Despite somehow having found the capital (unless it was a distressed sale) to take over châteauonline in late March – just before April Fools' Day – 1855 continues to fail to supply large quantities of Bordeaux en primeur wines to its exasperated clients. So exasperated have a number of clients become that a group has been formed to explore the possibility of a class action against 1855.

Here is some correspondence between the French fraud authorities, HD (the leader of the class action group) and Katiuscia Rafanomezantsoa, an employee of 1855 whose role is to apologise profusely to clients and tell them that their wine will be delivered next month.   

The complaint by HD to Christian Brocheton of the French fraud brigade

De : HD
Envoyé : jeudi 19 mai 2011 11:14
À : BROCHETON Christian (Paris)
Objet : 1855.com

Monsieur,

Je crois que vous êtes / était responsable pour une investigation dans les affaires de 1855.com au sujet des clients qui ont commandé des vins en primeurs mais n’sont pas encore livrés.

Je suis un client de « 1855.com » depuis de nombreux années et, malheureusement, je suis parmi ceux qui n’ont pas reçu leurs vins commandés en primeur. Comme beaucoup d’autres, j’ai écrit et téléphoné mille fois sans résultat, sauf que 1855 fait des promesses d’une livraison ‘bientôt’.

Malgré le fait que je suis avocat en Angleterre (loi pénale), à l’instant j’agi à titre personnel comme meneur d’un groupe de gens qui ont souffert le même problème, c’est-à-dire ils ont commandé des vins en primeur qui n’ont pas été livrés – nous sommes déjà environ 30 personnes.

Nous avons presque tous préparé des fichiers ‘excel’ des vins qui n’ont pas été livrés – merci de trouver ci-joint mon dossier individuel. Je peux vous envoyé les fichiers de tous les autres dans la groupe, dans le cas que ca vous aidera.

Pourriez-vous m’indiquer si vous sont encore en train de faire une enquête dans les affaires de 1855.com ?

Croyez, Monsieur, à l'expression de ma considération distinguée.

*

Message from Christian Brocheton to Fabien Hyon, chief operating officer of 1855

 

 

Le 19 mai 11 à 14:19, <Christian.BROCHETON@dgccrf.finances.gouv.fr> a écrit :

DR75 2011 01145
Monsieur Hyon,
Venant de recevoir la plainte de Monsieur HD pour la non livraison des vins primeurs commandés, il vous appartient d'apporter une réponse rapide et précise afin que cette personne ait ENFIN les informations nécessaires pour attendre la livraison de ses primeurs 2005, 2006 et 2007.
Je vous prierais de me mettre en copie le message que vous ne manquerez pas d'adresser rapidement à l'intéressé pour régler ce litige.
Salutations distinguées.

　

L'inspecteur Technique Interrégional
Christian BROCHETON
Brigade Interrégionale d'Enquêtes des Vins Paris Ile de France
DIRECCTE Direction Régionale des Entreprises, de la Concurrence, de la Consommation, du Travail et de l'Emploi
66 rue de Mouzaïa
75935 Paris cedex 19
Tel : 01 70 92 21 13
Télécopie : 01 70 92 22 20

 

Response from Katiuscia Rafanomezantsoa to HD following message from Christian Brocheton to Fabien Hyon

From: Katiuscia Rafanomezantsoa [mailto:krafa@1855.com]
Sent: 19 May 2011 13:34
To: michael@rosbifs.com
Cc: Fabien Hyon; Michel Michel; DGCCRF brocheton DGCCRF
Subject: 1855 / Suivi de votre plainte auprès de la DGCCRF

Monsieur,

Suite à vos échanges avec notre équipe et l'intervention de la DGCCRF, je me permets de revenir vers vous concernant votre livraison de Bordeaux Primeurs 2005, 2006 et 2007. Je tiens avant tout à vous présenter nos excuses pour cette situation.

