The New & Improved Underground Cellar
0Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, Wine Country Connect has resurrected Underground Cellar. @Winedavid59 and his brother are bringing two decades of wine fulfillment experience to the Underground Cellar bottle “upgrade” model.
Previous discussion of the original UC’s bankruptcy and subsequent sell-off of bottles (as well as initial conversations about the New UC) located HERE.
- 6 comments, 17 replies
- Comment
And another snippet of early conversation starts here. Includes a helpful refresher from a vol mod on inserting block quotes.
One thing I am not a big fan of… <1% allocations of the “base” bottle. This is a trend that I noticed in the last couple years of the old UC. As opposed to having a fairly sizeable number of base bottles. I used to buy a lot from deals where I liked and wanted the base bottle, because I knew that I would be getting several of them in my order.
Current example, the bubbly offer for $42 with a Schramsberg BdN as the base bottle, allocated at <1%. So, same odds as scoring the top bottle in the offer. I am a fan of this wine and would have gone in for a case purchase if I knew that 3 or 4 of them were the Schramsberg.
On the flipside, I would often stay away from offers where I didn’t really want the base bottle. With the current setup, virtually every single bottle is an upgrade.
Now, I just look to see which bottles are allocated at the highest % and assume I am getting one or more of them, then decide if I will be ok with them as opposed to the ones I am hoping to score.
@chipgreen
On a recent, actually my only, I did a three bottle purchase of the ‘Celebrate with French Champagne featuring 2009 Cristal MAGNUM! × 3’ offer. Don’t recall the base bottle but the confirmation showed
Champagne Philippe Dechelle Cuvée Terrienne Brut NV 750ML × 1 ~
$70~ upgradedand
Champagne Victor Charlot Les Terres de la Grève Brut NV 750ML × 2 ~
$200~ upgradedwhere I received three of the Victor Charlot.
CS made it good with a refund; not sure how that was calculated but the whole order is a bit of a crap shoot imo. Haven’t tried one yet, but I guess I’m good with the outcome, if not optimal.
@chipgreen @rjquillin
How much did you pay for those bottles? And what was the supposed retail/MSRP?
@chipgreen @ScottW58
Taxed and delivered $51.23/btl with a $47.70 one bottle refund and $30 credit for future orders.
Like I said, CS made it good.
CT value listed at $50 with purchases from UC, Last Bottle and Last Bubbles totaling 64 bottles.
Wine Searcher finds no retailers.
@chipgreen @rjquillin
The old UC’s supposed msrps or whatever you want to call it used to make WTSO’s msrps look like child’s play. From what I see at the new UC not much has changed? woof I hope they are great bottles! https://undergroundcellar.com/products/champagne-victor-charlot-les-terres-de-la-greve-brut-nv-750ml
@rjquillin
They gave you a refund for the additionally upgraded upgrade?
One of my three bottles from the magnum offer was also incorrect and they gave me a refund but I don’t know if the “Value” was listed as higher or lower than the bottle I was supposed to receive.
Packing errors continue to plague WCC.
@rjquillin
Just noticed the $30 credit from your previous post. While I was refunded for the incorrect bottle, I did not get any credits towards future purchase.
The current red offer has a 2016 Desert Wind Merlot claiming a SRP/value of $180 but CT average value is $30. Come on, WD.
@klezman
The current release of their Sandstorm Merlot is listed at $80 on the Desert Wind website.
Perhaps a typo/error since the 80 part of 180 is correct. But it makes you wonder.
@chipgreen Interesting. Most of the purchases of that wine were from casemates, so it being lower than SRP isn’t shocking. But then again nearly all the wines sold on UC are commonly sold well below SRP. Hence my prior disagreement with the use of the term “value” in the descriptions.
@chipgreen @klezman
You guys made me look lol. A better one is the whispering angel rose srp $175. Or even the mixed case of the roses srp $445. One is born every minute.
@chipgreen @klezman oops that’s a 3 liter bottle, but still could buy 6 bottles for under $20 each.
I put this over on ‘deals’ when it should really have gone here.
Well I succumbed to a UC special Crazy Leprechaun Red Wine Grab Bag offer from @WineDavid59
Shopping cart
Crazy Leprechaun Red Wine Grab Bag ft a Screaming Eagle and Harlan Estate top upgrades!
6 $150.00
and ended up with the below.
2018 Sarah Francis Sage Ridge Vineyard Cabernet
2016 Trinitas Mataro
2018 Koehler Quartette Santa Ynez Valley Red Blend
2017 Press Cellars Solano County Red Blend
2021 Cote West Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
2013 Opus One Oakville Red Bordeaux
but looking again, it suggests 12 bottles ordered.
