The Auswine Forum

Did anyone notice the Langtons site crash this evening (Tuesday 14th) in the last 5-10 minutes of the 9pm auctions ?

Bummer if you were selling lots (like I was)

What do you do in this situation ? Take it on the chin ?

I'm a bit peeved about it, tbh.

That does indeed suck....I'm not sure you have any recourse although AU law might override this (I don't know), here's their T&Cs. You can always talk to them about it, in the least they should offer you the premium back given you probably lost at least that much...

Website
Langton's, like all online businesses, is dependent on third parties for its infrastructure and services. Langton's therefore gives no warranty that continuous access to the Website will be available at all times.
While every effort will be made to rectify the services under Langton's control and the services controlled by Langton's third party suppliers in a timely manner, Langton's takes no responsibility for any losses incurred as a result of being unable to bid at Auction or access the Website.

cuttlefish wrote:Did anyone notice the Langtons site crash this evening (Tuesday 14th) in the last 5-10 minutes of the 9pm auctions ?

Bummer if you were selling lots (like I was)

What do you do in this situation ? Take it on the chin ?

I'm a bit peeved about it, tbh.

I was there at that time too as a buyer and a seller and it crash about 5 minutes before auction closing at 9pm. This is not the first time that it is happening. I experienced it twice before. Another thing is their bad web browser, made many complains but no action by them.

Alan Foo wrote:

cuttlefish wrote:Did anyone notice the Langtons site crash this evening (Tuesday 14th) in the last 5-10 minutes of the 9pm auctions ?

Bummer if you were selling lots (like I was)

What do you do in this situation ? Take it on the chin ?

I'm a bit peeved about it, tbh.

I was there at that time too as a buyer and a seller and it crash about 5 minutes before auction closing at 9pm. This is not the first time that it is happening. I experienced it twice before. Another thing is their bad web browser, made many complains but no action by them.

I've seen it happen before, but not as a seller, until now. What would have been the ramifications if this had occurred during the Halliday auction?
My Wynns lots in this auction had about 14 watching, then sold for a fair bit less than the same wine sold for very recently.
In addition, lots i was looking to bid on myself sold for far less than they should have, and for less than I was willing to bid. I just didn't place my bids before the site went down. Tyrrells Stevens shiraz selling for $21. That was only barely above the reserve.
I've emailed Langtons, so hopefully they get back to me.

I noticed the same thing, was bidding on a bottle about 1 minute out from closing, and it just sat on the clock...maybe business is booming or we all have nothing else to do, but bid on wine. Some of the prices paid lately have been nuts..well over reserve

Didn't think there were any bargains for buyers, even if the website died the day before!

i was happy to pick some Vat 9 @ $70 + bp...But i agree bargains are few and far between

Man, id be dirty as a seller, what a joke, 10 mins to go and cant even log in, due to traffic i assume, these guys are losing the plot

Oh Yes! it's happening again right on time. What is going on Langtons?

Ugh yeah I have about a dozen wines for sale tonight. Very annoying.

Langtons has gone to crap since Woolies took over. Not surprised.

Its only been an hour...ha ha

Yeah, I was on again tonight. Same thing. I'm going to send a second email to them. Hopefully they can find the time to reply this time..

cuttlefish wrote:Yeah, I was on again tonight. Same thing. I'm going to send a second email to them. Hopefully they can find the time to reply this time..

Good luck with the email, been coversing with a few "higher ups" including tamara, head of auctions, i *think* they mean well but its a shit show, not replying to emails was one of the many issues i raised with them

and no apology or update on their website, poor customer experience.

Well, it didn't crash tonight but became unbearably unresponsive prior to 9 pm. Site still not recovered.

I just got some wine thru Langtons, and I elected to pick it up from my local DMs, and for this I was charged $10 as a fee, the same fee as if I had the wine delivered to my door. Is this normal practice? I was a bit pi#@ed off actually.

Thoughts?

I don't think it make sense either given this is just an internal transfer but at the same time, it is still pretty reasonable for shipping.
I don't think the intent of the pickup was to save people money but to add convenience.

You don't have to be home to receive the shipment....you also don't have to deal with some of the silliness when they deliver which is they say it is out for delivery today but it never shows up. That headache goes away with pickup from DM.

Was it an auction, through a broker, or direct from the Langtons site?

Generally works a bit differently depending on exactly how you order the wine, I find!

Too scared to use Langton's, just stay local. Yes might have less wines to choose from, but eventually the wine that I want turns up.
Cheers Craig

Was it an auction, through a broker, or direct from the Langtons site?
Generally works a bit differently depending on exactly how you order the wine, I find!


It was from their shop. Was taken aback by it but they attempted to justify it as a legitimate cost that they pass on to clients.

I've had them tell me in the past that if the value was over $200, that shipping was free. There are a number of ways to interpret what counts as over $200, with them counting items won at auction and items purchased separately. I've accumulated multiple auction wins across multiple auctions to get up to a neat dozen bottles, well over $200 accumulated cost... and been charged freight, but at least I've split the cost across 12 bottles, so I can live with that.
Notice that days items held after auction wins is calculated, so I expect in the future there might be a charge applied there, who knows?
I have heard folk have taken advantage of this in the past, utilizing this as essentially free storage, to a considerable degree.

Think their auction business and their shop / brokerage are quite separate. The wine is stored in different locations, and will be picked / packed separately I believe, even if it ends up on the same truck.

If buying at Auction, I've taken advantage of leaving stock with them for a while until I accumulate enough to make a shipment worthwhile.

If buying from their 'shop' - buy through a broker, not just direct from the website. I've enjoyed that service, and they'll usually wave shipping fees in the event you order over a certain threshold. You won't get that if you just order online though.

[quote="asajoseph"]

If buying from their 'shop' - buy through a broker, not just direct from the website. I've enjoyed that service, and they'll usually wave shipping fees in the event you order over a certain threshold. You won't get that if you just order online though.[/quote]

The threshold is generally $300 through a broker.

asajoseph wrote:Think their auction business and their shop / brokerage are quite separate. The wine is stored in different locations, and will be picked / packed separately I believe, even if it ends up on the same truck.

If buying at Auction, I've taken advantage of leaving stock with them for a while until I accumulate enough to make a shipment worthwhile.

If buying from their 'shop' - buy through a broker, not just direct from the website. I've enjoyed that service, and they'll usually wave shipping fees in the event you order over a certain threshold. You won't get that if you just order online though.

Hi Asa, yep,
Auction and retail are separate warehouses albeit on the same street.
Auto-shipping is a waste of money - always wait until you have a dozen.
The $300 minimum order has been 'cracked down' on as a couple of brokers had been sending small orders, even single bottles out with free delivery which basically made the sale a loss of revenue.
It's always worthwhile calling your order through a broker as he/she may have something that is not on the website (some wineries under pressure don't want a digital footprint on their clearance lines).