APW Australia Portfolio Wines

One thing we see in scams involving shares, of which there are many, is that people often buy 'thin air'. In other words they have been told they own shares but in fact they don't. Anley will probably agree but in almost every case they will approach the victim two, three or maybe four further times for more money. The excuse will often be that a tax or fee needs to be paid before the investment can be cashed in. It is always a lie, just another way to bleed more money from you. Quite often people are told that paying extra is the only way to avoid losing all your money. Unfortunately tge day you handed over your money was the day you lost it, everything that follows is just an elaborate excuse to get more out of you. These people will bleed you dry, whatever you do don't keep giving them money.

If it were me I'd find out who all the directors and staff are and expose them. Use this forum but also sites like ripoffreport, scam.com, the motley fool etc. That's free and doesn't even take much time. For instance when you search for this company this thread is number four in google. That is a very powerful tool in publicising what has happened.
 
Come on Winehound10. Cellarlink took over APW almost 3 years ago this goes deeper than just transition problems.

There are far to many people here reporting similar problems about their wines not being sold and being charged rapacious fees.

How is it that people who own wine they have paid for stored by Cellar Link then being told they will be charged 25% of the value if they want to retrieve them.

This is like storing your car, paying a monthly fee then being told it will cost you 25% of the value of the car to get it out of storage.
 
Come on Winehound10. Cellarlink took over APW almost 3 years ago this goes deeper than just transition problems.

There are far to many people here reporting similar problems about their wines not being sold and being charged rapacious fees.

How is it that people who own wine they have paid for stored by Cellar Link then being told they will be charged 25% of the value if they want to retrieve them.

This is like storing your car, paying a monthly fee then being told it will cost you 25% of the value of the car to get it out of storage.

Cellar Link use a virtual office as their official address but if you dig a bit deeper you'll see their previous address was 177 Ferndale Road, London (pictured below). Hardly the type of office you'd expect from a wine investment and storage business. If you go to the Companies House website you can access and download all the documents they have filed. You'll also see that the Director is Eamon Egan and that they were previously called HEXAGON 360 LIMITED.
 

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Cellar Link use a virtual office as their official address but if you dig a bit deeper you'll see their previous address was 177 Ferndale Road, London (pictured below). Hardly the type of office you'd expect from a wine investment and storage business. If you go to the Companies House website you can access and download all the documents they have filed. You'll also see that the Director is Eamon Egan and that they were previously called HEXAGON 360 LIMITED.


thanks pboyles.

I also looked up APW, Wow did they go through a lot of Secretaries and directors Plus a lot of changes of their registered office.

I am starting to get a lot of info for my website. The reason I want my own website is that there are probable a lot of cellar customers out there that may be blissfully unaware that they may be facing problems. I hope to atract them with the name cellarlinks if they are looking for links to wineries and other winery cellars.

I will also be including a segment on liens and the danger of these not being a get out as some people have probably already found out.

I got an email from Cellarlink last year stating that they had $100,000 in liens saying they could not support these any longer. Well sell the wine you *******s. What excuses did it always get. Aussie wine is not selling same excuse as I kept getting from APW. Wonder why the aussie wine business has not gone belly up then.

Heres an interesting story. A Heritage Wine Investor Tells His Story
 
Are there anyone can successfully exit from cellar link? is the letter of demand just a bluff?

In my point of view they already got the asset (wines) that they can liquidate as in their own t&c, and they also already gain a lot of money from it. While the client don't get anything at all, other than loosing a lot of money. why don't they just take the wines and close it? hmm...
 
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are australian wines still popular are many investers in the uk trying to sell theirs.are you waiting to see if sales will improve nearer the olympics event as suggested by broker.ha ha
 
I got an email from Cellarlink last year stating that they had $100,000 in liens saying they could not support these any longer. Well sell the wine you *******s. What excuses did it always get. Aussie wine is not selling same excuse as I kept getting from APW. Wonder why the aussie wine business has not gone belly up then.

What an excuse.. cellarlink can just dispose the wines in liens and it would be no loss for them as their customer paid the hefty fee in advance. Or better yet cellarlink can just auction the wines with no reserve price and they can still make some money. They should do that rather than keep forcing their customer to pay the hefty storage and insurance fee indefinitely.
 
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I first bought my wine portfolios from APW in 2005. The salesperson was and still is a good friend. He unfortunately has left Cellar Link. Anyway, I have been trying for years to sell these wines. The second portfolio I finally just shipped to myself in London. Cost a bit extra but the wine is fantastic.

Having said that, the company's business model is either to make money on storage fees, or they're just so incompetent that they didn't realise they don't have a proper distribution model. My second portfolio has been on the market since April 2009. Not a single bottle sold. But I've paid storage fees in excess of AUD2,500 so far. On a portfoio that cost only AUD4,500. I'm done with them and have just emailed them telling them I've canceled the card that they had been charging and I'm no longer paying fees. They can either sell the wine or deliver to a friend in Melbourne. They'll never see a cent from me again.
 
