WSJ WineReviews 237

No response to multiple password reset requests. No response to "contact us". Lastly, got a letter that they would send an "enhanced" shipment next time for an additional cost. So, I signed up for one cost and they are going to charge more.

They use FEDEX, very unreliable. Spent three days waiting at home for our first delivery. You have to be home to sign for the wine. FEDEX says the case is out for delivery, no show the first day. Out for delivery a second day, nope! FinalIy, the third day it arrives. Temperatures those 3 days were 10 degrees so the wine was no good and one broken bottle (once on the truck it stays there).
I asked for a binder to keep the helpful wine cards in (3 times), apparently they have them because I see one in one of the review photos, but never got one. You are responsible for buying a case, I believe quarterly (probably more frequently but I'm shooting from the hip), but then you will have a case just show up, a "custom case" based on your preferences! Thing is, I would say maybe a third of what we received was good, not even great. Just found out that it was 8 months ago we cancelled the wine club, but we got a $90 shipping club bill today. Surprise! If you choose to pay a flat price for shipping, it is a separate membership, so you have to cancel both the wine club and the shipping club when you are finally fed up. There are so many easier ways to get great wine at a good price. I just don't see why you would want to spend all this time being frustrated! Gone and never will return.

I signed up for this when I first subscribed to WSJ. They put me on automatic and just received a collection bill for wine I never wanted. Paid it over the one and they charged me double.

I received two cases of exactly the same wine on the same day and called to return one and not be charged. I was told that once they received word that it was received in their warehouse that I would get a credit. I verified that the warehouse received it and called a few days later, as no credit to my card was made. They advised that I was only charged once and the return was needed to prevent a second charge. I have sent proof of the two charges and continue to be told that it is being investigated. Still no response.
My ability to get this resolved is blocked by the lack of adequate customer service support.
This kills me because I really enjoy their wines.

I initiated an online chat with customer service re. Cancelling my membership, twice. Both times I was told I did not have a membership. So I dug into the site and located my membership #, and then asked again. I was told that he rep. Could see that my membership "was being cancelled already"...? Here's hoping it is over and I do not receive another shipment.

I have never ever had a problem with ordering wine,whether it be online or talking to them in person. Usually I try to keep the price range within 12 to $15 a bottle.

I have ordered these for years and enjoyed them with my family. This year my calendar came without the cover for the advent calendar. So no doors to open, cannot stand up on its own since the bottles will fall out. I called wsj for what should be a simple...send a cover out. Well, no they cannot help me. They will replace the whole unit not just send a cover. And guess what it will take 7-10 days to ship it. Where is customer service these days. To be honest what we all enjoyed was the month long lets have fun trying the wines. To be honest the wines have not been very good in years past. So next year we will move on to another wine advent calendar and pass up the WSJ.

Unfortunately I couldn't call them as it was 7 pm on a Sunday and they were closed. And the deal expired that evening. The online system is a nightmare. Although I've been a member for 10 plus years, they rejected my password ( apparently they've changed the guidelines) and the first one I was sent when I clicked on " forgot password" absolutely didn't work...no number included which was necessary. The second one worked. However I question why if I'm a member a password is needed to check out. I tried to bypass by using " guest check out" as they give you that option but won't allow as they pick up on your email that you are a member. I also had difficulty with changing my address though I'd done that months ago in my online account, yet it still shows an old address. Frustrating. Altogether I spent over an hour ordering what should have taken 10 minutes at the most. That's an hour of my 70 year old life I won't get back! ( and I'm quite savvy when it comes to doing online ordering)

Paid $150 for an advent calendar wine gift - comes in a triangle like box, so you open 1 wine each day during advent. They shorted us a bottle of the wine. Wasnt broken, they just didnt put it in the gift. What good is an advent calendar gift if its missing 1 of the days, you cant give it as a gift. I contacted them, thinking they would send us the bottle that was missing. They refused. They said they would give us a $9.99 credit for the missing bottle, what good is that. HOrrible horrible experience.

I recently received entirely the wrong order from WSJ Wines (a bit annoying, but an understandable mistake). When I called customer service to have the error corrected, they told me I would need to print out a return label, arrange a pick-up with Fed-ex, and that they would only ship the correct item AFTER receiving the incorrect shipment back.

A company with good customer service would apologize for the mistake, tell me to keep the mistaken order, and ship the correct order right away.

A company with ok customer service would send the correct order right away and request that I ship the mistaken order back at my convenience.

When I explained this to WSJ and questioned the practice of relying on the customer to do a not insignificant amount of work to correct the mistake they made, the agent started arguing with me over whether or not shipping the product back qualified as work and refused to give me any other options for dealing with the situation.

I called back later to talk to someone else, who first told me that I had refused delivery for the correct order (a lie) and then claimed that the order had already been delivered (that was the incorrect order).

On my forth conversation, about 10 days after the initial shipment, I finally spoke to someone willing to ship the correct product immediately, but OH BOY did I get the runaround first. Zero chance of ordering from them again. There are plenty of other places to buy wine.

I finally had to cancel my order after waiting a month for delivery (still no wine) and several calls to WSJ about locating the shipment. They offered no help other than to keep telling me it was on its way. Promises of call backs on status did not happen. Now that I feel forced to cancel the order the new battle will be to get them to credit my charge card.