Nous mettons les références suivantes de vos commandes : 

- 3 bouteilles de Château Pontet Canet 2006

- 12 bouteilles de Château Beaulieu Comtes de Tastes 2007

- 6 bouteilles de Doisy Daëne 2007

Le solde de votre commande sera disponible et livré dés mi-juin. Nous reprendrons contact avec vous afin d'organiser cette livraison.

Nous sommes sincèrement désolés que vous ayez du contacter la DGCCRF pour que cette affaire soit résolue mais vous assurons de notre travail pour qu'une telle situation ne se renouvelle pas à l'avenir.

Sincères salutations,

_________________________________

 

Katiuscia Rafanomezantsoa

Assistante du Directeur Général Marketing et Ventes

 

1855

Le plus grand choix de vins sur internet

http://www.1855.com

 

10, rue des Moulins - 75001 Paris, France

Tel :  +33 (0) 1 42 61 64 55

Reply from HD to

Katiuscia Rafanomezantsoa

RE: 1855 / Suivi de votre plainte auprès de la DGCCRF

From:	HD
To:	Katiuscia Rafanomezantsoa
Cc:	Christian.BROCHETON@dgccrf.finances.gouv.fr

---

Madame,

 

Vous avez vu que je suis meneur d’une groupe des clients qui sont, tous, dans le même situation que moi. Je dois dire que votre entreprise nous a menti des milles de fois et, donc, il m’étonnera si vous faites la livraison. J’ai un rendez vous avec un avocat à Bergerac dans les jours à venir est j’ai l’intention de vous poursuivre en justice (c’est-dire, 30 plaintes à faire) sauf si les vins sont livrés dans les jours à venir – et je ne parle pas de mes vins, mais les vins de tous dans notre groupe.

 

Salutations distinguées.

***

Comment

It is clear from this correspondence that 1855 believe that they can disregard with impunity the Brigade Interrégionale d'Enquêtes des Vins Paris Ile de France DIRECCTE Direction Régionale des Entreprises, de la Concurrence, de la Consommation, du Travail et de l'Emploi (DGCCRF). Over the years M. Brocheton may well have received scores, if not hundreds of complaints, over 1855. As yet the DGCCRF appear to have done nothing substantial about 1855, despite their well documented failure of 1855 to supply Bordeaux en primeur for which their clients have ordered and paid.
 

1855 vaguely promise a delivery in mid-June. Yet wine-searcher shows that all the three wines are available for immediate purchase. Indeed the 2007 Château Beaulieu Comtes de Tastes can be bought in Auchan for 9.90€ a bottle. To save Fabien Hyon and Emeric Sauty de Chalon the trouble of searching on the net, the nearest branch of Auchan to 1855's offices in the Rue des Moulins is six kilometres away at Bagnolet – details here. 

If they wished it would be entirely possible for 1855 to deliver HD's outstanding wines next week.
 

1855 continues to be a provisional member of le FEVAD.

 

 

Château Beychevelle: 2005s and 2007s outstanding

The extraordinary tally of Bordeaux en primeurs not delivered by 1855 to its clients continues to mount and becomes ever more jaw-dropping. Nearly 6000 bottles remain to be delivered for a value of close on 300,000€.

As of today, the tally of wines known to have been ordered, paid for but not delivered has reached 5930 bottles (494 cases) for an estimated value 295,923€. The value is the cost to buy calculated by taking the cheapest price credible price from UK merchants on wine-searcher. The figures do not include excise duty and sales tax.

Vintage breakdown

2002           1 bottle             39.93€

2003       118 bottles     10,330.77€

2004       353 bottles     10,808.35€

2005     3734 bottles    170,372.96€ (+ 4 bottles Flor de Pingus 275€)

2006     1131 bottles      49,341.05€

2007       589 bottles      54,755.08€

Although it is clear that 1855 (1855.com) got into big problems with the 2005 en primeurs, these figures show that the difficulties had already started with the 2003 and 2004 vintages. Fabien Hyon's (COO of 1855) explanation that the failure by 1855 to deliver the ordered en primeurs is down to the economic crisis of 2008 looks increasingly unlikely. 

