Wine Insiders
Dec 4, 11, 1:39 am
#108
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: ONT
Programs: AA Gold, WN A-, UA S, HH ♦, IHG Spire, Hertz Prez O, TSA Disparager
Posts: 2,159
Dec 10, 11, 6:24 pm
#111
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 12
wine insider boo-boos
My order for was placed on November 9th for 1 Mixed 12 Bottle Sampler (B1GMF) as part of the USAirways Promotion. The reason for the order was two-fold:
1) I was trying to get one more essential point on the Grand Slam for Preferred Miles.
2) I was trying to gift my daughter in another state.
I received an order confirmation email dated Wed, Nov 9,2011.
I realized with the expected shipping date in the confirmation (probably about two weeks) I would miss the extra point. I was willing to suck it up. It was poor planning on my part.
From this point on, I received no other emails from Wine Insiders throughout November. I had given a Gmail account as my email address, and as most of you know, Gmail is not server-dependent and its accounts keep all Spam for 30 days. At this time, I have Spam dating back to at least November 7 2011. Therefore, NO email was received from the company.
On Wednesday, Dec 7, I called the company because my daughter never received her wine. I had checked my order # on their website and found that the order was unshipped. Since the promotion date for the USAirways points had long passed, I just decided to cancel the order. Their phone representative told me that
a) the product had been out of stock
b) I had been sent an email saying saying such (NOT TRUEsee above)
c) the order had been automatically cancelled. Note: nothing on their website said out of stock or order cancelled. It did say unshipped.
Imagine my surprise when I did hear again from the company by email less than two days later. At 1:05 a.m. December 9, 2011, an email was sent indicating that my order had been shipped.
How could a cancelled order have been shipped?
I called Wine Insiders early December 9 to ask about this new turn of events. The phone representative was a little unclear about what happened at first, but she said I would still get US Airways points, etc. I told her that Im sorry, that ship had LONG sailed and that I certainly did not want an order that I had been told on Dec 7 had been cancelled. She said she needed to check further. She then called me back at 7:32 a.m. EST Dec 9. She said that the only thing we could do at this point was to have my daughter refuse shipment. I explained that my daughter lived in an apartment building (no doorman), so while my daughter could refuse shipment, I had no idea if anyone else going out the door would take it upon himself to sign for it without her knowledge. She told me she would have Customer Service call me as soon as they got in this a.m
At 9:22 a.m., I received a voice mail on my cell phone (!) from Stephanie from a number that was not receiving return phone calls:
Here is what she said:
The company reserves the right to substitute
The holidays were what screwed this up (like how?)
I had to refuse shipment, and I would not be credited until it was received back in their warehouse (once again, the persons bearing the burden for all companys missteps was the customer making the order and the gift recipient).
I immediately called the 800 number Stephanie listed in the message, was put on hold for a bit, and the associate answering my call (not Stephanie) said that my order HAD BEEN cancelled. She said Stephanie had not read the notes and had misunderstood.
At this point I told this phone associate that I needed verification in WRITING (email) that the order had been cancelled; I reminded her that on Dec 7, a representative told me the order had been cancelled and it certainly had not been. Their phone representative told me that there was no way I could get verification; she told me my order had been cancelled, end of story. When I pressed further, she said there was no possible verification until the system updated on Sunday night.
Here are the points of my official complaint to them ( and yeah, at this point, I wanted to make sure it was documented!!!!!) :
1) I never received notification that the item was out of stock
2) Associate on Dec 7 felt free to lie saying I was sent notification
3) Associate told me on Dec 7 order had been cancelled anyway (apparently NOT)
4) Somehow cancelled order is shipped Dec 9 and its strange that verification of shipping email can get to me, but out of stock/order cancelled email does not.
5) I am told that it doesnt matter if the company screwed up, the burden of responsibility is now on me, the customer, to refuse it so that I get my money back.
6) I receive a phone message from Customer Service that directly contradicts the order of events and seems to contradict my desired outcome and then contradicts my follow-up phone call
7) I then am told to ignore the phone message but trust that the order has been cancelled
Please note:
I have no problem with the fact that they were out of stock. I do almost all of my non-grocery shopping by internet; things are out of stock all the time. I would have had no problem with a timely substitution. But I either receive an email or two or even a phone callor BOTH--when this happens.
I cant ever recall having a cancelled order shipped, either.
Result:
I'm totally rethinking even thinking about Grand Slam 2012.
Not worth it.
I can find a cheap flight run to get the Preferred Miles for far cheaper time and aggravation.
1) I was trying to get one more essential point on the Grand Slam for Preferred Miles.
2) I was trying to gift my daughter in another state.
