4 buddies and I decided to order the 2013 WOTY Cune Reserva today. Lincoln Fines Wines in Santa Monica, a store we have all frequented before had 40 in stock when we checked online. We each decided on a a 6-pack (given the soon-to-be price increase, we would like to try these at a relative “discount”), and we could stop by anytime and pick up the order.
I have known their online inventory to be a pretty accurate reflection of real-time in the store.
By the time I placed an order, they had 31 left. So we ordered all 31 between the 5 of us, and I put it on my card.
I get an e-mail confirmation just an hour or so ago stating my order is now 2 bottles.
Any ramifications of this, other than the fact that this is just bad business?
All 5 of us have been a customer of theirs, every now and then stopping in and buying bottles. As of now, we will no longer be their customers as it is obvious what their intent is.
I have had this happen to me on occasion at other merchants… It is no big deal and to me, not bad business. Possibly, as Joe, just mentioned, they received a ton of orders and did their best to allocate so everyone got a couple. People, unfortunately, go crazy on the WOTY and start searching everywhere. The other people might have been lesser, equal, or better customers than you and the store needed to keep as many folks happy as possible. This is just a theory and again, to me, nothing to get all worked up about.
My guess is that they got a ton of orders and rather than let one person hog them all they allocated so that more people had a chance. They had no way of knowing you represented five people altogether rather than just one person. I would be happy they didn’t stop all orders and bump the price before selling any.
I disagree with everyone so far, I think. Their system should have real-time inventory that tracks when a bottle is put into a cart. You purchased 31 bottles, paid for them, and IMO, that’s what you should have received. Bad business and service. HOWEVER, octet don’t have a system set up and they were hit with orders at the same time (not sure how realistic this is), then they should have explained that in the email and I would be less frustrated. Just my opinion, of course.
In all seriousness, I think you obviously didn’t realize that this sort of order cutting happens quite frequently with WOTY orders. You would have been smarter for each person to order their own.
I believe that this is an exception to wanting the store to have to-the-moment inventory and expect them to fill the order if they actually have the wine. In truth the store should have known the announcement was coming and perhaps pulled the wine from availability or limited the number each customer could buy via the website. But they can’t exactly sit waiting for the moment the announcement comes, and then they might not even have a method in their checkout system to limit the number. In reality this event really only occurs once per year. Even parker 100s don’t cause this amount of bum-rush.
If there are only 10,20…50 bottles in stock the vendor should try to avoid having 30+ go to one person. Each bottle is now a commodity and I would think they’d be best (for their own repeat customers and a wider customer base) to try and spread the wealth. especially as they are not a very large operation. I might wish I got four, but I wouldn’t be pissed that I didn’t get 30. Especially since the order is pretty much a cherry-pick initiated by an early warning on WOTY. It would be different if one had ordered days or weeks ago and then got penalized by the rush. But in reality you just beat other people by minutes. That’s just my .02c.
I’d explain my situation of being different customers and maybe mention if I’d been a big buyer there. Maybe it buys some goodwill or a couple of extra bottles. If it doesn’t, do you really believe that it will be the best wine you drink this year? Be disappointed, but not massively.
I’m okay with two bottles… I’m not complaining. Our little doc group will open it together and enjoy them and see what the fuss (or lack thereof) was about. Maybe it’s not that great for a $60 wine… who knows, and may be thankful we weren’t stuck with 2 1/2 cases.
Yes I know this can happen with the WOTY. I figured it would, but I know Lincoln Fine Wines’ online system is accurate to real time inventory. It is not possible to have “oversold” as I saw the inventory dwindle as I was looking to purchase. Could all of us hopped on the computer and order 6 each? Sure… if we were all on the computer. We had agreed that if the WOTY was less than $100, we would try to each secure a 6-pack. I was the only one available at that time when WOTY was revealed and sure enough was lucky that a local store had it.
Whether they are trying to redistribute the wealth or be a little greedy and resell when prices move is immaterial. The bottles were available and I purchased it. End of story. They should have honored it.
Is it a big deal in the end that we didn’t get 30 bottles? Definitely not.
Will any of us shop there again… ABSOLUTELY NOT.
I don’t think it’s sucky at all. No more than swooping in and attempting to buy up all the bottles only once WOTY is announced. Seriously, there isn’t much of a reason to have done this other than to flip for a nice profit, is there?
Inventory slanted toward CA Cabernet and Pinot but they have a little bit of all the popular international regions. The price is average, you pay a little extra for the convenience.
The OP was splitting with four other people. The store didn’t know that, but the buyer’s intent shouldnt matter anyway. If you have inventory and I buy it, then you take it away for any reason other than, “We’re really sorry but we made a huge mistake and the number we had was misrepresented,” how is that ok from customer standpoint.
The year the Kosta Browne Sonoma Coast was number one, we had it on our website. Next to the name and vintage was “Quantity Available 1.” By the time I got to the store at 9AM, there were orders for a total of 126 bottles. The first order was for 2 cases and all but one order was for multiple bottles. Not a single order was from a regular customer and by 10AM we had the lowest price in the world on the wine. We are a mom and pop store, (no employees), don’t and won’t have a live inventory.
I’m okay with two bottles… I’m not complaining. Our little doc group will open it together and enjoy them and see what the fuss (or lack thereof) was about.
It’s good enough. But the 2001 and 2005 are better and besides, it’s way too young to drink because that is a wine that will age forever. It isn’t a Napa Cab. Sure, you can drink it now and it won’t be tannic and it won’t be closed, but if you wait 20 years it will evolve into something much better. Their wines from the 1990s are still young, those from the 70s are drinking well.
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crazy on the WOTY and start searching everywhere. The other people might have been lesser, equal, or better customers than you and the store needed to keep as many folks happy as possible. This is just a theory and again, to me, nothing to get all worked up about.![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
