LaithwaitesReviews 185

What a PIECE OF GARBAGE this place is. Just awful. Now 13 days after the original scheduled delivery date. 3 unanswered e-mails. On hod over 20 minutes with no answer.

I haven't seen a single bottle of wine, and they sent a direct mailer to me. How in the world do you have an enormous marketing push without being prepared to execute?

I've had the excuse that "they're moving warehouses"

WELP - WHY IN THE WORLD DID YOU LAUNCH A NATIONAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN WHEN YOU'RE MOVING WAREHOUSES.

This almost seems criminal at this point.

STAY AWAY

I joined a wine club serviced by Laithwaite's about 6 months ago. The first shipment was missing some important paperwork and that should have been my first clue but since this was my first experience with a wine club I forgave them. I called and about a week later I received my tasting cards describing each wine. Next time I ordered, my wine didn't show up in a timely manner. I called and their reason was a change in warehouses ( although there was nothing on their website about that when I ordered). I waited a couple more weeks, still no wine. Called again to complain and was offered a $20 credit. I took it, waited a little longer and finally got my wine. Next order I went online and said when I wanted my next TCM curated shipment sent. Never heard anything and it took over a month to get it. I didn't complain since they didn't bill me right away. The final straw was with the October order. I spent a long time going through all their wines and curating my own case. Placed my order of 12 bottles. Received only one bottle! Couple of weeks later customer service told me all bottles had shipped, to expect it any day now. Called them a week later and was told they never shipped. They couldn't tell me why, credited my account and said I'd have to reorder all over again. I could not get any explanation as to why this happened. I cancelled my membership. My sister has also had trouble with getting her shipments. Buyer Beware!

The wines are amazing, the Laithwaite's customer service is out of this world amazing, the carriers are another story! Parcel Force failed to read my "If not in" instructions and promptly left with my case of wine. I had 9 people arriving for a dinner party that evening.
I called Laithwaite's customer services and was put through to Nicholas Anderson.
Nick was very apologetic and said he would do everything in his power to get it redelivered. I didn't hold out much hope of this happening.
Parcel Force redelivered my wine at 5.36pm on the same day.
Well done Nick, you are AWESOME!
A true asset to the Laithwaite's CS team!

I have filed a report with the Better Business Bureau concerning this company. From the reviews I see on this web site, I am not alone.
My order # is Order #: o*******533 Order Date: 11/07/201. Their website says "Once your wine is on its way, you will receive another email with a link allowing you to track your shipment and view the scheduled delivery date" However I have not received a tracking number. Nor have I received the wine. I contacted the company by email but get the response, "Our Customer Service Team will get back to you within 8 hours." But I never have received a response. I called the company's 800 number and was told the wine would be delivered in 3 days, but it still has not been received. A charge of $80.98 was made to my account on the same day as the order.
NOV 8 2019
Withdrawal Debit Card/WNE*LAITHWAITES WINE *******050 CT Date 11/07/19 *******071
- $89.98. Please let me know if other complaints have been filed against this company.

I made a deposit and reserved a wine advent calendar for my son on October 1,2019. On November 14,2019 I was looking at my credit card charges and noticed they had refunded my deposit. I called them, after being on hold for 15 minutes, they explained they ran out them and had to refund customers. They did not have the courtesy to contact me to tell me they could not honor the reservation I had made. If they had I would have been able to get a different calendar for my son, now everyone is sold out. I will NEVER do business with them again.

My initial shipment arrived at the local FedEx distribution site and was immediately shipped back due to damage. Laithwhaite DID receive and accept shipment of damaged item. I have contacted their customer service line five times and in each phone call, there was a promise to ship. In the last contact on 10-9-2019, I was assured that someone from the business office would contact me in 2-business days. October 14th was my sixth phone call (plus I also went through their "Contact Us" button) and I was promised a complete refund in 3-5 business days as well as a cancellation from their wine club. In each encounter, the representative has been very apologetic and polite--however, that doesn't change the fact that taking money without delivery is theft and fraud. I'm certainly not holding by breath about the refund and have everything prepared to open a fraudulent case with PayPal. Additionally, I will be contacting NatGeo to let them know about how their connection to this company truly works for their subscriber.

I ordered a promotional case of wine from an advertisement that I had in a National Geographic magazine. Unbeknownst to me, I was agreeing to a subscription plan for a case of wine and some sort of time interval. Once the second case showed up, I gave them a call to resolve the issue. I was told multiple times by multiple workers over the span of the year (I would call as I received "past due" notices) that I could keep the case as my payment had already transferred. Furthermore that I would be removed from the subscription plan. This was back in February 2017. Here in August 2019 I am still receiving notices stating that I am being sent to collections for fraudulent payment. I was just forced to pay 180$ pr else be sent to collections. The manager, Todd, could not have cared any less. Stay away from this scam and keep your money. As a learning sommelier, the wine was not worth the money to begin with.

