£10,200 for a case of Bordeaux? Now that would be a good year
I.T. writes: I invested more than £12,000 with Dow and Jones Limited in wine which appears to have been overvalued. In 2015, it persuaded me to buy a case of Chateau d’Yquem 1999 at a cost of £1,995, and in 2016 I was pressured to purchase a nine-bottle case called the Bordeaux Duclot Collection for £10,200. I have since had the first investment valued at £950, but Dow and Jones says it has increased in value by 15 per cent. However, when I asked it to sell it, it declined. LET me start by stating the obvious, which is that Dow and Jones Limited is a tiny sales operation registered to an address in Sidcup, Kent. It is not even distantly related to the rather better known Dow Jones Index, which measures the performance of American stocks and shares.
There is nothing to stop any wine merchant from charging high prices. But Dow and Jones sells wine as an investment, with the prospect of a profit for its customers – and you could wait a long time for your Duclot Collection simply to break even.
I am no wine expert but it took me only a few minutes to find the same nine bottles on sale for just over £5,500. At a stretch, you might see someone charging up to about £7,000. But £10,200? No.
According to Companies House, the boss of Dow and Jones is 28-year-old Anthony Collins. I invited him to comment and I asked where he gained his experience of dealing in wine. He offered no comment and no answers, but you received a phone call saying the firm had consulted its lawyers. Whatever legal advice was offered, I can only say Collins has not passed it on to me.
But here is a funny thing. The title of the Dow and Jones website actually shows up as D&J Vintners. At the same Sidcup address as Dow and Jones, there is a separate wine company called DJVintners Limited. The man behind this is Gerry Anyiam, 29, and he is in my files already. In 2011, Anyiam was part of a gang convicted of defrauding the National Health Service by submitting false invoices which were approved by a friend in a hospital finance department. He was sentenced to 40 weeks in jail, suspended for two years.
I made clear to Anthony Collins that I knew of his links to Anyiam, but again, he offered no comment.
Perhaps Collins has other things on his mind. Dow and Jones was due last month to file details of who really controls it, but according to Companies House it failed to do so. Unless it corrects this quickly, the company may be struck off. I would drink to that.