Ordered from them several times, usually requesting delivery to a FedEx location near my work since I wasn't often home on the expected delivery day. Wine was good, once even very good. The last time I ordered, we were going to be home and allowed them to deliver the wine to us. It wasn't delivered that day. Then I got an email that my wine had been delivered. I emailed them saying that nothing was delivered. To that I got a response hoping that I was enjoying the wine that was delivered. Next I called them. The persone who responded had basically no aurhority to do anything except take an order. But they promised a next day response. That didn't happen so I tried one more email, getting another response that they hoped I enjoyed my wine. Finally I contacted my card companyt and was granted a chargeback. About 6 months later, they sent a letter saying that I was supposedly returning my wine but they hadn't received it so I owed then $160.74. I tried one last time, sending their letter back with a note abour what had previously happened. THe only response has been a continuation of dunning letters. This company apparently only cares about your money. Their customer service consists of them saying that they hope you are enjoying the wine that you didn't receive.

Included in my last order of WSJ Wine was a bottle of Purple Owl Pinot Noir. It was awful! It had a sharp bite and was borderline vinegary. I haven't tried any of the others yet.

Don' t even think once, twice, or even three time about ordering from the WSJ Wine Club. I honestly believe that they are pulling an advertising SCAM or their "Highly Rated Wines". Rated by whom? When you read the direct mail piece, they tell you that you receive their "Top 12 Wines" which is pure nonsense. This company has made swapping "your order for something else" into an art form. Out of the 14 bottles that were pictured in the sales brochure, I only received 2 that were shown in full unmatched color. The wine that did arrive was mediocre at best. Interesting that there were several import wines in the assortment however they were all bottled in Santa Pose, CA. In fact, all 12 of the wines that I received were bottled in Santa Rosa, CA. The 97 point, "Special Bonus" Italian blockbuster wines morphed at their warehouse into a cheap and very tanny Cab Wine bottled in St. Helens, Ca. Save your money and rush to the nearest Trader Joes for a case of Two-buck Chuck for $3.99. You will be much happier! And their return policy? Ha! Ha! I complained about 4 bottles that I graded a bit above swill but no luck on a credit. THIS WAS MY FIRST ODER AND MY LAST! I IMMEDIATELY CANCELLED!

I am writing to tell you about a recent very negative and suspicious experience with the Wall Street Journal Wine Club. My uncle passed away over 5 months ago he had a bill in his possession for the Wine club. We contacted them and told him that he had passed away. The wine had not been received and was returned to the company. They state they cancelled his bill and account. Since that time, we have gotten 2 bills (April/May). We contacted them each time they informed us that in the system it showed that we spoke and that his account was resolved. They stated that we should ignore the bill and that the billing department just had not caught up to the new information. Yet again today August 22 we received another bill for the same wine and a warning that collection may be called. I contacted the company again and asked for a manager. The manager proceeded to tell me that there is no record of my contacting the company and that he would not speak to me unless I sent him a copy of the power of attorney. I asked for his supervisor or the billing department this man Luis(who would not give me his full name) said there was no one above him to talk to and that customers can not talk to the billing department. We went around in circles for some time until I choose to end the call. First of all the red flags went up for me in that I had resolved this bill many months ago and we have no obligation to them. Probate is long over. 2ndly when someone dies if required you could ask for a death certificate and or a copy of the court order for the personal representative, but a general power of attorney does not apply. I became very suspicious at his request. We also closed out al his accounts and for the large majority they were happy to be informed- no hoops necessary, this included all credit cards etc….

As stated this issue had been resolved the customer service people, we had spoken to stated so. This Luis would not budge nor provide me with anyone who could help he was a complete gate keeping stop gap who clearly didn't know what he was talking about. I would not trust this company, nor would I recommend it to anyone. They have serious billing and staff issues. If they needed proof of death, I would have sent it out in March, at this point I am highly suspicious. The fact that I could not speak to anyone else who may be more helpful is a big red flag. Do not support or trust this company!

During the pandemic I had the (dis)pleasure of subscribing to several subscriptions. Ranging from horrible (FirstLead?) to mediocre no-name wines (NakedWines).

The WSJ was surprisingly good. Not gourmet level but certainly as good as $12-$20 bottles I'd pick out and enjoy myself for easy drinking. Not some new vintner but known wines with good ratings. 14 bottles and 2 glasses for $85 including tax and shipping is impossible to beat. Cancel/pause was easy and customer service responsive. No idea what 1.5 stars is about, unless people were expecting '82 Laffite Bordeaux to be included for that price and ease.

I have always been fond of WSJ Wine and have, in the past, recommended it to folks who are looking for ways to gift wine to people who don't live near them. I absolutely cannot recommend them now. I have ordered wine multiple times since 2018. During this time, the company had delays in shipping my order, sent the wrong wine twice, and has charged me for wines that I didn't purchase.

In January of this year, I received a notice saying I owed them $20. I had paid in full for the last box of wine I purchased for the holidays, so I wasn't sure why I was receiving this notice. I called customer service, and they said they would escalate the issue to resolve it. I heard nothing back. Then about a month later, I received another letter requesting payment. Again, I called customer service. They confirmed that there were no outstanding charges on my account, so again, I didn't send any money. And so on. Each time, I got a letter, the representative would tell me I didn't have any charges, escalate the issue, and I wouldn't hear anything back. Until today. I received a letter from a collections agency for my $20 of outstanding debt to the company. As usual, I called customer service and was told the same thing.

This is absolutely unacceptable. I called multiple times over months to get the issue resolved. I was told multiple times it would be fixed, and it was not. Now I have to contend with a debt collection agency over $20. Absolutely ridiculous and disappointing. And a shame, since I used to quite like the wines I would get through the company.

After 3 shipments were left on my front porch in the Texas heat with no signature & them billing an account I had removed from my profile, I am done. Buyer beware.