Guess I’ll find out what they are when they arrive.
Mystery red wine offer on here at $17 a bottle!
@ctmariner And they’ve extended the $17 coupon for today: SHAMWOW17-IE
@InFrom
Just got my 6 pack - used coupon so $85 plus $10 for 2 day shipping (just under $16 per bottle) - got upgrade on 5 bottles and winery prices range from $25 (Lion’s Ridge) to $55 (GF Zin - which I got in a prior offer and really like). Overall, well pleased!
@winedavid49
The more things change, the more they stay the same? I recently scored a $200 Boar’s Head Chardonnay from Schrader on UC. I noticed that the shipping label had been created 2 weeks earlier without having been shipped, so I sent an inquiry to support.
I was told that the bottle had been “compromised” and they were in the process of sourcing another one. Then, I got a follow-up email that they can’t get that bottle but they are going to substitute a $224 MSRP Staglin Family Chard and give me a $50 coupon to make up for it.
Sounds good on the surface, but I was stoked to get a bottle from Schrader, whereas I am unfamiliar with Staglin. I look at the Staglin website and find that the Chard has an MSRP of $175, not the $224 claimed by UC. Additionally, several recent vintages of Staglin Chard have a community value of LESS THAN $50 on CT. Apparently blown out on a flash site, and/or simply don’t hold value.
While I appreciate the $50 coupon, IMO it doesn’t make up for the difference in what I was supposed to get vs. what I am actually getting. After I use the $50 coupon, I am probably done with UC.
Tired of them substituting bottles with lesser bottles.
@chipgreen i o u a phone call.
@chipgreen @Winedavid49 I was in a similar situation. I ordered a CS offer that shipped during the heat. One of the bottles was leaking when it arrived and I wrote to customer service asking for guidance but not suggesting or requesting anything. Pretty quickly I was told that the same wine was unavailable (it was not one of the super upgrades) so keep the bottle and drink it soon. UC would refund my per bottle cost and give me a $50 store credit (more than my per bottle cost) for the inconvenience. In my situation that seemed like more than fair customer service, especially since it was resolved in a couple of days, and I thanked them. A couple of weeks later, without notice, I also received a solo bottle of chardonnay valued (not priced) about the same as the CS. It was unexpected, appreciated, and boosted my opinion of UC several notches.
I get the distinction between you expecting a “<1%” selection and me expecting a “<18%” selection. In my situation I was treated well by UC. You mention the CT value of “several recent vintages of Staglin Chard”, so I assume you received one of those and that is not a like-for-like replacement. Part of the problem is defining “value”. Retailers will always focus on the highest “value” for comparison, whether it be MSRP, CT, auction, etc., and consumers will latch onto the lowest.
It seems @winedavid49 may not be done yet.
@davirom @Winedavid49
Yes, it sounds like they took good care of you but as you might imagine, your satisfaction doesn’t help or change my own situation.
Every single aspect of this transaction is deja vu from the old UC. The lack of communication to let me know there was an issue until I brought it up. The unavailability of the wine I was supposed to get. The substituting of a lesser bottle. The exaggerated MSRP of that lesser bottle, in order to claim that the replacement bottle was actually worth more than the original bottle. The belief that they can fix anything by throwing a coupon at it.
While it will be nice if WD is able to offer a better solution, it’s still troubling to see UC using the same playbook that resulted in a lot of upset customers in the past.
@chipgreen @davirom @Winedavid49 i can’t speak to the previous UC, nor it’ motiviations. But will speak to ours. i’ll answer this in the morning. Good night.
@chipgreen @davirom @Winedavid49 good morning. i was deep in “tasting” after a basketball game last night. sore today, but clear headed as we head into the week.
Above all (regardless of where) we have always “tried to make it right”. looks like, despite some efforts, we came up short on this one. the "Boar’s Head " issue was brought to my attention late last week. i asked for Chip’s phone number and planned to give him a call. still intend to, to make it right.
overall, as we note a 1 year mark for new UC, we are in full realization that the UC business model is inventory intensive, (meaning we are managing ALOT of sku’s) compared to historical woot/casemates etc. we knew that going in, but there’s nothing like “live pitching” to understanding the complexities.
replacement bottles are a symptom of managing this different business model. we are getting better and those should be minimized in the near term.
it’s regrettable i was not able to reach Chip sooner.
David