Things Can Change - Table & Vine Improved Service

Improvement at Table & Vine in West Springfield, MA.

I recently filed the following complaint to Big Y Management (They Own Table & Vine)

During a recent visit to Table & Vine I noticed a sign above a row of wine stating it was rated 91 points by Robert Parker, upon further examination the sign was for a different vintage year than what was being sold. I figured this was a mistake, and continued shopping. Just a few rows down I again noticed a high graded wine sign, but a different vintage being offered. Now I started looking closely and found this five times in one row! In fact I found some hand written signs stating high ratings with no vintage year stated at all! It became evident that this was not an error, but a direct attempt to push wine through false and misleading advertising.

There is no reason for this kind of misleading tactics (especially from a company you feel you can trust like the Big Y). This is like a car dealership advertising a 2010 car, but substituting a 2006. Wine is very specific to its year. Just because a 2007 vintage rated well, has nothing to do with how well a 2009 vintage of the same label would rate. Any sign that states a rating should always clearly show the vintage year rated, and that must always be in line with what is being offered.

I purchase $250 - $300 worth of wine a month, and will no longer shop Table and Vine until this is corrected. I appreciate anything Big Y leadership can do to restore my faith in Big Y’s ethical principles and conduct in running its business. I would also suggest an audit be taken of the Table & Vine operation to assure it is following corporate guidance going forward. I hope what I have noticed is not just the tip of the iceberg.

On a side note; two times in the last month I went to purchase my favorite varietal and it was out of stock. When I requested to order a case, it was as if I was asking the salesman to go out of his way; instead he told me it was a warehouse stock item and should be in next week and I could just pick it up from the floor. Only after I insisted, did he agree to place the order. We went to a order station, and he could not find a blank form, or even a pen that writes! He asked me to put my name on a paper with a Magic-Marker! Very Un-Professional. In the month prior to that, I attempted to order a case of wine from an Email to the store. After not receiving a response I went to the store and the salesman went to a computer and found my email, we placed the order; but again a failed very poor process.

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November 12, 2011

I would like to report a major improvement - I took a chance last week and went in to pick up some wine. I found all signs now accurately lining up with the actual wine on sale. I asked for a case of my favorite wine (7 Deadly Zins) and the clerk promptly responded yes sir and brought me out a case in less than two minutes. Two times while shopping I was approached and asked if I needed any assistance. Good Job Table & Vine, keep up the good job........

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April 28, 2020 

Well they are back to their old tricks. On a recent visit to Town & Country Liquors I noticed once again they are mislabeling wine as high rated but not the vintage they are selling. I found this over 8 times in one isle!! You know this is intentional. I will not be going back anytime soon.

Town Fair Tire - Poor Customer Service

Well I have not had any response to my complaint I sent to Town Fair Tire on October 1(see previous post in my blog).

I sent my email to custservice@townfair.com but after 11 days not so much as an acknowledgement from them.What a poor excuse for a company, they can't even respond to their customers when there is a problem!

Do yourself a favor, pay a little more someplace else and save a lot of aggravation in the long run making return trips and being messed with by these guys that have no clue how to install or service tires or even the basics of providing customer service.   

A Letter to Town Fair Tire - A Lost Customer

I recently purchased four 20” American Racing custom wheels and brand new Pirelli high end tires for my 2009 Ford Platinum F-150 truck at your Chicopee, MA location.

I noticed almost immediately that when passing on the highway I was getting a wobble in the steering wheel and kept meaning to get back to the store to have it checked, but like most I am very busy with work and family schedules. I finally made it into the Chicopee store last week where I purchased the tire and wheel set and explained about the wobble in the steering wheel at 70 MPH, they took it in and rebalanced the wheels.

 

On the way home (I have to take the turnpike) so it was not long before I was at 70 and noticed no change in the wobble, in fact it seemed a little more pronounced. I was determined to get this fixed as it was driving me crazy as my $50K truck was riding like an old junk. I went back to the Chicopee store the next day and this time asked to see the manager. I again explained the problem with the wobble in the wheel. They took the truck in and rebalanced again but this time put the front tires in the rear. The tech did say he had a problem getting a good balance on one of the wheels, but the manager said it was not bad enough to replace it.

Well I left with high hopes that my problems were over, only to find the problem was still there and now felt like it was not only a wobble but the whole truck was shaking.

Next morning I took the truck back to the dealer where I bought it (Marcotte Ford) and explained that there must be something wrong with the truck, I explained how in the last week Town Fair had rebalanced the tires and wheels two times but the truck had a bad wobble and vibration.

Ford did find and fix the problem. Let me share with you the comments directly from the work order:

ATTEMPTED TO BALANCE RF TIRE WORLD NOT BALANCE IT KEPT TELLING ME TO ADD WEIGHT IN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS. DISMOUNTED TIRE AND FOUND AN EXCESSIVE AMOUNT OF WATER IN IT. DUMPED WATER OUT AND DRIED INSIDE THE TIRE REMOUNTED AND BALANCED. DID THE SAME PROCEADURE FOR THE OTHER THREE TIRES FOUND WATER IN TWO TIRES BALANCED ALL. TEST DRIVE CHECKED GOOD.

I left the dealership somewhat skeptical but when I got on the highway and found the ride to be smooth and steady with no sign of the wobble I was relieved, but also somewhat pissed off that the tire experts at Town Fair mounted expensive tires and wheels with water in them. Not only that, they did not have the ability to trouble shoot the problem after the fact, even after my escalation to the store manager. This is just not acceptable when you pay $2300 for tires and wheels and trust you are dealing with experts in the tire business.

There is nothing you can do for me, the damage is done. You cannot give me back the time spent on three separate days and loss of work I spent to get this issue resolved. But you can help your business by making sure this complaint gets to your highest level leadership, if they are not aware of problems like this they will continue to think things are going well, and not understand why they are losing customers.

Some sort of educational bulletin should go out as a warning to all techs:

·        Make sure tires are dry inside before being mounted.

·        The process used to seal tires to the rim should be reviewed as this is suspect in the cause of the water getting into the tires.

·        Is the air compressor being properly drained of water, are there water filters in place?

·        Check for water in tire when tires do not balance as expected.

Regards,