Roberto, I have been just as loud in your store about the amazing bottles of Champagne you have sold me.
Thank you verrrrrrrrrrrrrry much!
How do you handle that situation?
There are just so many ways you could have handled it. To be nice, you could have told him it was a 98 point wine and he brought something that was way too sophisticated for his friends. Then he’d feel superior and you’d retain him as a customer. That might be worth doing because a jerk with money to spend can be a prize if you can get that money out of his pocked w/out too much headache.
If that didn’t work you can tell him that you’re going to remove him from the store if he doesn’t shut up and that you’re fed up with him constantly coming back into the store complaining about wine he bought and this time you’re just not giving him yet another replacement bottle. His tantrum is about theater so you just need to out-act him and get him out of the store while keeping the customers on your side.
Or you can take a few bottles of Yellow Tail, soak the labels off, and keep them in the back of the store in a special box. Take him back there, tell him that you have a few bottles direct from Italy that you got as barrel samples and they’re going to get a thousand points in the next WS or WA or whatever but you can’t sell them because they’re unlabled, etc. Tell him you’re sorry about the experience but you want him to have something impressive for the next time and this one will be on you, please take a bottle and enjoy it.
Or you can pee in the bottle first and then do as above.
There are just so many ways to deal with jerks - it all depends on your fancy at the moment.
I think the key was the word embarrassing, plus the corked comment. It is clear this person was buying a bottle to impress or at least hang with a group of folks who probably knew something about wine - at least more than him, which is clearly not very much at all. The wine, for whatever reason, failed to accomplish what he was seeking. He thus made a bad showing. As someone who had put himself as a novice in the hands of your store, he felt that you were to blame. Asking him questions around the specifics - given his lack of knowledge to begin with - I would think would only rub salt in the wound.
This is more of a question about your policy than it is about the individual. As an example, Neiman Marcus takes back merchandise no questions asked. Always. There is a famous story about them taking back a set of tires from one disgruntled customer - and they don’t even sell tires. If you are looking to nurture this guy’s and others’ interest in wines about which they initially know nothing (and more importantly nurture his relationship with your store), then it would make sense that you offer a no questions asked replacement guarantee - if you don’t like it, we clearly did not understand your need (assuming the bottle is not flawed) and thus bare responsibility. Of course if it was flawed…same result. If instead you are looking to sell predominantly to the more sophisticated folks who know more about wine and want they are looking for - well then tell the guy to get lost.
If you spent five minutes in Roberto’s store, you’d know which of the two groups his shop is aiming for.