Wine never ships,refund never shows

Frustrated customer tires of waiting on promised delivery months overdue

In old television commercials, Orson Welles stared solemnly at the camera, glass in hand, and promised that Paul Masson would "sell no wine before its time."

For the high-end stuff, the kind Chicagoan Helen Milgrom was looking for, the old Paul Masson sales pitch holds true. When the Lincoln Park resident placed an order with Ruston Family Vineyards, of St. Helena, Calif., in April 2010, she knew it would take a while.

She was told the wine, six bottles of 2007 Merlot Napa Valley and six bottles of 2007 La Maestra St. Helena, was still in barrels but would be packaged and shipped sometime between November and January.

She charged the $372 order to her MasterCard, then waited for the wines to age.

Milgrom said she had heard nothing about the order by December, so she called the vineyard to ask when it would ship.

The owner, John Ruston, told her he was having some delivery issues, and that she could expect itsometime in January, she said.

When the wine still hadn't arrived by March, Milgrom called again, and Ruston once more promised to ship her order soon, along with a few extra bottles for her trouble, she said.

By early May, Milgrom had lost what remained of her patience. Milgrom said she emailed Ruston on May 2, and he agreed to issue a full refund to her credit card.

When the $372 failed to appear on her credit card account two weeks later, Milgrom emailed What's Your Problem?

Milgrom said she attempted to reverse the charges on her credit card but was told it had been too long since she made the purchase.

She said Ruston had promised to send the wine three times, but it never arrived.

"They're just not paying attention to me," Milgrom said. "I have no influence here."

Milgrom said she had ordered from Ruston Family Vineyards once before, in 2009, and had no problems, so she felt comfortable ordering again last year. She said her biggest concerns were the lack of follow-through and communication.

"You took the money, you should let me know it's going to be six more months," she said. "It's too loosey-goosey. This isn't a kid's lemonade stand in the front yard."

Problem Partner Kristin Samuelson called Ruston, who said Milgrom had ordered through a special offer sent to repeat customers.

"We ended up selling a lot of wine, and had a big backlog with logistics and had an illness in the family," Ruston said.

He said he has several customers in Chicago, including Milgrom.

"Most customers in Chicago understood, and understand the wine is getting better with time," he said. "We're a small family business. It's just me and my mom and my wife. We're not Amazon where we can just drop hundreds of shipments a day."

Ruston said he refunded Milgrom her $372 shortly before calling.

"We're sorry there were all these delays and that she had to contact the Chicago Tribune about this and that she won't be a customer anymore," he said.

Milgrom was thrilled, but she remained peeved at Ruston's lack of communication.

"They were never even forthcoming," she said. "If there's a backlog, how hard is it to send an email? If you're in a business, make sure to be set up to be in a business. … I had given this guy plenty of time. I called him three, four times. I don't appreciate the lack of communication."