@katmanlondon, you're fortunate to have a London's address. For Australian with no London's address, Cellar Link make it impossible to exit from this loosing investment. Cellar Link charge a ridiculous fee to have the wines sent back to Australia, and they refuse the order to just dispose the wines.

Well, this investment is already at a great loss, so it doesn't make sense to pay a high fee again just to let it go.
 
Re: Cellarlink problem report.

Well Guys and gals here is my new website with exposure to problems I am having with Cellarlink (& APW).

I am implementing this website using search engine optimization techniques so that it get wide exposure. I want other wine people other than those looking for cellarlink to find it.

You can visit it at "cellarlinks"

Get back with more news soon.

Wilf.
 
Dear All,
Re getting stock for Australian clients out of their control why do you not move it to another warehouse in the UK, set the account up in your name and negotiate a new deal? I work in warehousing, bonded warehousing, and handle privae contracts, their are plently of providers in the UK, who also could consoldate and ship back to Australia. If the wine is in your name get it moved to another facility and away from APW/Cellar Link.
 
Dear All,
Re getting stock for Australian clients out of their control why do you not move it to another warehouse in the UK, set the account up in your name and negotiate a new deal? I work in warehousing, bonded warehousing, and handle privae contracts, their are plently of providers in the UK, who also could consoldate and ship back to Australia. If the wine is in your name get it moved to another facility and away from APW/Cellar Link.

Everyone should be aware of follow up scams. It is common practice in share scams for victims to be offered a way out that appears attractive. Ultimately this will lead to more losses. In share scams these are often referred to as 'recovery room' scams. I can see how it would operate very well in this market.
 
thanks a lot for the warning pboyles.. actually better solution is not to pay more for this..
 
I first bought my wine portfolios from APW in 2005. The salesperson was and still is a good friend. He unfortunately has left Cellar Link. Anyway, I have been trying for years to sell these wines. The second portfolio I finally just shipped to myself in London. Cost a bit extra but the wine is fantastic.

Having said that, the company's business model is either to make money on storage fees, or they're just so incompetent that they didn't realise they don't have a proper distribution model. My second portfolio has been on the market since April 2009. Not a single bottle sold. But I've paid storage fees in excess of AUD2,500 so far. On a portfoio that cost only AUD4,500. I'm done with them and have just emailed them telling them I've canceled the card that they had been charging and I'm no longer paying fees. They can either sell the wine or deliver to a friend in Melbourne. They'll never see a cent from me again.

I am about to do the same thing, our case sounds exactly like yours. Can you advise what has happened once you have stopped paying?
 
basically when we stop paying, cellar link should do 12.2 of their t&c:
http://www.cellarlink.com.au/comersus/store/pdf/Terms_and_Conditions.pdf

which is:
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12.2 In addition Cellar Link shall have a lien on all Products, any other good held in the Storage Facility on the Customer's behalf and any document relating to them for all sums payable by the Customer to Cellar Link. If any amount due and payable to Cellar Link by the Customer is not paid in full within six (6) weeks of the due date, Cellar Link may, without further notice, take any or all of the following actions: dispose of and/or sell the Products or other goods by public auction or private treaty on such terms as Cellar Link may determine. Cellar Link may also require payment of default action costs, including any cost associated with the seizure of the Customer's Products, Any excess moneys recovered by Cellar Link on disposal will be returned to the Customer.
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cellarlink should auction the wines with no reserve, and resolve the matter..

but that's not what people experience here.. read one of the cellar link victim's story:
http://www.cellarlinks.com.au/one-reason-not-to-invest-in-wine/

they will still charged your credit card even though you notify them not to do so.. you'll have to cancel your credit card.. they'll charge you dishonour fee.. and they'll keep on chasing you to pay..

still.. that's seems to be the only solution.. else you'll be paying the fee indefinitely.. they don't give us a sensible option to exit from their hefty fees..

i think the more people stop paying their fee, the stronger our position will be.. it will force them to auction the wines with no reserve and resolve this matter..

further more you can report cellar link here too:
https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/reportascam

the more people report the case the better..
 
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Hi,

Does anyone know whether we should pay VAT or not if we just disposed the wines? How about just give away the wines to someone (or sell it to him/her at zero price), do we still have to pay VAT? How's the VAT calculated? It's the percentage of the selling price, right? So if we sell at zero price, it should be zero VAT?

.. just thinking of possible ways to exit from cellar link without any further cost. loosing so much money already for the price of the wines, and the cost involved to keep them (which could be already more than the cost of the wines themselves).. now just want to get rid of them without any further cost..

but still cellar link may charge us just to get the wines disposed :(

anyone interested to get cheap wines? :) just to cover the cost to disposed the wines and taking them out from cellar link..

thanks a lot..
 
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