"They talk about "mini bottles" in the come-on to join, then they don't ship them (sorry we're a little backed up), then, you finally realize a mini-bottle isn't a "split", isn't an "airplane bottle" but is actually just over a jigger (1.69 oz). I would have been fine paying $150 for subsequent shipments if this was the experience they promised... but I determined this whole thing is a scam.
Yeah - each person wine likes are "like a fingerprint - this company's fingerprint should be on a police blotter. "

"Bad Business Practice. The customer has rights to refuse any or all offers. You are not allowed to nor are you authorized to use customers accounts to purchase orders without the explicit consent of the customer. The customer should be totally aware of any and all transactions on his credit card. You should be totally transparent and ask for authorization. You failed on all counts and your are guilty of fraud. "

"I saw the ad for the sample kit and did a little research then I ordered the sample kit. None of the wines were "Trader Joe" or "Two buck Chuck" quality. The Arum Cab was very good and the Lusta Chardonnay was good too. The order came quickly and I was aware having purchased mail order wine that you did have to be home to receive it. The idiots out there complaining about that should think it through, any minor with access to mom or dad's credit card could order and wait for the drop off. Also I think it actually may be a state law where you live. You can always set up a drop at your nearest UPS store and pick it up at your convenience since there seems to be one every 5 miles. No what I was upset about was that the wines I liked and would order were out of stock. Hmm....send samples of wine that is out of stock??? Yep the three I would order were all gone..... I think what would be a good idea is to ship a sample taste monthly for $7.00 and let us order on our own. And just maybe actually have the wine in stock that you send samples of. So I did cancel and oh they dropper the price from 149 to 119 a month if I stayed. Nah....I'll just quit which really wasn't that hard. Some people are just crazy or maybe just idiots."

"I ordered a sample of their wine for $7 for 5 tiny bottles (had to give them my credit card to order).
When wine arrived I happened to be home by lucky chance. Wine was delivered at 3pm and YOU HAVE TO BE HOME TO RECEIVE IT!. Anyway, tried all 6 in one sitting (mind you: these are 50ml bottles). The wine was absolutely horrible, I'd say you can definitely do better at Trader Joe ($2.99?). I immediately canceled my "membership" reading the horror stories of this company shipping without approval. The cancellation process is very tedious and is designed to confuse you as much as possible. Trust me: stay away!"

"Got sold on the hype and ordered a case. Right now I'm through all the reds (4 cabs and 2 pinots) and I have had better with two buck chuck. Save your money and buy at your local wine store where you won't get stuck with undrinkable stuff. "

"Lot 18 has some customer service flaws that you need to know before joining. First, their policies are carefully written to make sure they can acquire monies from your credit card. Second, what I disliked most about Lot 18 is, there is NO Notification prior to your next wine order being processed and shipped. My experience was this. I was alerted by My Visa Capital One of the charge $40. I was never informed by Lot 18. I found this to be sneaky. Reason being, if you are notified in advance then, they figure you may cancel or reschedule your order.. That said, I don't appreciate "Sneaky Businesses" of any type.
I contacted customer service (Melissa) via email regarding my situation about not being notified in advance. Her response was part of Lot 18's policy. Detailing that shipments would be processed every three months, per my subscription scheduling. In my best effort to request a membership cancellation, she again responded with Lot 18's policy and that she could not cancel the order since it was already processed. I received an email two days after our emailing back and forth from Lot 18 stating that my shipment of wine had just shipped.
Finally, at this point I figured that I would just accept this unfortunate situation with Lot 18 and count it as a "Lesson Learned" and canceled my subscription immediately. The final surprise came when UPS has made their attempts to Deliver my order. My wife and I work until 4:30 and, UPS has been trying to deliver but UPS shows before we can get home.. This is a problem.. UPS does over and extra charge of $5 to reschedule and or to deliver to another place. But, how can you do this you're given a four window that UPS delivers ???? Again, UPS offers at an addition charge the option to narrow the delivery window to 2 hours, with a yearly membership.. Bottom line is, if you're as busy as My wife and I are, then I DON'T recommend joining Lot 18. For me, joining Lot 18 has been anything but a pleasant experience. If you decide to not join, you're better then Me. But, if you decide to join then, I hope your luck with them is a lot better then mine... Thanks for reading... RB"

"Join another club!!! You must be home to accept all deliveries which was not stated upfront when I joined. Otherwise you have to go pick it up, so why bother"

"If you call with a problem you should expect the person "helping" you to have an attitude. When they ask, "Is there anything else I can help you with?" They will ask with rude sarcasm in their voice that makes it very clear that the last thing they want to do is help you.
This is not customer service people! This company would do well to remember that they sell wine. Wine is a luxury. I do not NEED to order it, I also most certainly need to order it from them! There are so many Stellar wine clubs that cater to the customer AND they have fabulous, well priced wine. I suggest you find one of those. Lot 18 pretends to be something they are not, but unfortunately for them, even their employees aren't willing to play along with the charade. Cancelled and joined Gold Medal Wine Club instead. "

"Shipped double the order I wanted before I agreed to receive any shipment. Wine was not very good either and customer service didn't fix any issue when I called so I canceled and am stuck with this wine."

"DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE; it is a SCAM. I can personally echo the experiences expressed by the thirteen (13) complainants listed above. This outfit charged my account $168. for a case of wine I did not order. I received the tasting kit and assumed they were free samples (as I did not request them), I gave them away to a neighbor who was moving. I NEVER logged onto their address and thought nothing more of this until I received the notice that MY shipment had been shipped and my account charged. I called and spoke to one of the rudest customer service representatives I have ever encountered. I could literally not get a word in edgewise. She advised me that I could not cancel the order because it had already been processed (I did not get a tracking number, so how could it already have shipped?) She told me I could refuse shipment on the order, but I would be held liable for all shipping charges (including return shipping) as well as a restocking fee. I demanded to speak to a supervisor and was told I could not speak to one at that time, and that a supervisor would contact me later. Out of curiosity, I contacted the neighbor I gave the wine samples to and was told they were 'garbage' wine. I was left fuming. I have contacted my bank and filed a complaint with them and will likely follow up with Attorney General's office and any on-line means that are available to me. I visited their Facebook page and left a comment, but this will likely be deleted as they screen all comments before allowing them to post. I don't understand how this outfit gets away with doing business in this manner."

"Tasting Room/Lot18: Cancel/Do Not Ship Means Nothing to Them

Right now, unwanted wine is being shipped to us, and if we refuse it, a $15 ‘restocking fee’ & shipping fees of $20 will be billed to our card. After four attempts to cancel our membership, long before the first shipment date, we are about to be hornswoggled out of $35.00. Because Lot 18/TastingRoom does not care.

These people knew perfectly well that we wanted to cancel, yet they refused to acknowledge the cancellation, preferring instead to make a profit at any cost, even to their reputation.

My efforts to cancel the membership went unaddressed, despite the language in the TOS specifically stating in Section 14, Titled “Ending Your Relationship with Lot 18,” in subsection 14.2, the following language:

“If you want to terminate your legal agreement with Lot18, you may do so by (a) notifying Lot18 at any time and (b) closing your account for all of the Services, where Lot18 has made this option available to you. Your notice should be sent, in writing, to Lot18’s address which is set out at the beginning of these Terms.”

The address provided is 2 Clark Place, Mahopac, New York.

Clearly, Lot 18 is in violation of its own TOS, but still ships unwanted product to unwilling consumers.

I did follow instructions:
"Thanks for your message! You can cancel your membership by calling 1-***-***-**** on weekdays between 10am and 6pm Eastern time (certain holidays excluded). You may also access cancellation information at any time by clicking the Account tab and choosing the Club Management option within your online Tasting Room account.

You can also log in and visit this link:
https://www.tastingroom.com/account/manage

Best,
Maddie
(888) 929 - 2827
ref:_00DE0HmGJ._500E0IMUss:ref"

To no avail.

Courtney from Lot 18 emailed me on 2/27/2015 that our shipment was ready to be sent. I immediately went to the Lot 18 site once again to cancel on 2/28/2015, but that was not good enough. Courtney indicated that my cancellation was received too late to halt shipment, despite delivery not being expected until 3/09/2015, When I called customer service on 3/4/2015, ‘John’ called me by name as he answered (interesting, no?), and claimed they are unable to cancel shipment as of 3/4/2015 because, as John put it, “the wine is already on a pallet and has been sent to UPS for delivery.” This despite my advising John that four separate written notices to cancel had been made to date.

An hour or so after my call to Customer Service, I emailed Courtney and requested a tracking number.

Still waiting for a response three hours later…"

"HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE. The info provided when I subscribed was very misleading. My first shipment of 6 bottles was $60. Completely reasonable. Well today I received a charge for $189.99. Apparently the $60 was introductory. This was not clearly stated. Now supposedly there is no way to get a refund. My only option is to refuse the shipment when it comes from UPS and then pay $19.99 for return shipping and a $15 restocking fee. I am so angry and disgusted. "

"I was positively surprise by the cute box of tasting I initially got. This turned very fast to huge disappointment. The wines were HORRIBLE. Comparing them was more like which one is worse and which one I can actually take another sip. They then shipped me another shipment without my approval and despite the fact that I asked to cancel. And then when I refused the shipment they charge me $15 re-stocking fees. Worse experience ever"

"I was so excited about receiving the shipment last Friday but we were extremely disappointed with the wine we received. Not sure if Lot18 is trying to get rid of their old wine or what- but all 6 bottles that we opened at my wine party were stale, sour, and obviously old. I spent about $170 too soo I wish I could return the remaining 6 bottles and be compensated for them. I also ordered 2 bottles of Parralus Chardonnay which were more expensive so I figured they'd taste exactly like the little bottle of it in our "tasting kit". That was the reason I ordered 2 bottles of it.. Please contact me immediately about canceling my membership and being reimbursed for the 6 bottles I haven't opened.
"

"We did not like wines from first shipment. Most of it ended up down the drain. Didn't bother to cancel because debit card they had on file was compromised and reissued new # by bank. Netflix etc did not go through as result so I thought this would be the same. When received email our wine was being prepared for shipment I called and left message not to send. Called again next day got live person. He said it had to be shipped and card went through. It had not left warehouse and they would not stop it. Even with me telling them how dissatisfied we were with the wines! Don't sign up with this desperate company! We have been to wine countries all over the world and we know wine. I could take the 170.00 they charged and get much better wines at a cheaper price. Lesson learned!"