I got terrible service from Addy Bassin's MacArthur Beverage

Wine Pimps
21

Has anyone called this thread to the attention of the retailer? Most times when that happens the retailer is quick to respond with either the other side of the story, a remedy or at minimum an apology. It would be interesting to see if they had any interest in responding to this and potentially clearing the air.

22



Entirely different story - a retailer in financial trouble IS news - especially for people on the board who were waiting for wines they had already paid for - you were reporting on a very big potential problem - this is a simple communication problem -

23

I’ve just sent the retailer the following message. Hopefully we’ll hear the “other side of the story”

“Thought you guys might be interested in what is being said about the service provided by your retail establishment. It would be great if you would respond so as to clear the air about the reality of this matter. The thread is: I got terrible service from Addy Bassin's MacArthur Beverage - Wine Pimps - WineBerserkers” onclick=“window.open(this.href);return false;”



All the best,
Randy Meyer

24

So, I have changed the heading, which I hope satisfies those who think I’m in the wrong here. I will also reproduce a couple of emails, first the one I sent after trying a bottle:
**** and whoever else this might concern,

I have recently tasted one bottle out of this order. If you remember, I contacted you with concerns that the wine had been shipped during weather that was above 90 degrees where you are and above 80 degrees where I am. This was after I had called and asked for the order to be held, to which the response was that that wuoldn’t be a problem. Your response to my concern was that you check the weather before shipping and you were sure the wine would be fine. I have no idea what you are checking for if above 90 degrees locally and above 80 degrees for the entire trip doesn’t warrant holding a package. Unfortunately, I believe this wine has been heat damaged. I tasted it with a group of 5 other experienced tasters, 4 of whom have been in the business for some time, and we all agreed that the wine was not as it should be. It tasted distinctly like a screwdriver mixed with cheap vodka and artificial fruit candy. One person in attendance represents Kermit Lynch and is quite familiar with that wine, and they agreed that I should not accept its condition. I have also been in touch with other people who have had this wine and their experiences were far different from ours. The bottle we opened is half full and the other 5 bottles are unopened. I would like to return all 6 bottles. I would prefer a refund to any store credit. I hope you can accomodate my request given the circumstances under which the wine was shipped. Thank you.

Doug Schulman

25

All of that is true. Besides the terrible alcohol and artificial flavors, there was the distinct stewed fruit character mentioned by others. I believe the alcohol element smelled so “cheap” because of VA, probably caused by heat. Here’s the response I got:

So we should be held wholly responsible for the delay in the delivery of your package ? You were sent an e mail generated by UPS with your tracking number and delivery date information the night your package was collected from us. You yourself in a previous e mail admited the neglect that occurred on your delivery was your fault. Could you please have the person who works for Kermit Lynch contact me to verify that tasting.

I had said in a previous email that I was concerned about the weather conditions, and that I should have contacted them earlier to make alternate arrangements, but that I had spoken with someone who assured me the wine would go out the following Monday.

26

I also got an email showing some temperatures, apparently from weather.com, that were lower than I remembered. Here are the temps they sent and the actual observed highs from a weather station in my town:

what they sent:
Mon. 05/03 > Hi 81 F Lo 55 F Windy

Tues. 05/04 > Hi 76 F Lo 54 F Cloudy/Showers

Wed. 05/05 > Hi 70 F Lo 51 F Sun

Thurs. 05/06 > Hi 73 Lo 50 F Sun with Clouds

Fri. 05/07 > Hi 67 Lo 50 Sun

II. DC AREA 20007:

Mon. 05/03 > Hi 83 Lo 70ish Showers

Tues. 05/04 > Hi 83 Lo 68 Sun/Clouds

actual weather station readings:
I don’t know where you got these but they’re wrong. These are from a weather station in South Portland, ME:
http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KMEPJENS1&month=5&day=4&year=2010" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
May 4: 86.8 °F
May 5: 86.7 °F
May 6: 86.6 °F
May 7: 86.6 °F
These are closer to what weather.com said at the time. It showed warmer temperatures in DC. And I was in DC around that time (part of the reason I didn’t get the email) and it was hot. When I was up here in the later days shown it was also much warmer than your numbers indicate. If it hadn’t been I wouldn’t have been concerned. I’d at least like to return the other 5 bottles. Do you own or manage this business? I’d like to get in touch with whoever does if this is a problem.

