I feel a need to vent. I mostly collect pre-19th century coins, and VCoins has been my go-to destination for a while now. My experiences there have been overwhelmingly positive, but I had a particularly unpleasant one today. On Sunday, I placed an order for a coin from the Samanid Empire with a dealer here in NYC named Dmitry Markov. As I was ordering, there was a glitch on my end and I had to go through and reorder etc. I received a confirmation from PayPal, but by EOD Monday had not received any notification that my order had been shipped. Concerned that there may have been some technical issue, I wrote an email to him this morning asking if it had been shipped and followed up later in the day. I did not initially tell him about the technical issues, but did later on in the exchange. If it had been simply because he had not shipped it, that would have been fine, but I just wanted to be sure. He responded complaining that I had written him two emails, which was “too many,” and was being “pushy,” adding “It is not working like that in a coin world” [sic]. He then canceled my order. I was frankly surprised to receive this kind of treatment from someone, much less as a paying customer. Moreover, as a journalist I receive about 200 emails every day, including from PR people who often follow-up not only by email but by phone. So to have a guy belly-ache about receiving two emails - as if a simple “I received your order but haven’t shipped it yet” response constitutes some form of manual labor - was bizarre. There are a million other ways he could have handled the situation instead of being so needlessly rude, spiteful and frankly unprofessional. I treated customers better than that when I waited tables for pocket money in college. Anyway, I doubt it’ll affect his bottom line, but that’s absolutely not a vendor I’ll be buying from again.
Frustrating to say the least. I am a dealer. I know of a few dealers in particular like that: Very short. Can't be bothered. No time. Question your motives for inquiries. Yell at their employees in front of customers, etc. Plus, some in the coin business just don't have good communication skills, for whatever reason. Maybe they're too stressed out trying to make ends meet, or they're in debt up to their eyeballs. Of course, it could be that he just had a bad day, and took it out on you. It shouldn't happen, but it clearly did happen. Sorry you had a bad experience. I was trying to sell to a major dealer once and I stuttered badly with my words. He declined to buy my coin and as I walked away I heard him mock me to his helper. I could have turned around and said something, but I just filed it away in my brain and moved on. At the last show, he came up to my table to purchase some coins. I had a decision to make: 1. Remind him of his rudeness (which he likely had no recollection of) and refuse to do business with him. Or 2. Make a deal happen and try to be a good example. I chose option 2. Grudges only punish the person holding it. As I get older, I've been trying to let go of old grudges. It's hard work and I'm not there yet, by any stretch of the imagination, but I hope to get there as life ebbs on.
You make a lot of good points, and I had considered that maybe he was just having a bad day. It’s not a huge deal to me - I’ve seen my fair share of newsroom drama and have a pretty thick skin. But it was definitely surprising, given that every other dealer I’ve purchased from has been prompt and helpful (though your experience with that other guy sounds worse - making fun of someone for having a stutter is just low in my opinion).
If that is typical business etiquette for that man I dare say he won’t be in business long. I would have to think that something tripped that fellows trigger and your correspondence happened to hit at that moment. Regardless, that is an unacceptable way to transact business. It wouldn’t surprise me if you found a deep apology in your email tomorrow.
Keeping Kool....... Reminds me of, something back in my youth, an exchange between two car drivers heading down a one lane alley from opposite directions. "I never back up for an idiot", said the one. "I always do", said the other while shifting into reverse.
Odd I've dealt with Dmitry before and not had any problems with him, but I must admit I've only delt with him by mail or in person not by email.
In this hobby it's not unusual to encounter introverted types who are somewhat lacking in people skills. That's not to excuse bad behavior, but rather to suggest we shouldn't be shocked when it happens. Best to just shrug it off and move on. There are plenty of quality dealers out there who are easy to work with.
I collect comics too, and I made an offer to one dealer. He said he'd rather burn the comic. I never bought from him and have no idea if he's still in business or not. All aspects of life have different people. That's why Baskin Robbins has 33 flavors. While I like CBD's response, and am reminded of a friends refrain, "you can ride the wheel or you can be crushed by the wheel", I would never deal with that schmuck again. There are too many other dealers out there that would be happy to have your business. After all, this is a want, not a need.
