CaskCartel
Reviews and Complaints

I got a promotional email from them near Christmas. I wanted to get my husband a special bottle of whiskey and noticed one on the promotional ad that looked right up his alley. Like an idiot, I didn't check to see if I could get it anywhere else because on their site they said that "other smaller shops will claim to have it, but they don't. Only we do." So I instantly thought I need to get this now before it sells out. I spent over 70 percent the actual price of this "rare" (it really isn't) bottle when I could have driven 5 miles to get it way cheaper. So I emailed them to tell them I found it cheaper and I want to cancel my order - this was within 24 hours of purchase. They said they can't do it. They said, "we are the eBay of liquor on the internet so we have no control over a third party". But, kicker is you can't email the third party like you can in eBay. HOW IS THIS LEGAL?!?!? Any lawyers out there want to take this company on? You would win huge. Don't EVER buy from this company.

I ordered a bottle of bourbon as a gift for a friend. I knew that it was overpriced to begin with at ~$240, but it was a gift and I didn't mind. However, instead of sending the bottle that was described on their website, they sent a bottle from a different batch that retails for less than half that price. When I complained, they changed their website so that the description of what I ordered matched the bottle that I was sent and claimed that I was sent what I ordered and they would not refund my money. Only after I showed them multiple screenshots of the original product description did they feel trapped enough to state that they would refund my money. It took them almost 4 weeks to get the return label created and emailed to me. All in all, it took nearly 2 months from the time I ordered the bottle until I got my refund. Normally, I wouldn't have an issue with getting the wrong bottle; these things happen. Except that in this case, they actively attempted to change the website and defraud me. I was fortunate that I decided to take screenshots of the website before requesting the refund, because otherwise I would be stuck with a $90 bottle of bourbon that cost $240...

In response to an email solicitation from Cask Cartel advertising specific products being available, I placed an order for over $750 on Aug 25th. No indication of any items being out of stock was presented. No delayed shipping notices or messages. 10 days later, no shipment or notification. Sent emails and received lame response alleging that retailers were backed up, items were "highly" allocated, CV19 issues were affecting shippers. Now 15 days later, I called to get an update and another customer support member reels off the exact same responses (rehearsed?) Based on reviews I have seen, this is their MO, take your money and keep it for two to three weeks while they negotiate best prices with vendors and don't really care when or if your products arrive. It sounds like a Great model as they get ROI on "free" money, they never have to touch the product and are not "responsible" due to fine print allowing 30 days to "fulfill orders") Their tagline is: Order Online, Get Shipped! What a joke! What kind of people operate this way with a straight face? . . . Common, low life manipulators! Advice: STAY AWAY, there are dozens of other companies that have better pricing and deliver within 3-5 days!

We ordered 4 whisky's from them at once. Two came within a week, but the other two still have not arrived and we are going on 4 weeks now. When we called on week 2 we were told they were putting the label on the items as we spoke and they would be sent momentarily. When we called on week 3 we were treated like we were an issue to the customer service representative and told they have 30 days before they even have to ship the items. At the end of week 3 I was beyond irritated and called to ask for a refund, again we are treated like we are an issue and told that one of the bottles, literally the easiest one to find but they were meant as a gift/surprise to me from my wife, could not be obtained by their vendor and they were going through another one. I asked for refund and was told no and that if they refunded anything it would be for 35% restocking fee. How can you restock something you don't have I asked. That's their policy they say. So then we receive an email shortly after saying the bottle that was being obtained through another vendor will cost $70 more to get. We luckily went through a CC to buy these, asked the CC company for a refund which they did and the CC company is pursuing the refund from Cask Cartel. Literarily the worst service I have ever dealt with and quit frankly its obvious they feel like they can push people around. I would leave a 0 star if I could

Today is January 17, 2022. On December 10, I placed two orders, both for the same item but to be delivered to two different places as Christmas gifts. I was told that the orders had been "been accepted by a local licensed authorized retailer partner for processing & fulfillment" on the date of order (12/10).

I contacted this company multiple times to determine when the items were expected to arrive to my friends. I was never provided with concrete information on the status of the order.

Re: ORDER ending in ; on 1/6/2022 I was told that the local retailer had "recently received shipment of the item and currently still working on getting all of their shipments including this order over to our carrier." This is in direct contradiction to the 12/10 email that I received indicating that a retailer had accepted the order. Certainly, Cask Cartel had not partnered with a local retailer who would not even have access to the item that I purchased until one month later! This order delivered on 1/13/2022.

Re: ORDER ending in ; again, I was told on the date of purchase (12/10) that the order was accepted by a local retail partner. Again, today is 1/17 and the item has not been shipped nor delivered. My multiple requests for updates have been met with generic replies without any substantive answers about the status of the order.

