I laid out the facts before identifying Amsterdam Wine Co. I genuinely wanted input from the many knowledgeable and experienced people on the board regarding how to handle this. Several people asked for the name of the vendor after reading the facts, and so I provided it.
The real issue here isn’t that there was an error. It was how the error was handled.
Doing something, anything to make it right would be the appropriate response: making some calls about getting the substitute wine I suggested, or talking to the buyer who hadn’t paid for the wine perhaps see if he/she would part with a bottle or two given the misunderstanding.
It’s your prerogative to do absolutely nothing in response to an error, but that’s hardly a commendable level of service.
I’m struggling with why you think someone needs to make this right. It was a simple mistake, you are out nothing. Is this really where we are these days? We all make mistakes. Personally I’m glad I’m not tasked with making every one of them right.
Sometimes it’s ok to just forgive even when no apology is in offer.
Clearly this wine is hard to find. They got it specifically for someone. There’s no reason to ask a good customer to give up some of an allocation that was obtained specifically for them. There’s also no reason to call anyone to ask about something that the merchant knows is not available. It does not matter when that customer pays for this wine if the retailer can’t get any more (which is obviously the case). Maybe you would rather have them lie to you than be honest. I always prefer the latter. It sounds like your frustration is due to a misunderstanding of the (lack of) availability of the wine you tried to order and the substitution you suggested, as well as how such wines are typically bought and sold. Granted, I would have communicated differently, and I would certainly be apologetic if we had a highly allocated wine accidentally show up on the website, but most customers for such wines understand the market for them. Plus, you have lost nothing. I don’t understand why you think you’re entitled to anything beyond an apology. Even without that, it’s easy enough to move on and not buy from this retailer in the future. You’d probably feel better if you weren’t dwelling on it and telling yourself you’ve been wronged.
I find it odd they would admit the other customer has not actually paid.
Yes any retailer may have preferred customers but usually they would be contacted before wines are listed wide. This all sounds just bizarre.
Life is too short to deal with unethical retailers.
The KGBO has a similar problem, the in store inventory includes wines awaiting pickup by customers (ordered online in various ways). And may, or may not, include wines being held informally for a customer.
You asked for opinions – here’s mine: no one yanked you around. You are whining. I totally agree with the vendor here. You may not like the way he handled it… fine. Move on.
As an aside – I’ve never done business with Amsterdam Wine Co. And, this thread wouldn’t cause me to avoid them.
I agree, there was no harm here. He had already set aside the wine for another customer, but the inventory wasn’t decremented. He let you know as soon as possible. While he could have said “oh sorry, I’ll give you 10% on your next order”, there’s no real necessity to do so in my mind.
As others have said there is really no harm nor foul here. On any rare or hard to find wine always call. I know I had to learn this the hard way as 9/10 time (if not more) that a hard to get wine shows up is not really available. Calling to confirm availability is the only way to address it I know of and has always worked for me at least.
I understand OP is upset he missed out on a bottle. Personally outing the merchant here I think was unjustified and OP is not entitle to anything. Errors happen and, IMHO, we are all better off accepting reasonable ones and moving on. I know that is difficult sometimes. If I see this merchant come up I am actually more likely use them given their honest response.
Lastly if OP posts what the wine is he may find some help in securing or sharing a bottle with someone in this community.
Does anyone else find it weird that folks continue bagging on this vendor even after he posted in this thread to explain his side of the situation?
What happened to Alex was unfortunate but has Steve indicated it wasn’t a case where wines that were in regular inventory were pulled for a preferred customer. These were special wines that should never been part of inventory.
This doesn’t seem like a case of intentional deception. It does feel like a mistake on the part of he vendor that led to a misunderstanding with a potential customer.
Unfortunate for both sides in this case but if I were the vendor I’m not sure I’d feel compelled to do anything to “make it right” either other than provide the explanation he already did. Why does he owe Alex either trying to source a hard-to-find wine again or substitute an alternative wine? It doesn’t make sense to me but I’m willing to try and understand.
This has happened to me all the time. I order something I find on wine searcher and the vendor tells me sorry it’s not in stock. The only thing here was the vendor was actually honest and transparent with the OP regarding the reasons it wasn’t available, which isn’t a negative thing imo. I’m happy to give them my business.
