Wine company behind 'stressful' nuisance calls collapses owing almost $1m
A wine subscription company that spammed customers with “stressful and frustrating” nuisance phone calls and texts has gone into liquidation owing close to $1m.
A wine subscription company that spammed customers with “stressful and frustrating” nuisance phone calls and texts has gone into liquidation owing close to $1m.
The Wine Concierge, which has also traded as Call Centre Solutions, The Wine Group and Oak Road Estate Wines, collapsed last week after a failed attempt to restructure the business.
Documents lodged by the administrator reveal more than $815,000 was owed to the ATO, as well as $41,387 to Australian Liquor Marketers, $16,388 to Australia Post and thousands more to suppliers and others.
The company has been directed by Mekiyas Ayalew, 32, since October last year, but its shares are ultimately held by Nicole Alexis Fracchia, Ezra James McInnes and his wife Rebecca McInnes.
Mr McInnes, who also goes by Ezra James, was the face and voice of the company, featuring in prerecorded sales pitches sent to infuriated Australians.
Multiple people took to social media to complain about the company’s previous telemarketing practices.
One complained they had received “hundreds of calls” and had blocked over 50 related numbers, but “every day they just call from another number”.
“I haven’t answered in months – they just call and call and call,” they wrote.
“Often multiple times a day and I just block every number – nothing works.”
Another commenter said they “made the mistake of buying a case of wine from these Muppets a few years ago and they haven’t stopped calling since.”
The company, at the time trading as The Wine Group, was fined $204,240 in 2022, after the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found it breached multiple spam and telemarketing laws.
However ACMA told News Corp today it received further complaints about the company after it paid the infringement notice and it commenced an enforceable undertaking.
“Beyond this, the ACMA does not generally comment or speculate publicly on compliance matters that may be in train,” a spokesman for the agency said.
In 2022, ACMA found the company, which also operated under the names Oak Road Estate and Top Drop, sent unsolicited text messages to consumers who tried to unsubscribe.
It also made telemarketing calls to the numbers on the Do Not Call Register, after the consumers withdrew their consent to receive those calls and it failed to terminate telemarketing calls when requested.
ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said people had complained the unwanted marketing caused “significant stress and frustration”.
ACMA investigated more than 1.5 million texts and 42,000 calls made by the company, but found insufficient evidence most of them were unsolicited.
To avoid liquidation, the company agreed to pay $210,000 towards its $950,000 declared debts in monthly instalments over two years.
Restructuring practitioners can only be appointed to companies whose directors decide are insolvent, or likely to become insolvent at a future time. The move is only allowed for companies with debts under $1 million.
Creditors would have received around 20c for every dollar they were owed under the plan, however the company stopped paying instalments last month and a liquidator was appointed on Friday.
The company has been contacted for comment.
ACMA has encouraged anyone who receives calls from The Wine Concierge which they believe to breach telemarketing laws to report the matter online through the government’s Do Not Call Register website or by calling 1300 792 958.
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Originally published as Wine company behind 'stressful' nuisance calls collapses owing almost $1m
