LCBO Vintages Shop Online - how buggy ?

The biggest problem with vintagesshoponline by far is its uninteresting product offerings.

I've been saying this for years but the best thing they can do is to stop killing trees and reduce transation costs by offering their Classics Catalogue products through vintagesshoponline.

quote:

Originally posted by Stevey:
The biggest problem with vintagesshoponline by far is its uninteresting product offerings.

I've been saying this for years but the best thing they can do is to stop killing trees and reduce transation costs by offering their Classics Catalogue products through vintagesshoponline.

While I agree with your assessment that Classics could be put online, I actually have bought quite a few things that I find very interesting on Vintages online.

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Originally posted by Mimik:

quote:

Originally posted by Stevey:
The biggest problem with vintagesshoponline by far is its uninteresting product offerings.

I've been saying this for years but the best thing they can do is to stop killing trees and reduce transation costs by offering their Classics Catalogue products through vintagesshoponline.

While I agree with your assessment that Classics could be put online, I actually have bought quite a few things that I find very interesting on Vintages online.

+1 on both, every couple of months something grabs my attention from the online store.

quote:

Originally posted by Mimik:
While I agree with your assessment that Classics could be put online, I actually have bought quite a few things that I find very interesting on Vintages online.

To each his own. Judging by the low turnover rates I've seen, you're not of the majority. In my case, for every dollar I spend on vintagesonline, I spend thousands more from other LCBO channels. Heck, I've bought more from Altaya in Hong Kong than vintagesshoponline.

Hi

But do you see the error in programming - when you search on vintages.com and see something that links to VSOL -the link doesn't work ??

Or the register issue for your e-mail ?

For sure -I would love to have the 'lottery' for wines automated ... the recent one I got a couple of CNdP only to be traveling when they called and someone at work put the message to call them with a credit card by Friday ( oh well - :-(

Greg

quote:

Originally posted by Stevey:

quote:

Originally posted by Mimik:
While I agree with your assessment that Classics could be put online, I actually have bought quite a few things that I find very interesting on Vintages online.

To each his own. Judging by the low turnover rates I've seen, you're not of the majority. In my case, for every dollar I spend on vintagesonline, I spend thousands more from other LCBO channels. Heck, I've bought more from Altaya in Hong Kong than vintagesshoponline.

Altaya? That's quite the long haul to p/u your purchases - what are prices like?

The only thing I ever bought from vintagesshoponline was a bottle of 2006 Chateau Beaucastel Roussanne VV. I just about ignore the emails when they arrive

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Originally posted by theweb:
Altaya? That's quite the long haul to p/u your purchases - what are prices like?

You have to look but prices are decent for some Italians, like the 2004 Siro Pacenti BdM that I recently picked up at $535 HKD. Then there are other hard-to-finds mostly French and Italians like the 2004 Flaccianello for under $600 HKD (not sure if same price now).

quote:

Originally posted by Greg H:

For sure -I would love to have the 'lottery' for wines automated ... the recent one I got a couple of CNdP only to be traveling when they called and someone at work put the message to call them with a credit card by Friday ( oh well - :-(

Greg

I solved this problem by giving them my cell number. Once I got "the call" while having dinner in a restaurant in Moscow. Seems bizarre to have to do this, but it works.

some times something nice appear on the web

quote:

Originally posted by on the wine:

quote:

Originally posted by Greg H:

For sure -I would love to have the 'lottery' for wines automated ... the recent one I got a couple of CNdP only to be traveling when they called and someone at work put the message to call them with a credit card by Friday ( oh well - :-(

Greg

I solved this problem by giving them my cell number. Once I got "the call" while having dinner in a restaurant in Moscow. Seems bizarre to have to do this, but it works.

