Price Adjustments on Wine

[Michael_Martin]

You should be happy that you can buy a case of Bedrock locally. There are thirsty children in the USA who wish they could buy it. Now drink your wine and like it.

[Markus_S]

There’s cheap, and then there’s cheep.

[Victor_Hong]

If a permanent lowest-price guarantee was included with the purchase, a refund seems allowable. Otherwise, this idea is another reason why normal people hate OCD-plagued, hoarding-afflicted wine geeks.

[JulianD]

Maybe if you bought it a week ago. But 6 months? Can’t believe this is even a serious question.

[PeterH]

Part our business is retail. When we put something on sale, anyone who bought the item within the return period can request and receive a price adjustment. Customers are not always reasonable, however. Sometimes they ask more than a year later. Prices of materials change, and the dollar changes value against other currencies. If an item was a higher price in the past it doesn’t mean the price was too high at the time.
Even more unreasonable is for a customer to demand newly introduced features to be added to an old product (at no cost). Whoever said that the customer is always right must have never dealt with the public.

P Hickner

[TBurklow]

@Scott Everson

Many decades ago, my wife’s parents moved from Pakistan to Canada, carrying in their pockets all the money they had ($900). Accordingly, my wife retains many of the values instilled upon her from her parents with respect to saving every dime possible. She looks for sales, uses coupons religiously, and she taught me about the concept of price adjustments (getting money back when you purchase something that later goes on sale for a lower cost).

So, if I bought a case of Bedrock from a well known retailer here in Portland last year for $449, and six months later they were selling it for $419, and today they are still selling it for $419, should I be able to bring back the entire case, still untouched, and receive a $30 credit, or would you all consider that inappropriate?

[Scott_Everson]

It feels less obnoxious to me than haggling for prices at a restaurant.

[Victor_Hong]

Negotiating a potential new deal differs from trying to back out of an executed deal.

[jbray23]

I would never do this as I think it’s poor form and generally I buy wine from people i know and would hate to sour the relationship.

I also get special perks and benefits from the people I deal with as well, if I ever tried to haggle over $30 then I know I would lose those benefits of the relationships I have cultivated over the years. Something to think about as you move forward: have you cultivated a relationship with this retailer? If you haven’t, why? If so what special perks or benefits do you receive?

I often times will gift special bottles or pop in with a special bottle that I know the shop will appreciate, to me wine is a different commerce model, it’s not just a transaction but a relationship that you create.

When those 13’ Burlotto’s come in, I’ll be able to score a few to keep my vertical going vs. being shut out based on the silly 100pts.

Relationships are important, do yourself a favor and cultivate them, you will be repaid many times over that $30…

[Michael_Martin]

@Scott Everson

It feels less obnoxious to me than haggling for prices at a restaurant.

What?

[LMD_Ermitano]

@Alan Eden

If your concerned about $2.50 on a good bottle of wine this might not be the right hobby

This.

[Jeff_Cassetta]

@Victor Hong

Negotiating a potential new deal differs from trying to back out of an executed deal.

Hey, how about discounting me those Treasury’s I bought last month, since they’re less now…

[TBurklow]

@Scott Everson

It feels less obnoxious to me than haggling for prices at a restaurant.

[Nathan_Smyth]

@PeterH

Whoever said that the customer is always right must have never dealt with the public.

God, I’d hate to be in retail in this environment.

After 10 more years of the great race to the very bottom of any possible profit margin, upwards of 100% of all wine sales will be made by Jeff Bezos & delivered to your doorstep via robotic drones who will scan your retina to confirm your identity.

Maybe even prick off a little of the ol’ DNA for good measure.

And because cash will have been outlawed by then, a record of the e-transaction will be uploaded to your permanent file at the NSA.

Along with your DNA.

[TBurklow]

[John_Morris]

@Steve Gautier

@Howard Horwitz

Airlines do this sort of thing – credits and refunds – all the time when fares decrease.

@John Morris

Huh? They regularly sell off seats close to the date of departure at discounts. I’ve never heard of them giving credits to people who bought earlier. Is that if you have a lot of miles or a card with them or something?

Standard policy on Southwest. If you see your fare has been reduced, you “change” your flight to the exact same flight and get a credit for the difference which can be used up to a year from the original purchase.

OK, not a refund but a credit toward a future purchase. Nice!

But that’s Southwest, which is generally customer friendly. Delta, United, American? I doubt it.

[alan_weinberg]

@alan weinberg

and if the price goes up, are you giving them the additional money?

still haven’t had my question answered.

[R_Gilbane]

@Scott Everson

Many decades ago, somebody asked a silly question about returning good wine for a small price refund and everyone had a good chuckle at the absurdity of the question. The end.

FIFY

[Philip_N_Jones]

The answer is no. Not now. Not ever. Don’t even.

[GregT]

If I’m going to go spend $500 or the better part of a grand on 2015 German Riesling, I don’t think asking for $30 is an altogether unreasonable request.

As Victor and a few others have said, if you’re negotiating a deal, that’s one thing. Trying to renegotiate a deal from six months ago is completely different.

As far as that retailer goes, you have no idea what the price cut is about. They may have had too much of the wine in stock and consequently they are trying to reduce their inventory. Or they may have been offered a fantastic deal by a distributor that had to clear out some wine for some reason.

I say do whatever blows your hair back, but if I were the retailer, I’d rather not have you as a customer at all than have to deal with you tracking prices months or years later and asking for an adjustment.

You might ask your wife’s parents what they would do. You say you learned this sort of thing from her but people who grow up being careful about their money would still get the points being raised here. One way to look at it is to substitute anything else for wine - a car, clothes, groceries, a restaurant meal, electronics, furniture, appliances, etc. Would you go back after 3, 6, 12 months and ask for a reduction in what you paid? Or try to return the product?

Also, keep in mind that in many places it’s illegal to return wine anyway. You might want to look into that.