Here’s a cautionary tale (which ends well) for wineries and their clients.
More than a year ago, my wife and I were booked to return to Argentina, where her family and several of our friends live. I had also planned a side-trip to visit the far northern interior region of Salta, which has emerged as one of Argentina’s most exciting, unique wine regions. Its high altitude desert climate vineyards are taking Argentina’s wine offering to new heights (excuse the pun). It was time to explore in person. So I booked and pre-paid for a stay in one of the region’s top winery hotels. To spare its blushes, I won’t name the establishment in this story, although the photo above offers a clue.
Then Covid-19 struck. You know how the rest of this goes: trip cancelled, airfares eventually refunded, plans put on hold indefinitely. We got most of our money back, or credit vouchers for future travel…
Except for this one hotel, which after a year of me trying to get them to refund our cancelled booking, still had not sent me a single peso (or dollar). Multiple mails went back and forth between me and the hotel reservations folk, with no resolution. With every option suggested (including a credit card refund, a wire transfer, even Western Union), I was advised it would not be possible. It seemed like it was not to be, although I could not understand how a hotel could not issue a simple refund to a client.
Frustrated with being stonewalled, and knowing this winery is owned by a large international wine group, I contacted the corporate head office in Mendoza, to ask for their help. I received an immediate reply from their corporate business manager, who kindly offered to resolve the issue. She was not, to put it mildly, impressed with the service I had received from the hotel, and promised to get me my refund.
About a week later, I answered my front door bell in Vancouver, and there was a smiling young lady bearing a large box for me from the Canadian agents for this wine company. I thanked her and went back indoors. Inside the box I found two pre-paid gift credit cards totalling $400 (a bit more than what I was owed by the hotel) as well as two high-end premium quality wines, and a lovely note apologizing for the experience I had been put through.
It was only after I emailed my contact at the winery’s corporate head office again to thank her for the kind assistance that I learned that the winery hotel is not part of the wine company (I guess it’s leased out as an independent operation), that she had tried reasoning with the hotel operators but had “encountered a brick wall”, so had taken matters into her own hands and arranged a refund through their BC agents. Now, that is service…!
The end result? A happy client and wine influencer who has been compensated for his time and trouble and is thus not only likely to view this wine company (and its wines) in a more positive light but also to try visit the winery again when he can. But – no surprise – we won’t be staying at that on-site hotel, sadly for them.
This story is a classic case study of how a smart company can save itself grief and build wine brand loyalty, one client at a time. And if you haven’t yet figured out which wine company and/or winery this story’s about, feel free to drop me an email through my website. Several of their wines are available here in the BC market and are well worth seeking out.