Vintage Matters: Why substitution is no substitute
I enjoy shopping for clothing online from time to time and a few weeks ago placed an order from an unnamed online retailer for a few additions to my summer wardrobe. The most exciting piece of my new outfit was a cute little sun dress in my favorite color, turquoise. When the order arrived a few days later, I was dismayed to open the package and find that they had shipped me the dress in black – a far cry from my perfect summer ensemble, now I look like I’m heading to a funeral. I called the retailer to investigate and was told that, unfortunately, the turquoise was sold out and that they had taken the liberty to ship me the black. When I informed the customer service representative that I didn’t want the black dress, she simply said, “Ship it back to us and we’ll refund your money.”
So now I have to repackage this unwanted item, haul myself to the UPS store and pay to ship this bane of my existence back to the retailer and then wait for days to see my hard earned money get refunded to me. I was entirely sold on the turquoise, and while the black dress was very cute, the fact that the retailer had shipped me this unwanted product without even CONSULTING me first was very frustrating.
Wine lovers are as committed to their vintages as I was to my turquoise dress. When a wine enthusiast places an order for a 2004 Syrah, it is because they have their heart set on the 2004. Maybe they’ve had it before and loved it, or maybe 2004 is a special year to them for some other sentimental reason, or maybe they had heard some great buzz about this vintage of wine and wanted to try for themselves. Imagine their frustration and disappointment to receive the 2005 vintage instead. If they don’t want to hassle with shipping the unwanted vintage back to the winery, they are stuck with a wine they will more than likely be disappointed with because it wasn’t what they’d ordered.
There may be some cases when the next vintage is better than the vintage they’d ordered. They may fall in love with a new favorite. That black sundress might have become a beloved staple in my wardrobe if someone had first contacted me to say, “Hey sorry, the turquoise is sold out, but this black one is very cute, and we’d be happy to offer you a 10% discount on this item since it wasn’t what you originally ordered.”
Even if I’d said no to the discounted dress, I would have had a better opinion of the retailer and would probably have shopped there again. Unfortunately for the retailer, none of that damage control was done and the little black dress was promptly sent back to the retailer – on their dime, not mine! They lost a customer, a sale, and a few bucks on shipping.
