I took a bottle out of my cellar yesterday that I received 3.5 months ago (Nov 5, '21) and realized immediately that I had mistakenly been sent the wrong bottle. It was similar to what I ordered- same producer, same varietal, similar looking label, but a different cuvee. The cost of the bottle I ordered and the one I received are similar. Worst of all, I opened the bottle before I realized the mistake.
What is the proper etiquette here? Let the company know? Say nothing and use it as a lesson to check my shipments more thoroughly? Something else?
Since you opened and consumed the bottle, I don’t think you have much recourse . . . but I would still reach out to whomever you purchased it from for their inventory may be off.
While there are situations where the specific bottle is critical (vertical/horizontal themed tastings, etc.), this doesn’t seem to be the case here. My take is no real harm/no foul, but if you really wanted to try the wine you ordered, contact the company and see if they would sell you a second bottle, perhaps at cost, but certainly with free shipping. Otherwise, I would just let it go. Mistakes happen even with the best companies.
Given the situation - already opened, same producer, same vintage but a different cuvee, and 3.5 months passed, I’d just move on. Would be polite to let them know for inventory purposes and so they can check their processes over and maybe in course they throw you a credit or something, but I certainly would not come into the conversation asking for anything in return.
I’m still unpacking shippers received at my offsite back in the fall. Surprisingly I’ve noticed few mistakes, but there was one recently where they sent me two bottles more expensive out of the case I ordered. So I emailed them and let them know.
I think the fact that you opened the wine changes things. But let’s engage in the hypothetical where the bottle hadn’t been opened. I think at that point, so long as you haven’t opened the bottle, it is still fair to reach out to the retailer. As Andrew noted, sometimes it takes a while for people to go through bottles that arrived. I’ve certainly had that happen a few times with one of my off-sites that take a while to inventory wines. I reached out to the retailer who promptly rectified the situation. Depending on the rarity of the wine in question, the retailer may not have more to replace the exact bottle, but most quality retailers will find a way to make it right by you.
Once I open the bottle it’s on me. Unopened…. A number of times I’ve received a similar bottle. For these I will contact the winery and just give them a heads up in the event they need to adjust their inventory. Not worth the hassle on either end to get the bottle swapped.
Where I’ve received a nicer bottling (say of a special block instead of an SVD) I’ve contacted the winery and asked them how they wanted to handle - swap wines, charge me the difference etc. They’re happy to notified but have always just told me if I’m happy keeping the wines they’re happy too.
Now if it was a significantly cheaper bottle than what I was supposed to receive, I’d ask for either a swap or compensation. But that hasn’t happened yet, thankfully.
Sorry, seeing a major disconnect here. Did you “realize immediately” you received something different from what you ordered or notice it only after you drank it? I had a similar problem recently but noticed the problem when I removed the paper wrapping from around a bottle I had received 3 months earlier (similar value but major vintage difference). The retailer, a board favorite, agreed immediately to switch out the bottle for the one I ordered, even though I acknowledged upfront it was my error in not checking out the box fully on receipt. I would never have considered opening the mistakenly shipped bottle without at least contacting them first if I wasn’t prepared to accept that bottle.
I agree with those that said it might be worth mentioning for inventory purposes but I would otherwise let it pass.
Well that wasn’t worded very clearly at all…my fault. I meant to say that I noticed in was the wrong bottle immediately after I pulled the cork. As in, the moment the bottom of the cork cleared the lip of the bottle, I saw the label and noticed that it was the wrong cuvee.
I let the seller know. They didn’t offer me a credit or anything even though the bottle I ordered is still in their stock. I can’t help but admit that I was hoping for maybe a little bit off the price of the bottle I wanted in the first place. Oh well, no biggie.
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