Vinesse wineclub Wineclub membership scam Westlake Village, California
Similar to another victim of this scam, I joined the Vinesse Wineclub through a promotion with American Airlines. Initially, I thought the offer sounded reasonable. I enjoy wine. I like to travel. The promise of the club to provide good wine at reasonable price and convenient shipments sounds like a good deal while I earn airmiles along the way. After receiving the introductory shipment of two bottles at $35, I received another shipment of two bottles the following month as expected.
What I did not expect was a charge of $95.80 for the two bottles on my credit card bill that came earlier this afternoon. I thought the charge was high for the wines I was receiving, so I went to the websites of the two wineries in question to vrify that I am getting what I paid. I found the prices for those two bottle was below $50 combined from the wineries and even less when I search the web for price comparison.
I understand taht I can't expect to get a discount from a wine club, although I do get favorable pricing from other wineclubs that I belong. In the case with Vinesse, I was bascially charged twice the winery's prices. I called Vinesse to inquire about the charges. I did not get a satifactory answer. Plus, I was informed that a third shipment of two more bottles was already shipped for the same price. This is only less than two weeks after I received my last shipment.
They told me that this is something called a "Summer Wine Package Special" being sent out early for the summer time before they resume the "regular" schedule. I told them I wanted to cancel the third shipment and was informed that it will cost me $22 to do so. At this point I decided I had enough of this shady business practice by Vinesse. I told them I wanted to cancel my membership and told them that they are practically running a scam.
I will monitor my credit card account closely to make sure that they don't try to charge me for something else. Come to think of it, I will call them back soon to verify that my membership had been canceled and get the name of the operator as well as the cancellation number. I will also call my credit card company to lodge a complaint about this shady wineclub that the credit card company is promoting. I hope you can use my experience as a warning to avoid shady offers and practices like this. At least I hope you would avoid dealing with Vinesse.