Lot18

I have been a solid customer of Lot 18 since October of 2011. I have ordered from them quite often.
The wines have been exquisite, the gourmet products were excellent, and I even purchased 3 travel experiences when my wife and I went to Napa and Sonoma in July of 2012.
They have always been attentive to any problems that occured in my orders (there were a few). I received an immediate solution to my problem and usually got a credit for my troubles. I even paid big money for a winery experience in Napa that we got shorted on by the winery and Lot 18 gave me an option of full credit towards purchases or my money back.
The only problem I have with them is shipping to my state. Before 2012, there were only a few wines that I could not get but then laws changed and they changed some of their importers. in 2012 it all changed and ALL IMPORTED wines were unavaiible in my state. NOW only ablut 30% of the wines are availible to me. Even some of the domestic wines I bought in the past are now not able to be purchased by me.
I gave up ordering from them but I still check the website for selections and tasting notes. Surprisingly enough, if I want a wine they cannot ship to me, then I I go to my local wine shop and he gets them for me.

I have been TRYING to redeem a gift for 2 bottles of wine that a friend got me.
The process keeps looping me around online so I cannot redeem! Very frustrating!
I have — after 4 months– yet to get an actual human.
Once, I did get ‘Frank’ to call me back– he left a message– but no #!!- I cannot get ahold of hime again.
I called the # for new customers w/​high hopes– I spoke w/​a lady named ‘CHIQUITA’, who was the RUDEST person I have ever spoken with on the phone!
I am still in shock at the attitude she gave– am writing this after her refusal to assist me and then not allow me to speak to a supervisor or anyone else in the company. She did not try to help me at all! I feel bad for my friend that spent $$ on the wine for me :(Don’t use this company!!!
Go to a wine shop instead!!!

I have been ordering wine on and off from here for a little over a year. My purchases are a mixture of mostly lower priced and some mid-​priced wines and my orders have always been shipped shortly after ordering. The selections are different from what you find locally and I have been generally pleased with my purchases. I am in a few different wine clubs and it’s nice to bring wines that others have not tried yet.
I can see how contacting customer service can be frustrating. I used to purchased a lot of their gourmet items which they have since discontinued. I misunderstood the billing on one purchase and it took a few days to get in touch with someone. They ultimately took care of the problem, but the process was frustrating. They should make it a policy to get back with customers within a few hours or have someone answering the phone during certain hours of the day.
Overall, I recommend giving their offerings a try. They periodically offer account credits to help offset the cost of shipping. I have been pleasantly pleased with many of the wines I have purchased and have even made second purchases on some. We have quite a few wine shops in town as well as several Costco’s and I find myself coming back to Lot18 periodically to enhance what I can purchase locally.

What I like: Pretty site, nice emails, good marketing. Yes, when I shop, i am that shallow– I do enjoy a pleasant experience.
What I don’t like: When I check prices elsewhere, Lot 18’s tend to be higher, not lower. The reviews tend to be a bit breathless on everything– i dont really trust them.
To me the site seems like a lot of hype over not a whole heck of a lot. But it’s pretty.

While I’ve never had a problem with their customer service, I’ve found that they tend to focus more on looking beautiful (site and design) then offering up great wines at great prices.
As someone who purchases almost 100% of their wine online, I can tell you that you can almost always find the exact same deal or a slightly better deal elswhere (and possibly not have to pay tax depending on where you live). There are multiple better sites out there that focus on the wine and not necessarily the site look/​design –
is a good example.
For a venture-​backed service they could/​should focus on the customer first. Although if they are looking for wine newbies with money who are less concerned about quality wines at the best possible price) then this might be the right place for them.

This website seems so shady, I’m sorry. Every time I go to order something cheap, it’s NEVER available. The only available stuff are the expensive bottles. And then it seems as if you can’t even order single bottles. Nothing works. It’s confusing and misleading. I had a $ 25 credit that I wanted to put towards an order as well, and it was like doing brain surgery. Why is it so hard? My hubby and I are always wanting to try new wines, but it looks like I won’t be ordering from here ever. I’m done trying to make a purchase with Lot18.
Also, be VERY CAUTIOUS of the 5 star reviews, as they are probably fake. Some of the 5 star reviewers have made Lot 18 their only reviews. Other hints to look out for are one-​line reviews that sound like mini advertisements. Chances are, they are employees of Lot 18.

Poor customer service, even after speaking with «Frank». First of all, the site did not want to accept any of my cards… turns out that, at the time, their system would not accept payment where the shipping address and billing address were different. Absurd, when most wine sites ask you to ship to a business address where an adult is always there to sign for receipt. None of my emails to «customer service» were answered. I finally managed to place an order, and arrange to have it shipped at the end of October when the weather would be cooler. The wine arrived yesterday after spending a week in transit, here in south TX at temp in the low 90’s. No responses to my emails… other than to see that they have taken me off their list, which is what I told them to do. I’ve seen some OK review’s here, but a lot have experiences similar to mine.
They either have a poor system, or have terrible people. Or maybe are just «over their heads» all around.
My suggestion would be to not take a risk with these people. Go to Michael Shemali at ebay, or J.J.Buckley or K&L. At J.J. Buckley in particular, Andy Frieden takes great care of me.
Wish that could give «0» stars.