I also just pulled this up for DC for May 3, when they shipped:

This shows a high of 83 with a mean of 77. That seems a bit warm to me. Admittedly, it’s not as hot as I thought based on what weather.com was showing that day. May 4 shows a high of 84 with a 75 average.
As I said, it was even warmer in D.C. I was there. (edit: or at least similar: see above) That was part of the reason I didn’t want the shipment to go out. I knew it would not get delivered for the first couple of attempts. If I hadn’t called hours before it was shipped and received confirmation that it would go out one week from that day, I would have no problem here as I would accept responsibility. That’s not what happened. I had agreed to this ship date several days beforehand, but the last contact I had with these people was an agreement not to ship this day.

27

I got more than one response along these lines:

We only did what you asked us to do and you weren’t there to receive the package.

True, I wasn’t there to receive the package, but do these guys assume every package will get delivered on the first attempt? I understand the suggestion of using a business address, but if I’m the last stop of the day, is that really different from a failed delivery attempt? Plus, he said the weather was fine. All they had to do was step outside to know that wasn’t true. And what I asked them to do was to not ship.

28

My final post on this thread: do I understand correctly that Doug is stating in his most recent post that he was in DC while all this occurred? Why not just pick up the order from the store directly? [scratch.gif]

Alex

29

For those who think I must have been rude, this is as rude as I got:

I did write previously that it would have been better if I had contacted you sooner, but that does not mean I am accepting fault for your actions in sending a package in such hot weather. I do not appreciate your tone. I am, after all, the customer here. You sent me wine in hot weather and the wine was heat damaged. I called and was told the wine would not be shipped, and then it was shipped. I don’t feel the need to take up my acquaintance’s time in what should be a simple matter. You told me in your corrsepondence that you check the weather before shipping, but then you never answered my question regarding what would constitute conditions that you considered to be too hot. If this weather did not neet that specification, I have no idea what would. The point is, I am telling you that this wine is certainly flawed becasue of when you shipped it, against my wishes and against the verbal agreement I made with your employee. The email with the tracking information was sent after that conversation and I was clearly away and not in a place where I could check my email. That was why I called. Please do not put words into my mouth. I would appreciate it if you would instead tell me what you will do to remedy this situation.

The response I got:

No refund is possible, we carried out your delivery as per your request.

There was no verbal agreement you made with our employee. Refer back to your first e mail reply that I just forwarded you.

Here I ask for collabaration with an employee who works for Kermit Lynch and you are unwilling to provide it.

I think it’s offensive to ask me to put this other person in touch with them. If someone brings a bad bottle back to your shop, do you ask for someone else’s opinion or assume the person is lying? Do you taste the wine before issuing a refund? I doubt it. I’ve never seen that at a retailer. I would really like to know if anyone involved in a business that sells or serves wine handles things like that.

Now, as I said, they have agreed to take the wine back as long as I pay to ship it down there. So now I have to pay for all of this shipping of bad wine. That doesn’t sound great to me.

For those who immediately assumed I was wrong here: I understand that you would question such a post, but not that you did so in a way that made me out to be in the wrong here. Yes, there was some room for confusion as I had agreed to this date several days beforehand, but when I talk to someone on the phone THAT DAY who says they can hold the package and that would mean it would probably go out the following Monday, to which I agree and say that’s exactly what I want, I would expect it to be carried out that way. Either way, the insistence that they don’t ship if it’s too hot and the inference that I must be lying about tasting with someone who’s very familiar with this wine and said it was obviously bad is, to me, offensive. I opened this wine at a blind tasting with several people who have more experienced palates than mine, and all agreed the wine should be returned.

I know I can be a bit of a complainer at times, but I think I have a good reason here. I’m not sure what’s wrong with voicing my frustration in a forum such as this one when I believe I have been treated unfairly. The only time I’ve had a problem with wine from another online retailer their immediate and only response was “can we email you the shipping label or do you need us to schedule a pickup?”. That’s great service and that’s a retailer (Wine Library – great customer service in general) that I will continue to support. I even voiced concern about a wine I got from them that I was clear about not wanting to return and they tried to have me return it. I didn’t, but I prefer to be encouraged to let them know over the treatment I received in this circumstance.

30

Fair of you to ask and I wish I had been able to, but I was on an extremely tight schedule as I was there for less than one day to take the CWE exam. There was no possible way I could have gone to the store. I got in after the store closed, the exam started early, and I had very little time between the end of the exam and my departure.

