Regarding the coupon on that Brian posted – we recently cleaned that up as well.
We are working on a new retail outlet store that will be selling more affordable, discounted and cosmetically challenged bottles to locals and visitors at our Napa location. Bin Sales will always give a chance to get some great deals – but there will likely be even better deals in the new retail shop, which is scheduled to open mid-to-late March.
Cool idea Mike, glad to hear it’s about to happen. Now, about that order I placed this morning…
Mark Y - sorry couldn’t cut and past from my phone last night, but it seems it might not work anymore anyway.
Mike-
Thanks for the response. As I even mentioned in my Yelp review, your prices are fair. I also mentioned above, and in my e-mail to your VP of Operations that Benchmark did not owe me anything, but this was a customer service issue. Initially, I was told adding the wine for the 10% off was no problem (see e-mail above), but the tone of your customer service person’s voice and her attitude was devoid of any “service” whatsoever. Candidly, that’s what miffed me enough to write an email to your VP of Operations. When I didn’t hear anything, I e-mailed her again and I received the 1/28 apologetic response with a promise to follow up. I checked my spam and e-mail again just now, and received no further responses, including the 2/1 email you say she sent.
Between the initial bad experience, and what appeared to be a complete blow-off by management, I went to Yelp. Benchmark has my e-mail and phone, and a phone call might have been the easiest and quickest way to resolve this, but it did nothing. So, I posted my grievance here, and, as you can see, there are some people who feel I’m wrong, while others feel I’m right.
The concept that a one-time offer be extended for a 1 shipment transaction is one that Benchmark could have accomplished. They chose not to, and that’s their prerogative. As for a 5% charge, I will take what you say at face value, but I have never had any merchant, in any industry, make such a claim, nor did I find the 5% charge concept on your website at the time (something I also included in my email to your VP of Operations).
The bottom line is I was angry because of the rudeness of your employee. As Eric points out above, people are flawed, have bad days, etc.; and, in an attempt to resolve things, I wrote a non-personal, non-emotional email that went ignored until I followed up on 1/28. I did not receive any further response other than the 1/29 email, as stated above. I wrote an email to your owner which similarly went without response. All of this was indicative, to me, of a larger customer service issue, and not merely a bad day for a single employee.
I’m a big believer of telling people, discreetly, when I feel their service is lacking, if for no other reason than that’s what I’d want if it was my business. At most, I expected the 10% discount for the 2 bottles; at the least, I expected nothing more than an e-mail response with an apology for any “misunderstanding” - something that didn’t exactly throw the employee under the bus, but something that didn’t write off what I felt was an inappropriate response by the employee. Instead I received neither, and your suggestion that I contact Benchmark (as opposed to the other way around) to discuss this further is, in my mind, not the way to handle it.
As I stated, there are people here who think I’ve been unreasonable/unfair/judgmental/in the wrong, etc. But I believe I was trying give your company some business, save some money, and start a long-term relationship. I had not heard of Benchmark before this, and thought I had stumbled onto a possible long-term supplier of many great wines. Instead, I received an attitude and no follow-up.
Perhaps the 2/1 email was mis-sent, but if Benchmark was truly concerned with my experience, I would have thought you would have reached out directly after the Yelp review. Only now, after I posted the issue publicly on this wine board did I get any response, and then only one of public defense (as opposed to a PM to me or a phone call). So, it just reads to me like an after-the-fact attempt at CYA to protect your company’s image. I could be wrong, but if you look at it from my perspective, perhaps you’ll see why I was, and remain, a tad bit angry.
Regardless, I truly hope Benchmark does see that they are at some fault here, and takes the opportunity to prevent it from happening again. What may have been a misunderstanding, one that could have been quickly corrected, turned into something bigger. As a result, Benchmark lost a sale, and I lost confidence in purchasing from them. Making excuses and making things right are 2 different things. I feel like I did my best to make things right, but in return I first received no response and then excuses. And, in my book, that’s not customer service.