In an effort to continue to seek out better customer service, i placed a call to the founding CEO of Lot 18, Philip James. I left a voice message. I never heard a response. That is really all one needs to know about Lot 18.
I placed several emails and phone calls between June 8^th and ⁷⁄₁₇. When I would hear back (which was a total of twice), it was the same message «Your wines have shipped… we had a system glitch with the tracking numbers.» This was said when, in fact, the wines had not shipped.
Guess their troubles are well known:
On Friday, July 20^th, I received the final bottle of the 6^th I ordered. So, order placed on June 8^th. Received 3 bottles the first week. Received bottles 4 and 5 a month later and the final bottle 6 weeks later.

I can’t give Lot 18 only one start because for the first 15 orders, they did the job right! However, two out of my last and FINAL three orders had issues. One order was charged to my credit card but never processed. After contacting customer service, they processed my order and sent me a $ 15 credit.
However, the second of my FINAL three orders I am having problems with was for an item close to $ 270 (half case of Napa wines). I placed this order over a month ago. My card has been charged… and I’ve received only ONE bottle. The order history lists six UPS shipping tracking numbers… however, all six are the SAME tracking number. Customer service has seemed to mysteriously gone quite.
I’d recommend not buying any mixed collections from this site.
Caveat emptor!

Placed an order on ⁵⁄₃₁. Product description site says order would be filled the following Monday via expedited delivery since the item I purchased is perishable. After 3 days of calling and emailing, still haven’t heard a thing.

Terrible website. Most horrible customer service. They work by referrals and incentives but deliver none and respond never to customer emails or voicemails. How would you ever trust when something goes wrong with orders!

The idea of buying wine online always seems a bit iffy to me. Obviously, when you order from Lot18 you don’t get to taste what you’re buying. Also, all the packaging that’s necessary for shipping wine can seem very wasteful. Then there’s the concern that your wine may be exposed to undesirable temperatures. Buying wine online… not that appealing to me.
That being said, I’m quite impressed with Lot18! I work in the wine industry. Not a huge wine snob (yet), but I’m a little pickier than the average wine drinker. I believe that you shouldn’t have to break the bank for the good stuff. There are some pretty awesome deals on Lot18. Worth checking out if you’re into wine.
It’s helpful that Lot18 includes very thorough product descriptions and wine reviews. However, the reviews are often for a previous vintage of the same wine. Also, I’ve noticed a few instances where the original retail price listed on Lot18 was not accurate. Do your research before buying! There are other websites for purchasing wine, and sometimes, when you add in all the tax and shipping, Lot18 isn’t that great of a deal after all.
Thumbs up for Lot18’s customer service! One time, I ordered a gorgeous set of serving dishes. Shipping was incredibly prompt, but one of the dishes arrived with a small chip even though everything was carefully packed. I contacted customer service and sent a photo of the chipped dish. I have never had a more positive and straightforward experience with *any* customer service department. The replacement dish arrived in the mail a week later, and to my surprise, they sent me a complete second set of dishes instead of replacing just the one.

I bought a LivingSocial offer giving me a credit of $ 75 for $ 35. It literally took me months to find a wine I wanted to buy and basically had to pull the trigger before the coupon expired. I am very finicky about wine and carefully research on Cellar Tracker before I buy. Frequently I saw CT notes stating how they had bought the same wine on closeout somewhere for ½ the price Lot18 was asking. Often the offerings were from small producers with a short or spotty track record in producing wines that you would want to drink. Making things worse was that they often kept wines listed as «sold out» for days after it became unavailable.
It is hard to understand what Lot18 is really offering. a) unique wines of exceptional character unavailable elsewhere? or b) good wines at exceptional value. I think Lot18 needs to sit down an figure this out. I for one will not be back until they do.
Adiós, Lot18

I’ve purchased wine from them that is already going «off». They do occasionally have wine for less than you can get it elsewhere, but usually you can get it cheaper locally. But the huge problem is they try to create buying frenzies by offering only a limited supply and have it sell out quickly. I’ve gotten emails that arrive after the wine is already sold out. They seem to want to part their customers from their money more than offer a good. service. This online business is hurting your local wine shops. The best thing you can do is form a relationship with a brick and mortar store. Don’t buy online, you will be disappointed. Buy locally!

I just cancelled my membership. Lousy customer service.
I ordered a few times with Lot18. Have been reasonably happy with the wine delivered. My last experience was frustrating, however. Lot18 posted a «free shipping on everything» offer the DAY AFTER I placed my order. I asked them if they would grant me the free shipping, or at least split the difference… nope. They won’t budge. They said, «wait for our next offer». No, I’m not waiting.
There are too many choices today to put up with dumb, inconsiderate customer service reps.

