Unfortunately, I have to add a post about Vins Rare too. I have been doing business with him for about 1.5 years. Spent about 3k so far, and it could have been much more, but I am still missing $483.91 worth of wine. Mostly from an order on July 3rd.
Almost every email I sent since July has been responded to immediately (mostly within minutes) until last Friday (1/15/21), when I emailed “I am starting to get a bit concerned now.” Since then, I have not gotten a response at all.
**Yesterday (1/20/21), I called. Someone answered. I believe I recognized Bryan’s voice from 1-2 other times we spoke. I said “Hi, is this Bryan?” and then I was hung up on. I called back, someone picked up the phone but didn’t speak and hung up. I called again, same thing. I called again and it went to voicemail and the mailbox is full. 30 minutes later I called again with Amex and mailbox was full. I gave it another 2.5 hours as I really didn’t want to post this here and again to the mailbox. I was about to post this then, but decided to give it another 24 hours. At which point I called again; I believe it was Bryan again who answered. I said “Hi Bryan” and again I was hung up on.
I tried very hard to not post anything, or contact Amex, hoping this would get taken care of, but unfortunately, it has come to this. Amex is currently reaching out to vinsrare, to have this resolved. I would love to have the wines and have him keep my money, but at the moment I obviously would not feel comfortable buying again. I know Bryan is on this forum, since I saw the other complaint about vinsrare yesterday when I was first considering posting this. I saw a lot of people defending vinsrare in the other post, and I am not here to bash him either, but I am not comfortable with this at all and I would love to hear the perspective of those who trust and have worked with vinsrare. What would you do in my shoes?
7/3/20 – I made an order for $693.91 ($369.93 of this order has still not arrived, some of what did not arrive was available in stock in July, and some of it was 2015 Brunello pre-arrival)
9/7/20 – I made another order for $474.25 (all of this arrived in November) (no issues) I expected both orders to ship in October.
10/27/20 - I emailed asking “Just wanted to check in on this to see how the weather was looking out west or if you have any thoughts on when it can ship? Did everything arrive yet?” To which I got a response “We are good on our side weather wise - I’m not infront of my computer to see what wine it is. I can take a look tmrw when I’m at the office”.
11/3/20 – I hadn’t gotten a response so I checked in again to which I got a response “Should be able to get these out for you today”
11/16/20 - I received the order, but I was missing 7 bottles, so I contacted again saying I was missing those bottles. I was then told they would ship early December
12/7/20 - I followed up again and I was told 1 more week.
12/20/20 – I ordered 2 more bottles for 113.98 (the remainder of what I have not received)
1/15/21 – I followed up again and I was told they would ship Monday, I followed up immediately after to confirm each bottle so I didn’t have the same issue as in November. I was told he still didn’t have some of them still (2015 Brunellos).
I called and got no answer so I emailed back this message below which is exact words.
Hi Bryan,
Thanks for the quick response. Any idea what is going on with the Uccelliera? I was originally under the impression they were shipping with the rest of the stuff I received in mid November, but once I received those bottles you had said they would ship at the beginning of December and I am starting to get a bit concerned now. Please keep me informed. You can also reach me at xxx-xxx-xxxx.
Thanks,
Joe
Since then, I have not gotten a response at all.
**Yesterday (1/20/21), I called. Someone answered. I believe I recognized Bryan’s voice from 1-2 other times we spoke. I said “Hi, is this Bryan?” and then I was hung up on. I called back, someone picked up the phone but didn’t speak and hung up. I called again, same thing. I called again and it went to voicemail and the mailbox is full. 30 minutes later I called again and mailbox was full. I gave it another 2.5 hours as I really didn’t want to post this here and again to the mailbox. I was about to post this then, but decided to give it another 24 hours. At which point I called again; I believe it was Bryan again who answered. I said “Hi Bryan” and again I was hung up on.
I’m not sure a separate thread was necessary when there was already one with a similar complaint, but thanks for sharing. The repeated hangups when calls were attempted adds another layer of depth to ‘bad communication on the retailer’s part.’
Brent, I have no dog in this fight (don’t know Bryan and don’t buy from them). But to be repeatedly hung up on, and to not be communicated with, is a basically an obvious red flag on financial distress. I wouldn’t touch them. And yes lots of great people vouched for him in the other thread, but so did hundreds of people for Premier Cru.
I have been a customer at VinsRare for many years. Brian has always provided the best service. The wines he sells are very special and the price is fair. I am sorry to hear of your issue with him. I would not be happy with the lack of response. It is hard to think that the same man could provide such a different experience for the two of us. I will continue to shop with him as my experience has been as a very well served buyer.
This situation is what chargebacks are for. OP has their cause & claim plus documentation. Accept that the wines aren’t coming, and get the money back.
Who knows what the situation really is (lost wines, financial distress, personal trubs) but its not OP’s duty to figure it out. Implicitly, anytime purchases happen via credit cards, a higher price is incurred because of the protective layer the bank is providing. One has paid for that protection!
It seems to me that this is a case to use the card’s protections. Good luck and keep people posted.
Thanks. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case. Amex oddly enough told me that it was too far back at first, but then as they asked more questions, they processed it and said they would be reaching out to the merchant and get back to me within 6-8 weeks. I haven’t filed anything for the more recent bottles from December yet though because there is still another 25 days until that soft time limit and I am hoping there is some resolution before then. I think I need to go buy those bottles elsewhere in case before they are all gone though. Already cant find one of the wines anywhere.
first order
2x 2015 Fattoria le Pupille Poggio Valente (not seeing this anywhere I deal with at this point)
2x 2015 Ciacci Piccolomini d Aragona Brunello di Montalcino
3x 2015 Uccelliera Brunello di Montalcino
December order
2x 1996 Domaine Albert Morot Beaune 1er Cru Les Toussaints
I had just this vintage. I had one on the September order from Vinsrare. Drank it in December and enjoyed it, so I went back for 2 more. I am totally green when it comes to Burgundy, so I don’t have much to compare it to though.