Bill, this is your situation but, as someone who has spent 50 years in the retaIl and wholesale consumer product world, I agree with you 150%. I read Benchmark’s reply here and, while I couldn’t fault any of it, my thought went immediately to both the email you got AND to the tone you described receiving. I’m sure they’re a good supplier, from some of the replies here, but this isn’t their finest hour.
I AGREE Peter… 
Put aside right/wrong, who’s good/bad, etc… all i’ve heard is that Benchmark’s a very good store. put that aside for a sec. Is the OP being unreasonable? put that aside too…
So the OP wanted 10% off on a few more bottles? what’s that? $20? $30? On one hand u can say is it worth it to the OP? but really is it worth it to the store?!?!
This can’t possibly be worth
Give the sales manager some discount latitude to drop $20, and be done with it? I don’t mean give it here there and everywhere to everyone… but geez when the person SHOWS YOU an email FROM YOU saying you would, even if it’s razor thin margins, it’s $20! $30? $50?? there’s gotta be some cost/benefit analysis at a certain point right?
Are you agreeing with me or not?? You’re responding directly to me as if you may not be, but I have no idea why.
Duplicate
I disagree… 
actually no, i agree… fixed the post. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Here is the issue - the client rep told you to “let them know about YOUR 10% discount”. Emphasis is mine. You did not reference in your e-mail that this was to re-use the first time purchase discount. For all she knew you had a 10% discount coupon…which you did not. Was there reference anywhere in your e-mail that this was regarding the 1st purchase 10% discount. Seems like that would be a pretty easy mistake to make.
What purpose does the 1 start yelp review serve? You even state:
You made a purchase using a discount. They told you it was one time only. You said you were done with the transaction. You tried to go back to the well for whatever reason. A miscommunication occurred due to lack of understanding what discount was being referred to in the e-mail and you were again told the discount was a one time thing. You take it to the interwebs because justice has not been served.
You also state in your yelp review that there is absolutely no mention of the 5% cancellation fee on their website. Completely untrue:
What should the punishment be for posting a complete falsehood about a business online?
Sure they could have caved and given you the $20. But why? They already told you it was one time only and you confirmed you were done with the transaction? Why should they change their policy because you changed your mind?
Matt-
You are correct, I did not discuss the first time 10% discount in my e-mail.
As for the 5% cancellation fee, as I mentioned, I did not see it on the website at the time of cancellation, and I raised that with Benchmark directly in my e-mail to the VP of Operations. It is possible I missed the policy online, although I looked pretty carefully at their site before sending my e-mail. It’s also possible the language was added after the fact, as this all occurred over a month ago.
I did not post any falsehood. In fact, I specifically stated that I placed the order and told them I didn’t want any more when I called, because I didn’t want to mislead anyone here. I then followed up with an e-mail requesting to add the 10% discount. While the rep. could have checked my order (assuming there was more than one 10% discount going around at the time - Mike from Benchmark’s email above suggests there couldn’t have been), it’s possible she misunderstood.
However, I think you missed my bigger point. I went to Benchmark and tried to work this out privately. They first got very rude with me, and then when I brought it to management level, they ignored me. So, I posted a Yelp response - which is really the purpose of things like Yelp, and they ignored me then as well, even though they had my contact information. Only when I came to a wine board did they pay attention, and then only to defend themselves, but still not attempt to even so much as apologize for their employee’s rude behavior or for ignoring me. Instead they claim they sent me an email which I never received.
Look, they can run their business any way they choose. A $50 discount would not have thrown their margins into any more of a disarray had I ordered the extra bottles when I first called, or after I called to add to the order. Similarly, the $50 to me is not the end of the world. What bothered me was behavior of the employee and the complete lack of concern by management to follow up until the issue was made public.
Just like any business, if someone has a complaint, you hope they take it to management first, so it can be resolved. Sometimes that resolution is a firm, but polite, “No,” and other times it is acceding to the customer’s request or meeting in the middle. But when a company ignores its customer’s complaint, then I’m not sure it’s the customer’s fault for repeating the story.