Do your research before ordering from this site.
Yes, you can find some decent deals, but don’t rely on the tasting notes by their «experts» as they aren’t always on the money and the critics seem to have some kind of «in» with whatever winery they are reviewing. Also be sure to check other peoples reviews on the vintages they are selling as I’ve discovered most of the time they are liquidating a lesser quality vintage and comparing it to another year’s rating. If you take time and do your research, you will probably find a better wine at a better price elsewhere.

Ordered some wine from a daily email offer (which, by the way, was one of 3 that day — they do pound out about 15−20+ per week when you sign up, which can be a bit excessive), my card was charged, and 3 weeks later it had still not even been shipped. Granted, it was an imported wine, which they do say in their fine print takes a little longer than domestic wines — imports are shipped by some south Jersey retail outfit, while domestics come directly from the wineries after they likely skim their piece of your purchase price and pass your order along — but 3 weeks just to box it up and get it out the door? At least don’t charge a customer’s card right away if that’s going to be the case.
No real excuse for that, if they really do have 80 some-​odd people working for them as I’ve read, then they ought to pop a couple of more into the import orders department. Or spend a little less time with fluffy bios about their «curators» and maybe put that energy into getting shipments rolling faster. The best marketing in the world is fast and efficient delivery. I did email their customer service box twice, and got polite responses that were a bit vague and just said that my order would be going very soon. Lots of daily wine deal choices out there, so I guess I expected quite a bit more from these guys. At least from this experience, I certainly can’t recommend them.

Great wine at knock-​down prices — delivered to your inbox. if you snooze you lose, and I like winning!
Lot 18 rocks! Great wines at an excellent value. We are definitely amateur wine enthusiasts, and Lot18 is a great way to find great wine without paying through the nose. We get exposed to a lot of new wineries like we would if we went wine-​tasting, but someone already did all the hard work and found the good spots!
So far we haven’t gone wrong. The team that is out searching for these deals really know what they’re doing. The wines are described perfectly, and the guest writers are really helpful, too. Clearly a lot of people who know their wines have come together here.
The BF and I both order from here and so far we have gotten exactly what we were expecting every time. Many times the shipping is free. The only bummer is that you never really know when it’s going to ship out, so sometimes you’ll have a long wait. Or if you look on the bright side, if you order often enough it’s like getting a present in your mailbox you forgot was coming!
Keep your eye out for the Friday deals! If you think you want it you’d better pull the trigger though — some of these deals sell out in minutes.
We got several bottles of bordeaux (yes, from the Bordeaux region) for an absolute steal, and that deal lasted about 45 minutes before it sold out. Also, if you refer a friend who buys something, you get $ 25 credit. Also, you just get random credits here and there that expire within a few days to inspire you to buy more!
Customer service was very good to me on my first order — I thought I ordered in enough time to have the shipment arrive before we left on vacation out of state — the wine was supposed to come with us in the car. I called service and received an email response pretty quickly. They re-​routed the shipment so it would arrive where we were going to end up. I’m sure they won’t do that all the time, but it was really nice, as it was a gift. Now I know to time my orders better.
Deciding how many emails to get is a double-​edged sword — if you get all of the emails, it can sometimes feel overwhelming — but if you condense to once a day, you might miss out on a golden opportunity! The only improvement I’d make is to allow members the ability to sign up for the types of wine we want to be alerted about throughout the day. That would be really really cool. Five Stars cool!

Huge discounts!
Great product information.
Tasty wines.

Although the idea of buying wine online typically doesn’t appeal to me, I placed an order with Lot18 and I’ve become a fan. I heard about Lot18 while reading one of my favorite news sources online; I can’t remember whether it was the New York Times, the Onion or a local newspaper. I registered with the site and watched the offers come in by email. There are usually one or two per day. I stood on the sidelines and didn’t do anything until I got the «$ 10 off on your first order» mail. (This offer is currently up on the Unilocal page for Lot18.)
When I was ready to pull the trigger, I ordered the 2010 SOHO Marlborough sauvignon blanc duo. This is a pair of «award-​winning» New Zealand sauvignon blancs. In fact, I ordered two pairs in order to get free shipping. With the $ 10 credit, the wines came in at under $ 10/​bottle. It took a while for the wines to ship; when they did ship, I got an email to the effect that they were on their way. And they arrived! Unfortunately, as I was unpacking the bottles, one of them exploded. More precisely, the bottom blew out cleanly from the bottle, probably because of some ongoing fermentation. The break was clean and the package was strong; almost all of the liquid remained in the box and there was no horrible mess or bodily injury.
Needless to say, I reported my experience to Customer Service. They were very nice in their response, and probably relieved that I wasn’t threatening to sue them for whiplash. They shipped out a third two-​bottle case to me for free, and that case arrived yesterday. Summary: I got 5 intact bottles of wine for less than $ 40.
And how are the wines? I’ve twisted open only one of the bottles so far. The pair includes a «black» and a «white,» and I tried the black. Fabulous stuff! New Zealand sauvignon blanc now has a very well known flavor profile, and most of the stuff is super boring. The one bottle of SOHO that I tried was heads and shoulders above Marlborough wines that I’ve had in recent times.
There really is a pool of distressed high end wine out there, and savvy consumers can benefit. Lot18 seems like a very good source of bargains.