Beware of Scam!
Hi everyone -
I wanted to pass this along because this person called us and we found out later that he has scammed other wineries in several states. His name is James Schwartz from PA. At one time he had been arrested by the police and they found a lot of wine and wine baskets at his house, but he is back to his old tricks.
James Schwartz calls up wineries telling them he purchased wine from them last year with "CASH" and he is very dissatisfied. He tells different stories. Sometimes he wants his "CASH" back or will take wine or gift basket replacements sent to him to cover his losses. Of course, he has no receipts!
Examples: 1. He poured all 3 bottles of the wine into a decanter and it was full of sediment and tasted bad.
2. He found an eyeglass screw in the bottom of a bottle.
3. He bought 20 bottles of wine that were either flawed or had large amounts of sediment.
He has scammed wineries in NE, PA, OH, IL and IA that I know of. My husband is going to contact the FBI because he believes this is a Federal matter.
Holly Swanson
Cuthills Vineyards
I wanted to pass this along because this person called us and we found out later that he has scammed other wineries in several states. His name is James Schwartz from PA. At one time he had been arrested by the police and they found a lot of wine and wine baskets at his house, but he is back to his old tricks.
James Schwartz calls up wineries telling them he purchased wine from them last year with "CASH" and he is very dissatisfied. He tells different stories. Sometimes he wants his "CASH" back or will take wine or gift basket replacements sent to him to cover his losses. Of course, he has no receipts!
Examples: 1. He poured all 3 bottles of the wine into a decanter and it was full of sediment and tasted bad.
2. He found an eyeglass screw in the bottom of a bottle.
3. He bought 20 bottles of wine that were either flawed or had large amounts of sediment.
He has scammed wineries in NE, PA, OH, IL and IA that I know of. My husband is going to contact the FBI because he believes this is a Federal matter.
Holly Swanson
Cuthills Vineyards
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Steven on -
Thanks for this. The social network is a great way to get this message out. I have shared it with my friends on the network as well.
Thanks again for sharing this information.
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Permalink Reply by Tannat Madiran on
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Man,
It's so much easier to just say your write for a blog, or are an upstart broker, or a boutique distributor and ask for samples... This guy needs a hobby. Oh and it is Federal. And if he has priors, he could be getting passed around like a pack of smokes in no time with his new found friends/life partners in Club Fed (not the same Club Fed where CEO's go to mind you...) and the only wine he might get a whiff of is this stuff.
Yours,
Tannat Madiran
Editor Non Grata
Slinging Juice | The Wine World's Finest News Source
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Permalink Reply by Gary Miller on -
Thank you for the update.
This is the same man who was identified here, months ago. An alert was issued through Napa channels as he had been attempting the same scam through tasting rooms and small wineries, here in Napa and Sonoma Counties.
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Permalink Reply by Irene King on -
I'd like to share this information with friends who are not on this website. Do you know if that would be a problem?
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Permalink Reply by Steven on
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I believe that is fine. A number of blogs have picked up on this and I also spread the word via many on my friends list.
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Permalink Reply by Holly & Ed Swanson on -
Irene -
Please feel free to copy and send to anyone you know.
Thanks,
Holly
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Permalink Reply by 2me4 wines on -
We will share this info with our winery owner friends in Murphys (CA). Stephanie (or one of those girls in there) at Twisted Oak said that someone bought a bottle (not their brand) with lots of sediment on purpose and put it in Twisted Oak bottles and asked for new bottles. It is amazing what people will do..
Love wine in Calaveras....
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