From your yelp review:
Work out what? That you were confused when they told you the 10% discount was a one time only deal, and when you tried and use it again (knowing you were not going to get the discount) and it did not work you got upset?
Work out the fact that I was treated rudely. Giving me “what I want,” and treating me with courtesy are 2 different things. I was not treated with courtesy, and then was ignored, and you seem to act as if it’s NBD.
As mentioned above, I wasn’t confused, but there was clearly a misunderstanding which festered into anger when I wasn’t even given the courtesy of a response.
So the purpose of places like Yelp is to out businesses as a revenge for not having your way with them? No wonder I never use it.
I am a business owner and I don’t even know if there is a Yelp review of my business. I’d venture a guess that Benchmark does not pay attention to Yelp either which explains their lack of a photo or other pertinent information on their business. The fact that someone from Benchmark is an active participant here is not surprising though given the high number of collectors and the fact that Mike is a Wine Geek like us.
Only seeing their response and not your inquiry makes it tough to be fair in judging what happened from the outside. Not hearing the tone on both ends of the conversation…
When I have had any issues with a Benchmark purchase in the past, corked or otherwise bad wine, my dealings have been satisfactory. Their terms of service page is pretty long and I never read it until I had an issue but everything is spelled out pretty well. Claiming that they amended their sales agreement to cover up a $20 discount issue is a bit of a reach IMO.
Sometimes outing a business online can backfire depending on where you do it or where you share it, sometimes not. I bet both sides of this issue learned a little bit from it.
I have no idea how you were treated - we’re only getting one side of the story here - but you were clearly confused.
In no part of that e-mail did it state you could use the first time customer 10% discount. It merely told you to alert the salesperson to YOUR discount (of which you did not have one).
Again, there was no confirming e-mail. They confirmed nothing in that e-mail.
It was not a first time order. They told you that when you made your first order. They asked if you wanted to add anything and you said NO. So now you are telling them this is your first order. It was not. It was going to be your second order.
Either way your yelp review is a clear misrepresentation of the facts regarding their website and the 5% cancellation fee.
Matt- I’m not sure why you are making this so personal, but clearly you’re not reading my responses clearly, and, as a result, you are twisting my words. I’m done responding.
Brian - I use Yelp infrequently as well - only when I’ve either had an excellent experience, or when I’ve had a really poor one. Most of my reviews fall into the excellent category. As I said, I’m a believer in giving fair, discreet feedback when it’s bad. When businesses don’t follow up, then the point is to let others know of my experience.
You asked for a copy of my response to Benchmark, which is below. However, the consistent opinion on here is that I should, “let it go.” People make mistakes, have a bad day, etc. I was angered by the treatment I received and the lack of follow up. However, at this point, I’m sure Benchmark doesn’t want to do business with me any more than I want to do it with them. So, I’m ending my responses here as it’s gone on a bit too long. To be clear, Benchmark did credit my credit card the same day, as requested, for the full amount.
Fw: BWG Shipment
From: me
Jan 28
_____________-
In the off chance you did not get this, I am sending it again. If you’ve chosen to ignore my e-mail, then there’s no need to respond.
-Bill
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: ___________@yahoo.com>
To: __________@benchmarkwine.com
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2015 2:57 PM
Subject: Fw: BWG Shipment
__________-
We have not met, but I just canceled my first, and last, order with your company.
You see, I originally ordered 4 bottles, and used the first time purchaser/10% discount, 10 days ago. I asked for the wine to be held and shipped today due to cold temps here.
Yesterday, I was searching your inventory, as I knew the wine would ship today, and sent the e-mail far below this AM, with the intention of adding 2 more bottles to the order, assuming the 10% discount would apply. Ms. Halsell responded it would, as you can see below, and I called about 60 minutes ago to add to my order.
I explained that I wanted to purchase more wine and add it to the existing order to the first woman who answered the phone. When I mentioned the discount, she said the discount was only available for my first order, and I told her that this was my first order. She asked me to hold, and I waited for about 3 minutes, when someone else answered the phone.