I requested my money back. Thus far, that request has been ignored.

Terrible customer services. Deceptive business practices. Buyer beware!

Wish I had checked the reviews first. Do NOT recommend Cask Cartel (their name is very telling). They do NOT own any inventory, they are merely middle men only, with ZERO inventory but their advertising and website would have you believe otherwise. I knew they were high priced, and they are indeed extremely high priced... but sometimes when you want something bad enough you just suck it up and go for it. After waiting more than 2 weeks to hear anything about my order which was puzzling because the order page had said "in stock" at the time of ordering, I looked it up to discover to my horror they had switched the bottle I ordered to something similar but much much less valuable version. The order still said "unfulfilled" however, so I immediately contacted them and told them to correct the order back to what I actually ordered or cancel the order immediately. 10 hours later at like 8pm in the evening, a shipping label was created for the order but it had not shipped. I called them immediately and told them I had requested this canceled before the order was even "fulfilled" and I was told ...too late they already made a shipping label... very deliberate attempt to lock me into something I didn't order. Despite the label being created the product still didn't ship for two days . I tried repeatedly to stop the order before it was shipped and they stonewalled me. They did tell me they would restock (before it was shipped) for $150...what a JOKE. They know they changed the order and they know they could have stopped it. I even agreed to buy something else but they still wanted the "$150 restocking fee". Lesson learned! Check those reviews first!

Heed the warnings in these reviews. This company is not providing much of a service at all. Whatever you find on this website can be purchased elsewhere for less, though you may need to hunt for it a bit. Check out their cancellation / return policy...scary stuff when a company is threatening you with prosecution and investigation before you even order! Oh...they can take up to 30 days to locate your purchase while your credit card company charges you interest. Good luck trying to cancel...they will come after you! From their website (second to last paragraph is the most interesting): The Cask Cartel Premium Spirits Marketplace is committed to using a preferred network of local licensed retailers to fulfill your order handing off to a third-party shipping/fulfillment company for processing. Every item on our marketplace is fulfilled through a climate controlled packaging facility. Processing time is normally within 1-4 business days not including weekends or holidays. Depending on an items inventory status it may require ordering from a distributor which can delay the fulfillment processing of your order. All SALES ARE FINAL. Once and order has been received/confirmed/paid there is a NO REFUND POLICY. Orders are distributed to local licensed retailers and once items have been ordered the fulfillment process begins and we cannot stop, change, or hold orders. Only if a licensed retailer fails to fulfill and ship your order within 30-days does it qualify for refund. In the unusual event damaged items will also qualify for full replacement, credit or refund. If in the unusual event you do experience a problem with your order please contact us for replacement within 3-days of receipt of delivery. Please inspect and document with photographs to assist in a speedy replacement process. Additionally we may require the return of unopened/damaged bottles. We mayfer a replacement, discount, refund, or an account credit to be used for a later store purchase. If for any reason an order that has been attempted delivered and then returned or declined by the buyer which includes orders that are a failed delivery attempt as result of adult signature not available or not claimed within the time allotted once the shipping carrier notifies you of the delivery a 35% restocking fee will apply along with the original shipping and return shipping charges. *PREORDERSDue to the item being a preorder we cannot guarantee the exact time or date the product will arrive to be dispatched out to you. All preordered items come directly from the distillery to a distribution warehouse then finally to the local licensed retailer who fulfills your order. PREORDERS are NOT subject to the 30-day fail to fulfill or ship policy. Producers and Brands may update their bottle design, packaging and artwork at any time. For this reason you may receive a product labeling or packaging that is different than pictured. We recommend if this occurs to visit the producer or brands website for the most current up to date packing and labeling. For these instances products will not be eligible for return or replacement. Credit Card disputes and bank fraud are taken very seriously at Cask Cartel and will be prosecuted/investigated to the fullest extent of the law enforcement. We have in-house retired investigators that work vigorously in all efforts to prosecute offenders. Each visitor's i.p. address, device information, mac address and other information is securely stored along with geographical location. A full screen video capture recording and playback of the entire purchase session is stored on our servers used for fraud prosecution. This allows us to playback the entire session just as a person visually originally view the site on their device showing all page and mouse movements to law enforcement. In some instances we will dispatch local authorities to the delivery address for further investigation. "Friendly Fraud" such as chargebacks for delivered orders or orders that meet our terms of conditions and CANCELLATION/NO REFUND POLICY may be imposed legal fees by which will be automatically turned over to a collections service company. For all chargeback inquiries that result in a violation of our terms and conditions or policies a $30.00 investigation fee will be imposed to the cardholder as part of the investigation response. All orders placed thru the Cask Cartel Marketplace are bound by this policy and will be provided as defense to any chargeback or inquiry. We value and appreciate all of the consumers that have used our Premium Spirits Marketplace. Thank you for the opportunity to provide you this service! We're Glad you're here!

