Laithwaites

I ordered the introductory case of wine from Laithwaites because we were wanting to start using a wine club membership company and the introductory deal looked great. The shipment arrived yesterday and only had 7 of the 8 bottles of wine. I called customer service to report the missing bottle and was told multiple times that the wine bottle was included on the inventory list so it should have been in the box. It was not. I asked for a refund or to have the bottle sent to me. The response was that I could have $10 off a case of 12 bottles of wine in the future. I explained that I would be hesitant to order a case of 12 when I've already had issues with a case of 8 and again asked for a refund or for my bottle to be sent. I was then told that maybe my bottle wasn't included because the wine was either on back order or sold out, so I asked why a replacement was not included then and was not given an answer. The Laithwaites company has a guarantee that states on the website " It's simple. We want you to enjoy every bottle you buy from us. If you are not completely satisfied with any wine, for any reason, just let us know and you'll receive a refund." I read off the guarantee that was included in my box since I was not completely satisfied with the wine because it was missing and was told that the guarantee does not apply to introductory boxes, even though there was a statement with the guarantee listed in my introductory box. After 18 minutes on the phone, no offer to refund or send a replacement was offered. I canceled my membership and do not recommend.

This company has horrible customer service. They send out wine you did not ask for. Then when you send it back you must call to get a refund. The wine I sent back was received June 29,2020. I called and after a 45 minute wait requested a refund, the person I talked to told me the refund would take about 1 week. So a week later I called the CC company. Still no refund. I called again. Another 55 minute wait and the person told me that I had requested another box of wine. I again ask for a refund and was told it would be done in a few days. Here is it almost a week and still no refund or box of wine. If this ever gets resolved I will cancel my membership with this club. Customer service needs alot of help!

The worst customer service, I never got my wine.
I was really excited to try the service and give it a chance. But their customer service has been so horrible that I absolutely advise against using this service.
((I want to note that I am in customer service myself, so I understand what type of energy, attention, and work goes into working through customer complaints.))
- I got a notice that my shipment was going to be at least a week late. I was spending some time with some friends whose address I used on the original shipment, and I knew that I wouldn't be there to get the box, given the delay. I gave Customer Service a solid five days of notice of changing the shipping address. The box had not yet been put together, the shipping label had not been made - I gave them a really good heads up to move the address.
- twice I got an email back from customer service saying that the address had been changed on my account. Both times I responded specifying that I wanted the ORDER'S address changed. I made it abundantly clear that I wanted the address changed on the physical order.
- finally someone responded saying they would get me a reroute on my order. This was before the box had physically shipped out. So I thought all was well.
- lo and behold: I got a shipment notification that the old address was still on there. I immediately contacted customer support about the problem. I then got a response from some sort of customer manager who said "sorry about the delay, I feel so bad about this. Yada yada". I thought there was an opportunity for the shipment to be moved to the correct address.
- and guess what? The box arrived at the old address on 6/25. Where I no longer am. So I never got my case of wine. Because I was no longer there! Which I had let them know before the box shipped.
- I then proceeded to email them three more times to tell them about the problem, and to request either a replacement box or a refund. Every single response I've gotten has shown me that not only do their customer service reps NOT read other emails concerning the SAME customer, but they don't even check to see if the box has actually delivered: Every single customer service rep who has responded to my request for a refund has told me that the box is STILL on its way, and that a reroute does not confirm that the box is going to another address. No one directly addressed my concerns, no one even bother to say sorry about the mixup, no one specified that the box had already arrived. Clearly none of their service reps understand how to do their homework and look up the tracking. Clearly none of their service reps do their homework and look to see if a customer who is complaining has already complained!
- I still haven't gotten my case of wine. It's at my friend's address who, by the way, aren't there because they have now left for vacation. So who knows if that box of wine is still even on their porch? It's probably been stolen by now! But do their customer service reps care? Are they doing their homework and trying to help me out? Are they doing their jobs? Nope. They aren't. This is ridiculous. I want my money back.
DO NOT GIVE THIS COMPANY YOUR MONEY.

Firstly the wines are awful, Tate & Lyle must do great business with Laithwaites wine partners as one of their recommended reds is so ridiculously sweet it gives neat Ribena a run for it's money. Then, when you're putting the whole thing down to a bad day at Rip off Ville you get endlessly pestered by a Gloucester number trying to sell you more crap wines.
Oh, and they use Yodel, who are the worst courier company since Titanic Shipping Inc.

