Bad Wine #17

Bogus Wine Clubs Are Bad Wine #17

The reason bogus wine clubs are Bad Wine #17 prevents you from falling prey to them. The worst offender is Vinesse. Do NOT join! They offer a to good to be true initial offer. You get eight wines for $49.99. They show you the wines. However, when they arrive, you do not receive the same bottles. Then, you are locked into automatic future monthly shipments of 6 bottles for $148.31 including shipping. That’s $20 per bottle! I do not recognize any of the wineries. I guarantee you receive bottles worth $8 or less. They make deals with wineries and buy large quantities at a reduced price. Therefore, you are overpaying for the wine. I admit that I join since I like to take advantage of some clubs great initial offers. Then, I cancel before the next shipment. I called to cancel 3 weeks after I joined and they already processed another order. That costs me a 15% restocking fee plus $28 shipping! My advice is to avoid joining any wine clubs.

Online Wine Stores vs. Wine Clubs

For the most part, I steer clear of online wine stores as much as wine clubs. The difference between the two is simple. Wine clubs sucker you in with a great initial offer of relatively unknown wines. Then, they make their money selling inferior wines for an average of $16 per bottle. The wine costs them as little as $6 or less. And, you have to agree to a subscription of monthly shipments, unless you cancel. However, online wine stores allow you to pick the wines from their inventory. There is usually no subscription which is a good thing. But, they usually have a gimmick to get you started as well.

Wine.com

The largest online store in the U.S. is wine.com. Currently, they give you $50 off of a $150 purchase. Depending how many bottles you buy, that might only cover shipping. Their gimmick is they will give you free shipping on all orders for a fee of $49 per year. And, the bigger gimmick is the site tells you if you spend more, you qualify for the ability to give them the $49 for free shipping. Isn’t that nice of them? I tried this and the amount was about $20. I added another bottle to my cart that was slightly more than $20. However, the site only subtracted a few dollars off. They really do think we are stupid. They had revenue of $130 million in 2018. Maybe we are stupid? Anyway, thumbs down for online wine stores. Let us say wine.com.no. See below what an excellent wine store should look like. Find one and shop there.

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