I contacted CaskCartel to order some Christmas gifts for some family members on Dec. 14 and Dec 16. During the ordering process, it was stated that products would ship in 4-10 days. So, the product might make it to family by Christmas, and definitely between the Christmas and New Year's holiday. By December 29th, (two weeks later) most of my orders remained unfulfilled. I requested a refund. A customer service rep quickly responded and pointed me to the Cancellation \ Refund Policy where it states that ALL SALES ARE FINAL, and Refunds would be issued ONLY after 30 days passed without the order being fulfilled and shipped. Yesterday, on January 13th (on day #30) that I wanted my order cancelled and my money returned to me. This has followed my multiple attempts to communicate with CaskCartel who only give me pre-canned CSR messages about apologizing for the delay, and my need to consider the COVID situation and shipping issues. Within the CaskCartel draconian Cancellation \ Refund Policy, there is no "Give and Take", CaskCartel wasn't interested in hearing about my need to cancel a Christmas order when the order wouldn't even arrive by the end of December. They very stringently pointed me to their policies on numerous occasions. At one point they contacted me about an order that was absolutely going to go past the 30 days. Rather than offer me a refund, they tried to get me to spend an additional $45 dollars on acquiring the product from another vendor, or they would issue me store credit (I informed them I would never do business with them again), or I could sit and wait and the product would eventually arrive... Someday... After I contacted them on Day #30 asking for a refund, near the end of business hours, they marked 1 out of my 3 items as "Fulfilled", and printed out a shipping label for it. I sent them another email, saying, "THAT is NOT a shipped product". They didn't respond. Today, I got another email that they're sending the rest.

On December 21 I ordered four bottles of Glenlivet 18 yr old scotch. The photo on their web site and the description of the product both showed a bottling that was at 43% ABV. Even at that, I followed the order with an email to Customer Service stating that I DO NOT WANT THE 40 ABV product. Here is the reply I received: *** Gina (CaskCartel.com) Dec 22, 2021, 4:49 PM EST Greetings *** & thanks for reaching out! Thank you for informing us of the version you prefer for this order, I did look into it and noticed you definitely did order "The Glenlivet 18 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky" the 43% ABV version. I do not think our retailer will send the wrong product, I can inform them to make sure they are prepping shipment for the correct product you've placed your order for. I am glad you were able to reach out to us about your order because I did want to inform you the order is currently processing with our retailer right now which is good news. We at least allow them to prep for shipment and have the package sent to our carrier who will complete the scan-in process and have package shipped out to your home. You can always reach out to us by phone or email regarding an order status or any updates for this order. We would love to help! We truly value you as a customer and your business is much appreciated. Have a wonderful day! Best Regards, Gina *** My original email was: *** Dec 21, 2021, 10:45 PM EST Hello, This order assumes that the Glenlivet 18 is the old version with 43 ABV as per the description and picture. DO NOT SEND THE NEW 40 ABV version. Thank you, *** Weeks later I received 4 bottles of the exact product I told them I do not want. They are refusing a return and credit. I believe they violated the law with bait & switch tactics. I want a full refund for $630.34 and am willing to prosecute if necessary. The State AG should probably be made aware for consumer fraud. I can provide full email chains if necessary

