The Griffe de Marquis listing stood out for me too as a warning they had finessed the discount as a way to still make a decent profit.
Of course the Coudert Griffe is now $27, which is a nice price, although not 50% off…
The Griffe is sold out. I was holding on for that price, but that’s the breaks. There’s always more wine to buy.
I love Crush and buy a lot of pre-arrival deals. And I used to – key words “used to”-- buy from the progressive sales, which were indeed straight forward sales. But I agree that the new model is more like a Zachy’s sucker punch offer, where insanely marked up wines go on “sale” for more market in-line pricing. I don’t think the current practice does Crush’s reputation any favors. However, they’ve always treated me well on all other fronts, and I’ll continue to buy from them outside the progressive sale ridiculousness.
Still trying to learn that…
+1
Does anyone remember the KB Toy store fiasco in 2003? There was a class action law suit against KB Toys for
Plaintiff alleges that Defendants implemented a pricing scheme that utilizes two different prices which are placed in near proximity of one another on price tags, on shelf tags, on in-store signs and in retail and online advertisements. One price, a comparative or “reference” price, is printed in black ink and then crossed out in red ink. A lower, second price, which the consumer must pay to purchase the product, is displayed in simulated handwritten red ink. Plaintiff alleges that the comparative or “reference” price for the product is not the prevailing market price for the product and that little or no actual sales were ever consummated or expected at this price. Rather, Plaintiff alleges that it is a fictitious amount used to make the actual purchase price for the product appear as a bargain and as a reduction from the comparative price.
They ultimately settled the suit by having 30% off all items in the store and agreed to stop the practice. I’m not sure why more stores don’t get targeted for the deceptive practice.
Bought the 2010 Drouhin Mouches red for $59.98 today at Crush. Good price.
Don’t be angry, if you don’t like the pricing don’t buy.
Suzanne, you did read Charlie’s and other similar posts above yours, right? I was considering purchasing, but after pulling this kind of bullsh&t, Crush will never get a cent from me.
I do find it curious that the most blatant shops mentioned on the interwebz are both in the NYC area.
I don’t think its that simple in this case. Do you not agree that crush is purposefully deceiving its customers with this pricing tactic?
Bevmo got nailed with a class action case a few years back re their 5 cent wine sale, not sure what the outcome was.
Exactly. Great get! I bought a couple bottles yesterday at $72, which I already felt was a good price. Would have love to get it at $60, but I’m a happy customer as is.
I see where Suzanne is coming from. Bought 3.
The pricing for the wines purchased was “reasonable” but certainly not -50% from anyone’s normal retail. The Zachy’s-like blowout hype is annoying and not too hard to see through.
If you stop in or normally deal with Crush, you should be able to recognize that it’s a good store and missing Zachy’s customer service purgatory as well as the unpredictably profound shipping/storage disconnects.
RT
As an aside, I represented a major Florida corporation many years ago that was sued by the state attorney general for deceptive trade practices, consisting of advertising sales of 30%-50% off of prices that were allegedly inflated for the sale (some products allegedly had the prior, lower sales sticker under the alleged sale price sticker), and then later for using “going out of business” sales signs when the business was in fact, not really going out of business (allegedly). It did not go well for us. It is out of business, now.
The problem I had is that you used to be able to scan the list and be pretty sure that anything on it was at least a reasonably good deal. The past several sales, you have to really weed through the prices, which make it too bothersome an exercise when even the good prices are often only a few percent less than the real price.
It becomes not worth my time to sort through the sale to find a couple bucks in savings.
More 2010 Drouhin Mouches at $60 and 2010 Pousse Soixante Ouvrees at $65 for me, I guess 
Shame on Crush for being deceptive and offering these two wines at WS Pro lows. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Sure it’s a bit tricky, but it’s not thaaat deceptive. They’re not lying about what they’re going to charge you. Either you’re willing to pay the offered price, or you’re not. If not, don’t buy it. With wine-searcher it’s pretty easy to figure out if it’s a good price or not. Everything else is marketing fluff. People who get sucked in by the “OMG IT’S 50% OFF!!!” are, well, suckers.
![[welldone.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/fc9709a841aa9379fd892a9cf0b535b05f473b86.gif "[welldone.gif]"){kind=small}
JJ Buckley did this in at least one of their recent clearance sales as well. A bunch of wines suddenly spiked in price and then the 30/40% off sale prices were similar to the previous Private Client Pricing. The absolute prices were still good.
RT
Agree. They are usually a class act and should rethink the new progressive sale promotion pricing.
Yeah, but if it’s not 50% off, then don’t say it’s 50% off! Is that so hard?
And, yes, we all agree that of course a business needs to prosper, but who want to enter into each and every commercial transaction assuming that your counterparty is trying to play you for a sucker? Is that really the marketplace we want?