread and the customer service! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
It is simply amazing the amount of negativity that comes out of this board from time to time. Everyone has a right to say what they want, but just remember before you push submit that someone’s livelihood might be directly affected by your comments and I hope that is not anyone’s intentions.
It may not be their intention, but it could certainly be the consequence; does that make it wrong?
Had their experiences with customer service been more positive, would they have been as negative? Probably not. But, they feel strongly that customer service was a major headache for them, and for some it was enough to sever the relationship.
That seems worth sharing to a broader audience. Certainly that would be a thing I would want to know if I was considering entering into a relationship with that winery.
So, yes, that may impact the winery’s sales. But if that is a thing that matters to the winery I would think they would want to know so they had a chance to correct it.
The people I saw expressing customer service issues upthread have no history of axe-grinding or tendencies toward negative commentary to the best I can recall, and they seem to be fans of the wines who became genuinely disappointed after repeated issues.
Those are valid data points for prospective buyers, and should be encouraged, as opposed to melodramatic tales of one-off problems that seem either designed to give leverage to the poster in a dispute or motivated by vengeance.
I get it, Arcadian is a board darling, and that popularity seems to have been well earned among its many fans. But that does not exempt Arcadian from legitimate criticism.
In my opinion those are all valid points that should be address in private with Joe/Arcadian not over a public forum. Joe is a great communicator and I know from speaking with him that he would welcome anyone to call him and speak about their issues.
If I have an issue with customer service or a business, I am going to contact the business directly. I don’t understand the motivation of sitting behind a computer and speaking poorly about another individual or business in a public forum. Especially a small family run business. I know the rebuttal for that would be, “I want everyone to know what is “really” going on”.
As I said before I don’t understand the motivation for all of this. I guess in the end disgruntled/unhappy people need something to complain about. 
Your entitled to your opinion and I agree with you to a point; I have read some threads about producers that got nasty and I’m not talking about Maison Illan. I am one of the disgruntled/unhappy people that your talking about. You seem to be somewhat sanctimonious with your choice of words.
I am impressed with the response we got from Joe Davis; he probably wouldn’t have known that some of his fans were experiencing issues without this thread. There were no toxic posts; only people stating the issues they were having. I say, well done Joe Davis, I will remain a loyal GC member and am satisfied with your response. Thanks!
Rick…I am not “sanctimonious” at all. I not any better then anyone else…just a simple man that has a lot of respect for Joe and any other vintner/owner. But hey we’re all just expressing opinions on here.
Addressing the issue privately is the right place to start, but it seems that for some people, the private channel has failed, as the problem is a persistent lack of responsiveness or poor communication. In that case, public channels are the only option. Public channels also provide the benefit of learning whether one’s problem is unique to the poster, or if there is a pattern. In this case, there seems to be a pattern, though it probably isn’t pervasive, but it allows the producer to identify the problem and correct it.
No one is calling for a boycott or demanding anything, at least so far, but there seem to be some areas where Arcadian can improve, which would help everyone, including Arcadian.
BTW. Nice avitar…Alaska? We may have waded some of the same rivers?
Bryan, you may not be sanctimonious but you came off sounding that way, and this topic could have quietly gone away without your admonishment of people stating customer service issues. This is the place for us as a group to discuss such topics. It is commendable that you are defending your friend,but you are misguided, and no one came here starting an Arcadian bashing post.
I have been a staunch supporter of Arcadian since the 1999 vintage, and any Arcadian notes I have participated in have been entirely positive and enthusiastic. No one could have been more shocked and disappointed at the way my frustration over my situation was handled than I, and I haven’t even stated what it was in this post. However, I will say this since you feel it wasn’t taken up with Joe. There were several weeks of back and forth emails with Joe and Rochelle, as well as phone calls to Rochelle, and my account was so messed up, and I still don’t feel it was fixed appropriately. Joe knew I was a vocal supporter on the wine boards and yet he still treated me poorly.