Wow... I have not experienced ANY of these issues... the wines are great, I can ALWAYS push back a box (which I do quite often, since I'm not always ready for more wine) customer service was VERY friendly and helpful the one time I had to call (after an additional box was sent out for delivery that i didn't order) I love the educational inserts with pairings and optimal aging time and I love that i earn Southwest points with every box! And I fully knew that i was signing up for a supscription when i signed up. I recommend them to all my friends!

I signed up for the 'regular' club, figured if it was affiliated with National Geo, I would give it a try. The wine was not great, so I tried the upgraded 'reserve' club. They actually sent me some of the same wine bottles I received from the 'regular' membership under the 'reserve' membership. Both levels of membership delivered wine that was subpar at best.

I am in the middle of trying to return the remaining bottles of one order (that was three months late BTW), and then send me another case within a couple of weeks. I ended up canceling my membership and will be looking to get refunded for the past two cases. Customer service has been a nightmare and I suspect I will have to file a claim with my credit card company to reverse the charges. I think this is a very shady business and my recommendation would be to get your wine somewhere else.

Purposely misleading, probably fraudulent subscription service hidden in fine print and hard to opt out - have to email customer services, no information in the order confirmation that this would be on going, no correspondence until large credit card charge - do not believe this is would be good value for what has been sent - try to print the misleading website and it prints showing a lot more conditions and information obviously showing they are trying to hide it until people are looking - dodgy have reported to commerce commission

Ordered for first time
First part of order arrived as promised. No problem and was happy. However...

Then discovered I had been charged for items not ordered and my original order had been doctored. Not happy and items I had originally ordered have mysteriously disappeared. I have original emails from them acknowledging what was ordered so how can this happen?

Was hoping to make future purchases but my first experience has left me with very little confidence in Laithwaite

I ordered and paid for a case of wine on 20th March to have in time for Easter (3 weeks away). 10 days later (30th March) I emailed Laithwaites to see what was happening with my order as I had not received any shipping confirmation. I was told it was in transit, here is the shipping number. Upon searching with the shipping number, all the web site would give me was 'in transit'. Meanwhile I have ordered various other orders using the same shipper and had them with 3 days.
In a further email to them I asked that they follow up with the shipper as I feared the goods had been lost in transit, they failed to directly follow up with the shipper, only telling me the order 'should arrive soon'.
Now on 7th April I have called them only to be told 'we're busy,' 'it can't be helped', 'that's not my job (to follow up with the shipper)'. Well, never again will I order with this firm, totally unprofessional.

My sister, who gets confused by advertisements online, ordered a box of wine about 6 months ago, for my husband as a Thank you gift. After the first box she realized she was in a wine club and called and canceled the orders. We then got another box of wine after a couple months. At that time I called the 800# and they said OK yes we see your sister canceled. Now couple months later we received wine again. This time I was told my sister has to call. They have to have Fed Ex pick it up again. This Bad Company must have to pay a lot extra charges to FedEx if their customer service can't get it right.

Just like most of the other reviews here, I've had a horrible experience with Laithwaites Wine. I placed an order on December 5th for a case of wine to be delivered to my sister as a Christmas present. They charged my card on Dec 6th, and generated a Fed Ex label with tracking number on Dec 9th. However, the case never shipped, nothing to track. I was given a delivery window of Dec 17-20, then moved to Dec 20-24. I have called the company 7 TIMES, only to be told repeatedly that the order would deliver by Dec 24th, even as late as Dec 23rd when Fed Ex still had no record of ever receiving the shipment. A second call on Dec 23rd told me that the problem was one bottle was on backorder, so that CS person said she subbed with another bottle and I'd get a new email with a new tracking number, and it would ship in 24 hours. Spoiler alert, it is now Dec 29th, no email, no new tracking number, and no one can explain why nothing has shipped. I've asked repeatedly for a Supervisor, only to be told they are all busy and I'd need to call back another time. Today I finally gave up, called back and cancelled my order and my membership. Supposedly I'll get an email within 24 hours confirming my cancellation (I'm not holding my breath), and a refund in 3-7 business days, but we'll see. After all of these issues, the best the company was ever willing to do was give me a $20 credit off my next case. CRAZY!