I ordered an older bottle of wine from a major retailer-- found it through Wine-Searcher, added it to my cart, gave my credit card information, and got an e-mail that they’d contact me to discuss shipping details. When someone from the store called, she told me that the wine I ordered wasn’t actually available by the bottle-- but I could order a case of it. So… why list it with Wine-Searcher by the bottle? She offered to sell me a different vintage by the bottle, but I passed.
Is this an innocent mistake, or do retailers “work” Wine-Searcher to get more visibility even when they can’t deliver? I’m inclined to believe the former, because the latter can’t possibly be good for business.
I have no personal experiences like that…well one kinda but I have heard of many. Wine-Searcher does have an ignore list that you can add retailers to that do this sort of thing.
I would hope that it was an honest mistake, but it’s happened a couple of times with me. I would order a bottle of something and would get an email back. “sorry we don’t have this, do you want that?”
I usually ignore these places if that ends up happening.
On the other hand, I’ve had places say “sorry, we don’t have this. We’re sorry for the mix-up, we didn’t mean to inconvenience you.”
I go back to these people as it (IMO) was obviously just an honest mistake.
When you say “major retailer” do you mean one that people generally think well of? There are a few outfits on Wine Searcher that don’t really have most of the wines in stock. They post their distributors’ lists and then try to get the wine when you order it. I guess it works ok for Yellow Tail, but not so much for hard to get wines.
I’m not sure if it’s okay to name names, but I will. It was Sokolin. I don’t really know anything about their reputation. Anybody? The woman on the phone was nice enough, but what surprised me was that she never said it was posted as a mistake-- just that I couldn’t buy it by the bottle. It sounded like standard practice.
Its happened to me a few times, not from Sokolin through. When I do get the call, I usually try and parlay it into a better deal on something else they have in stock, an “inconvenience discount” I guess. Sometimes it works out, other times I just walk away.
‘Make this mistake worth my while!’ If not, no biggie (just check your credit card statement carefully), but perhaps you’ll get something even better…never hurts to ask, and nowadays, it DOES hurt for a retailer to lose any sale, so they might make something happen.
Two things. First, Wine-Searcher has its members, but if the wine requested isn’t available through their subscribers, Wine-Searcher reachs out, finds it and lists its. We don’t have any affiliation with Wine-Searcher, but there have been occasions when our name popped up. When it happens, Wine-Searcher emails us wanting us to join 'cause they just posted our wine. Worse yet, the post they put on could be from a wine that was on our website the day they posted it and two weeks later its gone and no longer on our website, but they don’t update their site. We found this out on a few irate phone calls. Since then, we have had to email or call them and ask them to update their info.
The other thing is that we can’t always keep up with stock or immediately update our website when a walk-in buys the last bottle, so some times its an honest mistake.
We regularly use Wine-Searcher to keep our prices in line. We have contacted several businesses via Wine-Searcher for wines we run out of or are offered for less than our wholesale cost. Lo and behold, the businesses didn’t have the wine. So, now I’ve defended them and confirmed there is some bait & switch or businesses run worse than ours. [blackeye.gif]
On that bold note, definitely as of late! I’ve been reading some horror stories of people trying to recoup cash. That leads into a whole discussion about who you buy from on Wine Searcher. I try and only buy from places that I’m familiar with and/or have known people that have completed prior transactions without issue.
I bought from D. Sokolin a few times in 2000 but since stopped giving my business to them altogether. Never experienced this switching, but they would forget to send me the tracking number, wouldn’t answer my e-mails promptly (or at all until I threaten to cancel my order), etc. Switched to buying from a handful of California-based wine shops and have been very satisfied with their services.
When Sokolin had the NYC store, circa 1980s-1990s, it was great. He was knowledgeable and fair. I got many a great wines and advice from him.
Today I think the Hampton operation is his sons, who as Boarat says …‘not so good’.
I never actually completed a purchase with them since they pitched their new teepee without something going awry.
I’ve not had that very thing happen, but I have called a store after finding a wine through wine searcher only to be told, “Oh, we don’t have that any more, …” followed by “we’ve asked WS to update their information.” That comment has then been followed with “…but we do have…”
I don’t think the fault lies with WS, but some of the retailers. That said, I enjoy using WS and most always have a good experience with the retailers it has listed.
Well, it happened to me again today. I placed an order at a store (not the same one) that I found through wine-searcher for a magnum of '04 Geyserville (inspired by Tex Landreth’s 3L), and got a call back late this afternoon. They don’t have it, but they have the '06… at a higher price.
It’s not the end of the world to find out that something I wanted is out of stock, but again, I wish they’d do a better job of keeping their inventory up to date. It just makes a bad impression to lure a customer to your store with a product you don’t have, and then to offer something different that costs more.