31

Yes, Alex, that is what happened with the shipping. I don’t think that’s my fault because I talked to someone earlier that day who agreed not to ship until the following week. When I said I didn’t want the package to go out that day, it was the guy I spoke with who said that it would probably go out the following week then, which I said was exactly what I wanted. The whole reason I called MacArthur was that I knew it was hot and I knew I wouldn’t be there to accept delivery. As I have said, if I hadn’t done that and GOTTEN CONFIRMATION of an alternate shipping date, I would not have anything to say about the situation besides “I messed up”. As it is, I expect someone shipping wine to me to be able to do so on the agreed upon date, even if that date changes.

32

I welcome any other feedback, including from the business, provided Mr. **** (I suspect if we hear from anyone, it will be him, but I’ll let him decide if he wants his name here or not) doesn’t again pretend I didn’t set up an alternate delivery date, which I did before the package was shipped. He said at one point that I didn’t call until the wine was in Maine. That is simply not true. I called in the morning on May 3.

33

Change made. I didn’t mean to imply that all of their service is this bad. I obviously did, so I apologize for that.

I think I’ve stated my case. I’ll call it a day unless I am asked to respond further or I see any issue I want to try to clarify.

I feel personally insulted for being basically called a liar by someone who is in charge over there. I shouldn’t have let that emotion cloud my judgment in writing the original subject for this message. As it is now I think the post is quite reasonable. I do think that if the doubters here had an experience like this, they would be upset as well. Even when I expressed concern before trying the wine, I got no “sorry” or anything like that. There was only “we shipped when you told us to” and “the wine is fine”. A polite response anywhere along the line would have had me feeling a lot better about my experience. I never got that.

34

For what its worth I rec’d an email from Steve Cornwell at Bassin’s detailing his side of the story. Let’s just say the two parties disagree with the other’s perspectives. Beyond providing his side of the story he comments “since emails can be edited and taken out of context it will just have to come down to his word against ours.” Other than referring to the quote above I’m not going to speak for the retailer or quote the email any further and I’m guessing that we won’t see a response from the retailer.

I’m conflicted about what appears to be a decision not to respond to this situation publically. I know many businesses that respond to all negative postings just to show that they are aware of the post and if necesaary taking corrective action. On the other hand I get not dealing with a he said/he said situation via the public airwaves.

35

I have no clue where you read the temperature data you quoted above. Using the website you linked look at:
5/5 Local Weather Forecast, News and Conditions | Weather Underground" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
High temperature 70

5/6 Local Weather Forecast, News and Conditions | Weather Underground" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
High temperature 74

5/7 Local Weather Forecast, News and Conditions | Weather Underground" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
High temperature 67

5/8 Local Weather Forecast, News and Conditions | Weather Underground" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
High temperature 53

Just for fun I looked them up on NOAA too and the recorded highs for those days match exactly. Look here Climate" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; if you’d like.

Looks like there’s been just a little bit of exaggeration going on with the temperatures. Now might there have been similar bending of the truth in the rest of the story too???

36

Wow. We don’t ship between April and October, period, end of story. Any doubts I may ever have had about this policy have now been thoroughly erased.

37

Dave,

You only have that rule so it doesn’t interfere with your summer schedule of activities and vacations. Over night and second day air shouldn’t be a problem. We use insulated bubble wrap in both very cold and hot temperatures to help protect the wine. Our shippers also accommodate ice packs. Of course, in the summer, we push for business address delivery so the wine doesn’t run around in a 110 degree truck all day and have only a 50/50 chance somebody will actually be home to take delivery.

38

Was the wine Sierra Carche? [stirthepothal.gif]

39

btw what was the main intent of the OP?
Was it so dissuade folks from giving them any business?
Looks like with all the positive experiences and responses, the PR is actually helping them.

40

Sorry for the thread drift, but …

I agree overnight, with morning delivery, shouldn’t be a problem, assuming there’s no mis-routes or other delays. However, that’s extremely costly and, in general, I try to follow the no shipping between April 1 and November 1 rule.

Second day air is another story. I recently received a food gift from a reputable purveyor, shipped via second day air from the midwest to me in the Houston area. It appeared well packed, in a inch thick styrofoam box filled with a couple of disposable ice packs. It was delivered to my business address, which is also my home, at the usual time - around noon-1pm. When I opened it, the ice packs were completely melted and warm to the touch. The block of Cheddar cheese had the consistancy of a baked Brie and the small package of caramels were also mostly melted. Luckily, there was no wine in the shipment. There were no mishaps or anything out of the ordinary with this shipment, and I think it’s an accurate example of summertime shipping. It certainly confirmed to me that I don’t want any wine shipped during the warmer months, regardless of the precautions a shipper thinks may mitigate the high temps.