Experience with Roma Numismatics?

Something like 300 emails to action per day, but this isn't really the point. Answering emails is a very very small part of what we do on a daily basis, not because it's unimportant, but because running a functional auction house is a huge amount of hard work at the best of times. When you throw software problems into the mix it gets harder still. There will no doubt be those out there thinking "well why didn't you wait until it was 100% functional before launching". A fair question, if anyone is wondering. The simple answer is that the-saleroom.com, who we were lately using for our auctions, decided to increase their fee from 3% to 5% with 1 month's notice. We absorbed the-saleroom's fee for 4 months (3 months at 3%, one month at 5%), not passing it on to customers. Ultimately I had to make a decision on whether to launch the new platform as it stood, or to pass on the 5% cost to buyers. I stand by my decision.

I also stand by Alex's responses to you, which fully complied with the highest standards of politeness and helpfulness I expect of company staff, which I copy below:

Jan 10, 2019, 12:57 PM
"Dear Mr xxxx,

I have just tried to telephone you on edited (the number you entered into our website) but it seems this number is incorrect; I therefore write regarding the above mentioned lot that you have been discussing with my colleague Gil Southwood. Please do feel free to provide me with a correct number and I will call you, or indeed you can call me directly on edited.

I'm sorry that you found the grading and condition information of this coin to be lacking, and am pleased that you took the opportunity to request further information on the lot before the sale close as per our terms and conditions. I myself had the coin in hand this morning to investigate and reply to your concerns, and although the description of this morning did not mention the word 'tooled' it did infer that the coin has been heavily worked by someone, as the obverse symbols have been obliterated while the eagle remains seemingly little worn, and the thunderbolt on the reverse stands proud of the lower relief legends which have clearly also been partially smoothed off the flan. This is clear to see from the image of the coin displayed on the site.

I made the change to the website description this morning in an effort to bring some clarity to the grading information. This was a direct result of your request for a condition report, made at 20:00 last night and dealt with when our office opened this morning. That you only decided to request the report last night is unfortunate, having already placed your bid a few days ago. We duly removed your bid as per your request, a position which I believe is for the best considering your position regarding the tooling of coins.

I do apologise for the confusion regarding the condition of this coin, and the apparent misunderstandings of this morning. Do please get back to me if you wish to discuss the matter further.

With thanks for your participation in the sale and your understanding of this matter, and best regards,

Alex"

and:

Jan 12, 2019, 12:09 AM
"Dear xxxx,

Thank you for your email, and for the extra telephone number which I will save in our database.

I'm sorry that we disappointed you in respect of this coin, and want to say again that we take on board your comments regarding the notes on the condition. I do hope you find pieces that you interest you and will augment your collection in our future sales!

Congratulations on your successful bids; you are quite correct, your invoice will be able to be found under 'Pending Invoices' in 'My Account' on the website before the end of the day, providing all goes well with the new technology… a mailshot email will be sent out to alert you when it is ready, of course.

Do please let us know if you have any further queries; many thanks again for your business.

With best regards,

Alex"

We were, as one might expect, very busy at the start of the week. Alex would certainly have replied to you again as his time permitted, however since you declined to wait and started communicating directly with me he quite rightly moved on to help other customers and resume normal operational work.

 

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Your colleague Alex indeed responded to my emails after I complained about the tooled coins.

However, as I noted for the third time now, I send your colleague 2 emails that Friday/saterday and on the 4th working days (so 6 days later) I decided to contact you because you colleague was not in able to respond to two serious emails regarding my invoice and a coin. I hope you understand that even when you it is busy, you can not keep a customer waiting 4+ working days regarding serious emails about payment. I am wondering if I did not contact you, how long would it have taken for your colleague to respond on my emails?

I also want to note that you leaked my private phone number which as a company you are not allowed to do. You even have a beautiful privacy policy on your website saying "Roma Numismatics Ltd takes your privacy seriously." I contacted you by email but by your response it seems it is not a serious matter for you (not even an apology as well).

Can a moderator please edit the above post and remove my phone number, it is on the top of the post.

 

Pavlos, This morning I received an e-mail [edited: to remove name] that my coin was shipped yesterday. YIPPEE

 

I've considered refraining from commenting further on this thread but after reading the various posts, I've decided to make an observation based on my business career and experience.