I received an order confirmation email dated Wed, Nov 9,2011.
I realized with the expected shipping date in the confirmation (probably about two weeks) I would miss the extra point. I was willing to suck it up. It was poor planning on my part.
From this point on, I received no other emails from Wine Insiders throughout November. I had given a Gmail account as my email address, and as most of you know, Gmail is not server-dependent and its accounts keep all Spam for 30 days. At this time, I have Spam dating back to at least November 7 2011. Therefore, NO email was received from the company.
On Wednesday, Dec 7, I called the company because my daughter never received her wine. I had checked my order # on their website and found that the order was unshipped. Since the promotion date for the USAirways points had long passed, I just decided to cancel the order. Their phone representative told me that
a) the product had been out of stock
b) I had been sent an email saying saying such (NOT TRUEsee above)
c) the order had been automatically cancelled. Note: nothing on their website said out of stock or order cancelled. It did say unshipped.
Imagine my surprise when I did hear again from the company by email less than two days later. At 1:05 a.m. December 9, 2011, an email was sent indicating that my order had been shipped.
How could a cancelled order have been shipped?
I called Wine Insiders early December 9 to ask about this new turn of events. The phone representative was a little unclear about what happened at first, but she said I would still get US Airways points, etc. I told her that Im sorry, that ship had LONG sailed and that I certainly did not want an order that I had been told on Dec 7 had been cancelled. She said she needed to check further. She then called me back at 7:32 a.m. EST Dec 9. She said that the only thing we could do at this point was to have my daughter refuse shipment. I explained that my daughter lived in an apartment building (no doorman), so while my daughter could refuse shipment, I had no idea if anyone else going out the door would take it upon himself to sign for it without her knowledge. She told me she would have Customer Service call me as soon as they got in this a.m
At 9:22 a.m., I received a voice mail on my cell phone (!) from Stephanie from a number that was not receiving return phone calls:
Here is what she said:
The company reserves the right to substitute
The holidays were what screwed this up (like how?)
I had to refuse shipment, and I would not be credited until it was received back in their warehouse (once again, the persons bearing the burden for all companys missteps was the customer making the order and the gift recipient).
I immediately called the 800 number Stephanie listed in the message, was put on hold for a bit, and the associate answering my call (not Stephanie) said that my order HAD BEEN cancelled. She said Stephanie had not read the notes and had misunderstood.
At this point I told this phone associate that I needed verification in WRITING (email) that the order had been cancelled; I reminded her that on Dec 7, a representative told me the order had been cancelled and it certainly had not been. Their phone representative told me that there was no way I could get verification; she told me my order had been cancelled, end of story. When I pressed further, she said there was no possible verification until the system updated on Sunday night.
Here are the points of my official complaint to them ( and yeah, at this point, I wanted to make sure it was documented!!!!!) :
1) I never received notification that the item was out of stock
2) Associate on Dec 7 felt free to lie saying I was sent notification
3) Associate told me on Dec 7 order had been cancelled anyway (apparently NOT)
4) Somehow cancelled order is shipped Dec 9 and its strange that verification of shipping email can get to me, but out of stock/order cancelled email does not.
5) I am told that it doesnt matter if the company screwed up, the burden of responsibility is now on me, the customer, to refuse it so that I get my money back.
6) I receive a phone message from Customer Service that directly contradicts the order of events and seems to contradict my desired outcome and then contradicts my follow-up phone call
7) I then am told to ignore the phone message but trust that the order has been cancelled
Please note:
I have no problem with the fact that they were out of stock. I do almost all of my non-grocery shopping by internet; things are out of stock all the time. I would have had no problem with a timely substitution. But I either receive an email or two or even a phone callor BOTH--when this happens.
I cant ever recall having a cancelled order shipped, either.
Result:
I'm totally rethinking even thinking about Grand Slam 2012.
Not worth it.
I can find a cheap flight run to get the Preferred Miles for far cheaper time and aggravation.
Dec 10, 11, 8:49 pm
#112
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Toronto, NYC, somewhere on planet Earth
Programs: UA 1K, AA ExPlat, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Plat, Marriott Gold
Posts: 8,289
You have had a pretty good copy of what I went through. My suggestion is to complain to John of WineInsiders on Facebook -- got more help doing it this way than through their HORRIBLE customer service.
My order for was placed on November 9th for 1 Mixed 12 Bottle Sampler (B1GMF) as part of the USAirways Promotion. The reason for the order was two-fold:
1) I was trying to get one more essential point on the Grand Slam for Preferred Miles.
2) I was trying to gift my daughter in another state.
I received an order confirmation email dated Wed, Nov 9,2011.
