Vivino
reviews and complaints

I can’t understand why when I’m trying to buy wine from you and spend Tthousands of dollars a year, I’ve got to put up with stupid ads that interrupt me.

What a great way to lose customers.

If you’re trying to monetise and not alienate the people that regularly buy form you, then maybe consider giving the ad free experience to accounts that spend a certain amount per annum.

It’s not that complicated.

First, I'd like to see an iPad app that displays the wines in a better view for browsing. The phone app is fine for out and about, but at home, when looking through my collection to choose something to open, it's very poor. Sorting choices are useless.

I've had pretty good success with the label recognition, although often they've got the winery right but the actual wine wrong (Merlot instead of Malbec), and the grape varietals are sketchy. I've had "not a wine" return from the lookup process even though similar items are in the database. Example: 5 year Malmsey Madeira was returned as "not a wine" but 10 year of the same item is in the db, as are many other Madeiras.

I also would like more control over the entries in my collection. They've got huge long titles for wines that cram in everything on the label when all I really care about is that it's a Malbec or cab. Why put "California" or "Sonoma" in the title when the location field already says it? You can see the label, so why put "Light and refreshing" in the title? You can "suggest" a change, but if they disagree it goes back to what they have in the database.

Bottom line, nice for a quick lookup when in a store, but not for keeping track of my collection.

I’ve used a few Wine Scanners/Wine Tracker type of apps. As a Wine Scanner this app is a hands down five stars. It fines 99% of wines and if it can find it there is the ability for them to do a manual search and report back to you in the app. You get ratings from normal people and the community is big enough where people leave precise reviews of the wine. Their wine education function is very good for beginners that gives them grape/location/style and sometimes producer information. Plus it has challenges that can increase your knowledge as well.

Where the app falls short is it’s wine tracker/cellar functions. I would like the ability to share my cellar like it allows you to share your wishlist. Because I’m using it as a cellar tracker I would like to have more filters like by price, drink by date if I’ve entered that information, year of purchase, vintage things of that nature. Also you have the ability to add locations if the app can’t find them but not the ability to edit or delete. I have like two or three versions of the same location maybe because it was spelled wrong or wrong url.

Conclusion: best wine app on the market and I would pay not only for this version but for a pro version of I received more functionality.

I purchased the Vivino PRO upgrade because I wanted to manage my small wine collection - not really a cellar - in my wine cage and fridge. There were a few problems at first with the account; but, the app creators - through prompt email communications - happily resolved the problem.

Regarding the app, I continue to be amazed at how often the app can identify the wine, winery, etc just from my photo of the label. Wow! "Near Hits" usually involves different vintage years which are handily & easily changed. I really like adding notes to wines as I enjoy them.

A minor disappointment for me is the online web application does not sync my cellar "count" even though all of my scanned wines are listed. I cannot add wines to my cellar or 'drink' them from my cellar on my PC. I have to use my iPhone to adjust cellar count, which is not too inconvenient. Maybe the app creators will address this in the near future.

On the fun/social side of the app, I like the "badges" idea - quite like that of the FourSquare app. Maybe this too will be expanded by the app creators. I could become 'Somm' (like FS's Mayor) of favorite visited wineries, etc. In fact, tracking my visited wineries might be a great addition to this already fun app.

A big Thank You to the creators!

I have always used this app to find out the ratings before I purchased wine. I found that the ratings were spot on.
So I finally decided to order wine through the app. It’s been hands down the worst online buying experience I have ever had. DO NOT BUY WINE THROUGH VIVINO!
1. They source from different distributors so when you go to check out there are multiple suppliers you would have to pay - all with different shipping fees.
2. I was promised that the wine would arrive in 2-4 days. It’s 2 weeks later and I still don’t have the wine and the “tracking system” provides NO information and not even which delivery company.
3. So I called the wine supplier directly. They said they had the wine ready to ship the day they received the order but Vivino never ordered the delivery. They said that they would make sure the wine would get out that day or the next and I should receive in 2 days - which would have been 2 days ago now.
4. I have tried to communicate with Vivino on the app. The replies I receive seem to be automated and provide no info.
5. I finally did receive notification of it being in transit, but again, no delivery date, no ability to track and no clue which shipping company.
HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE. Use the app to rate, to select wines and then order directly from the supplier and skip Vivino!