Taking both Pavlos' and Rich Beale's posts at face value, it's clear to me that Roma Numismatics is understaffed for the size and scope of its auction operations. It's pretty much as simple as that. For a business that aspires to be among the small number of world-class auction houses, Roma's customer-facing operations simply do not reach the level that a world-class company should attain. It is not an excuse to say that you're overwhelmed by an auction's immediate demands and thus customer service (temporarily?) becomes a lower priority. To me, that's admitting that you're understaffed.

It remains to be seen whether this issue will be addressed and corrected in the future, but on the basis of what I've read in this thread, I'm not all that hopeful that customers who bid, pay, and hope to take possession of Roma's coins via Internet bidding will eventually receive the service level they deserve.

 

Like we say in french: a fault confessed is half redressed !

 

IdesOfMarch01, You hit the nail on the head .

 

As a dealer I think I can add a few comments which may or may not be of relevance to some opinions. Ultimately, yes, I do think that perhaps being understaffed was a contributing factor here (but keep in mind there are always two sides to any story, and as third parties to this and many other discussions/situations we will never ultimately know the 'true' story). Its not always about who or what we believe but often how we interpret what is presented to us.

I dont know if Roma aspires to be 'world class' or even how one determines that status, but some of us just do the best we can under any circumstances.

I am a small dealer of over 30 years. Always have been small, always will be. I know, understand and accept my place in this business. But I do the best I can. I try to ship the same day or next day under all circumstances (on occasion I do take a Saturday off, but not often). At my peak I have been shipping 100 orders in a day or two within order, but sometimes (for varying reasons) it will take longer.

Honestly, I do not know what it takes to run an operation like Roma (or any other dealer/auction house) that has to deal with many hundreds of orders, e-mails, etc per day or auction. Yes, I understand that if I was at that level I would be hiring people, but for me that is out of my experience.

I suppose it could all boil down to profits. Hiring new people, paying for new infrastructure, it all costs a tremendous amount of money. Not all of us are like Amazon (who despite what you might think make no money).

 

If everyone gets what they paid for and an honest explanation is given for any delays or miscommunication then what more can be done?
It is now up to the customer to decide if they will frequent the auction house again. That is a personal decision.

Probably better to deal with this in private. Pavlos original post was a good one.. asking if others have had a similar issue... that is fair. While I applaud the intentions of the dealer trying to explain the circumstances behind any miscommunication publicly a PM and phone call may have been better.. offer the guy an apology, maybe a small discount or free shipping or something and move on.

Otherwise things escalate. Just look at Facebook if you dare - if McDonald's forgets someones fries in a Drive Thru order it's like the end of days are upon us....

 

On the end, I find the responses of Richard unprofessional, and even now, in my honest opinion, I never received a full apology from him regarding everything that happened. It is almost like the blame gets shifted the whole time. On the end, he is the owner, he represents the whole company.

After waiting 4 working days on the response from his colleague on a serious matter, Richard responds with (see his above post): "Alex would certainly have replied to you again as his time permitted, however since you declined to wait". In other words, it is my fault that I declined to wait after waiting 4 working days already? That is exactly the same response as ""I am sorry that you feel you have not received the attention you deserve". You can not keep a customer waiting 4+ working days regarding serious emails about payment and afterwards shift the blame to the customer that he declined to wait? On the end I am the customer, this was my first time participating, I come to your company to pay for your products, and I expect your service back. And as @IdesOfMarch01 says: "It is not an excuse to say that you're overwhelmed by an auction's immediate demands and thus customer service (temporarily?) becomes a lower priority."

I believe in second chances, but so far I am not convinced anything will change in the future. Who knows I participate somewhere in the future if there would be a rare coin for auction that I was looking for, but definitely not for anything else.

I don't know how it is to run an operation like Roma as well, or any other auction house. However, I do can compare to other auction houses and to my own personal experience. Look at Savoca-coins, a quite new auction house that has grown quite a lot recently. They sell 3000+ lots a month on biddr alone, plus a couple of hundred coins on ebay. They have a staff of 4, and they always responded to my e-mails within 1 working days, and always shipped my coins after 1, max 2 working days after receiving payment. Many auction houses have these kind of shipment and response times.

