Do they write the bottle number within the lot? If so: Couldn’t you argue that this is an unseparable feature of the object and that a wrong number is no cosmetical damage?
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The loss and breakage insurance covers damage that has occurred due to shipping. In this case, there was no damage due to shipping, so it really shouldn’t apply. Instead, the issue was caused purely by their mistake / negligence, whereas they shipped the wrong bottle. But, no, I couldn’t argue it, because they have chosen to stop responding to my messages.
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Glad it worked out for you.
I don’t think your experience is really comparable, though. You took a gamble on a description being wrong and it paid off. The description was wrong in the way that you bet it was. You never had to contact RA to try to make you whole regarding their mistake in the description. Also, the description and the photo were conflicting, so there was some uncertainty as to what you were really bidding for, so you were taking a calculated risk.
In my case, I didn’t take a gamble nor a calculated risk. The description and the photo both matched each other, but RA shipped me something different. And then they refused to address their mistake.
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If you have any family or friends in the UK you could threaten to sue them though the court system and they might refund you?
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Fully agree with you. I mentioned this experience because the bottle I received was exactly the one it showed on the photo.
Not all characteristics of a bottle are mentioned in a description, like the straw netting of the Plantation bottles. So you should be able to trust the photo to be what you are bidding on. And that is the normal process of RA (see my anecdote) so in your case they should apologise, take back the bottle and give you a refund (my opinion).
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Unfortunately I do not.
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Update:
After weeks of radio silence, rum auctioneer reached out to me today via phone.
They were very apologetic about the situation and offered to refund me the hammer price of the bottle (UKP 750) as well as to keep the incorrect bottle that was shipped to me. They did not offer to refund the charges incurred due to the premium, loss and breakage insurance nor shipping. Overall, I thought it was a fairly generous offer, so I accepted.
They also expressed that they were very embarrassed about how this had been handled and that they will be reviewing their internal policies and training on how such cases should be handled in future.
As far as I’m concerned, once I have received the refund, this will have been settled in mutual agreement. Will I return to bid at rumauctioneer? Not sure. At this point, I’m still feeling pretty salty about the whole experience. Maybe, once some time has passed and I’m not feeling so strongly about it anymore.
Thank you, everyone, for listening.
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So you get to keep the bottle plus you get a refund? (Except fees, shipping, storage & insurance, as I understand). So that’s basically the Extreme N° 4 at what… 100GPB? That’s a pretty good deal, after all. Of course you had additional emotional cost and invested a lot of time – difficult to put a pricetag on that.
Glad you found an agreement in the end and I hope RA makes good on their promise to improve in this field.
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Sorry to hear about your experience. I had one issue in all my purchases from Rum Auctioneer and it was resolved quickly and fully. Glad to hear they eventually made it right.
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Awesome result all in all mate. Too bad it took this long with all the hassle… If they’re truthful about their internal evaluation, maybe something good will come out of it for future similarities.
I feel that you should definitely open and enjoy it now, for celebratory purposes!
PS: once again kudos to everyone for their understanding and very helpful reactions 
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I’m really disappointed with the service at Rum Auctioneer.
I paid for them to stock a bottle there in February to avoid high taxes and expenses with DHL and the Swiss customs (minimum 45€) for a single bottle. I asked them to send that bottle with the March auction.
But they didn’t, they just sent that bottle alone. It’s really frustrating, even if they did apologize ?
I will do a pause with buying rum there.
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well, I have basically won lots every other auction at RA, most of them Velier or old Demerara from other IBs and had only one issue (two identical bottles and they forgot two sent the second bottle, likely some underpaid employees in the logistics department were confused) but it was professionally solved.
The way they solved obviously @xasmx issue imo was more then fair.
Do you deliver the same quality at work for your employer as you expect it from other parties? No mistakes, errors, forgotten timelines, misses replies? Respect!
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