From the Maison Ilan thread, Dan Wirsig offered this truism:
Customer service is rule #1 in most all business. See Rhys or Dirty & Rowdy for an example of what the gold standard should be.
When I ran a product based business I was amazed at how many people didn’t share my tastes, have the same view, or care about the same things as I did, yet would still buy things for other reasons. A story only goes so far, and many people don’t care about it.
My thought was “There are tons of examples of really good customer service in the wine business”. It’s more the rule than the exception.
Off the top of my head:
Stefania
Lillian/Antica Terra
Bedrock
Donelan
Tercero
Keating
Loring
Jean Edwards
Merry Edwards (must be a family thing)
Kaella
Coleman Nicole
Kaella Dave, in particular, went above and beyond the call of duty, replacing a bottle and then some when I posted an unscored tasting note to CT indicating a cork flaw in one of his bottles. Mind you, I had not contacted him directly, nor asked for an explanation or refund (stuff like that happens). Nevertheless, he spontaneously sent not one, but two, replacement bottles. Very cool!
Let me put it this way - I buy a decent amount of wine (200+ btls a year) from all of the usual suspects (Myriad/Quivet/12C/Carter/Patine, Sojourn, Saxum, Eric Kent, Rivers Marie, Rhys, Realm, Williams Selyem, Kosta Browne, among others), and I always get what I would call the “gold standard” in service. If I am in their area, other than Saxum, I am always accommodated with free tastings or tours. I can defer my shipments, and they do it on their own in warm weather. I don’t know of a small producer that would survive if they didn’t provide this level of service.
As a Rhys customer and reading all the allocation threads, it’s incredible to me the amount of specific questions Kevin is asked (I’m guilty of asking specifics at times) and answers with incredible patience in a positive manner. Many of the questions could be construed as snarky, negative etc and their team never loses their cool. I can’t imagine how tiresome it is to be peppered with all those opinions and questions.
Hardy (Dirty & Rowdy) has gone far above the call of duty as well. Their shipping co screwed up once and shipped during a heat wave to my offsite. I was bummed initially and figured I’d take a look at bottles and see their condition when I had time. Before I ever contacted them he reached out and explained the shipping snafu and told me he was going to replace them. I probably wouldn’t have even contacted him for replacements but the fact he was so proactive was really amazing.
Just two examples, also agree with all others listed in this thread.