Experience with Roma Numismatics?

I haven’t had any issue with them, but sometimes I noticed coins with a doubtful provenance (probably hoards not reported) so I started to avoid them.
In addition years ago in Roma Numismatics Limited, e-auction 36 lots 905 and 907 of may27.2017 has been found two venetian gold fakes, on acsearch were reported as comment IBSCC - ID 2220 case Who certified the fake, well, they deleted the comment and appeared:
“Comments disabled by auction company”

 

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Tooled coins should clearly be described as tooled by all ethical dealers. PERIOD! It is not enough to rely on the bidder's observation of a photo or a subtle implication in the description.

 

We take the issue of fakes in this industry very seriously, as we do the issue of disclosure where coins have been deliberately modified (tooled, smoothed etc). We always note such when identified. It is also why we will always try to help customers where coins have been tooled but not noticed as such when sold. In response to the above: fakes that for some reason make it through to auction are always withdrawn when identified, and unlike some firms that provide a time-limited guarantee, our guarantee has no expiry. Moreover, in fact, comments are disabled across ALL of our archived coins in ACSearch.info in order to prevent spurious or misleading comments being left by anybody that chooses to do so, but perhaps we should not let the truth get in the way of a good story...

I have no desire to start arguments, and so have deliberately ignored several posts in this thread that I consider unintentionally misleading, but which could be interpreted as portraying our company in a less than favourable light, and implying that we have a cavalier attitude to our work and clients. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have been working until 10pm most days this and last to make up for the problems we identified in our new database software, ensuring that orders were sent out to customers, while simultaneously cataloguing our next E-Sale, and our forthcoming Auction XVII. The subject of understaffing is subjective - had we had not had IT issues everything would have run very smoothly, and given that the bugs in the new system have been steadily tackled one by one over the past few weeks we are expecting a problem free invoicing round and a return to our usual swift and effective dispatch service. By March we will moreover have doubled our staff since that time two years ago, and we are a highly efficient team as our loyal friends and customers know; the extra staffing will allow us to do some very exciting things this year that will be of considerable benefit to both buyers and sellers.

It is certainly not for a cavalier attitude that we have just been entrusted with the sale of the important and prestigious Lanz Collection of Gold and Silver Coins of the Celts in Central and Eastern Europe, published by the Staatliche Münzsammlung München, and exhibited at the 1997 International Numismatic Congress in Berlin, which we are preparing for sale at the present time.

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These are just two of the coins in the tray I am currently working on. This extraordinary collection will bring back many coins to the market that have not been seen in commerce in decades. I, personally, am very excited about the next few months and I look forward to sharing some of it with you.

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I am digitalizing all my invoices as all the paper invoices are not working for me anymore, it's getting too inconvenient for me. So I tried to login the Roma numismatics website to download the invoice. When I filled in my details to login, I could not login, I wanted to reset my password, I get this message:



After everything that happened, they again make it worse and worse and damage their own name and reputation even more.

In their last e-mail sent to me, the customer representative wrote: "Thank you very much for participating in our E-Sale 52, and, as before, I’m very sorry that much of this process has been mired with delays and miscommunications. I, along with my colleagues here at Roma, will do our utmost to make sure this never happens again, and I really do hope that you’ll be joining us again soon for a future auction."

And now after this e-mail, they block my account and prohibit me from accessing my own invoice.

Honestly nothing that Richard said in his previous messages I believe anymore, it's all a sales pitch. I will look forward to his next response where he will claim this was an accident or some bug in their server.

This again proofs us that he did not learn from his lesson and that it is and stays a unprofessional business. Almost half of the messages written on this thread are complains or unsatisfactions about this company. What I want to say with this message is, there are tons of better auction houses, no point wasting your time and money on this one.

 

Pavlos' account was blocked for reasons I have communicated to him privately. We have the ultimate right to decline bids from customers who are abusive, threatening, dishonest, delinquent, or disruptive. I will not state which are applicable here unless necessary.

 

I will state what is applicable and that is that I am "dishonest and misleading" according to your e-mail, a great insult and accusation. I am dishonest and misleading in what way? I can proof with all the e-mails how you have treated a customer, it was far from polite and professional. Your apologies are misleading and dishonest words. Please see how many have complained about your company, which you are unable to see. I also do not want to start on how you have broken privacy laws as well. Anyway, good luck!

 

I think some in this thread are overly sensitive and need to grow a thicker skin.

