Watered Down Wine Sold from Shop

[funkyparott]

I purchased a bottle of white German wine from Sainsburys on Monday.

 

The cost was £6.97 and the product had stickers on indicating it had won several awards.

 

Imagine my dismay when after cooking dinner for my partner we sampled said product to discover the bottle contained nothing more than a high volume of what I believe to be water. T

 

The bottle lid did come off quite easily. It was a screw top bottle with no shrink wrap seal on it. (consistent with the other bottles on the display).

 

I suspect someone had opened the bottle, drunk it and refilled with water. Possibly this may have been a return or possibly a member of staff (of course I have no proof of how this occured).

 

I have phoned the store and the manager was not remotely interested. He stated I could return the bottle for an exchange. I don't for one minute think this would be common practice in Sainsburys. I was not impressed with the manager's attitude. At the end of the day, I can only assume it was water inside the product and nothing else untoward.

 

Now, I'm not expecting the world here. Our meal was ruined as a result of this purchase. Would I not be reasonable to ask for a small amount of compensation (£7 perhaps) and a contribution towards my fuel costs for having to attend the store to return?

 

 

Cheers

[electron99]

If you still have any left hand it over to your local trading standards office and let them do the rest. They may well make a test purchase in the store.

 

If they find a high content of water, this gives you the upper hand in claiming any compensation.

[Conniff]

I don't see how the shop manager could do anything else but offer an exchange. To go any further, you will need to show that it wasn't you that enjoyed the wine and decided to refill it with water to get another bottle free of charge.

Unless there are other bottles on the shelf in the same condition, that would be very hard to prove.

[Bookworm]

Or it could just have been crappy wine.

 

After hearing so much how English wine could nowadays compete with French wine, I bought various bottles from Sainsbury's and Tesco's with a view to bring them to my uncle and aunt with other British produce, but wisely decided to test them first.

 

The wines were the most god-awful I had tasted in a long time, like vinegar diluted with ditchwater. No, I lie, the ditchwater might have given it some character at least.

 

In all fairness, both shops took the opened bottles and refunded without any hassle.

 

Unless the screwcap had already been opened, which I think you would have been likely to notice, I doubt that you'd get very far with Sainsbury's. Maybe if you go back there and check the other bottles, you can see if others seem to have been tampered with?

 

Alternatively, you could get your refund and still write in to HO to report the appalling wine, they value feedback on their goods and if there are enough people complaining, it would make a difference, and they might even send you a voucher as an apology and thanks.... maybe.

[funkyparott]

I appreciate I may struggle to prove this on the 'balance of probabilities', but I am telling the truth.

 

Looking at the screw top, I don't believe I would have been able to tell whether it was previously open. If you twist the lid up tightly, it is flush with the sealing ring below (if that makes sense).

 

I may not be a consasuer of fine wine, but I know what wine should taste like :o)

 

I will write a letter to the Sainsburys head office expressing my dissatisfaction with the good name of Sainsburys which I had previously implicitly trusted.

 

I don't see the point in taking it much further, I just wish the manager had taken me a little more seriously initially.

[Toulose LeDebt]

In my experience Sainsburys are very tight with compensatory vouchers instore but reasonably generous (£20 and £60) if you take the matter to HO. Tescos on the other hand dish out precharged cards (£10-£20) at the very whiff of a complaint in store. Well worth a letter, they have a lab facility too I believe so if you have any wine left I would enclose a sample.

 

Though hardly a coinnoseur I would generally recommend avoiding wine with screw tops.;-)

[patdavies]

If you truly believe that the wine was watered down, then you should also be reporting this to HMRC - the excise duty charged may be wrong.

[Bookworm]

Though hardly a coinnoseur I would generally recommend avoiding wine with screw tops.;-)

Same here, but not having bought any wine for a couple of years now, I was shocked 3 weeks ago when shopping for some that virtually all non-French wines now come like that!!!

 

(My French visitor confirmed that this isn't the case in France, they wouldn't dare! )

[Guest wino]

I prefer screw tops there much quicker to get into:p

[buzby]

I'm into champaigne - they're self-opening....

[labrat]

screw tops are easy, tho i miss the inventive ways of getting in when youve lost the corkscrews

 

method 1, take a screw driver, 1 screw an pliers, screw screw into cork pull with pliers

 

method 2, the second bottle approach, take screw driver, hit cork with screwdriver untill the corks inside the bottle, invert and pour

[Conniff]

method 2, the second bottle approach, take screw driver, hit cork with screwdriver untill the corks inside the bottle, invert and pour

 

Not always especially if the bottle is a bit overfull, the pressure breaks the bottle.

[Guest wino]

screw tops are easy, tho i miss the inventive ways of getting in when youve lost the corkscrews

 

method 1, take a screw driver, 1 screw an pliers, screw screw into cork pull with pliers

 

method 2, the second bottle approach, take screw driver, hit cork with screwdriver untill the corks inside the bottle, invert and pour

 

 

Don't forget to pour through tea strainer to catch all the bits of cork:p

[Kraken1]

At least half a bottle of wine should be consumed before cooking to prevent just this issue. Quality control.