W I V Internatianal Wines

Notjustamum_2

We met some Pieroth reps at an exhibition at Bluewater and were persuaded to buy a voucher "usually sold for £99" for £20. We were told that this was for us and "up to two more couples" to have a "fully tutored wine tasting" a "complimentary bottle as a gift" and the "opportunity to purchase any wine we enjoyed".

We had our evening last week. The two of us and the other couple we invited along enjoyed our evening together but I don't really think we got what we were sold. The rep was a very pleasant chap but it was not a "tutored" tasting. We were told what grape the wine was made from and what country it was produced in but that was about it.

None of us were particularly wowed by any of the wines we tried - 11 in total, 5 white, 1 rose, 5 red. There were wines we would have happily ordered if they hadn't been £20 per bottle with a minium order of 12 bottles.

There was no hard sell whatsoever to be fair to the rep but he certainly had no intention of leaving us the "free gift bottle" as we hadn't ordered anything.

After he left we opened a bottle of wine that I paid about £5 for and it was easily as nice as any we had tasted that evening.

martynwsm

I got a letter from WIV today. The offer is a "Weather Station Clock".

I notice the Survey omits "Unemployed" from it's multiple questions. So from that I can deduce the company are not interested in a true reflection of the make up of it's customers!

Even the fancy gimmick of having a so called site in my name (rofl), wasn't enough to tempt me to sign up for this free (lmao) offer.

It's time the law was changed so that these offers included a FULL DETAILED description of said offers and after sales tactics including intended use of our details!

Azari

martynwsm wrote: »

I got a letter from WIV today. The offer is a "Weather Station Clock".

I notice the Survey omits "Unemployed" from it's multiple questions. So from that I can deduce the company are not interested in a true reflection of the make up of it's customers!

Even the fancy gimmick of having a so called site in my name (rofl), wasn't enough to tempt me to sign up for this free (lmao) offer.

It's time the law was changed so that these offers included a FULL DETAILED description of said offers and after sales tactics including intended use of our details!

They certainly can be a bit dodgy.

Some years ago I got one of these offers. It was 6 bottles of reasonable wine at a decent price with a set of 6 very nice looking tasting glasses.

I was about to take up the offer when I read in the T&C's the following:

Offer of tasting glasses while stocks last.
In the event that the stock of the advertised wine is exhausted we will send you wine of an equivalent value.


So I send off for 6 bottles of named wine with glasses and they can send me six bottles of just about anything and no glasses and still have fulfilled the offer as modified by the T&C's. :rotfl:

I don't think the company in question were con artists but I wasn't going to take the risk that I would end up with a considerably inferior deal to the the headline offer.

DavidT

martynwsm wrote: »

I got a letter from WIV today. The offer is a "Weather Station Clock".

I notice the Survey omits "Unemployed" from it's multiple questions. So from that I can deduce the company are not interested in a true reflection of the make up of it's customers!

Even the fancy gimmick of having a so called site in my name (rofl), wasn't enough to tempt me to sign up for this free (lmao) offer.

It's time the law was changed so that these offers included a FULL DETAILED description of said offers and after sales tactics including intended use of our details!

I've had the letter today as well. Interestingly (or not) my gift is an Italian Glass Decanter. As I'm teetotal a bit of a wasted effort.

Wywth

cred wrote: »

I work for V.B.R

I cannot believe the attitude and plain stupidity of some people.

On the survey it asks for your phone number, if you don't want to get contacted...don't give your phone number...simple!

You don't get 6 free bottles of wine, you get a sampling of some wines which we select according to your taste.

You get a free gift, tutoring session and a taste of some of the wines, if you want to order some, great, if not, no problem.

Every large company has some bad apples but dont tarnish all of us with the same brush, we work 6 days a week, very unsociable hours and a lot of driving, it's our job.

Moral of the story, if you don't want to be contacted, don't fill in the survey, if all you want is a free gift...get a life

cred wrote: »

what a prat

cred wrote: »

my main question...if you don't like wine why return the bloody survey!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I received one of these letters and wanted to check matters out before responding, so did a seach which brought up this thread.

I was going to report your offensive posts, but decided better to leave them here.

If you really are an employee then I think I've read enough and I'll just throw the letter in the bin

aromulus

cred wrote: »

my main question...if you don't like wine why return the bloody survey!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot fail to notice that your powers of reasoning and deduction may be sligtly impaired by your terminal arrogance.
Certainly, you are not doing the company you represent any favours by showing such childish behaviour and insulting people that one day may have considered tasting some of our wine.
Thanks a lot Sherlock....:T I am sure "Dave" will be impressed with you....:wave:

table_football

Brazil versus Newcastle Utd??