I’ve honestly never written a review for an app before, but I feel like I must with this one. My friends have spoken about the Vivino for years when they find a wine they like at a restaurant and then they want to buy it at the store. Or when they go to the store to look at the walls of wine and who knows if you are wasting your money on a bottle of wine until you get home to drink it? Vivino has fixed all of that for us. And then some.

After our third trip to Napa Valley and the wine clubs that we have joined over the years, and the wine that is accumulating in my cellar, I realized that we didn’t even know what we had anymore. Vivino has fixed all of that. I love to use that while shopping for wine right in my own cellar. I know what I have and I can take it out of my virtual cellar after we have enjoyed it. Best yet is that if I like it and I want to buy more of it, it doesn’t just disappear from my list. It is still there with all of my details so that I can purchase more to enjoy at a later date.

Thanks for Vivino.

There is one glitch in the latest release-when you add a wine to your cellar no matter what date you entered, the app reverts back to today’s date. You have to go back in and edit the entry and change the date and then it saves the second time. Something for your developers to fix please.

I have read some of the negative reviews of this app with the sense I live in some parallel universe. This app is great! What I love most is that in the past my wife and I would enjoy a wine (or not) only to forget what we enjoyed the next time we had occasion to have wine. Sometimes this would happen when we purchase retail and other times at a restaurant. Now, I no longer have to rely on pictures stored on my iPhone, or worse, my memory. I can look up the notes I have stored from past experiences and make a much more informed selection. The only drawback to this app has nothing to do with design or technology. The only drawback is the quality of information the user submits. If you are conscientious and enter good information, this app becomes a very, very powerful tool that will enhance your enjoyment of wine. Entering good data on the wines you enjoy is intuitive and efficient. The quality of the data entered with regard to personal taste and experience of your wine makes this app indispensable. The data provided by user experience enhances an already incredibly powerful app that is chock full of valuable information. For this user, the power of this app relies on a partnership of wonderful information embedded in the app combined with the diligence of the user in supplementing and personalizing the app supplied information. Great app! Thank you, Vivino!

The app itself is a great companion for wine lovers. The only issue I’ll work you about is purchasing through the application. I ordered six bottles of a 2015 Napa cab using the purchasing function in the application. You’re purchasing from a third party shop that uses the app as a method to simplify ordering, and glyph can use Apple Pay to check out. Seems convenient, right? Unfortunately what I received was another vintage of the same wine, the 2016. The profile was totally different. Contacting Vivino, they initially claimed that I selected that substitutions were permitted. Going back through the app (I invite you to do this) there is no such checkbox or option when using ApplePay. I sent them multiple screenshots of the checkout process to show there was no choice regarding “vintage substations allowed”. Vivino customer support said that the merchant had a copy of the receipt that showed substitutions were allowed and that they had to follow the merchants return policy which required i pay for shipping back and a 15% restocking fee. I mean, if your app screwed up and failed to give me the heads up about a material aspect of the purchasing process shouldn’t you have some accountability? Apparently not. So, be warned, if you buy wine, at least using Apple Pay, your vintage can be substituted without your approval and Vivino will not do anything to help you. DO NOT PURCHASE THROUGH THEM.

I downloaded this app excitedly after seeing a friend demonstrate it at a restaurant. Wow. So awesome that an app can quickly recognize wines on a menu or a wine bottle in your presence. This is really nifty and super useful. I upgraded the app to allow me to upload wines I own at home - I took the time to manually load each and every wine. This worked perfectly for a solid week. Now, every single one of the wines I loaded has the incorrect picture or incorrect description associated with it despite it being correct at one point.
So, I decided to email the app makers -
Surely they had a solution - or a refund for a defective product - or at the very least an apology ...it's now been a month, and I don't even have a response to my email telling them their product doesn't work.
I have had a range of emotions on apple applications - some good - some bad - some
great. None have utterly failed without so much as an acknowledgment. Three thumbs down.
It's cool to some degree (at first) but DO NOT UPGRADE AND DO NOT PAY THESE FOLKS.

Update:
I just heard back from customer support after several weeks. They apologized for delay and offered a solution (which involved deleting app, re-installing, and signing in again). This worked and now my images are correctly matched with names and descriptions.
I had a one star experience but this has been addressed. I'm changing rating to reflect original reaction/thoughts on app.

