The Desert WIne Guy - Wine Library, A Rough Start But A Pleasent Experience Overall

  Today I would like to write a fairly quick (yeah right) article on a wine vendor named Wine Library (https://winelibrary.com/) that I have recently done business with. On October 10th of this year I signed up for and received am e-mail from Wine Library for a coupon for free shipping. Well I decided to use it and purchase two of the 2011 Annabella Cabernet Sauvignon that I had just done a review of on this wine blog (http://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-desert-wine-guy-2011-annabella.html). The other reason I chose Wine Library is because after doing an online search for the cheapest price for that particular wine they happened to beat everyone else s price by a good amount. The price I got at my local big warehouse liquor store and almost every other on line retailer was $17.99. The price listed on Wine Library was $10.99. Well I went ahead and ordered 1 bottle for a fan on my wine (only) Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DesertWineGuy and a separate order (2 bottles) for myself. Initially I couldn't find the space for the free shipping code on the order of 1 bottle but later when I ordered the 2 bottles I did find the space. by the way I mention this for a reason, keep reading. I immediately received order confirmations for BOTH orders. I thought I was done with the matter. 
  Well here I was 10 days later (it's was now the 20th of October) and not a word about the wines, either order. After checking in with my fan who won the wine to see what her feelings were about the wine and being told that she had not received it yet I decided I needed to check into what the delay was. The following is the chain of e-mails that followed. One last item. All the below responses received from Wine Library were prior to ME informing them that I actually had 2 separate orders and the issue with the 1st initial order was STILL being completely ignored.

  The following is the first e-mail I sent on October 20th at 8:42 AM as well as the reply from Wine Library on October 20th.

Hello folks;
I am looking for some information on order #1327057 . This order was placed on October 10th and I have received no tracking information on it nor has my customer received it.

Thank you, The Desert Wine Guy

Their response at 4:02 PM was the following:

Hello Marc,

First off, we just want to thank you again so much for your order with us! We appreciate your business! Below is an update regarding some of the products on your order. If you have any questions regarding this, feel free to drop us a quick e-mail here!


There's been a change on some items you've ordered with regard to either price and/or vintage:

    Annabella Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 (item #77154) is currently the 2012 vintage, and the current price is $12.67

Please let us know if you would like this item at the new vintage and/or cost, or if you wish to cancel this item from the order.
  Again, if you have any questions at all, please let us know by replying to this email! Thank you so much for the business!
Wine Library Order Department
https://winelibrary.com
orders@WineLibrary.com
1-888-980-WINE

Later on October 20th at 7:04 PM I received another e-mail back from Wine Library saying the following:

John replied
   
Oct 20, 7:04pm
Hi Marc,

We are sold out of the 2011 and we are able to get the new vintage which is 2012. We apologize for the delay as we just learned that we can get ore of the wine just in a new vintage of 2012 which actually is a better year for California. Please let us know if you would like the 2012 vintage.

Thank You,

John Antunes
Wine Library
Order Department
586 Morris Ave
Springfield, NJ 07081
(888) 980-WINE

In my response to the above e-mail received from Wine Library at 4:02 PM I responded on October 20th at 7:07 PM the following:

  Keeping in mind that I operate a very popular wine blog https://www.facebook.com/DesertWineGuy) as well as a wine (only) Facebook I would love to know why I can order a bottle of a wine on the 10th of this month and not find out that you are sold out of it until I am forced follow up myself on the 20th of the same month? This order was for a customer that won a contest. To top it all off I also have another order (1327123) for 2 bottles of the same wine that I placed again on the 10th as well and have heard nothing about that one either. I am thinking about putting out an article concerning this mess on my wine blog as well as a couple of sentences on my wine Facebook as well. What I would like is for you folks to PLEASE find the wine since it IS available thru other retailers on line and send them to me for the same price. If you cannot accommodate this please let me know and I will notify my online followers of the lack of satisfaction with your company.
Thank you, The Desert Wine Guy

  Well I ended up going to work on October 21st and when I returned home my Wife informed me that Brandon Warnke, the Vice President of Wine Library had called a couple of times to speak to me concerning the issues with my orders. I also received an e-mail from Brandon saying the following:

On Wed, Oct 21, 2015 at 8:29 AM AM Brandon responded to me by saying the following:

    Hi Marc - I just learned about the situation with your order and am STUNNED at the situation here!!  I'm the VP and am going to look into this right away - we are normally 1-2 days in terms of turn around and there is simply no excuse for what happened with these two first orders - I'm calling the team in right now to find out the issue here and will be back to you shortly

    One way or another I will resolve this today and make SURE there are no issues going forward!!  Thank you thank you thank you for bringing this to our attention!!
    ------------------------------
    Brandon Warnke
    Vice President of Operations
    winelibrary.com
    E-Mail: I have omitted this for privacy reasons

  I called Brandon back and he was very apologetic to me and informed me that the company had switched over to computer (paperless) ordering and that my issue had brought up some "bugs" in their system. He told me that he was more than happy to see that I was satisfied with their company and informed me that they had gotten three bottles from the Michael Pozzan Vineyard and that he was looking to ship all the bottles out on overnight shipping for free. I told him that I would appreciate that very much especially since one of my fans had been waiting 10 days for wine. Mr. Warnke was very accommodating and offered me the wine at a discount from their website as well. I was also left me with the feeling that I could have received a few more accommodations from him should I have wanted HOWEVER I was not looking for any free things from him, my priority was simply to get my fan what I promised her. He did also let me know that he could get me access with some wine makers in the area for interviews if I was interested and I thanked him and let him know that I would take him up on that offer.
  On October 21st I received two e-mails confirming that BOTH orders had been shipped and the very next day I received my two wine bottles which were packed very securely and my fan received hers as well.
  Now for my overall feelings concerning Wine Library. First thing is would I use Wine Library again? I would have to say that YES, I would give them another chance especially judging how quick their response time was to issues and how easy the employees had access to the Vice President of the company.  This  showed me that the workers at Wine Library feel comfortable with letting their boss know that they made a mistake and needed it corrected, there no sweeping things under the rug. I also commend the workers for knowing that I as a customer and a wine insider was important enough to please, good job guys!! I would also give them another chance because judging by the price of the wine they are very inexpensive. Bottom line here everyone is that even though the relationship with Wine Library started off a little shaky they were able to gain my confidence back immediately and I recommend that you give them a try.

                                                                                                                  The Desert Wine Guy


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