Last week, I picked up 24 bottles of red wine worth a total of ~$940 from the LCBO — for free.

I am not joking. Here's what happened

Okay, so I'm in this Facebook group where people post new releases and clearance at the LCBO.

It's a group I check often because sometimes you can find some delicious whiskies at clearance prices (typically 20–30% off).

Anywho, I log in to see if anyone posted any whisky on clearance in Toronto last month to come across a post about a guy asking about this bottle of Mondavi wine listed at $0.

I mean, it's LCBO. How can something be listed for $0?

Like others in the group, I'm thinking this is likely a bug and you probably won't be able to check out. Plus, you can't just buy one bottle. It comes in a box of 6 so that's the minimum you can order.

Curious to see where this goes, I bump up to 4 boxes and add it to my cart.

Of course, as I get to the cart, I can't check out: LCBO has a $50 minimum order requirement.

What do you do when you want to buy free wine but have to meet a minimum requirement? You add a bottle of whisky that you don't already have (that's the other box).

It worked! I think.

Once my payment went through, I was thinking I'll get an email confirmation and they're just going to remove the wine and ship me the bottle of whisky.

Not too long after, I get this confirmation in my email.

WHAT!?!

I'm panicking. I'm excited. I'm suspicious AF.

There is no way LCBO is just going to let me have 24 bottles of wine that's worth almost $1,000. No way!

I tell a few other friends to try it. Give them the full breakdown of how it works.

And nothing. It wouldn't work for them!

Confused by what happened, I write the whole thing off as a bug and go about my day.

Sometime later, I realized I haven't heard from LCBO about my delivery. I checked my confirmation email and realized it had been well over their suggested 10-day timeline.

So I call the store.

The store doesn't have my order.

Tells me I should wait another week before calling their support team.

In the back of my head, I'm like "yeah... they're not about to give me free bottles of wine."

So I thank the person and forget about it.

Side note: I didn't know if our concierge would accept multiple cases of wine so I decided to have my order shipped to the store for pick-up.

I mean, it's risky, but remember: I didn't think this would go as far as it did!

Anywho, I'm working and see this email from LCBO come through. I take a look at it's the "Your LCBO order is ready for pick up" email.

I check and realized the wine bottles are STILL in the order. I'm thinking to myself: "No way they shipped free bottles of wines. No way!"

I'm all excited and head over to the LCBO. I walk in and try to act "normal" because this can go either way.

I walk up to the rep and ask them where I should go to pick-up my delivery. They ask for my name and then disappear.

I start to panic. I mean, where did you go, rep?

After a few minutes of what felt like hours, the rep finally comes back with a small box which I figured was the whisky.

I started feeling discouraged when they said, "hold on, I need to get someone to help me lift the boxes."

WHATTT!? I *did* get those bottles of wine!? WHAT?!

So the other rep finally comes to the front with a cart full of wine and I've got the biggest smile on my face.

The rep checks my ID and asks me to sign the shipment paper to confirm the delivery.

I'm just like, "yep! looks good."

Just as I get outside, I noticed something...

The boxes of wines I received are not Mondavi. It's some brand I have never heard of.

Based on the name outside of the box, I try to look it up and came across a listing on Vivino for $12 or something.

I'm standing in the parking lot wondering: do I go back in?

I went back in.

As soon as I got to the counter, I immediately had a sense of regret come on. And, for good reason.

The rep noticed that the wines were priced at $0 and now has called her manager and they will not let me leave the store because I received the wrong wine.

I repeat it's because I received the "wrong wine." Not because I paid nothing for 24 bottles of wine!

The rep brings out the scanner and scans the bottle. Guess what? It has the same LCBO # and each bottle costs $39.20.

I'm standing there regretting my decision to walk back in.

The manager tells me "don't worry! We'll look into this and get you the wines you ordered."

I'm not having it! I ask the manager how they can assure me that I _will_ get my bottles.

Manager: well because I said so!
Me: yeah, that doesn't work for me
Manager: what?
Me: hmm?

Finally, the manager tells me that things are out of their control because it was the "ecommerce" team that shipped the order and I need to call them about the next steps.

Wait, there's a number we can call?

I ask the manager to call the number and let's get this sorted.

The manager calls the number and in their most polite voice explains the situation at hand.

I'm trying my best to listen to not just what the manager is saying, but what the person on the OTHER end of the phone is saying.

Let me tell you something: LCBO stores can be loud.

As the manager is talking, I start coming up with things to say to sway things back in my favour.

In my most casual voice, I propose "tell'em: I'll just keep these bottles. It's all good!"

It's all good? MF you received almost a $1,000 of worth of wine. You think they're good?