Not my week.
Today, saw a bottle on WS Pro that I wanted to buy so I called Retailer A to confirm they had a few bottles of X wine in stock. Their website noted in stock. Normally I call before pulling the trigger online since some retailers have a hard time reconciling realtime what’s on their website compared what’s actually in inventory. No big deal, it happens. However, in this case, sales rep on the phone said “Oh, my bad those bottles probably shouldn’t have made it to the public in the first place. The owner kept 6, I (sales rep) bought 3 and the shipping manager bought the other 3. Although, we do have other vintages of this same wine I can sell you”. Me, “No thank you, sometimes I wish I got to work at a wine retailer and be first in line. Thx again, have a great wknd, goodbye.”
Early this week, saw bottle Y on WS Pro and I emailed Retailer B to confirm how many of those bottles they had in stock. Received a response, “Thanks Jason for your interest. In fact, I only have a case and given the high demand you can submit your highest bid to me and I will get back to you at the end of the week to see if you won.” Me, “No thank you, I don’t play this game. Goodbye”.
And finally, few days ago I saw a few mags of Bottles A, B and C that interested me on WS Pro and so I emailed Retailer D to confirm they had those in stock and at said advertised price. Received a response, “Sure Jason, how many would you like”. Me, “Just 1 of each mag, so 3 total”. A day later, “Sorry Jason, I can’t find these in my warehouse I must have sold them. I can definitely order these from my importer and have these delivered to you soon.” In my head (“no you can’t”). Another day later, “Sorry Jason my importer has none left to sell, however, I have plenty of this producer’s wines across many vintages. How many would you like and which wines?” Me: “No thank you, I just want THIS specific bottle from THIS specific vintage from THIS specific producer. Thank you, goodbye”.
The sad part is (and I hope I’m wrong) by interacting with these retailers I got the sense that they knew exactly what they we doing. They didn’t have these bottles in stock or weren’t going to sell me these bottles as advertised, they just wanted my eyeballs and potential dollars on their website. That’s fine, you can sell how you want to sell. I’m smart enough to make my own decision. But as a consumer, I just want a simple and painless transaction. Is it that friggin’ hard?
Hope everyone is having a better buying week than me.
