Store shorted by distributor on allocated whiskey

I was wondering if anyone else has faced this situation and what your potential remedies are…

  • I purchased a pre-arrival allocated whiskey from a liquor store.
  • According to the store: the state wide distributor was shorted by the national distributor; the state distributor in turn shorted them
  • The store then fulfilled some of their orders but not mine (I know because my friend got his but I didn’t)
  • The bottles are available (pretty widely) at retail for 3x what I paid
  • The store has asked for some time while they try to find a solution

Thoughts? Ideas?

Supply chain issues happen and sometimes retailers don’t get all the inventory they forecasted.

Liquor stores can’t really go out to the liquor store next door and buy some of their inventory. By law, they usually have to purchase it through their distributors. So the fact that it’s available at other liquor stores doesn’t mean that they didn’t get shorted on their allocation. Also bear in mind it may be widely available a 3x the price in other places, because there’s a lot fewer buyers at that price. Now if all of a sudden you see that whiskey being sold by the store that cancelled your order at a higher price, then that would certainly cause for raising the issue with them. If they’ve returned you your money and offered a sincere apology, there’s not really many remedies available. Maybe you can ask for a discount on a future order.

I’d also encourage you to do the following:

  1. Keep in contact with the store. Sometimes they do manage to track down more bottles from their distributors and can get you the whiskey you want.
  2. If you have other allocated whiskeys or wines your interested in purchasing from the store, try politely inquiring about them and asking to be prioritised higher on allocations going forward.
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Your point about the other liquor stores is well taken. I only bring up the 3X price issue to give you some ballpark of the “damage”, not that I expect that the store to buy it at that price for me or that it indicates they are being dishonest.

So far they have not offered to return my money (which they’ve now held for several months). I know that they essentially raffle a lot of other allocated stuff so I could ask for access to something there perhaps.

I understand. It’s very frustrating missing out on an opportunity to purchase a whiskey you want at an attractive price. Those are so elusive nowadays, the few you manage to get your hands on are treasures

So far they have not offered to return my money (which they’ve now held for several months). I know that they essentially raffle a lot of other allocated stuff so I could ask for access to something there perhaps.

I’d probably wait a few weeks on asking for your money back, many store genuinely continue to scramble and look for more bottles for their clients, and fingers crossed, maybe they track more down for you. Then if they still haven’t found a bottle or returned your money you can either ask for a full refund or ask for that money to be applied as credit for another purchase at their store, maybe trying for one of the other allocated bottles you mentioned the store has.

As always, try to be friendly and cordial as possible. The store’s employees are much more likely to go the extra mile for a friendly customers who have a good existing relationship with the store than ones who are confrontational and unfriendly.

Hopefully the situation works out in a manner that’s satisfactory you.

first in line next year?

This is all great advice. Keep in mind that this is a frustrating situation for the store as well. They would much rather have sold you the bottle than not. This sort of thing is not uncommon, unfortunately.

lol check out the Premier Cru thread.

Shit happens. I’m sorry you didn’t get your whiskey. This sort of thing can and does happen all the time. Also, they could have just as easily oversold their allocation. Either way, you can’t really expect them to source it for you at aftermarket pricing.

They still haven’t given you an answer about how to make you whole, give them some time and let us know what the outcome is.

I would do as suggested and ask for any other bottle they have that you want. Next ask to be put at the front of the line for the next release. Alternatively you can suggest a solution that would make you happy. If none of these come to be get your money back asap and move on.

I took this advice.

Waited it out. They came back and said there was nothing to be done; full refund. They offered some minor discounts on widely available products. I countered by asking to be first in line for the next release (due in June). I’ll see what they say.

Thanks all for the advice all.

(P.S. I managed to source a bottle elsewhere which is greatly reduced my anger/disappointment… and may even need up in my favor if I get the next release)

A store should NEVER take money for a product that they have not paid for themselves. As with Bordeaux futures, you don’t take a customer’s money unless you have paid for the product yourself. THAT is what assures proper delivery.

Just because you were promised “one case” of a product does not guarantee delivery. They should have slotted you in for the bottles you wanted, then taken payment upon delivery.

Now that this story is over, I’ll give full details since I didn’t want to influence the outcome before:

The store in question was Total Wine and the whisky was Ardbeg Arrrrrrrdbeg Committee Release. I bought through their concierge offering. When I heard on the grapevine that others were picking their bottles up, I asked about mine in store and the store manager was like a deer in the headlights. The following week someone from corporate told me they were working on it. Then a few weeks later they told me I was out of luck. I took it at face value but I don’t know if they were really shorted or lost my bottles or what.

I asked about getting first dibs on the Ardbeg Scorch and they said they couldn’t do that but… “just between you and me… the offer will be out on this date at this time.” So I wait for the offer and it’s for the non-Committee Release Scorch.

I seriously have issues, TW keep screwing me over and I just keep coming back for more.

Bummer.

Not to downplay the situation, but could it have just been in part a communication issue with them not realising you were looking for the committee release version of the Scorch or the committee release not being available at their stores? It sounds like they were at least trying to ameliorate the situation. Hopefully you have better luck finding allocated bottles going forward

King of crazy to me that a giant corporation like TW couldn’t procure one more bottle.

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I wouldn’t discount the distribution story TW shared with you. Here in Florida Southern Glazer absolutely sh*t the bed when it came to the Scorch release. One week post release and most retailers didn’t have their allocation in store yet. I was fortunate to score two CR Scorch bottles at release pricing at a TW about 40 minutes north of me and they had one bottle of Arrrrrrrdbeg a touch above release price so grabbed that also.

Best of luck sourcing a Scorch CR, IMO, it is a very good dram. I have not had any Scorch LE yet but would like to so I can do a side-by-side with the Alligator LE.

Ben ( or anybody else ) Scorch committee ( I think Arrrrrrdbeg too ) is around these parts and I’m happy to trade if you are still looking.

Thanks Robert. Weirdly I was able to find some Scorch CR on the shelf at TW ($150)… and perhaps even stranger my local liquor store had it in the shelf next to the LE for the same price ($130).

All’s well that ends well. TW is back in my good graces as well because I was able to secure an Old Forrester 150th from them through their raffle… and when I was picking it up, Blood Oath was on the shelf.

That’s great, it just goes to show that we all get disappointed to miss out on something but there is almost always something great right around the next corner.

Now that things worked out well for you, I’ll chime in that Scorch and Arrrrrdbeg are shit, as is everything GlenMonsanto has distilled at the former Ardbeg distillery since they acquired it in 1997. You missed nothing and saved a few shekels. Bill Lumsden and the pinheaded marketing dimwits at LVMH should be ashamed for foisting dreck in an “Ardbeg” bottle on the unsuspecting public who never tasted real, pre-GlenMonsanto Ardbeg.

LOL, Mark made it through that without using the word “effluent.”