Lay & Wheeler Reviews 97

Customer experience has been ruined by current ownership.
I have been a member of L&W since 2018 when I first joined I couldn't have been happier it really felt like being part of a club with their excellent tasting events and your own friendly wine advisor. This feeling has now been eroded by current management and their policies tastings and events have been ended, they transferred all customer reserves out of LCB to their own error prone facility without even telling customers what they intended let alone asking permission and are now busy greedily ratcheting up storage charges every year. As others have stated the attitude to customer service leaves a lot to be desired having recently purchased a wine that had been incorrectly advertised (right producer wrong vineyard) as a long standing customer who has spent thousands with them one would expect a reputable fine wine merchant to offer a perfuse apology and instant recompense but no, they stall and have to "ask goods out team to investigate" don't get back and leave you to have to chase them at every step, they couldn't possibly refund the two incorrect bottles I'd already received "until they'd been collected by LCB". Still two over weeks later I've not been fully refunded for their mistake. This isn't the first time I've encountered logistics errors followed by evasive customer service
I wouldn't use them any more other than the fact they have my wine in their warehouse so I'm stuck with them.

I also spent thousands of pounds and their policies and response times are horrible. They charge GBP30 for a transfer in bond to a very local warehouse, even of three bottles, when other companies do it free of charge or for 10 pounds. They refuse to provide copies of invoices of prior purchases to prove provenance. Atrocious

I’ve been a customer for nearly 20 years, I’ve never felt less valued by a company I have spent thousands of pounds with. They were great now they are not. They have some excellent wines but they will eke out every penny from you, delivery is expensive and somewhat at their convenience. Storage is uncompetitive. I have stopped buying wine from them and will gradually withdraw or move everything I have with them. I expressed concerns when they raised cellarage rates, they did not bother to reply.

L&W offers a wide wine selection but has become less competitive, prioritising profit over customer experience. Their storage fees are high compared to BBR and TWS, brokerage rates are costly, and customer funds take too long to be credited. Additionally, their delivery process lacks transparency and flexibility in scheduling.

This is one of the best companies in the UK. Period!

My wine advisor, Will, was so helpful is selecting just the right wines for my taste and newly started collection.
The communication about the arrival of my wine was spot on and the wines arrived perfectly packed- even a personalised note from Pete who packed my order. Thank you, Will, Pete and the Lay & Wheeler team.

I have been a client of Lay & Wheeler for many years and have received great service throughout that time, during which they have introduced me to many wonderful wines. I am fortunate to have a great wine adviser who helps me along the way. When I can I also attend the tasting events they put on. Having built up a large portfolio I am now making use of the brokerage service which works very well for me.

Great selection and much helpful advice volunteered.

L&W are easy to do business with and offer good wines at competitive prices. Delivery is prompt and items come well packaged.

Great wine merchant. Good wine recommendations. Reasonable storage charges. Let you buy, store and withdraw single bottles vs many that insist on full cases or charge to break the case. Service is good if something goes wrong (central London deliveries can always be a little hit and miss - new provider Pack Fleet is generally very good though).

Good range of wines at a reasonable price.
I like the ability to purchase en primeur with advice from the team. Cellar club membership has been educational and fun enabling me to build a good, varied selection of wines.

Broad range of wines, en primeur, on a single bottle (which is fairly unusual for in-bond purchases) or case basis, like the website and easy to manage cellar. Personal wine adviser is very attentive and helpful. This has been consistently good over many years

Lay & Wheeler always professional and caring, have a large range of wines and vintages to offer at very competitive price points. Would fully recommend Lay & Wheeler 👍

Knowledgeable executive, easy ordering, fast response time and excellent delivery.

If you are a wine enthusiast like me and are looking for a wine merchant who can offer wines for that special occasion but excels in sourcing
outstanding wines at affordable prices L&W is an excellent choice.

I like Lay & Wheeler. They do a good job. I buy some blue-chip wines from them, but for me their main strength is in bringing my attention to wines I’ve not heard of. They’re also rather good on Loire wines. Very good account managers too – my current manager, Sam C. is super-helpful. Their Cellar Circle is good too – access to harder-to-find wines and lower cellaring fees.

In the last couple of decades I’ve also brought wines from Berry Bros and Rudd; I use them more for the blue-chip wines. They’re good – especially their trading boards to buy/sell wines in their customers’ collections - but I feel L&W are perhaps a little more innovative in their range of wines.

I also bought from Fine and Rare Wines but in the last year or two they’ve gone downhill quite a lot so I’ve stopped using them.

To sum up L&W are super reliable, with a consistently interesting range of wines, and I’ve never had any problems with them. Only good stuff.

Alice and Steffan always provide the best customer service. Great selections and always provide the great suggestions.

Very good website