The second woman with whom I spoke called me “Richard” (as opposed to my name, which is Bill). She told me that she took my original order, and that she couldn’t apply the coupon because it would be a whole new sales number, and the system wouldn’t accept it. I told her I had received the below e-mail from Ms. Halsell, and read it to her. She then asked me to hold, and put “________” on the phone.
Unlike the first two, ________had a tone of attitude in her voice, and said that she could not apply the 10%. I mentioned that this was my first order, and that the wine was still at Benchmark. I also mentioned the below e-mail. _________essentially said Ms. Halsell didn’t understand what she was talking about (i.e. that this order was from a while back), which I found unlikely, but possible. ______ then reiterated the concept of the new sales number, and I said, “Look, this is purely a customer service issue. This is my first time buying from you, and we are only talking about a ~$50 discount. You haven’t shipped the wine, and it’s still sitting there. I’m not sure why the 10% couldn’t be applied as this is all a first-time order.” She argumentatively stated that I would already have the wine if I hadn’t asked Benchmark to hold it, and again stated she was unable to apply the 10%. While I find the word “can’t” to be misplaced in the realm of customer service, especially among smaller business, I then mentioned that I would simply like to cancel my order.
_________next informed me that Benchmark would charge me 5% for the cancellation. Incredulous, I asked why, given Benchmark still had the wine, and had been holding my money for almost 2 weeks. _______told me the credit card company would charge Benchmark this amount for reversing the charge. I knew this to be a false statement, and said “I’ve never heard of that.” She then backtracked and said Benchmark now needed to put the wine back in its inventory and remove it from the packaging. For what it’s worth, I see nothing about either the 10% or the 5% policy mentioned anywhere on your website.
Benchmark is free to set the policies it wants, and, I would argue, is free to modify (or not modify) them as they choose to benefit (or not benefit) customers. I am a new customer, and Benchmark did not “owe” me anything, including adding the 2 bottles to the order at the 10% discount. While I find it would have taken a small, but simple, act of customer service to make a “1-time exception,” Benchmark did not need to do that either. What bothers me, though, was the attitude and outright lie of your employee.
Regardless of how much I was planning on spending, or would spend in the future, with Benchmark, customer service should be a priority. Instead, I felt like I was being accused of doing something wrong, or trying to slip something by Benchmark. When I refused to accept “No,” simply because that was the easy answer, I received an attitude that would have been more properly presented to a shoplifter, and not someone who wanted to spend an additional $500+ with your company.
Regardless, I would appreciate a full credit on my card by the close of business today. I realize it may take a few days to go back against my balance, but please send me proof of same via e-mail today.
If you have any questions, or would like to discuss the matter further, please feel free to call me at _______________. Otherwise, I thank you in advance for your cooperation.
-Bill
I have had nothing but good dealings with Benchmark for many years now. Whatever happened, I would just chalk it up to a one-time thing and let it go.
You insinuated they ignored your email and then accused them of trying to rip you off for 5% by modifying their policy.
I wouldn’t have a tone in my voice either 
Yet there are parts of your review that are completely untrue…so what about that?
As often happens, both sides of this seem to have made mistakes. The OCD part of me likes to start at the beginning with the email that Mike interpreted to allow him to get the discount on bottles added.
“Thank you for you for your email. I will hold shipment until you add more bottles. Please call the sales department and let them know about your 10% discount, they are happy to help you place another order.”
The wording of that statement is self-contradictory. “Another order” implies a NEW, separate, order which would not be entitled to a discount, yet Mike is told to “let them know about the 10%”. Why? … if there would be no discount on the addition.
This discussion could go on forever I suppose, and is now being colored by emotion on both sides. I still don’t know why Benchmark hasn’t dealt with that one email that I think started the whole issue, even to just say that employee was wrong or was misunderstood. Regardless, Benchmark’s position is clear and so is Mike’s. Time to walk away.
See… this is why the lawyers make most of the money in lawsuits. It quickly loses track and gets down to a pissing contest.