HELENA — Martin’s Wines was a fixture on Helena’s walking mall for years, but recently, it abruptly closed. While the storefront is empty and for lease signs are posted in the windows, some customers say they are still being charged by the business and have questions about outstanding credits.
“The only way to fix it is to either give us our credits back in cash or open a store somewhere so we can use our credits,” Toni Wollan said.
(WATCH: Frustrations mount after sudden closure of Helena wine store)
Wollan and her husband were customers of Martin’s Wines, and they have been members of the wine club since they moved the Helena 10 years ago.
“It’s the first thing we signed up for when we moved to Helena,” Wollan said.
Each month, members like Wollan get charged $25 to use on wine. Wollan said she saves up those credits to use around the holidays.
“We probably have $400 as a credit that we may never see again,” Wollan said.
Wollan first noticed the Martin’s Wines storefront was closed in August. She searched for any kind of communication about the closure—looked through her email inbox, her spam folder, on Facebook, she saw nothing.
Then, Wollan noticed her card was charged for the wine club on Sept. 1. She said her card was also charged in October, November and December. Wollan said she called and emailed the owner of Martin’s Wines, Steve Aagenes, but received no response.
Wollan is not alone, I spoke with multiple people who did not want to go on camera, but relayed similar stories of continuing wine club charges after the storefront closed, hundreds of dollars in outstanding credits and no response from the owner.
MTN also called Aagenes at multiple numbers and emailed him, with no response.
So, what can people do in this kind of situation? One option is to get in touch with the Office of Consumer Protection, a division of the Montana Department of Transportation that deals with unfair and deceptive business practices and scams.
When MTN spoke with the Office of Consumer Protection, they had only received one complaint about Martin’s Wines.
“One report is just a report or a complaint. Two reports, that begins to build a pattern” Office of Consumer Protection supervising attorney Andrew Butler said. “Once we see patterns, there are a lot of things we can do with that.”
Generally, the Office of Consumer Protection can investigate a business, put a stop to any deceptive practices they find so more people are not impacted, and in some cases, get people’s money back.
“I would highly encourage anyone to reach out to my office,” Butler said. “I have investigators that are available during business hours to talk, and we’d be happy to hear what you have to say.”
For now, people like Wollan are left waiting for some kind of conclusion.
“It’s very frustrating when you’re being charged for a service that is no longer being provided,” Wollan said.
