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. Yours truly underground cellar bankruptcy 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, underground cellar bankruptcy.

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.

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.

By Peter Hellman.

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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. It has nearly members. It's a tremendous loss for them. The nature of Underground Cellar's downfall remains unclear. On its website, it names "recent market headwinds" and "inability to secure financing" in an "increasingly challenging capital market" as reasons for its decision to file for bankruptcy. What a scam. How can this be legal?

Underground cellar bankruptcy

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.

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Premier Cru sold advance allocations of high-end, collectible European wines at steep, and in hindsight, impossibly low, bargain prices. And since the filing, additional issues have come to light, including significant payments to executive staff when issues had become clear internally that the business model was failing. Wine Spectator Podcasts Get the App. They would be buying their wine all over again. Explore Newsletters. In accordance with the terms established in bankruptcy court, the claims portal is now redirected from the undergroundcellar. In support of that claim, Triple Point referenced a similar struggle between customers of a bankrupt North Carolina wine retailer and its lien-holding bank. You absolutely can. One source for those most-coveted wines early on was Colorado customer Lance McCollough, who also made a small investment in Underground Cellar as a startup. 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.

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.

As customers came forward to decry follow-through on shipments of wine that had been paid for, the Ponzi-like scheme eventually came catastrophically undone. After the initial Dec. The ruling in that case was that title to the wine in the warehouse remained with the debtor, which was still paying insurance premiums on the wine. You absolutely can. 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. They would be buying their wine all over again. Was my account charged twice for the same order? Not so. Do I still need to submit the claim form? This created an ownership conflict between the lending bank and the customers, both holding legal claims to the wine.