No news from Agora auctions

A month now, and although I've paid immediately after Mr De La Fe had contacted me, I have no news from him since, not a single word saying they have sent the parcel or anything relevant...

Very disapointed Q so far

 

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.... three months later

Still nothing !!

As a recieved a "kind invitation" to participating in their next auction I responded to @DeLaFe's email and got that answer on september, 27 :

"I have looked into your order. Your package was returned due to incomplete address. Can you please send me your full mailing address so I can reship your coin?
Best Regards,"

It's the only contact I was able to get from them. The address I had previously provided was the right one. Of course I sent it again. Nothing since.

No answers to emails, not a word (I don't even dream of an apologetic message anymore). My feeling now is that I've been stolen 400 bucks, which is a real PITA

I don't understand such contempt towards customers. Even though It was my first purchase at Agora, should I be in their position my goal would be my new customers to become returning ones, wouldn't you ?

Very angry Q

 

That is crazy! I can’t deny that Agora’s bad reputation has kept me from ever bidding with them.

Did you pay by card or PayPal? If so you might check if you are still within your time limit to dispute the charges.

You are one of the nicest members on the board so it’s quite an impressive feat of crappy customer service if they’ve even managed to piss you off. After all of this nonsense they owe you upgraded shipping with tracking at the least.

Sorry to hear about the trouble. Keep us posted.

 

That sucks. Some years back Agora had difficulty fulfilling their obligations in a timely fashion.

Incident #1.
Incident #2.

But each time, the coins eventually arrived. I thought things had been fixed. Alfredo @DeLaFe sent me my lots this time around, too. This is quite distressing. Alfredo needs to make things right for you, @Cucumbor.

 

FYI he recently moved to Philly & got a job at CNG, so I dunno if that has anything to do with the delay or not.

I messaged him on FB, we'll see what happens.

 

No - that was Tom Mullally, formerly of Agora, though he hasn't been there for a couple of years.

I think pinging Alfredo on FB is a good idea - I don't believe he's dishonest, but probably takes on too much. He's recently bought Dirty Old Coins too

See if he'll throw in some cookies with the coin - I bought these from him at the last NYINC:


ATB,
Aidan.

 

You're right, it's Tom Mullally.

Still, I sent the FB message to Alfred.

 

You could hire a hitman. I know a guy. PM me.

 

I just spent half an hour writing a reply which apparently was not posted because I was logged in as guest.

Bottom line is that in the past year we have had some MAJOR USPS issues due to the pandemic and possibly because of the changes in service at the post office. In addition, I when I took over Agora we were using a HORRIBLE service called FreshBooks for invoicing. I invested a great deal of time and resources to build a system from the ground up. I also bought out Dirty Old Coins which integrates with a fantastic tool called ShipStation. I integrated Agora with that to improve shipping.

We identified a small issue with it where all invoices were not being marked as paid. It has been addressed.

IF you have a current issue please contact me via PM with your name, issue and invoice number. If you had any past issues where you were left dissatisfied please PM me with your email and/or telephone number. I want to talk to you and:

1. Address any open issues.
2. See if there is anything I can do to make it right.
3. Ensure that any issues do not happen again.

I am extending an open invitation to hold my feet to the fire. Also extending an open invitation to email me feedback, suggestions, etc. I WANT to address every single complaint, concern or issue immediately and I want to improve.

Thank you,

Alfred

 

Alfred had some health issues a few years ago that resulted in serious delays, but I don't think that's the only explanation. He's just incredibly disorganized (basically incompetent) and shouldn't be running an auction company, at least not without a lot of help.

But don't despair about getting your coin eventually, Q. Here are two that I received after a year and a half (including a "package was returned due to incomplete address" excuse.)

Nicephorus I follis, Constantinople:



Antioch: Tancred (regent, 1100-1112), follis


Admittedly this ridiculous delay was in part my fault because I thought I had received the coins when I hadn't. Then when I went to look for one of them and couldn't find it... That's when he told me the package had been returned to them. So why didn't they send it out again right away? Go figure.

 

Two reasons why a package may have not been returned:

1. It was originally shipped under the old company. I got back a lot of “stuff” and did my best to address all of it. Admittedly I have about 6 packages which were returned and all contact info for the customers bounces back and telephones disconnected.

2. You fell into the two windows where I had major health issues. Pre-Covid I had major surgery which addressed an issue I had been facing for over a decade which had me in and out of the hospital, a few times close to having a major stroke. The second time was right after my family and I got COVID. It has left me with holes in my memory.

Again, please PM me with your contact info. I WANT to make things right. edited.