I realized with the expected shipping date in the confirmation (probably about two weeks) I would miss the extra point. I was willing to suck it up. It was poor planning on my part.
From this point on, I received no other emails from Wine Insiders throughout November. I had given a Gmail account as my email address, and as most of you know, Gmail is not server-dependent and its accounts keep all Spam for 30 days. At this time, I have Spam dating back to at least November 7 2011. Therefore, NO email was received from the company.
On Wednesday, Dec 7, I called the company because my daughter never received her wine. I had checked my order # on their website and found that the order was unshipped. Since the promotion date for the USAirways points had long passed, I just decided to cancel the order. Their phone representative told me that
a) the product had been out of stock
b) I had been sent an email saying saying such (NOT TRUEsee above)
c) the order had been automatically cancelled. Note: nothing on their website said out of stock or order cancelled. It did say unshipped.
Imagine my surprise when I did hear again from the company by email less than two days later. At 1:05 a.m. December 9, 2011, an email was sent indicating that my order had been shipped.
How could a cancelled order have been shipped?
I called Wine Insiders early December 9 to ask about this new turn of events. The phone representative was a little unclear about what happened at first, but she said I would still get US Airways points, etc. I told her that Im sorry, that ship had LONG sailed and that I certainly did not want an order that I had been told on Dec 7 had been cancelled. She said she needed to check further. She then called me back at 7:32 a.m. EST Dec 9. She said that the only thing we could do at this point was to have my daughter refuse shipment. I explained that my daughter lived in an apartment building (no doorman), so while my daughter could refuse shipment, I had no idea if anyone else going out the door would take it upon himself to sign for it without her knowledge. She told me she would have Customer Service call me as soon as they got in this a.m
At 9:22 a.m., I received a voice mail on my cell phone (!) from Stephanie from a number that was not receiving return phone calls:
Here is what she said:
The company reserves the right to substitute
The holidays were what screwed this up (like how?)
I had to refuse shipment, and I would not be credited until it was received back in their warehouse (once again, the persons bearing the burden for all companys missteps was the customer making the order and the gift recipient).
I immediately called the 800 number Stephanie listed in the message, was put on hold for a bit, and the associate answering my call (not Stephanie) said that my order HAD BEEN cancelled. She said Stephanie had not read the notes and had misunderstood.
At this point I told this phone associate that I needed verification in WRITING (email) that the order had been cancelled; I reminded her that on Dec 7, a representative told me the order had been cancelled and it certainly had not been. Their phone representative told me that there was no way I could get verification; she told me my order had been cancelled, end of story. When I pressed further, she said there was no possible verification until the system updated on Sunday night.
Here are the points of my official complaint to them ( and yeah, at this point, I wanted to make sure it was documented!!!!!) :
1) I never received notification that the item was out of stock
2) Associate on Dec 7 felt free to lie saying I was sent notification
3) Associate told me on Dec 7 order had been cancelled anyway (apparently NOT)
4) Somehow cancelled order is shipped Dec 9 and its strange that verification of shipping email can get to me, but out of stock/order cancelled email does not.
5) I am told that it doesnt matter if the company screwed up, the burden of responsibility is now on me, the customer, to refuse it so that I get my money back.
6) I receive a phone message from Customer Service that directly contradicts the order of events and seems to contradict my desired outcome and then contradicts my follow-up phone call
7) I then am told to ignore the phone message but trust that the order has been cancelled
Please note:
I have no problem with the fact that they were out of stock. I do almost all of my non-grocery shopping by internet; things are out of stock all the time. I would have had no problem with a timely substitution. But I either receive an email or two or even a phone callor BOTH--when this happens.
I cant ever recall having a cancelled order shipped, either.
Result:
I'm totally rethinking even thinking about Grand Slam 2012.
Not worth it.
I can find a cheap flight run to get the Preferred Miles for far cheaper time and aggravation.
1) I was trying to get one more essential point on the Grand Slam for Preferred Miles.
2) I was trying to gift my daughter in another state.
I received an order confirmation email dated Wed, Nov 9,2011.
I realized with the expected shipping date in the confirmation (probably about two weeks) I would miss the extra point. I was willing to suck it up. It was poor planning on my part.
From this point on, I received no other emails from Wine Insiders throughout November. I had given a Gmail account as my email address, and as most of you know, Gmail is not server-dependent and its accounts keep all Spam for 30 days. At this time, I have Spam dating back to at least November 7 2011. Therefore, NO email was received from the company.
On Wednesday, Dec 7, I called the company because my daughter never received her wine. I had checked my order # on their website and found that the order was unshipped. Since the promotion date for the USAirways points had long passed, I just decided to cancel the order. Their phone representative told me that
a) the product had been out of stock
b) I had been sent an email saying saying such (NOT TRUEsee above)
c) the order had been automatically cancelled. Note: nothing on their website said out of stock or order cancelled. It did say unshipped.
