Premier Cru (the wine store in SF) Update

[David M. Bueker]

Oh my!

Ouch Walter sorry to hear that. Hope it works out. At least the Oct order should be a simple CC chargeback.
I

Their "way" of doing "business" must have been a lot easier to manipulate when interest rates were high.

[Jenise]

Just called and was told that they are no longer doing conversions of pre-arrivals to in-stock. They would issue a refund check in 6-8 weeks if I were outside the 2 year pre-arrival window but as of now it looks like there are no options for people with pre-arrivals less than 2 years except to wait.

But then according to Mr. Fox the employees tell people the wrong stuff all the time, so maybe if you call next week they'll have another story.

On a lighter note, I was driving past the store yesterday and saw a big stack of wooden wine crates in the trash area. After getting permission, I scored Pavie and La Tache crates for free. I'll be using them to store my home made wine, with other first-growth crates I've picked up from them in the past.

On a lighter note, I was driving past the store yesterday and saw a big stack of wooden wine crates in the trash area. After getting permission, I scored Pavie and La Tache crates for free. I'll be using them to store my home made wine, with other first-growth crates I've picked up from them in the past.

Nice! Actually, that's a good sign, that they are producing trash.

Come to think of it, this was the first time in ages that I've seen discarded crates there, so maybe it is a good sign.

I hate to be a pessimist, but in last few days:
PC stopped answering phones, message says they are transitioning to an online only store
Total instock SKUs are down to about 150, with 2 SKUs over $50- both 5L bottlings on cheap Tuscans
In the Bo Feng case referenced in the recent articles ($600K+) there was a default entry in Federal court (PC apparently didn't respond, one assumes lawyer wasn't paid either)
PC hasn't sent a general mailing in more than week. They did send a list of instock items (that don't appear on website) at sharp pricing to the "secret list." With proviso of secrecy and that one couldn't use store credit
Again, I hope everyone gets resolution, but pretty grim

Ernie, does the wine taste better when it comes from a La Tache crate?

Like the tears of God, of course.

Like the tears of God, of course.

He's crying because he's been also stiffed by Premier Cru.

[Robin Garr]

Is this their Facebook page? Couple of fascinating comments in the left-hand column. It says it's in Berkeley, though, on University Avenue, not SF.

https://www.facebook.com/Premier-Cru-213690805310164/

Is this their Facebook page? Couple of fascinating comments in the left-hand column. It says it's in Berkeley, though, on University Avenue, not SF.

https://www.facebook.com/Premier-Cru-213690805310164/

It's in Berkeley. Actually a very nice store when filled with merchandise. Always felt something was wrong in their method of doing business. It didn't add up. It seems to have been a very sophisticated Ponzi scheme

[Robin Garr]

San Jose Mercury News picks up the story ...

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_29210040/ ... iness-over

That's an older story, if you look at "related article" there's a link to story that ran a couple days ago about "conversion to online only"

This summary out too
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/18/pyramid- ... -foul.html

People are having $70 and $200 refund checks bounce.

http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/52560

I went ahead and charged back my order of Terry Theise rieslings, placed in October based on their promise of "Arriving November!!" (exclamation points theirs). Hard to believe they couldn't even make a date promised one month in advance, but it was getting late in December, and no one was responding to my emails.

I haven't received a final ajudication from the credit card company yet, but if Premier Cru is not responding to $100K+ lawsuits, it seems unlikely they will bother communicating with Chase. Best of luck to everyone else working with their card issuers.

I went ahead and charged back my order of Terry Theise rieslings, placed in October based on their promise of "Arriving November!!" (exclamation points theirs). Hard to believe they couldn't even make a date promised one month in advance, but it was getting late in December, and no one was responding to my emails.

I haven't received a final ajudication from the credit card company yet, but if Premier Cru is not responding to $100K+ lawsuits, it seems unlikely they will bother communicating with Chase. Best of luck to everyone else working with their card issuers.

I'd think you'd be on firm ground with that short a window. It's the folks with 2+ year orders that will have harder road with CC companies.
As to the "hard to believe" pretty sure that was a real order. But also pretty sure Skurnik et al wasn't giving credit and would insist on being paid to deliver. Years of slow pay/no pay across industry dries up sources.

I went ahead and charged back my order of Terry Theise rieslings, placed in October based on their promise of "Arriving November!!" (exclamation points theirs). Hard to believe they couldn't even make a date promised one month in advance, but it was getting late in December, and no one was responding to my emails.

I haven't received a final ajudication from the credit card company yet, but if Premier Cru is not responding to $100K+ lawsuits, it seems unlikely they will bother communicating with Chase. Best of luck to everyone else working with their card issuers.

I'd think you'd be on firm ground with that short a window. It's the folks with 2+ year orders that will have harder road with CC companies.
As to the "hard to believe" pretty sure that was a real order. But also pretty sure Skurnik et al wasn't giving credit and would insist on being paid to deliver. Years of slow pay/no pay across industry dries up sources.

But the thing is, I paid them. Unlike Amazon or almost any other retailer, they charged the card when I placed the order. So assuming there is some profit margin built in, they should be able to cover the bill with Skurnik. This whole thing stinks to high heaven.

But the thing is, I paid them. Unlike Amazon or almost any other retailer, they charged the card when I placed the order. So assuming there is some profit margin built in, they should be able to cover the bill with Skurnik. This whole thing stinks to high heaven.

Well, exactly, that's what stinks. And why I think Fox should (and eventually will) face charges. They (IMHO) were using money from current prearrival sales to attempt to source wines from earlier sales that they had never sourced. So then didn't have the money to actually complete deal for newer sales. It may not have started that way (I don't think it did) but it has turned into a ponzi-esque scheme.
No email blasts, instock on website sad and stagnant. But lots of rumors about backdoor cash/wiretransfer only offers. Lots of people will end up hurt, and someone should go to jail.

PC filed for bankruptcy yesterday afternoon.
The petition lists estimated assets of $7 million and estmatedl liabilities of $70,285,181.

[David M. Bueker]

So now we have had three "too good to be true" wine businesses fail, Ron Whatshisname's Rare Wine (NOT Rare Wine Co in CA), Carolina Wine Co and PC.

[Robin Garr]

... estimated assets of $7 million and estmatedl liabilities of $70,285,181.

Ron Wallace (Rare Wine LLC in Colorado) was a comparative short lived business, though he burned some folks for lots of $$$ (but comparatively few people, just bigger amounts each)/

Chrish Peel (Carolina Wine Co) was a bit different.. Don't think there was fraud there, just someone trying to arbitrage differences between EU and US pricing, and underestimating what margin should be. And bad management (I quick buying due to disorganization more than anything).. People (inc. friends of mine) lost money, but nowhere near this.

1000 pages of creditors (estimate of 5000-10000)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8JZFw ... ZleGs/view
But that list of unsecured creditors looks like just a customer list dump. I'm listed, but haven't bought PA since 2007, and had my stepson pickup the small amount of instock stuff I had bought in last year or two (a case and a half) in Aug, cause I didn't think they's last till shipping season. Website is still active, just confirmed all of my orders are closed.

I think listing who is actually owed wine was too daunting.