Hyon said that only 5% of the en primeurs ordered had yet to be delivered. Not knowing the total value of the en primeur orders placed for the vintages 2002-2007, it is impossible to know whether Hyon's figure is correct. However, 1855's total turnover is around 10 million euros and en primeur is only part of their business, so 5% may be an underestimate.  

Do 1855 have the resources to supply both the undelivered en primeurs from 2002-2007 as well as the 2008s, whiuch are due in June? 

1855 is a member of Fevad (la Fédération des entreprises de vente à distance).

From 1855's press release of 31st January 2011 announcing that they had become a member of La Fevad

'La Fevad accorde depuis toujours la plus grande importance à la promotion de règles fondées sur des valeurs de transparence et de respect du consommateur. Ces règles garantissent l`éthique de la profession et permettent de renforcer la confiance des consommateurs, dans l`intérêt de l`ensemble de la profession.'

'Toute entreprise membre de la Fevad s`engage à respecter les principes généraux et les règles prévus par les codes et chartes de la Fevad, tant dans l`esprit que dans la lettre.

"Le fait pour 1855 d`être devenu membre à part entière de la Fevad et signataire de ses codes et chartes est une nouvelle illustration de notre engagement à bâtir une qualité de service de référence » selon Fabien Hyon, Directeur général de 1855."

Contact Presse
Lucie Delaruelle
Responsable Communication, 1855
Tél. : +33 (0) 1 42 61 06 55 - Email : ldelaruelle@1855.com

   

Château Lafite

This is a tale of Mr B, who ordered 24 bottles (two cases) of 2007 Carruades de Lafite en primeur from 1855. These should have been delivered in June/July 2010. Instead he has received a series of emails (see below) apologising for the delays and promising that the wines will soon be with him.   

Herewith are three emails from 1855's customer relations each with different delivery dates – 30th November 2010 (the supplying process will spread till the end of december), 13th December 2010 (until the end of January) 14th February 2011 (first few months of 2011).

On 30 Nov 2010, at 10:42, ludivinesb@1855.com wrote:

Dear sir,

We would like to apologize once more for this too long delivery delay.

Nevertheless, we confirm that the last references of your order will
get to us, but the supplying process will spread till the end of
december.

We will make sure that you get a notification as soon as the
remainder of your order is available on our platform.

We deplore this situation and we are making everything we can to
close this matter as quickly as possible.

We remain at your disposal for further questions.

Best regards,

_________________________________

1855
Le plus grand choix de vins sur Internet
http://www.1855.com

10, rue des Moulins - 75001 Paris, France
Tel : +33 (1) 42 61 18 55
Fax : +33 (1) 42 61 18 31
_________________________________

Ludivine Stalla Bourdillon
Chargée de Relation Client

1855
Le plus grand choix de vins sur Internet
http://www.1855.com

10, rue des Moulins - 75001 Paris, France
Tel : +33 (1) 42 61 18 55

_________________________________

**

Le 13/12/2010 09:15:59, « Mr B a écrit :

Hi you promised final delivery by the end of this month - can you
confirm this is correct please and that you have ALL the wine in your
warehouse?
Also can you tell me the date of dispatch?

** 

From: matthieu@1855.com
Date: 13 December 2010 23:54:51 GMT
To: ***
 Subject: Re : delivery by decembber 2010


Dear sir,

Thank you for your email.

We will do our best to deliver the wines before the end of december but it might spread until the end of January.
We will get back to you when the wines are available to organize their delivery.


We sincerely apologise for the delays.

Best regards,

_________________________________

Matthieu Ortalda
Chargé de Relation Client

1855
Le plus grand choix de vins sur Internet
http://www.1855.com

10, rue des Moulins - 75001 Paris, France
Tel : +33 (0)1 42 61 18 55
Fax : +33 (0)1 42 61 18 31

From: matthieu@1855.com

Date: 14 February 2011 22:17:42 GMT

To: "***>

Subject: 1855 / Follow-up of your Primeur Order

Dear customer,

Thank you for your message.
We would like to apologize once again for the important delivery delay.