From my personal experience, I am not that active in marketing, I am more in the technical/chemical area. However, I do respond to e-mails from investors/clients/interested companies regarding specific questions about products. If I would have responded 4 working days after I received their e-mail, their answer will be "Sorry, we are not interested anymore, we have went to another company for products (a competitor)." In other words, unless you have a monopoly position, service matters and if you can not provide that, customers will go to competitors. I know some examples of companies who exploded in their growth, just because their service is excellent, even though their prices are slightly higher than their competitors. On the end customers are willing to spend a little more, just for that 'trust'.

Totally agree with you, thank you for your input, this is what a professional solution would have been.

My coins are shipped as well!

If I receive the coins fine, then I will leave all this behind me.

 

This has been a fine and educational post that should allow each of us to decide if we want to deal not only with this one firm but with a general class of businesses that follow the same model. Overall business statistics tell us that a high percentage of new businesses fail within five years. Growing quickly can be a problem and knowing just how many people it takes to fill the fry orders at the lunch rush is not a skill all fast food managers have. I encourage all who read this to decide where you want to send your money and act accordingly. We have heard reasonable responses for both points of view.

Yes, but more, there is no excuse acceptable for not providing the service and merchandise as advertised in a professional manner. I'm sorry if your dog died but if we wanted to put money in a slot and wonder what would happen, we could go to Las Vegas. That is business.

'World Class' is easy to define. Wait 20-30 years and see who remembers when/why/how they went out of business ... or cares.

 

IdesOfMarch01 & dougsmit have made totally relevant points on this thread about Roma Numismatics Lt. After being in business twice, once in Santa Barbara, CA, & once in Rochester, NY, I can say customer consideration is always top priority. The coin I purchased from Roma Numismatics Lt. was my 1st experience with this company & It may be some time if I decide to patronize them again. Like the old cliche goes "the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing". This company has too many loose ends that need to be tied-up. If they know there will be a delay in shipping a customers order, take 90 seconds to pound out an e-mail alerting the customer of the delay. That isn't asking too much.

 

My only issue with Roma is the way group lots are packaged for shipping. I have purchased several over the last year or so (just got one today) and always see very loose packaging which allows the coins to bump into each other causing noticeable damage. Areas showing nice even patina on the auction pictures often show ugly chips when arriving, and the bags are very dirty inside because coins literally erode there. I am not talking about large lots of many coins but these of 10-15 or so. People, you just made hundreds of pounds in commission on this lot, can't you put them in individual holders or at least apply some vacuum? I have purchased similar lots from different auction houses and Roma is definitely the worst from that perspective. Individual coin lots are packaged well, just group lots are the problem.

 

Pavlos, The coin I won at the Roma Numismatic Ltd. auction arrived today in the middle of this punishing snow storm. The letter carrier was trembling from the cold as she handed me coin, see photos below. It's an Anonymous follis from the Constantinople Mint, circa AD 976 - 1065, 10.48 gm, 29 mm, 6h. Sear 1813.

 

I've dealt with Roma numerous times and have had no issues with their service. As a matter of fact, I just received this Trajan from them in a very timely matter.

Ruler: Trajan (Augustus)
Coin: VF Brass Sestertius
IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P - Laureate bust right, wearing aegis
S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI - Aequitas standing left, holding scales and cornucopiae; S-C across fields.
Exergue:



Mint: Rome (103-111 AD)
Wt./Size/Axis: 25.60g / 34mm / 6h
References:
RIC 497
Woytek 237c
Banti 178
Provenances:
Roma Numismatics
Acquisition/Sale: Roma Numismatics Internet E-Live Auction 4 #770 $0.00 01/19

 

Jesus was having an especially good hair day.

 

Beautiful coin Al.

 

I'll drink to that.

 

For small or large organizations, I strongly suggest studying “Lean Thinking”. It is not an overnite fix, rather a long-term Journey.

 

I for one appreciate a representative from the firm posting here and thought it was a fair response. I know I feel better about bidding on their auctions. As long as I know they are busy, I simply will make sure I ask questions earlier.

 

Wow, what an extraordinary piece. I am glad it found a good home. Maybe one in a hundred thousand anonymous bronzes exist is such condition.