I received emails yesterday that three of my orders shipped. Still unclear on two other orders. Not sure if I am getting the wines in those orders or not as no one seems to be able to answer that question. We’ll see. Billing the full order at the time of shipping is odd to me. Someone up-thread said this was standard practice, but I’ve never found this to be the case with reputable retailers in my 15-20 years of collecting wine. Does wonders for managing my wine spend as I’m now getting hammered with charges for wines I thought I bought in early May.
I have always understood (but this is all second-hand, so anyone who can correct me, please do), that it is standard practice in what used to be called the “mail order” industry not to charge your card until your order is shipped. I believe this may even be a legal requirement going back to the days when those “as seen on TV” products first started being marketed (pocket fisherman, anyone?). There was apparently some abuse, and I don’t know if it was just them playing the float or if people were charging and then not delivering, or what, but that’s the lore I’ve always heard, and it’s carried over to online sales. Buy something online and it’s generally the same thing. If you place your order on Friday but it doesn’t ship until Monday, they charge your card on Monday.
But I agree with you it is rare for wine shops to do this. Maybe some just aren’t aware of the law (if it is a law), but there’s also the huge difference that we are often buying “pre-arrival” (disclosed as such) or specifically for future delivery (again, disclosed as such or requested by us). I have to assume that the law (if it is a law) allows a winery or wine shop to charge at the time of the order if agreed to by the customer.
Wine.com does this for futures, but apparently for in-stock orders they follow the standard mail order/online practice rather than the standard “wine shop” practice.
If only they always followed the standard wine shop practice of setting your bottles aside once they’d sold them to you, and not selling them to someone else in the meantime. Best of luck on your orders in that regard, I’ll find out about mine in a week or three…
Thanks, Dave, for some more context. I never really focused on the fact that wine.com didn’t charge immediately until reading some posts in the various threads. I am done with wine.com at this point, so no worries moving forward. Good luck with your orders.
I personally will never buy from them again. Order place for a vacation and deliver to the rental home. Delivery was suppose to be the 8th. Never showed shipped. Emailed them and said I wouldn’t be at the address that much longer so if it wasn’t around the 8th cancel. Then I get an email on the 17th…it shipped. What??? Actually got a hold of someone. Said all the right things. Promised to get a hold of FedEx and pull the shipment. Promised to credit my card. Promised to give me a 15% credit. Then on the 22nd FedEx tried to deliver. This is to a RENTAL House. I am no longer there. After 3 attempts it is now going back to them. Still chasing my credit card adjustment. Emails go unanswered. Hanging on phone, eventually get to a recording “all agents are busy…call back later” and it disconnects. This is after 15 minutes on average wait. Going to just turn it over to my bank. This is probably the worst customer service I have had in a long time.
Your mistake was to rent the house, instead of buying.
Unfortunately, you have the bad luck to experience an issue at this time when their CS is completely overwhelmed. They would fix you right up if they were not overwhelmed. The one thing wine.com actually had going for it (other than the coupons) was really good CS. I think they got a lot of practice due to all the system and operational screw ups. But now even the excellent CS is screwed at the moment.
Bingo!
Sounds like a data security breach, at least.
Pain grille (toast).
D- rating from Better Business Bureau, better known as the Inspector Clouseau of Consumer Protection.
There is the possibility that all those discount coupons were to generate cashflow for it’s own sake. A bad scheme sounds possible.
Indeed, WSET has partnered with this e-tailer, and may wish to be informed of this mess. Perhaps, Addie Wallace, who posted here, may wish to do so.
Given the apparently large footprint of this e-tailer among conventional wine consumers, one wonders if this persistent fulfillment and billing mess may overtake the PC saga.
If you want to know how it is interacting with wine.com customer service these days, here’s an example.
Note all timestamps are UTC, but the wait times are indicative.
(11:34:56 PM) Me: Hello
(11:34:57 PM) Wine.com Customer Service : Thank you for reaching out. Due to high volumes, responses on chats may be delayed. We apologize for the inconvenience, and will be with you as soon as possible. In order to keep your spot in the queue, please make sure you check back every 15 minutes.
(11:35:57 PM) Customer Service: We apologize for keeping you waiting. Our agents are busy with other customers and will be with you shortly.