As you may have noticed, our platform has been lately overloaded by the holidays' deliveries, and our suppliers' end of year break kept us from coming to terms with the deliveries of your Futures as we hoped we would do a few months ago.

Nevertheless, we wish to let you know that we are in the process of conveying the last items of your order over to our platform although this will spread over the first few months of 2011.

We will make sure you receive a message as soon as the remainder of your order is available.

We are aware of the inconvenience generated by these important delays and successive postponings.

Be assured that we deplore the situation as we are doing everything we can to close the matter as fast as possible.

We remain at your diposal (sic) for further questions.

Best regards,


_________________________________

Matthieu Ortalda
Chargé de Relation Client

1855
Le plus grand choix de vins sur Internet
http://www.1855.com

10, rue des Moulins - 75001 Paris, France
Tel : +33 (0)1 42 61 18 55
Fax : +33 (0)1 42 61 18 31
_________________________________

Matthieu Ortalda
Chargé de Relation Client

1855
Le plus grand choix de vins sur Internet
http://www.1855.com

10, rue des Moulins - 75001 Paris, France
Tel : +33 (0)1 42 61 18 55

**

'As you may have noticed, our platform has been lately overloaded by the holidays' deliveries, and our suppliers' end of year break kept us from coming to terms with the deliveries of your Futures as we hoped we would do a few months ago.' 

Matthieu Ortalda's lame excuse of 14.2.2011 would be hilarious if Mr B hadn't paid in good faith 885,60€ for his 24 bottles of 2007 Carruades de Lafite. 

Rather than the entirely unexpected arrival of Christmas I suggest that there is a more compelling reason why Mr B has not received his 2007 Carruades de Lafite – 1855 never placed an order for this wine. Instead 1855, run by Fabien Hyon and Emeric Sauty de Chalon, trousered Mr B's 885.60 euros (442.80€ a case) either with the intention that they would buy the Carruades when it was released or, possibly, never intending to supply. 

It is surely reasonable to conclude from the above exchange of emails that 1855 does not have Mr B's 2007 Carruades de Lafite. Hardly a surprise as to buy those two cases of 2007 Carruades would cost now cost 8868 € (4434 € a case) – just over 10 times what Mr B paid!

Sadly suspect that Mr B will be receiving a series of 'manaña' emails from 1855 – truly a 'bunga-bunga, manaña' companybut one which, apparently, complies with FEVAD's strict rules. 

Château Figeac, Saint-Emilion

Let's be positive and start with the good news. Yesterday I heard that someone (Mr A) who had been waiting for a long time for their en primeurs (13 bottles), ordered from 1855, finally received them. A selection of 13 bottles from the 2003 vintage, which should have been delivered in the first half of 2006.

For one customer the 1855 nightmare has come to an end as Mr A says:

'I am just pleased that the ordeal has finally come to an end and I sincerely hope that everyone else’s outstanding wines will be received in due course.

 

Thanks again for all your help.'

Good that Mr A finally got his wine but it wasn't exactly what he ordered in the sense that he ordered his wine en primeur, so that these wines would come direct from the château. Instead these wines have been sourced six years later, so goodness knows what their provenance is. For all Mr A knows they could have been around the world several times and spent weeks on a hot quayside. Presumably this level of service is seen as acceptable to FEVAD – fédération du e-commerce et de la vente à distance – as they recently accepted 1855 as a member.  

Mr A hopes that everyone else's outstanding wines will be received in due course. I would hope so, too, but the volume of wine now known to be outstanding has now got to a level where this looks less and less probable. Can 1855 source all of these outstanding wines and can they afford to buy them remain unanswered questions.

After removing Mr A's 2003s but adding some new clients, who continue to experience the 1855 ordeal, and revaluing some of the more expensive bottles the estimated value not delivered has now reached 254,621€. I know of over 50 disappointed customers who are waiting for 4818 bottles (401.5 cases) of Bordeaux en primeur.

 Château Gazin (Pomerol): some 2005s and 2006s still outstanding

 The current tally of wines not so far delivered by 1855.com now stands at: 
4782 bottles (398.5 cases) with an estimated value of 239,130€.