Wouldn't it be easier to just call them to give them your credit number anytime in advance?

quote:

Originally posted by Stevey:

quote:

Originally posted by on the wine:

quote:

Originally posted by Greg H:

For sure -I would love to have the 'lottery' for wines automated ... the recent one I got a couple of CNdP only to be traveling when they called and someone at work put the message to call them with a credit card by Friday ( oh well - :-(

Greg

I solved this problem by giving them my cell number. Once I got "the call" while having dinner in a restaurant in Moscow. Seems bizarre to have to do this, but it works.

Wouldn't it be easier to just call them to give them your credit number anytime in advance?

I'm usually busy enough prior to a trip that just giving my cell on the order sheet is easier than adding another task before the trip. Would they even take it if you call before they have done their allocations?

quote:

Originally posted by on the wine:

quote:

Originally posted by Stevey:

quote:

Originally posted by on the wine:

quote:

Originally posted by Greg H:

For sure -I would love to have the 'lottery' for wines automated ... the recent one I got a couple of CNdP only to be traveling when they called and someone at work put the message to call them with a credit card by Friday ( oh well - :-(

Greg

I solved this problem by giving them my cell number. Once I got "the call" while having dinner in a restaurant in Moscow. Seems bizarre to have to do this, but it works.

Wouldn't it be easier to just call them to give them your credit number anytime in advance?

I'm usually busy enough prior to a trip that just giving my cell on the order sheet is easier than adding another task before the trip. Would they even take it if you call before they have done their allocations?

I don't think the last offer even had a space for a credit card? they called everyone to confirm allocation and get payment at that time. LCBO seems to be changing up the payment process with every Classics offer. I'd rather do the cell phone thing, to be honest, I usually order more than I want / can afford since I know I won't get 90% of what I order anyway, so I load up, say "hail Mary" and wait for the call and then decide what I want from there.

There are other bugs. If you register an account, and then don't buy online in, say, 3 months (the LCBO itself can't specify how long - they don't know), your existing account closes and can't be re-opened. I know - this happened to me.

Add items to your cart and if you close your browser, items are not there when you revisit. Unlike Amazon, Indigo or any other decent e-commerce site.

Site will also time out in 15 min or so -- again, kicking you out, forcing you to re-authenticate and in the mean time, the cart contents have been purged. Again, this has happened to me, so I know of what I write.

Suffices to say you have to be prepared to shop and buy in one session, 15 min or less. Assuming you can login.

Like the vintages.com site -- a legacy relic; a site that doesn't operate properly in Firefox or mobile browser -- Vintages Online is plagued with bugs and just plain illogical design.

What else would you expect from a monopoly run by accountants?!

quote:

Originally posted by on the wine:
I'm usually busy enough prior to a trip that just giving my cell on the order sheet is easier than adding another task before the trip. Would they even take it if you call before they have done their allocations?

Yeah, I know what you mean, but it's still better than putting fate in their hands to call you at a time when you can take calls, especially if you're in a different time zone such as Moscow. I've called to provide them with my cc# in advance without problem. They just enter it into their system like before.

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Originally posted by Darcy Kelley:
What else would you expect from a monopoly run by accountants?!

Whoa!... I used to be in accounting (actually, I still am according to the ICAO), so I'm taking this personally! I think this has nothing to do with accountants but rather it's the mentality of a monopoly. They only pay lip service to customer service as they don't really need to attract customers as the only game in town. Their 1998 style website reflects this.

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Originally posted by Darcy Kelley:
What else would you expect from a monopoly run by accountants? politicians!

Sorry for the swear word.

There's some good stuff on there sometimes. Quite frankly you just sign on the morning of the release, click on what you want, and a couple of days later it's ready for pick up. Not a perfect system, not even a good system, but it does work (most of the time)- all the wines I wanted are in my cellar...

You mean a few weeks later it's in your cellar (assuming you get it).

I've never had the wines arrive in less than two weeks; more commonly three-to-four.

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Originally posted by futronic:
You mean a few weeks later it's in your cellar (assuming you get it).

I've never had the wines arrive in less than two weeks; more commonly three-to-four.

Wow! I usually have them in within two days but sometimes I do have to wait until the next week...