We knew it had to happen. Things were going so smoothly that there was bound to be a bump in the road. And there was no way around it. And we're still trying to figure out what to do. We do so well making the wine, marketing the wine, selling the wine - so why it is that when it comes to shipping, everything falls apart? Well, not everything, but some things. This has been the woe of vintners since we entered the business. The question is, is there a competent shipper out there? If so, please introduce us. Please.
Not to place full and entire blame on the shipper - the ever-changing shipping laws can confuse the most "brilliant shipper" (could that be an oxymoron?). But to meet the potential problems head-on, Steve met with our shipper to make certain they were aware of our expectations regarding shipping - and our first year of free shipping. We promised our customers that if they purchased 6 or more bottles of our wine, shipping to wherever they wanted would be free. And shipping outside of California, Oregon and Washington, as always would go 3-day air as we always do Ground for CA, OR and WA. So you can imagine our dismay when we received a call from a very good customer who had just purchased a case of Anomaly, saying that he received an email from our shipper stating that his wine was going to his requested address in Florida via a third-party middle-man. This would add about 5 days to his receipt of the wine. This is a problem on so many counts. First, Steve specifically spoke to our shipper about the state of Florida as they were no longer a 3-tier state (please send me a message if you are curious what that means - as that is an entire blog in and of itself), secondly, Florida was experiencing a heat spell, so adding 5 days was not a happy thought to any of us. It is so important to us that our customers are happy, that Steve has spent the last 3 days (while we were visiting family in Los Angeles) spearing e-mails to our Customer Service (another oxymoron) rep at our shipper. AS of this moment, the problem is still not resolved, but a new one cropped up - yes, Fed Ex apparently man-handled another case going to a very good, and thankfully loyal, customer. The case was so mangled that our customer actually took a photo of it and emailed it to us. See below. And, to be continued! Chantico.
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