Ordered the Metallica batch100 box set. They sent a box with batch102 instead. Contacted several times, no response. Not only person this happened to On May 24th, I ordered the Metallica batch 100 blackened whiskey box set from cask cartel. ORDER #*** BLACKENED(r) AMERICAN WHISKEY LIMITED EDITION BATCH 100 BOX SET Collect One/Drink Two*** × 1 $269.99 Subtotal $274.14 Shipping $31.49 Total $305.63 USD When I received the box set, I put it aside as I was planning to keep it as a collectible. When I finally went to open the box set, I came to find they had put a bottle of batch 102, not batch 100 as advertised... and the overall appeal and listed batch bottle of the whole box set in general. I emailed them twice with absolutely zero response: First Email: *** Sun, Dec 13, 2020, 6:41 PM to CaskCartel.com Hi there , So I purchased this box set back in may , and was keeping the box itself unopened as a collectible. So I just went to open it today , and I noticed that my bottle in the box is batch 102 , not 100 as advertised . Not sure if this was a mixup or packaging mistake , but please advise as I would really have liked to receive the item as advertised batch 100. Thanks for your time and I look forward to hearing from you After no response, second email: *** Jan 12, 2021, 12:24 AM (9 days ago) to Support Hey there, So it's been almost a month since I put in my complaint about my Metallica blackened "batch 100" box having a bottle of batch 102 instead of 100. I got a automated response saying there is a general delay in customer service, but I believe enough time has passed. To be clear I am not trying to run a scam or anything to get a batch 100 bottle. There was a delay in me opening the boxset as I had no doubt it was what I purchased, and was shocked to see it was batch 102 instead of 100. I have also researched customer complaints, including one logged in the complaintsboard.com website, that describes a similar mixup with the Metallica batch 100 boxset including a different batch bottle. Please advise ASAP , I would just hope this situation can be resolved promptly and respectfully. Looking forward to your response. IN CONCLUSION: As stated in my email, I have no need to try and scam or something stupid for a bottle of batch 100. The issue is I purchased what was advertised as a batch 100, and in fact they sent a batch 102, which defeats the ENTIRE purpose of the batch 100 specific boxset. I also have seen on the Complaintsboard.com that this is NOT the first time someone has complained about receiving the wrong batch in their box set, so it is in no way a lone complaint. All I am asking for is the company to rightfully send me the bottle that I paid for, but they can't seem to even find the time to respond to me to begin with, so regretfully have to escalate the case to the Complaintsboard.com.

Misrepresentation of products being in stock & able to ship in 5-10 business days, Bait and Switch sales practices, & inaccurate status communications On December 8, I placed two orders with CaskCartel.com, order *** for $91.46 and order ***, for $95.48. I ordered two different bottles of bourbon to be delivered to two local friends for Christmas. Upon placing the orders online at CaskCartel.com, I received immediate email order confirmations that advised the following, " your order has been accepted by a local licensed authorized retailer partner for processing & fulfillment." I also read the terms that indicated that all sales are final. The notifications advised that I would receive a shipping notice email when each bottle of bourbon was shipped by the local merchant. I emailed CaskCartel.com on 12/11, 3 days later, indicating that I had not received any shipping notices yet. I received a canned response the same day that said, "Due to Covid-19 and the holidays, an order typically takes 5-10 business days to be shipped. This order has currently been sent to the retailer for fulfillment and is processing. Once processed, you will receive an email with your tracking information in which the shipping carrier will provide and estimated delivery date." Two weeks passed with no notifications from CaskCartel, so I emailed them on 12/22 to ask for a status update, indicating that 10 business days had passed. My email said, " It has now been 10 business days since I placed my (two) orders with Cask Cartel and I don't have any shipping information yet. Can you please contact the retailer and obtain a status on my behalf for each of my two orders? Christmas came and went and I did not receive a response back until December 28th, which said, "This email is a courtesy to notify you that the retailer fulfilling your order unfortunately does not have the Black Saddle 12 year old Straight Bourbon Whisky. We have reached out to another one of our retailers and they have this item in stock, however, they are charging $10 more for the bottle. Would you be willing to pay the additional charges to have this item sent? If not, we can move forwarding to cancelling out that portion of the order." This is horrible customer service and unacceptable for several reasons as follows: I placed two orders on 12/8. Both orders were immediately "accepted" by a local retailer. What does that mean? Does that mean the bottles I ordered are in stock w/ the local retailer and will be shipped soon? Apparently, that notice is automatic and means NOTHING more than "we received your order". When I emailed customer service on 12/11 to ask about shipping status, I receive a canned response with no specific updates about my order. Apparently the person from CaskCartel who responded did not take the time to reach out to the local retailer(s) to determine updates on my order, or else CaskCartel would have known that one of my two bottles of bourbon was not in stock and could not possibly be shipped "within 5-10 business days". When I emailed CaskCartel on 12/22, this was 3 business days before Christmas, plenty of time for CaskCartel to research my orders, determine specific status and notify me that the orders would (or would not be) shipped before Christmas. I receieved NO response prior to Christmas. There was no response from CaskCartel until the evening of 12/28, which (see above) stated that one of my two orders could not be shipped because the local retailer does not have the bottle. I was also asked to pay $10 more to have the bottle shipped from another retailer, even though CaskCartel states that ALL SALES ARE FINAL. If CaskCartel wants all sales to be final, then that should mean they also accept any risk(s) that local retailers might charge more. In addition, the email message from CaskCartel on 12/28 provided no status on my second order, which was placed on 12/8 and has not received ANY updates, no shipping status, no details on each order. At this point, I have no idea whether either of my two bourbon orders will be fulfilled.