(12:17:02 AM) Me: hello?
(12:18:59 AM) *** Kiley joined the chat ***
(12:19:06 AM) Kiley : hello
(12:19:10 AM) Kiley : how can I help you
(12:19:11 AM) Me: Hi Kiley
(12:19:36 AM) Me: I have few orders that I had on hold to ship when the weather is a little more mild. It seems like the weather is fine now, so I would like them to ship as soon as they can
(12:19:48 AM) Kiley : sure
(12:19:49 AM) Me: The order numbers are as follows:
(12:20:05 AM) Kiley : i found them >
(12:20:09 AM) Me: great, thanks
(12:22:58 AM) Kiley : its actually scheduled for the 14th of october
(12:23:06 AM) Kiley : but i can go ahead and change it
(12:23:09 AM) Me: Yes, please
(12:23:25 AM) Kiley : ok
(12:50:58 AM) Me: hi kiley, just checking in on this and making sure i didn’t get disconnected
(01:02:24 AM) *** Kiley left the chat ***
(01:03:43 AM) Me: hello
(01:03:45 AM) Wine.com Customer Service : Thank you for reaching out. Due to high volumes, responses on chats may be delayed. We apologize for the inconvenience, and will be with you as soon as possible. In order to keep your spot in the queue, please make sure you check back every 15 minutes.
(01:52:25 AM) *** Kiley joined the chat ***
(01:52:42 AM) Kiley : Hi
(01:52:47 AM) Kiley : I went ahead and took the hold off your orders
(01:52:48 AM) Kiley : earlier
(01:53:08 AM) Kiley : It may take a moment for the system to update because we have been a little delayed with the upgrade
(01:53:12 AM) Kiley : but the holds been taken offen
(01:53:14 AM) Kiley : off
(01:53:20 AM) Me: ok, thank you!
(01:53:29 AM) Kiley : you are so welcome! Im sorry about that.
(01:53:35 AM) Me: no problem
(01:54:01 AM) Kiley : If it still isnt showing updated tomorrow- please let us know… but i changed the delivery date & took the hold off since it was orignally showing oct
(01:54:15 AM) Me: ok, will do… thanks very much
It’s now 24 hours later, absolutely no change to my orders’ status in my account. Do I dare get back in line for customer service?
I had an order I tried modifying for weeks, was assured it had been updated, but never changed in the app. Made one last attempt to change last week to no avail (it was released to the warehouse and couldn’t be changed). They offered to cancel and I accepted, but it still is showing a Friday arrival. I have the cancellation email, but still fully anticipate something arriving Friday…
Received email from customer service saying they would process a refund.
Let us see if THAT arrives as stipulated, or is held pending later weather. 
So I placed an order in early September, WDC kept going back and forth about whether the items in my order were actually in stock. First they said only 2 bottles were in stock (I ordered 3), then they said just one, then they told me two again. Order had been on hold - finally they said they apparently never had it in the first place, so I just told them to forget it and cancel the remaining item in my order.
At least they converted my $50 off promo code into GC credit that I can use on anything, but I don’t even know what to order now because I don’t really have much confidence. Took them 2+ weeks to figure out if their warehouse actually had the bottles in stock or not…who knows what else could be listed as available when its really not…
I had a total of 15 orders canceled (originally thought it was 10 but it was 15), all using various promo codes, and they didn’t offer me anything.
Seems like they really need to stop taking orders until they get their new system running properly and the current inventory accurate.
Maybe they are not honoring orders which are net money losers for them? They don’t charge until the order ships, right?
I predict a liquidity crunch.
What bottles is everyone actually ordering off wine.com to have these issues? Every time I checking pricing, so many other sites are at least 5-10% cheaper than wine.com, so struggling with what to buy, even with discounts.
I was so worried after reading all these posts because I placed about nine orders over the summer for some expensive bottles that I really wanted. When the weather got nicer, I got on the chat and got a hold of someone in 5 minutes. They took the hold off and set a ship date for me. All The wines arrived only a day late (today) and looked to be in great condition. And a bunch of cash backs showed up in my Rakuten account. The charges are all correct on my credit card, too. I guess I lucked out.
Great to hear that this is at least a potential outcome… ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}