If you are in the delivery area of Golden State Overnight and are having your wine shipped via GSO you have to specify delivery instructions. This includes wine club, mailing list, etc. from wineries. If you need any special delivery instructions, they MUST be specified by the shipper (the winery). There are a number of wineries that use GSO in CA. Example: We didn’t specify delivery after 10 AM on two recent shipments. When I got to the store at 9:40AM the day of the first delivery, there was a tag on the door that delivery had been attempted. Called GSO and told them we open at 10 AM for all deliveries. The wine was deliverd the next day at 2PM and I told the delivery person we open at 10AM. One week later, I arrive at the store at 9:35 and there is a tag on the door that delivery had been attempted. Called GSO again and they told me they don’t monitor, track, or give a darn what are store hours are and if we want it delivered after 10AM, the shipper has to specify that information. The wine was delivered at 5:45PM by the same person as before.
To avoid complications in your deliveries, give the wineries/stores any specific delivery instructions that are needed or prudent when GSO is the shipper.
That is all. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Randy,
I don’t know what their problem is, but I pretty much avoid using them if I can.
I order from JJ Buckley every now and then and now always request UPS to avoid GSO delivery headaches.
I mean really, it’s like it’s just 2 guys in a van without a cell phone or something.
They seem very low tech.
GSO is horrible…had a shipment that never showed up, called the winery and they traced it and said I had signed for it. Day later I get a copy of the signature and it is not anywhere close and plus no one was even home in the afternoon. Another time the guy asked my 14 yr old son to just sign…
The only shipper I find to be customer friendly is FedEx…miss the delivery and you can reroute @ no charge to your local FedEx/Kinkos. UPS? They have only just started this option and drill you for $5 for the privilege.
I have had almost entirely positive experiences with them, responding to calls and emails and always ready to accommodate. Perhaps the driver for that route is a bad apple; I know the UPS guy who services my wine storage offsite is a huge PITA while the driver closer to home is very friendly and flexible. Hard to generalize.
GSO has been my preferred method for a while. BUT it may be that it works for me cause shipments go to my office which opens at 8:30. Only issue I ever had was a summertime shipment that came in the later afternoon that was clearly warm. I had relied on morning shipment and overlooked they apparently have a premium service that must be requested.
My Rhys shipments today are GSO and I have never encountered a problem, but I am in CA so maybe that explains some of it. Always to my office. Doors open at least 8 to 5.
i’ve had trouble with them, as well. i am always happy to pay whatever premium is required to use UPS or FedEx. the flexibility with delivery options and the reliable service far outweigh the cost of shipping, IMO. i’ve asked most of the wineries i buy from to ship anything other than GSO. we’ll see how it goes with my Rhys tomorrow which is coming GSO…
Use them all the time for JJB, William-Selyem, Keplingher and K&L, but I live in California and have the wine shipped to a business. No issues so far, fingers crossed.
No problems here either and they are a lot cheaper than the other 2 shippers. Their format is they hire random people to deliver stuff out of their own personal cars, so you can see how there might be issues, so far so good with me though.
Today I got my Rhys delivery with GSO and he rang doorbell 3 times before I excused myself on a phone call and accepted delivery. He was driving an older sedan of some sort.
Later in the morning I got a delivery from FedEx from Garagiste and 2 guys pulled up in a spiffy new van and had me sign digitally. Probably paid triple the delivery charges for the FE.
We (Randy & I) are in California and they are attempting delivery to our business, they also pick up and deliver to our business regularly and all of a sudden they can’t figure out when we’re open although we’ve called them several times requesting they update their info and our hours of operation are listed on our GSO account… That’s the frustrating part.
hahaha
