Move on. You and the retailer simply won’t or shouldn’t have a relationship. No point whining about it.
+3. At least the retailer was politely up front about it. I’d suggest moving on and finding another retailer.
You’ve waffled for almost a year on ~$50 bottles and asked a store to create a layaway program so you can save a few bucks on shipping. Sorry, I’m with the retailer - juice ain’t worth the squeeze. Maybe would’ve had more luck having them hold for shipping if you had purchased at least a few bottles, but too many swings and misses.
+4 high maintenance callers - non-buyers need to be shown the door.
Not sure how asking a couple questions about items for sale is necessarily high maintinence, but your points are taken.
If this was one of the retailers that does a high volume and generally offers highly competitive prices, then the reaction you got was not unprecedented.
Everything comes at a cost- and wine retailers who do high volume on low margins are moving a lot of product and do not have the time, nor the incentive, to spend a lot of time on or make special sales accommodations for those who are not spending money. It is nothing personal.
Same applies in other lines of business.
We had a person who used to call and talk to Carrie for up to an hour. At one point he would call once a week. Questions started out about various wines, wine makers and growing regions. Then one day he showed up at the shop and talked with Carrie for an hour or more, with the conversation moving towards how he could get into wine making and asking for introductions and/or wineries he could intern with. That’s how we met Ray Walker.
This reminds me of the time I was in a high-end wine store making a fairly large purchase. I was paging through my Cellar Tracker account on my phone when the cranky, cantankerous store owner approached and unleashed a rant on me about deadbeats coming into his store and price shopping him with the high volume retailer down the street. He really let me have it with both barrels and I wasn’t even price shopping him!
Maybe the retailer didn’t like your avatar.
That I could understand! Unfortunately, I am pretty sure the proprietor is not a berserker.
Obviously no soup for you! Move on. Perhaps if these were wines for a same-sex marriage, this could have become a supreme court case, but it’s not.
You post their responses to e-mails that you also don’t post?
Would provide some context for everyone if you posted the e-mails you had sent them RE your orders and inquiries.
I have cut people out of my life for less
+5
Ooo, heartless.
Here are all of my ‘high maintenance’ question e-mails as well as my purchase e-mail. I did not include specific wine discussed as this would absolutely identify the proprietor.
11 Jan 2017
Hey xxxx,
I am thinking about placing an order online, but I wanted to reach out first to ask a couple of questions about the wines you have in stock for (region) and (region).
For (region) - I am looking at the wines of (producer), but notice this (vineyard) is not in stock. Is that something you will be getting in?
For (region) - have you tried the 2015 (producer)? If yes, how does it compare to the 2014?
Thanks for doing god’s work!
Cheers,
Adam
(They did not stock the single vineyards because the last vintage didn’t sell. Proprietor preferred the '14, which swayed me. )
28 June 2017
Hey Team,
I am looking to put together a mixed case of the (producer) from (region). With some of (producer) mixed in.
Do you offer a case discount? Because while your pricing is great, East Coast shipping can get expensive.
Thanks and cheers,
Adam
(some of the wine sold out)
28 Jul 2017
Hey xxxx,
Could I start building a case or two piece meal over the next few months and have shipping charges charged all at once when the wine ships to the east coast later in the fall?
Cheers!
Adam
11 Nov 2017 (proprietor’s response is in OP)
Hey Team,
I’d like to start the case with the following -
2x (producer)
2x (producer)
Thanks! And I’ll add on and round it out over the next month or so.
Cheers,
Adam
13 Nov 2017 (proprietor’s response is in OP)
I checked a few days ago and you had 3 different bottling in stock from (producer). Did you sell out? As I am not seeing any on your website.
Thanks and cheers,
Adam
(was planning on ordering 2 of each if they still had some)
Better than wine-less.
Too much work for too little profit on wines they can move anyway.
For some retailers, the idea of having to hold a bottle or two here and there until you finally fill up a case for shipping is more trouble than its worth. Lots of variables here–how large the store is, how many different bottles they carry, space available to store wine for months, concern about misplacing wines you’ve ordered, etc. It wouldn’t surprise me that some retailers would conclude that a customer like you isn’t worth the trouble in terms of how they manage staff and storage space.
Bruce
Which would have been totally understandable and I would have had zero problems with. But issues with limited space and staffing in never came into the conversation. The issue they had was with taking time to answer the above questions and a weird paranoia about data mining.
- asked about a wine, wanted to know vintage comparisons. Perfectly reasonable. But still didn’t order
- asked about a wine, then asked for a case discount. Don’t know what their reply was, but you still didn’t order. I assume they replied.
- Asked about ordering again, still didn’t order.
- finally ordering, seems they didn’t want to bother anymore.
I can see why they decided not to do business. It happens.