Farr Vintners / 1963 Avery / Appalling Customer Service

[Chris Doty]

About a week ago, I placed an order with Farr for its remaining case of 1963 Avery. As it is not a bottle easy to come by here in the States, I was excited to have acquired it. I had given instructions for delivery to Seckfords, and supplied all that was required of me to issue an invoice.

A few days later, I was sent an email asking if I would not prefer to have the wines delivered to my US address, though no indication of cost was provided. Having not responded to that email, I was emailed this morning to say that they had canceled my order. I called to inquire as to why any business owner would unilaterally 'DK' an order such as mine, and was told it was because they didn't know where the wine should go. They told me that it would cost ~$800 to ship the wines to the US (nearly as much as the bottles themselves) and naturally I re-confirmed that they should be sent instead to Seckfords. I was told the order would be reissued and got off the phone, only to be emailed to say the Avery case is no longer available. No apology, no effort of any kind to demonstrate any interest in customer satisfaction, nada.

This would have been my first experience with Farr. It will instead be my last.

Those of you who follow my posts know that I am not prone to such threads, I was just especially perturbed by this latest retailer fail. Sigh...

[jdaw1]

only to be emailed to say the Avery case is no longer available.

Not me guv — I didn’t snaffle it.

[djewesbury]

Someone should alert Farr to this thread really. I feel ashamed; Crystal Palace FC, my team, have a directorial linkage with Farr (Julian, I notice that CPFC are your local team too. I must take you to a game one day.) I apologise on behalf of south London and indeed the nation.

[Alex Bridgeman]

only to be emailed to say the Avery case is no longer available.

Not me guv — I didn’t snaffle it.

But Gerwin bought a case of this rather rare port a few days ago.

At least it went to a good home

[djewesbury]

Just had a browse around Avery's cellars in Bristol. An excellent selection of Rieslings. I notice they still bottle an LBV (TFP).

[TLW]

Although their payment system is inconvenient for me, I have not had any problems with Farr, and have bought quite a few cases from them over the last couple of years.

Very sorry to hear of the bad experience.

[gerwin.degraaf]

only to be emailed to say the Avery case is no longer available.

Not me guv — I didn’t snaffle it.

But Gerwin bought a case of this rather rare port a few days ago.

At least it went to a good home

Indeed, they've arrived last Thursday (shipping done by Connoisseurs) at my home. I've ordered my case on Feb 25th , after quite some e-mails forth and back about the condition of the (then available) different stocks of the Avery's (when I was looking, there were 3 cases and 2 9-bottle lots available). It was my first encounter with Farr, and my experience with them was actually quite good, quick replies to my (many) e-mails to answer my questions and a swift service (with the invoice as well by the way).

Too bad your order went in this poor manner!

Should you ever be in my neighbourhood (chances are probably poor, since I'm in the Netherlands), please know then that there will be a bottle of the Avery ready to be opened for you!