 

I've bought quite a bit from Roma with no complaints. I think it's partly a matter of perspective. As customers we're paying quite a lot of money and expect commensurate service. But coin auctioneers have to deal with high volumes and often low value per-lot. There are lots of sub-£100 or sub-£50 lots for every Athenian decadrachm. They just can't afford to treat us all like royalty. And some fakes will slip through the net and get withdrawn later. In my experience they have good sales, good cataloguing and good service.

 

Being polite and professional is the foundation of every company, that's not being treated like royalty, but being treated like a customer, without the customer the company wouldn't even exist. In my opinion nothing to do with the price of their items as well, does that mean it is more acceptable for an employee at a pound shop to treat a customer with disrespect than a car dealer? There need to be a basic foundation somewhere in every company.

 

Not to be rude, but it seems like you have had more than enough opportunity to vent your grievance sir. Roma has responded, (which is rare for a firm like that to do so), and everyone can take in the information for themselves. Like @GDJMSP said, I don't think much more needs to be said at this point.

 

You are right, this discussion about Roma was very much done for a long time already. I just wanted to respond to the comment of Nerva, regardless if it was about Roma or some other company, my response would have been the same.

 

Looking at the emails posted, Roma was more than polite with you. Maybe they used some poor word choices that rubbed you the wrong way, but there was nothing which I would consider rude (or intentionally rude).

Also, when I am a recipient of what I think is “underperforming” service, I try to be understanding with their situation. In this case, Roma just overhauled their auction system for the benefit of their customers, and bugs had to be worked out. Due to their staff size, while adequate for normal operations, they were overwhelmed with the new problems introduced. That represents an extenuating circumstance that requires patience to deal with.

If you buy a coin from me on eBay during a week in which I have 4 tests and 2 projects due, then please be patient with me if I take a couple/few days to get your coin in the mail or don’t respond to messages immediately. Those are extenuating circumstances. Any other week the response would be timely and the coin would be shipped the next day.

 

The big problems as I said, is that after 6 days I still did not get a response regarding an important question about payment. I then e-mailed them again that I find that not normal, and then I receive inappropriate sentences like: "I am sorry that you feel you have not received the attention you deserve". But this is my problem according to Richard, because I "declined to wait". These kind of things I find not normal.

On the end I agree with Clavdivs, if he apologized accordingly, explained the circumstances and offered a solution. Then that is it, problem solved, but rather it escalated as it almost seems the blame was on someone else. To be honest, I think Richard took this thread as an "attack" on his company, I am expressing my opinion and dissatisfaction about the situation, I am glad we live in the 21th century and we are allowed to do that, it was up to Roma to do something with it or not. But calling me afterwards dishonest and misleading is disrespectful. As a owner of a professional company you should not say these things, even if you think them in your head.

Regarding you selling your coins at eBay, these are private listings. Roma works 5 days a week full time as a professional business, their project is the company, responsibilities are attached to that. And if, circumstances lead to a change in response time or shipment time, then I think it is appropriate to let the customer know (also to avoid escalations like this) and that's it, problems solved.

Anyway, lets keep it here and stop the discussion, it's not necessary anymore and if there is still something i'll talk with Richard privately.

 

To be honest, I took this thread as an attack on Richard's company. How else should someone interpret a customer service complaint broadcast on a public forum?

 

It's happening with all companies, thousands at the time, any day, everyday, broadcast in the form of public reviews, mine is not much different. A positive one doesn't have to be a praise, a negative one doesn't have to be an attack.

 

Pavlos, I am not sure if there is a language, understanding or a personality barrier but you keep repeating yourself as if you aren’t being heard. An explanation was given. You are not owed or entitled to further correspondence nor do I think it would be useful. To be clear you are not reviewing anything, you are clearly attacking and simply complaining. I’d suggest taking a break and re read the thread with a new pair of glasses so to speak

 

Yes I complained, I definitely complained, and the point of this thread is to share my story and if anyone other on this forum also had negative experience. Look on a website like trustpilot on the people with 1/5, 2/5 and 3/5 star reviews, it are all complains. But a complain is not an attack, and my thread is not and my intention was never to let it be an attack, it was to show my dissatisfaction. I have seen other threads on this forum as well about people who show dissatisfaction about other auction houses, maybe to warn other members? I have seen tons of times people saying that Lanz sells tooled coins, and here I am sharing my experience about Roma. Everyone can interpret it on their own, so yes no point continuing this thread and if the moderator wants he can close it. That Roma responded is great but I expected more profession and less blaming, maybe that is why I have repeated myself too many times. And maybe I got attacking when Richard shared my personal details on a public forum.