There was some good news in early February when a customer received their 12 bottles of 2007. However, this has been far outweighed by details of one very substantial order that remains outstanding.

I continue to keep a tally so please email me the details on jim@investdrinks.org

1855 has recently become a member of FEVAD – fédération du e-commerce et de la vente à distance.

From FEVAD's charter:

'Réguler 

La Fevad accorde depuis toujours la plus grand importance à la promotion de règles fondées sur des valeurs de transparence et de respect du consommateur. Ces régles garantissent l’éthique de la profession et permettent de renforcer la confiance des consommateurs, dans l'intérêt de l'ensemble de la profession.'

 Château Brainaire-Ducru (St Julien): some 2004 and 2005s not delivered 

Incredibly it was announced on Monday that 1855 (1855.com) had become a member of Fevad (fédération du e-commerce et de la vente à distance). Some things just take your breath away – is this this really serious or has April 1st come early this year?

Fevad is supposed to give an assurance that e-buyers are dealing with reputable companies. Instead they have accepted 1855 (1855.com) that increasingly gives the appearance of being a fraudulent ponzi scheme failing in a substantial number of instances to deliver the en primeurs that their customers have ordered and paid for usually including the transport and tax when the wine is allegedly ready to be delivered.

The latest tally of undelivered en primeurs is 2810 bottles (234 caisses) worth an estimated 165,000€ for vintages from 2002 to 2007! Furthermore it won't be long before we discover whether there are similar problems with 2008 en primeurs.

The press announcement: 

'1855 est devenu membre de la Fevad, la Fédération des entreprises de vente à distance. La Fevad a pour pour mission de fédérer et représenter l'ensemble des acteurs du e-commerce et de la vente à distance, d'accompagner les entreprises et de promouvoir le développement du secteur.

La Fevad compte parmi ses membres les grandes enseignes de vente à distance, les principaux spécialistes de la vente sur internet (pure-players) ainsi que de très nombreux sites de e-commerce issus d'enseignes du commerce de détail, de la presse ou du luxe.

**

From Fevad mission statement (http://www.fevad.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=117&Itemid=380):

Réguler

La Fevad accorde depuis toujours la plus grand importance à la promotion de règles fondées sur des valeurs de transparence et de respect du consommateur. Ces régles garantissent l’éthique de la profession et permettent de renforcer la confiance des consommateurs, dans l'intérêt de l'ensemble de la profession.

La Fevad dispose d'un code professionnel, mis à jour régulièrement pour s’adapter aux évolutions technologiques et législatives, ainsi que d'une Charte de Qualité adoptée en 1996 et complétée en juin 2000. En 2005, la Fevad a adopté la charte de l’e-mailing élaborée dans le cadre de l’UFMD et approuvée officiellement par la Cnil. En 2006, elle a publié la Charte de Confiance des plates-formes de vente entre internautes signé par le Ministre du Commerce et les 5 plus grandes plateformes concernées.

Toute entreprise membre de la Fevad s’engage à respecter les principes généraux et les règles prévus par les codes et chartes de la Fevad, tant dans l’esprit que dans la lettre.'

Fom the professional code – an undertaking that the company has acccess to stocks of the items it is selling. Clearly this is not the case frequently not the case in respect to 1855's sales of en primeur.

'43. Disponibilité des articles

Les entreprises veillerontà indiquer de manière apparente que leurs offres ne sont valables que dans la limite des stocks disponibles,sauf si elles sonten mesure d'honorer la totalité des commandes. Pour le débutde la période de validité des offres de vente, les entreprises veillerontà disposer de stocks en rapport avec leurs prévisions.'

http://www.fevad.com/

I urge all those still awaiting for their en primeurs and any other wins ordered from 1855 (1855.com) to complain to Fevad. I'm ready to let any journalist wishing to cover the 1855 scam have a copy of the file showing the quantity of wines outstanding.

If Fevad is a serious organisation, it is incredible that they appear not to have checked out 1855 (1855.com) properly before accepting their membership.