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Virgin Wine club review
Perhaps the best aspect of the Virgin Wine Club is the price. According to the website, you will receive 50% off introductory case of twelve bottles, and are guaranteed 20% off of all subsequent cases. Buyers get an additional 15% off taken off of other purchases on wine accessories. Shipments arrive at your home once a quarter, with an extra fifth case offered for the holidays. Prior to shipping, you will receive a list of the wines that will be included in the shipment. At that time you can either request to have other wines included in the delivery or entirely skip the case. The plan includes a 100% satisfaction guarantee. At the time of this review, regular shipments are guaranteed not to exceed £69.99, but this does not include shipping and handling. Customers may choose shipments of all red wines, all white wines, or a mix of the two.
Within the UK, the Virgin Wine Club includes over 300 wines from 16 countries. Some of the more exotic kinds of wine can be found in their selection, so customers should monitor for their appearance in the quarterly shipments. It is one of the few clubs that provides information on the website that shipments do not have to be skipped if the selected wines do not interest you, giving customers the option to request different bottles rather than skip an entire shipment. The cost of delivery appears to be at about the standard shipping price of £6.99
Historically, Virgin Wine Club has suffered some rather poor reviews. Review from 2005 and 2006 were particularly unflattering, giving less than a third of whatever point system was used to rate the wine club. There have been reports of “award winning wines” not having received the awards claimed, poor responses to complaints, and some problems with the Office of Fair Trading. Several posts have complained that the wine is bland and is not much better than what can be purchased in stores. A recent rating put it at a little over 50%, except for customer satisfaction, which is still lagging.
The website is rather bland. It can be difficult to determine exactly what the offer is. For example, it was difficult at first glance to identify the number of bottles included in the shipment. The site looks more like a pop-up ad than many of the other wine club sites. The tone of the site is considerably less refined, more casual, sounding more like a store clerk who is still learning than an expert. The website does include a section for the latest news and offers. On this page there is news of the club receiving the Specialist Merchant of the Year for Chile on 9 August, 2009. On the whole, the website is certainly one aspect that could use some work to make it appear a little more serious. While the club appears to be improving over time, it seems to have a ways to go before it will match the more distinguished wine clubs.
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