Underground cellar bankruptcy

All that is clear at present is that it is not being shipped. The revolutionary model of Underground Cellar looked, from the outside at least, like a winner.

Grand Tour Tickets Now on Sale! In a section of a Napa Valley warehouse, more than half a million bottles of wine rest on pallets stacked 30 feet high. Every bottle was purchased by customers of Underground Cellar, a San Francisco-based internet retailer boasting 24, clients. Among a variety of perks, the bedrock promise of Underground Cellar was that it would store wine for free under ideal conditions until customers asked for delivery. Underground Cellar was founded by Jeff Shaw, 38, with a tempting promise—buy wines at good prices and you might also get better wine than you paid for. It then packaged the wines by themes, ranging from West Coast reds and whites to Riojas. The firm attracted customers with an adventurous, even gambling, spirit.

Underground cellar bankruptcy

The resulting events were reported on in Entrepreneur. You will find more articles with a brief search of 'Underground Cellar' on Google. This created an ownership conflict between the lending bank and the customers, both holding legal claims to the wine. A hard-fought conflict between lawyers for customers and the bank ran for over 6 months and with no resolution in sight, on October 13th, the Bankruptcy Trustee moved to abandon the dispute entirely, leaving both sides with nothing. As part of the settlement, any wine not claimed by customers by December 14th extended from December 8th became property of the bank. A copy of the Court Order can be found here , and specific details on claim process and shipping can be found here. Pick-up of the wine is not available. You will see in the document that Last Call Capital has been appointed to manage the claims process, oversee the warehouse operations, and ensure shipments are sent to customers. As a reminder, any unclaimed wine after December 14th was forfeited. Frequently Asked Questions For additional clarification, here is an overview of the current situation: On April 23, Underground Cellar UC ceased operations and declared bankruptcy the following week. Account Questions. Why is my cellar empty?

A hard-fought conflict between lawyers for customers and the bank ran for over 6 months and with no resolution underground cellar bankruptcy sight, on October 13th, the Bankruptcy Trustee moved to abandon the dispute entirely, leaving both sides with nothing.

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Underground Cellar gained popularity among wine lovers because of its gamelike platform offering customers occasional upgrades to more expensive bottles than they had paid for. But earlier this year, customers started having trouble accessing the wine they had ordered. Underground Cellar filed for a chapter 7 liquidation in the U. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Shaw had been separated from the company months before the bankruptcy filing, according to liquidation trustee Don Beskrone. He said the Liquid Lotus bid was by far the best offer received and would allow customers to retrieve their purchased wine, at their own cost.

Underground cellar bankruptcy

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Underground Cellar, a San Francisco -based company, could easily be a wine enthusiast's dream: for free, customers could buy and store up to bottles in the company's "temperature-controlled CloudCellar" in Napa Valley and ship them also for free whenever they wanted. In late April, the wine company abruptly halted operations , and, a few days later, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. Gregg Thatcher, a former customer, also runs a Facebook group dedicated to discussing the current situation with Underground Cellar.

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It might also be worth noting, as a closing word, that the message one gets from trying to access the website is: Payment Required. Triple Point claimed that, as lien holder, the wine belonged to it. Before approving the sale, she wanted a plan in place that would allow customers to retrieve their wine from the warehouse at a reasonable cost. Please note that shipping costs are assessed by the case, not bottle -- if you order 1 bottle your shipping cost would be the same as 12 bottles. Yours truly received such a message that seemed odd given that I assumed that a literal bottle was set aside in their climate-controlled warehouse in Napa with my name on it. However, please note that shipping costs are assessed by the case, not bottle -- if you order 1 bottle your shipping cost would be the same as 12 bottles. How are you notifying customers of their claim opportunity? Alison Napjus Tim Fish. That sum may have seemed paltry, but the clincher, in the eyes of the trustee, was that Shaw agreed to allow all Underground Cellar customers to recover their wine free of charge—either by picking it up at the warehouse or else by paying shipping costs to have it sent to them. Do I still need to submit the claim form? Underground Cellars may be gone, but its records of customer purchases live on.

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They include labor and material costs associated with locating and retrieving each bottle in the warehouse as well as packaging each case. Triple Point claimed that, as lien holder, the wine belonged to it. In addition, the maximum case size Fedex will ship is 12 bottles so larger orders are guaranteed to ship in multiple shipments. All orders are shipped via FedEx with tracking and adult signature required. Can I place multiple orders? In accordance with the terms established in bankruptcy court, the claims portal is now redirected from the undergroundcellar. The company had been doing well during the COVID pandemic, when people were drinking less wine at restaurants and more at home. All requests to buy back customer wine must be received by email or postmarked by Dec. I kept only my Screaming Eagle and Hundred Acre. Bruce Sanderson. The loss of the right to their wine did not sit well with many customers. It is not owned by the debtor; it is owned by the customer. To reduce per-bottle shipping costs,if you place multiple orders you should optimize your selection so that each order consits of a multiple of 12 bottles. Aaron Romano Collin Dreizen.