Wine Country Gift Baskets — Attraction in Fullerton

In placing my order online, I encountered a glitch that prevented me from entering a free gift message that was several characters less than the 180 character limit. After speaking with customer service several separate times, I was told that although this glitch could not be circumvented on my end, the message could be easily altered over the phone after the order was placed. Although at first they claimed never to have dealt with this issue before, they eventually blamed it on my Mac operating system.

After placing the order, I called customer service a total of 6 times over the course of 2 days in order to get the gift message changed. The first couple times, customer service reps encountered the same glitch on their end and were unable to change the message. Customer service then allegedly submitted a form so that the message would be altered by "another department" that "worked on a different system". I was never told what this department was, nor how to contact them directly. Every time I contacted customer service I was connected with a different representative and had to explain the situation all over again. I was told that after this request was sent to the other department, that the issue would be resolved in 2.5 hours. After calling 3.5 hours later, I was told that it wasn't processed yet and to call again the next morning (as the company allegedly operates 24/7 during the holidays).

When I called first thing the morning, I was promptly informed that my gift baskets had already been shipped out without the appropriate gift message changes made. All I was offered in compensation for this mistake on the part of Wine Country was a 10% credit back on my order.

In the end, 8 expensive baskets were shipped out to different business partners of mine with a pathetic single sentence message. I spent hours attempting to resolve an issue that should not have existed in the first place, for a part of the ordering process that should take no more than 30 seconds. Sufficed to say, I will not be using this service again in the future.

My trust in the customer service department was broken at every turn as I was repeatedly lied to. I can only hope that somehow word reaches Wine Country's tech department so that this glaring flaw in their online ordering system is fixed for future customers. A computer brand and operating system that represents half of all computers in the United States shouldn't disqualify customers from using your...

Products from Wine Country Gift Baskets do not arrive as ordered and the customer service is nothing short of horrendous. For 10 years, I relied on Wine Country Gift Baskets as my go-to vendor for sending gift baskets to friends, family, customers, and work colleagues. That is no longer the case. Instead of rectifying errors, the line agents answering customer calls claim to be “supervisors” and blame the recipients for the company’s errors. My most recent experiences are unrecognizable from the Wine Country Gift Baskets with whom I first placed an order more than decade ago. In September 2020, I sent gift baskets to three different people and added the “gift note” that purportedly allows customers to add a note to the recipients. Not one of those three gift baskets contained the note. When I called customer service last Friday to complain, the agent denied that the notes were missing and suggested that the recipients must just not have seen them. When I asked to speak to the supervisor, the agent told me she was the supervisor and said she would credit the order with a 20% discount. That credit has not gone through. I called back 10 minutes later (partly because I found it difficult to believe that a supervisor would be answering first line calls). I spoke to another agent and was given the exact same story. No apologies, no efforts to rectify the error, just blaming three different recipients for not noticing the gift notes. This agent also claimed to be the supervisor, just as the first agent had claimed 10 minutes earlier. While mistakes can happen with any company, there are correct ways to handle them and then there is the way Wine Country Gift Baskets “supervisors” handle them. As a result, this company has lost a customer who has been consistently ordering from them for over a decade.

• Update: Since the time this was posted, the 20% refund described above...

I had utilized this company formerly to deliver a gift basket to my father; and had a positive experience. I thought when his Birthday came up this year, I would do the same. Unfortunately the experience was not the same this time around. I chose a basket with "free delivery"; however due to the time constraints was required to pay an extra $20 for expedited service, which was fine, it was my fault. The issue came the next day (Friday) when the package did not arrive (non alcoholic, so no need to sign for anything). They had a local # which the courier service did not access, nor did they leave any notion of how the package could be picked up or when it would be delivered again. Not on Saturday, not on Sunday, either. I learned that finally on the Monday evening the package had been delivered. So much for a timely surprise on his Birthday (which of course was the previous Friday). I contacted the company who offered to refund my $20 expedited fee. Needless to say, I'll never order through this company again. I have zero faith that they will/can deliver on time and let's face it, this kind of purchase is always time sensitive, not mention expensive with the additional "guaranteed expedited rates". I appreciate the refund on shipping, but my dad's Birthday came and went without my gift, and I felt...