As someone new to appreciation and collecting of wine, I was looking for an app that provided a lot of detail on the wines that I searched/owned, as well as help me organize those that I own. The wine label search feature is the best and most intuitive around, extremely helpful, and then I appreciate all the details about the winemaker, grapes, various details about the specific wine, and reviews, tasting notes, estimated price, etc. The one feature that I wish it had was a more robust cellar management feature. As it currently is, I’m able to add bottles to my cellar, but I’d also like to specify the physical location in my cellar/fridge. For instance, to specify that a certain bottle was at Row A, Column 2, and also to be able to have a graphic of the fridge/cellar and to click through each bottle to see what is in that physical space. This would allow me to browse the cellar/fridge from the app instead of physically going to it (& thus pulling bottles out to see what they are), and also would be nice to be able to search for where a specific bottle was located, such as “Where is my 2016 Caymus located in my cellar?” This obviously isn’t an important feature for a small collection, but would be good for a larger collection. The other apps on the market that have these “cellar management” features don’t include all the other beneficial features of Vivino nor do they have as nice of interfaces/user-friendliness of Vivino.

Overall, this is a very good app. I almost always find the wine I am looking for and I find the information about the wine and the reviews very helpful. Some things that need a little help include:
(1)the search function with the “my wines” category. It often does not find a wine I have logged, but if I do a general search, the wine will come up with my review
(2) if you forget that you have already added a wine and take a picture of the bottle twice, it will create another entry for the same wine
(3) the section that says “ best drunk between” is not a suggestion for cellaring or prime times to drink. It’s for you to put in your own note. So if you don’t know, that section is useless. It would be REALKY nice if they would have a winemaker’s or distributor’s suggestion for how long the wine can be cellared or the prime drinking window
(4). Often the average price of the wine is less than what I must spend for it. I suspect that a lot of the pricing is based on internet sites where the wine can be purchased. Keep that in mind and remember that the price does not include tax and shipping!
(5) There have been a few times that there were serious mistakes in the description of a wine. In some cases, the grape(s) shown in the description were clearly not what the wine bottle said. In one case, although the wine was very obviously a white wine, the app described it as a red wine. I did make notes in the part of the app where you can enter corrections, but it seems as though the misinformation has never been corrected.

There needs to be the ability to add a wine without scanning the label. If I order a glass of wine at a restaurant, I do not have access to the wine label to scan so how am I supposed to enter the wine?

I tried scanning a few labels from wines I had and most times it came up with the completely wrong wine so I'm not sure how well the scanning function even works.

Once I was able to get a wine entered, it didn't even correctly enter it. For the vintage I chose "Unknown" but out of nowhere it entered 2008. I tried several times to change it to "Unknown" but it kept showing 2008.

Once you enter a wine, not eveything is editable. The only options were to change the wine completely or to change the year.

You are only able to choose a country for the wine but not a region. I was only able to choose "United States" but there was no option of choosing an actual state, like California, or a region within the state, such as Central Coast or Temecula Valley. This is a major drawback.

I'm not sure the point of the "Nearby" feature. I lists EVERYTHING nearby. I would think it would maybe list just restaurants or wine stores. Listing the local elementary school, gym, cleaners, and nail salon makes no sense to me whatsoever.

You can't even sort the list of wines in alphabetical order which seems to be a big oversight.

I hated to be constantly pushed to create an account as I have no interest in doing so.

Overall, I found the app to be cumbersome, non-intuitive, and not very useful. I haven't found the perfect wine app yet but this one isn't even a contender at this point. I ended up deleting the app.

I have been using Vivino for more than 6 years and love the app, so I decided to try buying wines using the app as well - Big mistake!
1.The order is NOT shipped in 48 hours as promised
2.The order cancellation process didn’t work (despite being done within the allowed timeframe): the package arrives
3.You decided to keep the wines to avoid the hassle of return but order cancellation CANNOT be suspend and you got a refund and have the wines
4.Customer service advises that in order to be charged for the wines that you received, you need to place another order with the same wines with the same seller (no, this is not a joke)
5.You’re a good guy and you do the re-order and one day after you receive an email that the order was shipped
6.You contact customer support and ask them to make sure that the second order is not shipped, since you are not leaving your home due to the pandemic
7.Customer support tells you not to worry: you will not get the delivery. Guess what: surprise! Delivery arrived!
8.Now what? Customer support sends you a label that you have to print, place in the box and call FEDEX to schedule a pickup if you don’t want to leave your home
9.Since you're an awesome guy you prepare the box and tell customer support to schedule the pick-up, cause this is the MINIMUM they could do. By the way, they did very well as in less than 24hrs the box was gone.
10.Oh, they offered a 10% discount on your next purchase! Sorry, there will be no next purchase ever. This was pathetic! I wish I had read the critical reviews posted here prior to venture on this unpleasant journey.

