Beyond The Grape
Great Wine is Yours for the Making
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Should the Government be in the Retail business?
Posted by Michael Druce, October 6th, 2009 | 0 Comments
The other day I was reminded why the government should not be in the retail business. I called the local government liquor store to confirm our order for the wine tasting night and ask why I had not received a phone call to let me know it was ready for pick up. I was only waiting for one of the four types of wine to arrive the rest was there when I placed the order for the one two weeks earlier.
Well the gentleman on the other end of the phone said there was a little confusion as there was two similar orders. So we sorted that out then he stated one of the wines was not available. Now I know what all of you are thinking, the one on order has not arrived yet and I was going to have to wait a little longer for it to come in. I wish. No, in the two weeks that I waited for the product to come in, the one that was on order arrived, and in the meantime they sold one of the wine types they were holding for me and they de-listed the product. Now I know mistakes happen but we are not talking about one bottle we are talking about a full case.
So once we figured this out as the gentleman thought I was waiting for this wine to come in not the other one, which was not the case. I was furious. I stated as this was their screw up they needed to find a case for me. The only place that had more than one bottle in all of Greater Vancouver was the Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island, As the island was not an option, and the valley was far away, I asked if it could be sent out for me. They would not transfer it and would only hold it untill the end of the day. Now if the situation was reversed and we had made such an error I would have been out to the place that had the product as quick as I could so the customer would have as little inconvenience as possible, but this was not the case here. I went to the orignial store to pick up my other wines as I did not want those to be sold on me. When I got to the first store I see three Managers just standing there behind their desk, not working on a computer or on the phone or with a customer but just standing, our tax dollars hard at work I see. So now, I was on my way to the Fraser Valley for a 45 minute drive (to make matters worse my Ipod was not charged so sports talk radio it was).
Now here is the funny part I walked into the Government Liqour Store in the Fraser Valley to pick up my case of apparently now extremely hard to get wine and go up to the customer service desk. There I see the wife of one of my neighbour Winexpert dealers (I do mean neighbour as they are in the next territory to us). They are looking for the same product. Unfortunatly there was only a case an a half and the case was for me. I offered them if I had any left over they could have it but their tasting was before ours, so that thought was in vain. Now after paying I was back in the car for another 45 minute drive back to our store.
Now all of this could have been avoided by a store that actually had normal customer service standards and not sold the product when there was already an order for it or at the very least a phone call saying this product was going to be de-listed and we needed to pick it up asap. Then my neighbour dealer could have had the product out in the Fraser Valley, so in this process they not only upset us but the neighbour dealer as well. Now think about how this might have been different if I was dealing with a chain of private stores (I am sure I would not have heard how Luongo or some other Canuck needed to be traded for over a hour and a half).
**The names and locations have been left generic to protect the offenders**| « Previous post | Next Post » |
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