Best,

Alfred

 

A package we shipped to you was returned and had “FWD EXP” handwritten on it along with the official sticker “RETURN TO SENDER / UNABLE TO FORWARD”.


Can you please confirm your address with me so that I can reship your package?


Best,

Alfred

That was October 31 2019 for a coin purchased in Feb 2019, I answered him right away, I still have not received it.

I actually gave him the benefit of the doubt, I bought another in OCT 2019 as well, marked as paid on the website but never shipped, never got that one either.

I wont say anything bad but I cannot recommend.

 

Please PM me your invoice number(s)?

 

Thanks folks for your support, it warmthes my heart a bit

I'm sorry to say @DeLaFe, so far these are just words, now I want acts.

You are in a position where you can do what you want, I'm 8000 miles away from you, and whatever I could do to assert my rights would cost me 10 to 100 times what you owe me.

I would want to give you credit for the benefit of honesty, but so far you have promised several times "to get to the bottom of this" (your own words) and I'm still waiting. Reading some people have been waiting 18 months to get what they'd purchased isn't going to reassure me.

I can understand issues (I've been through health issues myself, including two cancers (no I'm not going to die from those, waiting until I pass away is useless ).

I can hear something like "I can't ship parcels for the next six months for X reason, but will do ASAP", and expecting them to arrive six months later isn't a problem for me...as long as they effectively arrive six months later (give or take one week).

What I can't understand, on the other hand, is having not a single word or any answer to emails until I scream publicly about the issue

Procrastination and/or carelessness to this stage get on my nerves, and I bet you're reaching a world championship level at them. For that, I'm really sorry for you.

Still angry Q

 

I am working on three separate package issues (2 different customers) sent to me via PM. One was returned twice and I have been given a new address to ship to. The other I am working on tracking down the archived invoice from Freshbooks and should be able to resolve by tomorrow morning.

Admins- please do not edit my posts to remove my telephone number. I make it public on purpose: 917-287-5512. I am still quite old school and the best method of communication has and always will be telephone for me. There are too many sites, forums, social media platforms, texting/messaging services to keep track of. I never thought I would be the old fuddy duddy complaining about technology, especially considering the irony that my career for almost two decades was telecommunications/IT. ;-)

Alfred

 

....Four months later !!!

That's what I got on november, 9th :

I have of course not gotten a single word since.
What I fail to understand is how in hell the auction house can imagine having unhappy customers who might well advertise around them to being good investment !

Stay tuned, as soon as the parcel arrives I'll keep you informed. Until then I'll post every month

Unhappy Q

 

Maybe CT members should contribute and give this book as a gift to Agora ...

 

You're more patient than I would be.

How hard is it for Agora to either:

1) Ship the coin out, immediately, with tracking, if they still have it in hand ,or

2) Issue a refund, immediately, if for any reason they do not have it in hand, or are not sure, or "we mailed it 6 months ago", or "i think the dog ate it", etc, etc, etc

If you paid by Credit Card or PayPal then you could just ask them for a refund instead.

 

@Cucumbor Thanks for letting us know, about these problems. And thanks to everyone else, who posted on this thread. This whole thread, makes Agora Auctions look pretty bad. In this thread, I see lots of complaints, and not very many good experiences, with Agora Auctions. I've never participated, in an Agora Auctions auction. I'll be sure, to avoid Agora Auctions.

Agora Auctions seems to be clueless, about how to run a business. Therefore, it seems like, you should contact them, every 2 weeks, and ask about the status of your purchase. It seems like, every time you contact them, you should mention this thread, because the Agora Auctions person posted about this problem, on this thread.

Unless the coin is extremely special, then it seems like, you should ask Agora Auctions, for your money back. It seems like, Agora Auctions should refund your money.

If Agora Auctions won't refund your money, then you can do the following :
1. Did you pay via PayPal? Then, you could contact PayPal, and tell PayPal, that you didn't receive the item, that you purchased. Perhaps PayPal would claw the money back from Agora Auctions, and give you, your money back.
2. Or, if you paid via credit card, then you could contact the credit card company, and tell the credit card company, that you didn't receive the item, that you purchased. Perhaps the credit card company would claw the money back from Agora Auctions, and give you, your money back.
3. If the above 2 approaches don't work, then you could tell Agora Auctions that, if you don't get a refund, then you will report Agora Auctions to the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Some businesses care about their BBB rating.

 

My issues with Agora have been resolved, I received both orders a couple of weeks ago. If Agora auctions has any coins I want, I will bid again. I had given up on these orders some time ago, this post helped me.
I honestly do not think they are dishonest, just disorganized.