02071275255

can also somebody please check out their website as I am not sure if its my computer but their website only shows homepage now, if you click on any links it comes up with 404 error not found and redirects me to a page like google? is this my computer or is something wrong with the website? also not answering their phone on a sat morning which I would have thought to be a premium selling time? is that normal procedure?

Thanks

I have just posed the above question to jim budd who has informed me that the website is now for sale, and has updated his "companies he wouldn't buy from" to include Kenneth gundlach's new company Bordeaux merchants ltd, so what happens next?

Yes thought this might happen I informed Jim of new company Ken had formed. I thought he was getting ready to jump with all the new companies he has formed, and using new accountants
Have you contacted Action Fraud as your Fathers statements will come in handy.

Hi anon, thanks for your reply, really don't know what to do with myself, I am going to file a complaint on behalf of my father today but by the looks of things not sure what good its going to do, if the bfw website is being redesigned could that be why its not working properly? I suppose I am just trying to look at every angle as I really don't want this to be happening, as when I looked at klinical web design company who bfw's website is with, it states that they have been commissioned to redesign there site, but doesn't give a date for when this was?

thanks

It was redesigned a few weeks ago, may be updating but I would trust Jim's comments.
I would also contact the bonded warehouse to check the wine exists.

website is all back up and running again now, think it must have just updated.

Just read the article in the Mirror newspaper and I dont like what I've seen - Am getting out

let us know how you get on mike, if possible,

Yes Elaine it's up and running... But modified quite drastically.. Try and find the word investment on the new website! Due to its previously illegal trading methods Ken has rebranded as a merchant... Now how can a merchant be a brokerage at the same time?!?? Or was it never really a brokerage or a merchant.. Just the biggest SPANK going.

Fancy Mayfair Address gone as well , I think he does read the Mirror.

Please excuse me for sounding a bit stupid, but can you explain to me the difference between a broker and merchant? as I said I really don't know anything about wine investment, the only reason I have been following this is because of my fathers investment, and I did notice a lot of changes on the website which I thought if people read the daily mirror article not a lot of it relates now as most of it has been changed, apart from the accounts bit and peoples comments.

A brokerage deals with investments... A merchant buys and sells wine to consumers and events. Now Ken is pretending that they have never sold wine as an investment to investors merely wine as a food stuff to consumers. He has done this as what he was doing previously was illegal... Now when u bought the wine was it as an investment and sold as so or just for consumption?!
One month Ken paid a Closer called Alex £170,000 in commission off of roughly £500,000 of investment so you have to question the wines value a little??
get your wine out NOW if it exists or kiss goodbye to your money... He will be shutting BFW and replacing with a merchants shortly... If you research Bordeaux UK u will understand why you need to be hasty about it.

Thank you for explaining that to me much appreciated, yes it was definitely sold as an investment, I will have a read now on Bordeaux uk and hopefully get a better understanding of this,
I really do appreciate all your help on this and have filed a complaint with action fraud on Saturday, I am also going up to my fathers today and am once again going to try and show him everything and make him understand, that if he doesn't listen he may lose all his money, he did have a letter a couple of weeks ago from them stating that his account his now going to be managed by somebody else but they didn't give a name on the letter of who would be handling it, I don't know if this means anything or not.

Has he had certificates of ownership, balance confirmation, AND confirmation of an account with the bonded facility the wine is stored in?
If he is missing these you must move very quickly.
By saying someone else is looking after his account implies a Closer has been sacked or left the company  and another one has taken over his clients for loading purposes (ie getting more money out of them).
Has fraud been committed though? Did they send you Portfolio reports?

He has had invoices stating which wine he purchased, he has one of these for each purchase, but I don't think they are certificates of ownership, he gets a statement every 3 months and I was suspicious of these as they state which wine he has purchased, and how much for and what they are worth now and then a total at the bottom of the page, and it states how many cases, but now how many in a case, and throughout his 2 year investment he has been adamant that these were cases of 6, so I asked him to call to confirm and he had the phone on speaker, the man at bfw stuttered and stumbled said he didn't know how many in a case, then quickly said they must be 12's as there are no half cases on his account, I also made him ask about his account at LCB and why he hasn't received an account number and confirmation and he was told it was because his wine is stored in an umbrella account, so he doesn't have his own details, the details are very vague on his statement, it is literally and A5 sized card printed with the above information, don't think he's had portfolio reports just the statement every 3 months, unless that is the report? again what made me suspicious is how much on his statement it says his wine his worth, as when I checked on wine searcher his whole portfolio if cases of 12 comes to 15000 less than what he paid, and if it is cases of 6 or no wine at all it is obviously a lot worse.

The wine isn't his. Research Bordeaux UK and show him in hard evidence what Umbrella accounts really mean in terms of ownership.
The reports you speak of could be evidence of fraudulent activity.

Can you clarify that an Umbrella account is the same as per  Bfw Terms 7.1, You approve Bfw to act as agents for the purpose of retaining storage of the product.

Also re investment purposes Bfw Terms 9.1a,The suitability of the product for investment. You agree to choose in your sole discretion to treat the product as an investment etc.

It looks like the statements and any invoices of wine sold on your behalf could be the only evidence through a fraud claim.

How can I clarify that?? That is open to interpretation.
I know if I was sold something as an investment and promised 100% ownership of an asset, that is what I would then expect..
Can I ask what is the benefit to the client of BFW holding the wine in their umbrella account?

If BFW is a merchant why on earth are they handing out the Ts and Cs of a brokerage then?
They deal with wholesale alcohol supply supposedly so why is investment even mentioned?
Also this is the only "merchant" I've ever heard of selling wine in an umbrella account to consumers? Makes no sense. There is something funny going on here.

But the terms state the wine is not offered for investment that's the purchases choice
There's a post on moneysavingexpert forum of someone given hampers at xmas and offers of weekends in London, is that common practice for Bfw ?