I had discussed this privately with a few board members, because I couldn’t believe I was the only one experiencing this.
Interesting discussion, and I too am glad that Joe seems to have taken notice, but I have to admit that my first reaction was also that people were jumping on too easily to dump on Arcadian – despite the high praise in the past. Probably because I have had no problems, and didn’t even get the newsletter to raise any questions.
My natural inclination though when I hear that an e-mail newsletter comes out incorrectly is that something is wrong with a computer system. Or when customer service lapses occur, that some other factor is contributing to it. As one who tried and failed to get a small business running while handling a couple new children, I realize how many systems are running ‘at the margin’ and simple things like a family sickness or a spouse working late hours, stressed so many of my business activities.
With that said, after reading threads in the past years about different wine clubs, I wonder why Arcadian operates the way they do. They maintain an enormous inventory of wines that can be bought at any time – especially for such a small operation. And they allow bottle customization of their club shipments for each release, AND they have five different varietal options AND they have four tiers of membership for quantity AND they do this 4-6 times per year. There is not a single standardized package really.
To me that seems insane – a good insane for the consumer, but one that seems ultimately set up for error. If Joe can pull it off, great, because it gives us consumers a lot of dials to turn to perfect our purchase, but the percentage of normal error that is going to occur is probably going to be higher with this sort of club system.
I think there are many wine makers on this board who would never attempt such a complex club.
k.
Thanks Rick…Yes it is Alaska…the Kenai river. I went last summer…the greatest fishing trip of my life.
I’m willing to admit that I may have jumped the gun in reacting to the CC hit + lack of newsletter/email response - based on the stories I’ve heard I’m probably a little over-primed to expect problems. I think that is an illustration of how much customer service issues can hurt the reputation of a winery, which is a shame in this case especially since people clearly love the wines.
I was having a really , really bad day yesterday so I decided not to respond to the comments I saw after my post, as I was not sure 1. i was in a mental state to respond realistically, and 2. that the comments were even directed at me.
I will say if felt as though they may have been directed at me. It also felt as though I was being told I was mistaken.
I am going to assume both of those assumptions on my part were wrong.
I will say again, I love the wines. In reality the 2000 garys syrah may have been the best wine I have ever had.
My only hope was that as one business owner to another, this feedback would have been valuable.
Got my copy of the newsletter this AM. Pinot-only is the 2005 Sleepy Hollow which is fine for me. Still not showing up in the Customize Shipment area, so I will probably give them a call to see if I it’s possible add some bottles. Even though I don’t buy much Syrah the 2007 Westerly at $19.99 per sounds tempting, might have to go for a 3-pack.
Jesus, how good was that 2000 Gary’s? I tasted it with friends as a part of what was easily the best lineup of Syrah (old world and new) that I’ve ever tasted and it was like Joni Mitchell in her prime singing ‘Coyote’ at the local open mike.
As a consumer, I’ll tolerate some inefficiencies and confusion from a small business with an exceptional product who (pick your reason why) is unable to stroke me at every turn. Yes, if the sense develops that I’m being personally disrespected time and again - and having determined after a moment of introspection that I’ve done nothing to deserve it - I could see myself reluctantly taking my business elsewhere.
But you know, I’ve known a lot of artists, most of whom, though their work is preposterously marketable and inspiring, nevertheless have very little authentic concern for, even concept of, “the customer.” Eventually someone sort of persuades them to be aware of it, but this awareness is sometimes outsourced to people whose appointment is also a direct result of the artist’s original complacency with regard to the commercial potential of their artistry.
I guess what I’m saying is that these wines drink artistic to me, and I’m sort of okay with the ramifications.
They appear to have solved their software issue, and both Rochelle and Joe were in touch, very helpfully getting my order switched to be exactly what I wanted (I added some 01 Sleepy Hollow and 05 Clos Pepe pinot). If anyone wants something changed in their order, reach out here before they ship.
same same
I am going to drop them. They are just not well organized.