The Whisky Exchange - London

[strichenloon]

Just thought that I would like to share this with anyone out there who may be interested - I purchased (yesterday) a bottle of Glenugie (Celtic Heartlands), 27-YO as I remember from The Whisky Exchange in London for £399. I received an e-mail from them this afternoon telling me that the box to the bottle was badly damaged in 3 different ways so would I still want to proceed with the order or do something else? Fair enough I thought and the man I spoke to was very courteous and helpful. I made a verbal offer of £300 for the whisky but all he could offer was a 5% discount, possibly rising to 15% with free p&p (saving me £6.95). Therefore I asked for my CC to be refunded in full immediately and I would keep an eye on their stock and would purchase in the future. To my dismay this evening, I noticed that the bottle was back on offer for £399 with no mention of the damage to the box and the picture featured on their website was of a different bottling so they hadn't even tried to upload a correct image of the item in question. I have e-mailed my contact back to let him know how I feel but this is not the first time I have experienced directly a form of arrogance from them. I know and they also know that they have a fantastic selection available and I am sure that they can monopolise the market in the UK however I feel that they are taking the p*ss here. Does anyone else agree (or indeed disagree) with my comments? Plus does anyone else know of suppliers in the UK with a good selection of Glenugies? I spend a lot of time scouring the internet for bottles and I have many different companies saved in my whisky folder, but any suggestions would be most appreciated.

[Ganga]

First, it is a terrific whisky. I think you should check with Royal Mile and Loch Fyne.

[strichenloon]

Thanks Ganga - have been there and done that. I've saved loads of whisky shops / businesses onto my whisky folder on pc but Glenugie is hard to come by. Any other bits of advice / info would be appreciated though.

[strichenloon]

A follow-up. Just been onto TWE website and the bottle in question is no longer advertised. Still have not had a reply from Daniel at the shop so don't know if it has been taken off the list or been sold. It was available this morning. Still, it's their loss as I bought 2 bottles of Glenugie this morning from Holland where I have had personal correspondence with the MD of the business.

[strichenloon]

Guess what? Bottle is now back on sale and the correct picture is still not showing and price is still £399! Now if I told you what I really thought then I'd probably get arrested but I am sure you can imagine....(that's if anyone is actually reading this!) Anyway, am currently waiting on a bottle of Glenugie from Switzerland (29YO Signatory, 45.6% made for Waldhaus am See, 253 bottles only in a lovely box with certificate @ €326. That will then be my collection of individual Glenugies up to 30 different bottlings. If anyone has any other Glenugies for sale then please contact me at "strichenloon@yahoo.co.uk". I would be glad to hear about other bottles I currently do not own yet.

[Willie JJ]

I'm not sure what your problem is. It's not like they sent the bottle without telling you, or didn't refund your card. I agree they should probably mention that the packaging is damaged, but there are people out there that don't give a monkey's about packaging because they intend to drink the whisky and chuck the packaging in the bin. If I was willing to spend this kind of money on a bottle (I'm not) it would make no difference to me that the box is bashed.

[dramtastic]

I often pick up whisky without the box cheaper. Doesn't matter to me as I drink the stuff or I intend to drink it at some stage. Save 20 or 30 bucks cuz the bottle isn't in a 50 cent box I'll take that every time. More interested in what's in the bottle anyway. I just received a $550 dollar delivery of 3 bottles. Bottles opened, boxes in recycling just as nature intended.

[whiskgeek]

That's a pretty fabulous looking box and bottle. I'd hold onto it after the whisky was gone, and I'm sure many of my friends would too. So I'd be unhappy with receiving a damaged box.

And it doesn't look like it's recyclable.