App Developer, please don’t waste time sending generic response directing to go to poor Vivino Customer support.

Vivino used to be magnificent. I used it while I lived in Italy and now in the US. The free shipping with the Premium Membership was great...then, starting in October , they stopped the Premium Membership, WITHOUT notice to customers. I tried to submit an order and kept on charging me for S&H. I looked all over the website, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Search- nothing was found. I sent them a message via Twitter and they said that the free S&H didn’t fit their business model anymore. Although I somewhat agree with them, still no customer notification. I still believe that they should continue the membership and maybe look into another membership price or look at those customers that are constantly buying wine and offer them a different membership- like an “elite or something like that” membership. Also, customers that reach and “x” amount of bottles/orders in “x” amount of time, allow them to opt in for this “higher” membership.

Back to the issues. I was told that there would be free S&H on 6-bottles or more- again, reasonable. Today, I open the Vivino app and guess what? Another change on S&H without notification. Now, you have to spend $99 or more for free S&H- again, 6-bottles will probably run you about that amount so I have no issues. The BIG ISSUE is the failure to communicate with customers. Customers that are aware of changes are customers that will probably stay away from writing negative reviews.

Although this issue is highly upsetting, so far, customer service has been EXTREMELY good and willing to help in the few occasions that I have needed help (Kim is a SUPER STAR!).

I will not be buying from Vivino as often now until I see good promos. This overall experience drove me to try other wine clubs and be able to intelligently compare if Vivino is really worth it. Most of my 350+ wine cellar has been from Vivino and now, a good customer will be splitting and taking business to another merchant/club.

Vivino screwed up my order for 12 bottlers of wine only received 6 - called customer service and talked to STUPID AHMED returned 6 bottles authorized be STUPID AHMED - canceled order - the following week 6 bottles of wine showed up out of nowhere. STUPID AHMED - took 3 5 to 10 business days to get refund. The more prom can’t do math and gave me a credit $20.00 less than I was owed. Is AHMED STUPID or is he just messing with me. You be the judge - [censored], [censored], OR JUST STUPID.

Ahmed in customer service is the best example of someone that should not be in customer service.

I have been waiting for 6 bottles of wine returned and approved through Ahmed.

The credit should be $146 dollars but for reason Ahmed thinks it should be $126.

I received a 10% off promotion then paid tax Ahmed thinks for some unknown reason I received a 15% discount. Then there should be refunded sales tax. I sent him copies of the original order. Too stupid to calculate correct amount. Too stupid to communicate - to stupid to get refund.

Ordered 6 Bottles of Scouts Honor - the site suggested make it a mixed case to add 6 bottles of Earthquake Zin. Ordered.

I received 6 Earthquake Zin - NO Scouts Honor. Called Vivino they were going to check into where the missing wine was after 2 days they informed me that they had not been able to contact the merchant by telephone or email. Vivino gave me the option to return wine and cancel order. Sent me a return label, sent back copy of return paperwork. 4 days later without notice the 6 bottles of Scouts Honor show up.

Now the never ending fight to get a credit for the wine returned - 2 times you will be refunded in. 5-10 days. Finally received a credit $20 less than I paid.

It’s really like working with idiots. Vivino or the merchant had a problem with the order. Returned it per Vivino prompt. I have been waiting for credit for over three weeks then they cheat me out of $20 on return. Their overseas call center has no authority to resolve problems. I was offered 100$ off my next order which is 10% discount - online they offer 15%. This is a never ending mess and there is no one available in customer service to contact me.

I have never experienced a more [censored]ed up customer service experience.