Imagine my surprise when I did hear again from the company by email less than two days later. At 1:05 a.m. December 9, 2011, an email was sent indicating that my order had been shipped.
How could a cancelled order have been shipped?
I called Wine Insiders early December 9 to ask about this new turn of events. The phone representative was a little unclear about what happened at first, but she said I would still get US Airways points, etc. I told her that Im sorry, that ship had LONG sailed and that I certainly did not want an order that I had been told on Dec 7 had been cancelled. She said she needed to check further. She then called me back at 7:32 a.m. EST Dec 9. She said that the only thing we could do at this point was to have my daughter refuse shipment. I explained that my daughter lived in an apartment building (no doorman), so while my daughter could refuse shipment, I had no idea if anyone else going out the door would take it upon himself to sign for it without her knowledge. She told me she would have Customer Service call me as soon as they got in this a.m
At 9:22 a.m., I received a voice mail on my cell phone (!) from Stephanie from a number that was not receiving return phone calls:
Here is what she said:
The company reserves the right to substitute
The holidays were what screwed this up (like how?)
I had to refuse shipment, and I would not be credited until it was received back in their warehouse (once again, the persons bearing the burden for all companys missteps was the customer making the order and the gift recipient).
I immediately called the 800 number Stephanie listed in the message, was put on hold for a bit, and the associate answering my call (not Stephanie) said that my order HAD BEEN cancelled. She said Stephanie had not read the notes and had misunderstood.
At this point I told this phone associate that I needed verification in WRITING (email) that the order had been cancelled; I reminded her that on Dec 7, a representative told me the order had been cancelled and it certainly had not been. Their phone representative told me that there was no way I could get verification; she told me my order had been cancelled, end of story. When I pressed further, she said there was no possible verification until the system updated on Sunday night.
Here are the points of my official complaint to them ( and yeah, at this point, I wanted to make sure it was documented!!!!!) :
1) I never received notification that the item was out of stock
2) Associate on Dec 7 felt free to lie saying I was sent notification
3) Associate told me on Dec 7 order had been cancelled anyway (apparently NOT)
4) Somehow cancelled order is shipped Dec 9 and its strange that verification of shipping email can get to me, but out of stock/order cancelled email does not.
5) I am told that it doesnt matter if the company screwed up, the burden of responsibility is now on me, the customer, to refuse it so that I get my money back.
6) I receive a phone message from Customer Service that directly contradicts the order of events and seems to contradict my desired outcome and then contradicts my follow-up phone call
7) I then am told to ignore the phone message but trust that the order has been cancelled
Please note:
I have no problem with the fact that they were out of stock. I do almost all of my non-grocery shopping by internet; things are out of stock all the time. I would have had no problem with a timely substitution. But I either receive an email or two or even a phone callor BOTH--when this happens.
I cant ever recall having a cancelled order shipped, either.
Result:
I'm totally rethinking even thinking about Grand Slam 2012.
Not worth it.
I can find a cheap flight run to get the Preferred Miles for far cheaper time and aggravation.
Dec 16, 11, 5:08 pm
#113
Formerly known as gwhit21
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Tx
Programs: All of them.
Posts: 167
Dec 17, 11, 11:30 pm
#115
Formerly known as gwhit21
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Tx
Programs: All of them.
Posts: 167
Dec 30, 11, 8:53 am
#116
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 509
Same thing here. Once i found out they were out of stock, and my order wasnt going to ship on time for the hit, i canceled it. To my surprise they charged me (higher than the original order!), and shipped it 2 weeks later. It took almost a week to get a hold of someone there that would do the refund. Absolutly horrible customer service. Im definitely avoiding this place next year!
Jan 1, 12, 8:16 pm
#117
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: NH, USA
Programs: AA PLAT (2.8MM), DL Diamond, UA*S, BA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LTE, Hilton DIAMOND, IHG PLT
Posts: 764
Got my points for my order originally placed on Oct 28... it showed an activity date of Nov 14th... thank goodness this was hit #37 (safety hit). Only 1-800-flowers left to post...
Feb 13, 12, 3:47 pm
#119
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,233
I liked that cab too.
I just ordered another "blind" half-case. No miles that I'm aware of...just 6 bottles of wine for $40. They've earned enough credibility with me that I'll bet $7 per bottle that they'll send me something drinkable.
I just ordered another "blind" half-case. No miles that I'm aware of...just 6 bottles of wine for $40. They've earned enough credibility with me that I'll bet $7 per bottle that they'll send me something drinkable.