Have had a membership for almost 2 years - was generally happy with it. I enjoyed getting the deliveries, and even recommended the business/service to friends. I typically received a shipment every 3 months. Recently, they automatically opted me INTO an extra shipment. Apparently I received notification in the mail, not via email about the extra "holiday" shipment. Supposedly other customers request extra wine around this time due to visitors, blah blah blah. FINE - if someone wants an extra shipment, offer it, BUT LET PEOPLE MAKE THIS DECISION FOR THEMSELVES. I find it very questionable that they forced this extra $170 shipment on me. I am now receiving 2 $170 boxes within a week of each other, and yes, paying for both. There's a reason I only get one every 3 months! Apparently, I had the option to decline the holiday shipment, via phone, had I received the original notice in the mail. I moved recently, though, so I never received the notification to begin with. I had also updated my address, at least a month prior to shipments, and neither of them were sent to the correct address. When contacting customer support, I only get very generic "We're sorry for your frustration" responses.

I've been a member twice and cancelled twice. I enjoy their wines and am generally satisfied with their offerings. But I typically share one bottle per week with my girlfriend. Sometimes less. I don't need a case every three months but maybe every four would be perfect. As I live in a small condo, I don't have room to store a lot of wine. Twice, I've found good deals with Lathwaites and ordered cases only to be blindsided less than a week later that another case had been shipped to me. I don't want 24 to 30 bottles of wine sitting around.

I much prefer reds to whites. My first delivery was a mixed order. You have to take six reds and six whites, all reds, or all whites. Several months ago, I changed my preferences on their website to reflect that I wanted all reds. My most recent delivery was half and half. Meh!

The other unpleasantry is the frequent calls offering me "deals." I know when I want more wines and it's not on their schedule. I may rejoin, but I have a lot of wine to get through before I reconsider my cancellation.

I normally don't write reviews but I thought I needed to, based off the horrendous reviews that I have been seeing on here. Most of which, are due to the idiots who are not paying attention to the fine print.

First off, this company is GREAT. I signed up a few years ago because of their stellar deal with SouthWest Rapid Rewards. I knew of course the intro rate was to get me to join their membership which I was willing to try at least for an extra case or so. I have consistently been impressed with their selection, value, and price. I even added their $89 unlimited shipping last year and probably got about a case per month delivered. Every one was on time, great wines, etc.

Now on to the poor reviews below. If you are dumb enough to think that a company is going to send you a case of wine for half price and not have a string attached that's your fault for not paying attention. Heaven forbit you still got a great deal, on great wine delivered to your door on the second case, (which is when you would have realized you signed up for a subscription). Laithwaites understands there is a cost to earn a new client. Which is why they offer a great introductory deal. Hoping you will like them, and then stay as a client on at least a 4 times per year case delivery basis. If you cancel, following your intro case, you can do so with no issues and they gave it a good effort at least.

Soapbox rant over... either way, try out this company. I have reverred 6 other friends and they all love it too!

Can I give a ZERO! Horrible, terrible, atrocious - there arent enough words to describe these idiots! I cancelled my membership after the first shipment of mediocre, over-priced wine many months ago. Still - I get a charge last month for $185. Ok, mistakes happen. But then proceed to send me on a month-long rabbit hole of customer support half-truths (contact PayPal, we've done what we can... blahblah) only to find out they're just mother EFin idiots who in my opinion steal money, yes, steal- sue me if you think it's libel you freakin thieves! Terrible wine! Terrible service! DO NOT JOIN THIS CLUB OF THIEVES AND (in my opinion) LIARS!

We have been a member of their Laithwaites- National Geographic Wine Club for a year and a half. For the most part we have enjoyed the wines. Their booklet that describes each wine, the grower and region is fun and educational. HOWEVER, they do not stand by their written "100% MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE- IF ANY WINE FAILS TO DELIGHT, FOR ANY REASON, YOU'LL BE REFUNDED IN FULL. SIMPLE AS THAT." Last night we opened a bottle we had laid-up from our first order 1 1/2 years ago. It fizzed and was not good. I called to get my refund. They indicated they don't do refunds on bottles shipped over a year ago. Nowhere in any material we received or observe posted on their website do we see such a policy. SO much for their integrity! Since we did not get our refund I cancelled an in-process order and then cancelled our membership. Buyer BEWARE.

We're going to flash fiction this review just to get it over with.

1. Signed up for a promo crate, no on site indication that you were signed up *indefinitely*.
2. Cancelled subscription upon realizing I'd been enrolled.
3. Got charged few a new crate I didn't want - called to cancel as you can really only cancel by calling in.
4. Was told over phone crate subscription was cancelled, received refund.
5. Week later. Was re-charged for crate and called asking why.
6. They had still shipped my previously cancelled order, an order I never received.
7. I live at an apartment complex. I was told that if I wanted my money back AGAIN. I'd have to go find it. The crate I wasn't supposed to receive.
8. Find the crate, call again. Said it's now my responsibility to ship back the crate that wasn't supposed to send. All return fees were my responsibility. While still holding the money they'd already given me back ONCE BEFORE hostage.
9. Manage to send back their stupid crate.
10. THERE IS NO WAY TO DELETE YOUR LAITHWAITE ACCOUNT. If you have one I recommend immediately filling in dummy information and blocking them anyway you can because this company is a disaster.

Long story short. Got treated like crap, and got the wine isn't even that good. I read the fine print, don't say I didn't. I reached out to cancel this subscription many times and still was held responsible for the companies mistake.

This company steal your money! Fact.
I ordered one case for Xmas for my son
They've just delivered and charged me £107 for another box.
Taken money without authority from my account.
Vile business dealings and theives.
I cannot afford this I am just a pensioner.
No place on their website to cancel the so called WINE PLAN either. Disgusting ethics.
How do they get away with this?