Don't ship via UPS!...

[Guest]

At least not if the goods are temperature sensitive. A case of wine was received and every bottle was FROZEN like an ice cube. Corks all forced out................ Dumb shits! They left the truck parked outside overnight the night before with sub zero temps. Does anyone over there have a brain?!

Filed a Damage/Claim report and all they are willing to cover is the shipping charges. They don't want to be liable for the damaged wine.

What a bunch of Dorks!

I'm not using them ever again.

mac.

PS. Now I can't use FedEx or UPS. Any recommendations?

[Jaycen_PNW2002]

Some companies don't ship items that are ruined once frozen during this time of year. Wurth SKS comes to mind when I think of this.

[B-Doon]

You can't blame them....it is the dead of Winter, and you can't expect them to have a heated trailer for boxes that may be containing liquids...They're not delivering pizzas......I do however understand your frustration. I order a lot of fresh ingredients for homebrewing, and have the opposite problem in the summer....the yeast strains never make it through the heat....of course yeast is MUCH less expensive than bottled wine... talk to the person/company that sent the wine....

PS...if this sounds rude I apologize.....I've been drinking a couple bottles of Bigfoot.....

[kikass_2002]

if they were on the left coast they would be warm instead of frozen . . .

[TMK-001]

If it was American wine, chances are it was shiit anyway :-P Sorry, I couldnt resist!

[gpetrus]

I suppose thats why people who have temperature sensitive freight pay more to have have it shipped temperature controlled. But UPS are the dumb shits because they are truckers and you failed to make appropriate plans.

As a trucker, I suggest you haul it yourself until such a time that you figure out that all that can go wrong may be your own fault.

[ibjettin]

I thought all the items they shipped carried a $100 insurance? Or is that FedEx?

[Vroomer]

If it was American wine, chances are it was shiit anyway :-P Sorry, I couldnt resist!

That's only the wine we bottle that uses Australian grapes. Sorry, I pass 4 wineries on the way to work and the same 4 on the way back. Nice try though. ;-]

[m-racer]

First off, I can understand your frustration. Sounds like a waste of good wine. As the former VP Corporate Marketing for UPS, I can tell you that no one there would be pleased with your loss. That said, the tarriffs are very clear about common carriage being subject to a range of temps. Most shippers that send temp. sensitive goods (seafood, chocolate, produce, flowers, etc) use very specific packaging to protect the items and usually use air services vs. ground to minimize the time in transit. The company that shipped the wine should have been aware of the risk. If they weren't, they need to know more about their own business. Perishibles are not accepted in the UPS ground system. That is why the loss is limited to the shipping. My guess is the liability falls to the shipper. Sorry you had a bad experience. I haven't worked there in a few years, and while I don't like everything they do either, I don't think there are too many dumb shits working there.

[RandyMolson]

If it was American wine, chances are it was shiit anyway :-P Sorry, I couldnt resist!

LOL. I get buttery Cali Chardonnay (and Germany Riesling) for the girls...but I have been known to enjoy it too. When buying for meself, I usually go Italian and sometimes Spanish reds for export wine with soul. Do they grow any wine over there Oceanica?

[dubois]

UPS runs a tight ship, they are very efficient and very professional. I think shipping wine across states to individuals, it is a fairly new thing, for most wineries. There were laws (and there still might be) that made it illegal to producers to sell or ship wine directly to consumers to certain states - I believe FL is one of them. It sounds like even if they had been shipped in styrofoam cases, the wine might have been at risk. I don't think it can be expected from UPS to special handle this package - unless paid to do so. The shipper should have known this. I think the best bet is to call the winery and get them to ship another case, this time during spring.

I hope it wasn't a case of what I had last night!

[dubois]

If it was American wine, chances are it was shiit anyway :-P Sorry, I couldnt resist!

That is funny! "American wine" is a term I have never heard before. You guys most get only the wine that is produced in Alabama and none from WA or CA!

Cheers!

[ingraham]

Pity about the wine.

[TMK-001]

If it was American wine, chances are it was shiit anyway :-P Sorry, I couldnt resist!

That is funny! "American wine" is a term I have never heard before. You guys most get only the wine that is produced in Alabama and none from WA or CA!

Cheers!

I was just winding you all up! I know there are a few top vineyards in the US.

I lived with a wine merchant for 3 years... he always said there is some excellent wines in California but everywhere else isn't much chop... I once had a bottle of a very nice drop from a whinery that the name escapes me now, but it was delivered by a friend of my dad, who lives in San Fran...

We are pretty spoilt in Australia. AFAIK, we are the largest wine consumers per capita by a long way (yeah, we are a nation of drunks (and some say convicts... meh)

Australia have many premium brands that export to the US. Penfolds is probably our most prolific with a wine called Grange Hermitage... this is one of our most expensive, with many people having collections dating back many years - having a "Grange collection" is kinda like having a collection of really fancy cars... some are even worth $150,000+

There are a number of wine regions right the way across Australia.

The Barossa Valley in South Australia

Coonawarra in South Australia

Margaret River in Western Australia

Yarra Valley in Victoria

Hunter Valley in NSW

to name just a few... where my parents have a house in South Australia, it is just down the road from the Coonawarra area, dad deals with a lot of the wine makers through various different activities and has amassed quite a collection of wine that resides in his underground cellar. It fluctuates in number fairly significantly!

About 9 years ago dad got a whole lot of his staff wine for a christmas present... 3 dozen bottles, all at about USD80 a bottle, pretty big bucks for hsi admin staff, but a nice drop and a nice present... anyway, that wine now is worth about USD$3000 a bottle if you can find it! Dad was saying just recently "I remember drinking 3 bottles of it in the lead up to at Christmas! Damn it was good though!"

[dubois]

Thanks for the educational wine tour. My guess is that we in California, are fixated on our stuff, and don't know much about world wines. We do get some Australian wines, but mostly table wine. You just gave me another "excuse" to go down under!