My wine specialist loses (doesn’t place after e-mail) about 5-10% of my orders and as Pat said, rarely replies (~25%?) to non-order requests.
By “lost” order I mean no reply (or completed order) to an emailed order request within 24-48 hrs (weekends excluded). After re-emailing my order about 75% were filled, with the remainder sold out and truly lost. It doesn’t happen often, but the mediocre service has elicited a rapid decline in my JJB purchases (from almost 60% of overall annual purchases in 2013 to only 10% so far in 2014) (although Beserker Day V and new mailing lists helped too
From my experience, your rep will send out “special client pricing” on select deals. Usually a deal a day.
They also seem to be able to offer pricing that is better than advertised on their website for pretty much every non-sale item (not sure if this is still the case).
Other than that they’re pretty much responsible for all customer service/shipping etc.
I used to deal with Alex Lallos - and he was great, he dissappeared and someone on the board gave me an intro to Devon Magee - I dindn’t order anyting for 3 or so months after that and he dropped me like the proverbial hot potatoe.
I even wrote to him and asked why I haden’t received any offers - no response. Hmmm
But after dealing with a specialist I cant order from the website!
Funny, I used to deal with Alex Shaw. I guess I didn’t order for a few months and stopped getting offers. Took me a while to realize (I get so many wine offers hard to pay attention to one store). When I realized I wasn’t getting any offers- private client or general- I tried logging on, get “An internal error has occured”. Emailed both Alex and JJB’s contact info, never got a response.
I seem to manage to easily spend my wine budget without JJB, but strange.
I will say Alex was very responsive when I was a customer.
I had John Perry for years up until a few months ago. He got out of sales and took a different position within JJB which was good for him and his family. I can honestly say John was the best wine person I’ve ever dealt with on the retail side. Responded to emails instantly, after hours. Rare mistakes were always made right. Was very patient in helping me put together a large order of 2010 Bordeaux. I certainly miss John, his shoes are hard to fill. I’ve had Alex Shaw since John left sales and he seems to always respond in a timely manner.
Exactly my experience. I’ve been arranging shipping for a bunch of '10 Bordeaux with Alex and so far so good. John was the one who helped me put the order together to begin with before he moved over.
I think the idea is a good one, but I don’t like how the “private client offers” are different depending on who your guy is. Also, it doesn’t make sense that the lowest prices aren’t published on their website, since you don’t really know what the “real” price would be.
Having a specific person who knows what you’re looking for is nice though.
It is interesting. Here’s my take as a customer of theirs. The way I’m tied to one salesperson makes it seem like more of a sales interaction than a personal one. I know it’s about sales, but we all know that the process is a lot more enjoyable for the customer when they don’t feel like a faceless dollar sign. I get far more personalized service from several other retailers even though I interact with multiple people at most of those organizations. The one other place where I really only talk to one guy has been fantastic because he actually interacts with me on the personal level of learning what I like and telling me about the wines he sells which might interest me. My Buckley guy will randomly try to push some wine like a 2004 red Burgundy (to give a real example) with no explanation other than that I buy Burgundy and it’s “delicious”. I suspected that they were just trying to get rid of that particular wine. I kind of feel like my only importance as their customer is to get commission for my salesperson. They have good deals on some wines that I want, so I have no problem buying from them, but this system has done nothing to incentivize me to try to buy from them when I have other options. The one small problem I had with them was resolved well and easily enough, but the fact that they haven’t done anything wrong doesn’t necessarily make the relationship seem that great.
Obviously I’m ITB, so I have no idea if I view these things differently from the average customer. I buy wines from retailers in other areas when I want items that are either too tightly allocated or too expensive for me to reasonably get them in MA. I’ve had good experiences with most places, and great experiences with Crush, Chambers, Rare Wine Company, and Wine Library (you guys have earned your great reputation). That’s not to say anything negative about anywhere else I’ve shopped, but through various types of interactions with those places, including the very occasional problem which will happen with any business, all of those stores have done everything exactly as I would have hoped, sometimes even surpassing my expectations. I’m kind of glad I don’t have a “personal wine specialist” at any of those places.
Also, I agree that the pricing thing is really weird. I call to order a wine and get offered a lower price than what’s on their website. That’s fine, but why can’t I see the real prices while I shop?
I recently bought wine in person at a retailer who had a sale price listed online but not in the store. If I hadn’t asked if they could honor it, it seemed like I was going to be paying a MUCH higher price for the wine. If I had then gone home and seen the sale prices online, I would have been pretty upset.
My specialist didn’t check the email I had sent him for their big closeout sale, so I only gone one bottle of the approximately 20 I had asked for. I wasn’t terribly amused…
My specialist is Roland. I’m such a low quantity buyer, I don’t expect much priority out of his day. Sounds like other specialists are better, especially if your $ spend is $$$$$$.
To be honest, the sales and occasional PCP is the only thing that really gets me excited. The website is a disaster, pricing (on website) mediocre, and their normal email blasts are often nothing interesting.
Better to deal with someone like WL even if I have to put up with Ian!
It’s just interesting to me that they are able to somewhat effectively make it work. I get the pluses and minuses (just like anything else b/c of the human element), but based on the reactions here, it seems like folks are really in to it. I preach finding someone that can help you with purchasing, it’s a good way to make sure you are buying smart. I assume they are selling more expensive wine, and not the latest thing that Parker gave a 94 to that’s $11.99. Having someone that knows your tastes is a huge plus (it’s what I really like to do for sure) for a customer, ITB guys are a whole other breed of character
I thank you for your kind words as well. That’s very good company to be in as well.
Adam Bloom, replaced Eddie Starts with a W polish name recently. First interaction was on the Bins End sale and he got me everything I wanted. Its his misfortune that I’m in a bit of a buying lull right now.
Same here - he’s pretty good at getting my orders in and is OK in responding to my pricing queries, but given that I’m not spending $Ks on Bordeaux futures I don’t expect much more than that.
I think there is a lot of potential with the concept but needs to be executed much better than JJB (many have provided the big negatives - lack of pricing transparency, hit or miss communication, seemingly high turnover, etc).
I’m no whale myself, but when I ask something like “is it possible to get my wine shipped out next week” I expect an answer within 24 hours. I certainly expect an answer when I ask twice. 96 hours and counting.
edit: I’m not sure why its relevant how much money someone spends at a retailer if they are even remotely a regular customer. I expect to get quality service and timely responses to inquiries whether I’ve spend $1,00 or $10,000+ with them. This is what attracted me to Wine Library, K&L, and Rare Wine Company. Great service all the way around. Problems are few and far between, and those are always rectified without me blowing a gasket.
