The Auswine Forum

Anyone else receive an email regarding a price rise this morning? My rates going up 7.5% next year after a 10% rise the year before

I had a similar price rise a few weeks back.

Ouch.

No message here.

i get the feeling it's not a franchise-wide decision - each to their own?

I know the prices at Kennards vary depending on location and demand. So makes sense that the price rises also depend on location/demand. I'm at Huntingdale (VIC). Kennards don't operate under franchises as far as I know. I think it's a family owned business.

Thanking the gods I managed to find a house with a cellar 2 years ago.

I drop about $6k pa with these guys... might be time to look elsewhere

Mike Hawkins wrote:I drop about $6k pa with these guys... might be time to look elsewhere

I'm about the same, but the competition is worse.

I received notification in August with go-live in October.

Diddy wrote:I received notification in August with go-live in October.

Curious, as we're both at Huntingdale. Which month is your annual contract anniversary date?

I am with ADL lock up self storage....$1800 year for a bin that's 12 ft sq or so. I pay yearly and in advance so far have avoided the dreaded email. Cheers Craig

Mine more than doubled in one go.

Yep - I received an increase on one cabinet. Waiting for the other 3 to go up next year. for 4 x 24 case capacity I'm up around a bit over $200 a month.

Yeah I need another 1000 bottles to make my Kennards cellar more economical.

Kennards is one of those businesses with the strategy of ripping off returning customers with price increases, hoping they will simply renew. At the same time they offer good deals to new customers. I won't support this type of business and gave them the heave (Camperdown facility in Sydney) in 2014 and moved to Wine Ark in Alexandria, where the security and temperature control is much better. I have had one increase in 3 renewals which is not too bad given the current electricity prices. The manager of the Alexandria Wine Ark facility seemed to have some flexibility in prices, that is despite the ownership of Wine Ark being a publicly listed company National Storage. They appear to let site managers actually manage their sites, unlike Kennards.

I also mentioned the temperature issue. The temperature in Kennards, Camperdown was 17.5 degrees one time when I visited. My view was that I wasn't getting what I was paying for so I complained. I received a response from a cfi in Kennards management stating:

"We track the temperature daily. In the last month, the average temperature has been 15 degrees, with the high you found, for one day of 17 degrees.

We are unable to guarantee and absolute temperature of any kind in this environment. The equipment is unable to provide this certainty and has a 1C +/- tolerance. This is further challenged by the fact that it is a public space with doors opening and closing, plus the current prevailing weather conditions."

Wine Ark publicly states that its cellars are kept at 14 degrees so I moved and have been much happier.

Sigmamupi wrote:Kennards is one of those businesses with the strategy of ripping off returning customers with price increases, hoping they will simply renew. At the same time they offer good deals to new customers.

I'm paying 30% less than the advertisted price for new customers for my locker size. Despite the price rises, Kennards Huntingdale have looked after me.

Sigmamupi wrote:I also mentioned the temperature issue. The temperature in Kennards, Camperdown was 17.5 degrees one time when I visited. My view was that I wasn't getting what I was paying for so I complained. I received a response from a cfi in Kennards management stating:

"We track the temperature daily. In the last month, the average temperature has been 15 degrees, with the high you found, for one day of 17 degrees.

We are unable to guarantee and absolute temperature of any kind in this environment. The equipment is unable to provide this certainty and has a 1C +/- tolerance. This is further challenged by the fact that it is a public space with doors opening and closing, plus the current prevailing weather conditions."

17.5 degrees is too high. I'd move my wine away if that were the case. I've got one of those maximum high/low thermometers in my locker. The average sits at 14.5 degrees with typical flucations 1 degree either way. The highest I've seen it go is 16 degrees and that's when I've been inside my walk-in locker for an hour. I've got a vent blowing in cold air directly inside my locker.

Maybe a few of us collectors from Kennards should get together and showcase perfectly cellared wines since release with Kennards, versus the under the bed reds. Bit of positve publicity for professional storage in the wine press and we may get treated as loyal customers.

JamieBahrain wrote:Yeah I need another 1000 bottles to make my Kennards cellar more economical.

That's the spirit. I like your thought process. There's no such thing as too much wine.

Carl