Ordered 6 bottles of wine Vivino suggested to make it a case so ordered 6 additional bottles of a different wine. Different wine shows up the original wine is nowhere. Called Vivino and after 2 days tell me the merchant will not respond - gave me the option to cancel order and return 6 additional bottles. Took that option. Cancel and return. Out of nowhere the original 6 bottles show up. I have spent 3 weeks trying to get a credit for 6 bottles approved and returned. It’s like working with a bunch of idiots. Wait 5/10 business then wait an additional 5 business days - it’s now on day 6 of the additional 5 days.

There is no option to resolve this than customer service which appears to be an overseas call center that will not give you access to person in charge to get problem resolved

They have not resolved my order problem. After doing as they requested and returned order have not received a refund. Can’t talk to a customer service manager. customer service employees have no authority to take care of problems.

The customer service department is a joke

Just try to find any other person or phone number at Vivino - I tried to call corporate number and Denmark no answer.

I am stuck which Ahmed to solve my credit (sorry Mr Gary) assuming this is an offshore call center. Offered 100$ off next order which in American is 10% off next order. The saga continues.

Wrong wine was supplied by the merchant via Vivino order. Vivino’s representative promised to contact the merchant last week and come with resolution on the case. The support person disappeared and my further e-mails remained unanswered. Live agent chat cannot be created either as there are no live agents available. Attached the photos of the wine sent vs the wine ordered (invoice). Valpolicella vs Valpolicella superiore.

Have been actively comparing wines for a few months promoted by Vivino, looking to try new wines. Had to focus on regions that I had enjoyed in the past, since we can’t taste them before purchase (not available from local stores.) I had one shipment delivered relatively promptly, paid more for ice packs since we had hot weather. Splurged on a large second order (addl discount offered), but their claim of temperature controlled shipment is exaggerated. They are holding my wine (2 weeks) because it is too hot, but did not communicate with me about the delay. Enjoy the app, you might not get the wine for a while if weather stays over 80, even paying extra for ice packs.
Amended to 2 stars - three days after complaining with Vivino rep via chat, the wine was delivered (and ice packs did their job over 3 hot days.)

Forced registration was not required when bought the app, but since an update it wants my email address so now my information is part of the price. I’m not interested in a social networking app or getting added to a marketing list. Check out Corkz or any other app that doesn’t demand your personal info.

What a joke somebody else with the same complaint was asked to contact them by email to discuss issue. Obviously they missed the point.

Later I see reviews saying you get spammed and can’t “unsubscribe”. App should be completely free with that sort of monetization. I’m deleting this useless piece of junk. What a waste of money it was.

Update 11/06: The second time I’m going delete this deplorable personal data harvester that is reported to spam you despite efforts to opt out. I predict a canned response asking me to send an e-mail or or gambit to get my personal information. Still they don’t get it.

After approximately 1 year of use and 2 bad experiences, I stopped using Vivino and deleted the app. There is a persistent problem with how ratings are manipulated to inflate scores of wines in an apparent effort to push sales of specific wines. Another negative experience involved Vivino replacing a wine that was ordered with a less expensive and lesser rated. They never made an effort to communicate about the substitution and to make matters worse they never adjusted the bill or what was charged - they essentially took the position that the substituted wine had to be accepted despite it being lower quality and worth 15% less than what was charged for the wine that was ordered. They offered a 10% promo code for a future purchase as the only compensation or adjustment. There are multiple other and better options to buy wine on the web. Try LastBottle.com, WineSpies.com, WTSO.com, FirstBottle.com, Invino.com, B-21.com and wine-searcher.com among many others. Last Bottle and WTSO have very convenient apps too.

Requires login and thus one star!
No star if it was possible!
I used this app on and off for a long time, especially when travelling and I liked it. After I updated the app requires login which means it is collecting personal information and sending users trash mail. I would rather pay a one time fee of few dollars but as I understand, the developer is getting paid already by people buying wine through the app. Thus no login should be required.

Update after response from the developer:
The developer responded with a standard reply from them which can be seen to many other reviews. They request I either contact them via their web (so they can get my email ) or via the app which I am unable to do because I must log in to use the app. That is just not happening. I am just saying they need to roll back time and stop requiring users to log in. I don’t need to send an email for that.
This shows me, no one even read the review I gave, they just responded to the one star. This happens when developers become too large and loose sight of their mission which in my mind, should be to serve the users.