Laithwaites

I ordered their introductory offer. Most of the wines are okay- not even close to quality wine though- that in itself was a scam. And I was just going to write this off as a lousy purchase- however, the Chianti in the shipment was actually bad- it fizzed upon opening! It was obvious that the lot had re-fermented because of a bad process.

If this was my business, I would be embarrassed by the poor quality and would resolve the situation. They decided to give me $4 instead of sending a different wine as I requested. I spoke to their customer service, and all the supervisor gave me was attitude- when this was THEIR MISTAKE! Have not yet received the pitiful $4, but I guess that shows the wines themselves are not even worth $4/bottle. I will forever warn everyone to stay away from this scam.

I thought I would try a case of twelve wines, the offer appearing to be a decent one. Twelve bottles for about £54 seemed worth a punt. I wish I hadn't bothered. Most of it was undrinkable muck and I can only assume that they wanted to get rid of some rubbish on the cheap. I cancelled my account soon after, but that didn't stop Laithwaites from bombarding me with letters, emails and even telephone calls. I have requested removal from their mailing list so many times that I've lost count, but nothing seems to deter them.

It is Jan., 2015. I have been a Laithwaite's wine club member since 2010, when it was Zagat wine club. My order history extends to about 44 lines. A year or so ago I upgraded to the reserve club. Ever since Laithwaites took over from Zagat service has declined.

A year or so ago I signed up for flat rate shipping for a fixed annual price. The deal was that any box of 12 wines would ship without an additional shipping cost. I specifically asked about limits on the deal & was told there were none. I could mix & match so long as there were 12 in the box. The annual fee would cover it all.

This is from the terms & conditions in fine print on the site: ""Terms and conditions: As a Laithwaite's Wine Unlimited member, you will pay an annual membership fee (currently $89 plus applicable tax) to receive unlimited shipping on all wine orders of 12 bottles or more that are placed during your active membership period." There are no exceptions listed.

A month ago, I received a promotion to purchase 6 bottles of barolo, to be delivered in March, if I paid a deposit. I placed the order & paid the deposit. I subsequently contacted Laithwaite's & requested to add 6 bottles of other wine to be delivered in March with the 6 barolos so that I could make a case & receive free shipping.

After 3 phone calls & receiving a voicemail from Laithwaite's they have made it very clear that despite the prior assurance & the fine print on their website that my free shipping applied to any box of 12 wines they will NOT honor it. No amount of cajoling or pleading could change their mind. I explained that the 6 additional bottles could go in the same case as the 6 barolos, in March or whenever they ship, to equal a single box of 12, but Laithwaite's steadfastly refused to honor their free shipping agreement. I am not leaving out any details. They simply said that I could not add 6 bottles to the 6 barolos to equal a case, & would have to pay shipping on each half case of 6 bottles.

I spoke with Pamela. I don't recall the names of the other two I spoke with, and I received a voicemail from a man with a name phonetically like Shabaya or Shabeera confirming what I had been told. He couldn't pronounce my name correctly either.

Brian McNamara