UnthankRoad wrote: »

Hello

I used to work for this company but left (not because it is any kind of scam but because the way they treat their employees is an absolute disgrace)

I must say though that some of the comments on this thread from some of the more angry-with-the-world people are really making me laugh.

For example, no Pieroth do not break MPS regulations. They buy addresses of people who have consented to having their details sold on. Handy tip - if you don't want people to have your address - don't give it out.

The offer IS genuine. No ifs no buts. You do get a free gift and SAMPLING of 6 wines. The leaflet asks for your phone number in order to receive your gift, if you haven't given this clearly then the company are not obliged to give you your gift. And if you think you are getting 6 bottles of wine - LEARN TO READ!!

And the tastings are without obligation and with a right to cancel, no matter how "high pressure" the selling may be. So there is no reason not to take up the offer.

Although, at the risk of contradicting myself, I would say if all you're after is a freebie please don't accept the tasting, as the only person this would harm is the rep, who earns disgustingly low wages.

As for the wines, yes you can argue they are over priced, but I was amused by a comment from a self-confessed wine novice who suggested he often tried 20 bottles before having one he liked. So at 3 quid a bottle that is £60 per bottle enjoyed - £15 for the guaranteed enjoyment of a Pieroth wine sounds cheap.

So to try to say something useful for people, the company is a disgrace in my opinion, but not for anything related to their mailshots or marketing techniques generally. But for certain people it does actually, though I hate to say so, provide a useful, life enhancing and yes, value for money service.

Must say though I am amazed that the company charge for their wine tastings now. That's a new one.
Don't even consider paying for one of those, if you want to try the wines, call one of the local offices - there will always be a rep desperate for someone to see

footyguy

I received one of these letters end of November last year.

I wish I had seen this thread before I replied.

I sent off for the freebie (and possibly the wine if they wanted to supply me that, great for Christmas I thought) beginning of December. I heard nothing for months and forgot all about it, other than remember seeing the freebie clocks/weather stations on sale in one of the cheapie shops a couple of months back - I think it was Home Bargains and the cost was £2.99 iirc.

Anyway, last week, after 4 months, I suddenly got a call from someone claiming to be from the supplier. Wanted to arrange a sales visit, or a wine tasting event as he referred to it.

Now he only has my work number and address (I can accept delivery of personal goods there). I asked about just sending the wine rather than having him visit but that wasn't going to happen, so I tried making my excuses about not being available for a wine tasting session anytime soon, and the caller left it at that.

Today, I find out from my telephone receptionist that this guy is calling at least daily since then trying to get hold of me. The guy will never leave a message (except to say he's from the Pieroth Wine Company) or number for me to call him, but the receptionist now has a wide range of numbers he has called me from.

I've told our receptionist not to bother putting the call through even if I am available, just to carry on fielding the calls for me. I wonder how long it will take for him to get the message.

I don't think I'll ever get to see that free clock/weather station unless I agree to a 2-3 hour, high pressured sales talk no doubt aided by lashings of alcohol that I could well do without.

Fortunately I'm in a lucky position to have someone fielding my calls, but I wonder how long this will go on for?

You too could be one of their salespeople or wine tasting consultants as they prefer to call them
http://www.wiv-ag.com/data/images/content/Direct_Sales.pdf

I like the bit about "on the job training"

who_else_2

Yes, I have tried these. I also got the free offer, they phoned me and set an appointment for a free wine tasting and to bring my gift. They were professional, not pushy and their wines are true wines. The taste is so different from the stuff you buy in the supermarket. No additatives or added sugar. No they are not the cheapest, but you pay for what you get. If you go to a resturant their wine is marked up at least 300%. If you buy a glass of wine out, you are talking £3.50 to £ 4.00 per glass. I would rather stay home and pay £10-15 for a good wine that doesn't give me a headache the next day.
:beer:

PIBlogger

The thing that makes me stay clear of direct sales under the brand of WIV International Wines is the mark up of their wines. I also use to work for WIV under their Romanet brand. It disappoints me because, for such a large company, it's very little about the wine, but all about the sales. They keep going on about how good their wine is, no additives or colourings, but so do a huge amount of other wines. They then go on to compare the quality with supermarket wines, but you can't really compare, because how do you know you have similar qualities to compare? A £2.99 bottle of wine from Morrisons can't be compared with a £16.99 bottle of wine from Romanet or Pieroth. It's like trying to compare a nissan micra with an Aston Martin, only you aren't really given much information about the wine in the bottle and where it came from, and so how can you say or prove the quality of it. The point is if they are using shinners (and by that i mean, buying bottles from another supplier and rebranding them with their own labels). This is then not giving any value, quality or difference from the wine store, in my opinion it would be just profiteering.
The sales staff get 40% discount from the wines, so how much profit are they charging the customer? They don't even give much discount if you buy in bulk, a lot of other wine suppliers do, so i'd go to them.