Does anyone have any recommendations for any UK based sellers of Ancients? I have tried two through VCoins so far, and both have been rubbish. The first sat on my order for about a week before doing anything. Not so bad, but considerably below what I would expect in any other field. The real doozy is my most recent order with London Ancient Coins. Nothing happened for a week, so I emailed them asking what was happening. I was informed that my order had been dispatched and was provided with a tracking number. Tracking didn't work, and yesterday I decided to email again asking what was up. Miraculously this morning I checked the tracking and there was activity, and the package arrived this afternoon, clearly marked with a dispatch date of yesterday. So 13 days to send out an item, and a blatant lie 7 days in. This leaves me wondering if there are any prominent UK traders who are able to turn around coins in a few days and with decent communication. I would very much like to follow the advice of finding a trader with whom I can develop a relationship, but mobility problems make this impossible on a face to face basis. Thanks
I'm sorry to hear of your bad experience. Personally I've always had great results with London Ancient Coins, but then again being in the US having to wait 2 weeks to get a coin from overseas is not a big deal. In the end I always got the product and the coin matches closely the photos online (something you can't say about every dealer). I also had good results with Lodge Antiquities and Bertolami Fine Arts on vcoins. Both of them got me my coins faster than London Ancient Coins, if speed is an issue for you. Bertolami in particular, the online picture and the coin I received were mirror images. No idea how they got the image to match so perfectly what the coin looks in hand, so I commend them for that.
I also have had good luck dealing with Bertolami, as well as Vosper, Lodge, Den Of Antiquity.Also, there is Sovereign. Come to think of it , I don't recall having any trouble dealing with UK dealers. Occasionaly there are delays with paperwork from respective EU governments for release of the coins, but I can't blame these dealers for that. Ars Antiqua and Fiorentina are 2 great companies in Italy - they may take longer to get required documents, but they are both reputable and have wonderful coins and communication. ROMA is also based in the UK , but has mostly auctions now , and they do have exquisite coins.
Thanks for that, I've marked those down in VCoins for future browsing. Speed is not massively important to me, but communication and reliability is. I have no problem with coins taking two weeks to get to me, even from a company a few hundred miles down the road from me, if they indicate that that will be the case from the beginning, or even just drop me an email telling me that there is a delay. Lying to me outright is obviously another thing altogether. I think I'll widen my search to mainland Europe and try my luck there as well.
13 days to send out an item? That's bad enough, but then they lied about it, too? Add them to your seller blacklist. Maybe it's me, but I don't understand someone selling anything that isn't ready for immediate shipping. If you list it for sale, it should already be set to go as soon as it sells, not whenever you get around to it. If you walked into a store and paid for something in full, would you be okay with them telling you they'll get around to letting you have it sooner or later, when they feel up to it?
I don't see why they would have lied. My guess is they probably made an incorrect entry in the database that the coin had shipped out and realized later their mistake. No one else that I know of has had any issues with that dealer. So this sounds like a rare mistake on their part. No one is perfect.
You know sometimes the tracking info is wrong...it could have been sent when they said but the system didn't get updated until the morning you received it. I don't really understand what the issue is here.
You know what, I was hasty and silly to publicly rant about what could easily have been an error outside of the control of the people in question. I don't think this post shows good character on my part. Is there a way to edit it?
The issue is you did not read the post quoted below. Tracking numbers are often wrong but when you get a package with a dispatch date or postmark 'yesterday' it was not mailed a week ago. The first entry in a tracking list is usually that the seller entered the item in the software but that is not the same thing as actually handing he parcel over to the post office. I had a similar event a few years back and the seller corrected his error by sending the coin overnight express (aka the expensive way - which was not at all required but came with an apology including admission he had messed up (which is the reason I still consider buying his coins). Sellers know some customers expect to be treated as valued people and others don't care. As long as they have plenty of customers who don't care, why should they?
I've also had bad experience with London ancient coins, I returned a coin to them that I bought on eBay however the post office worker only gave me the receipt and not the tracking number. London ancient coins never gave me a refund, sent multiple messages never responded and then eBay canceled my return. Few month later the coin is back up on their eBay page.
Doug makes some good points and I agree. If I was found to have fault with my zipper, I would like to know about it and I think you have been very low key in describing the events. Businesses should want to know and make right any problems that affect them. This thread does let many realize that mail exchange and regulations vary significantly in different countries. I personally would not change anything unless an undue threat comes from the seller, and then I could remove his name....but that would leave a lot more questions as to future dealings by others. I rather feel an apology is more deserving than a retraction. Stuff happens in dealings , delays, misunderstandings , etc., so apologies are not to be considered embarassing, but a mechanism of good will and trust. Jim
As a final word, one thing would have put the whole thing right. If when they received my email on Thursday and realised their error (charitable reading) they quickly sent out the package. They could very easily have replied to the email with a quick apology and explained the error, and all good will would have been restored.
I have not had problems with them and furthermore have had good luck with dealers based in Spain, Netherlands, and United Arab Emirates - the Spanish vendor used DHL, the Netherlands dealer used regular post and the U.A.E. dealer also used regular post. Other than coins being held at the ISC in New York for over ten days (10!) despatch has been fast and efficient to my doorstep.
I never had a problem with London Ancient Coins, I think they are doing their best. It's always better with shipping problems to give the seller the benefit of the doubt, as it may well be the shipping company that's making mistakes, their software is faulty, or customs is being slow. And if you show your irritation, it might well be that the seller is getting edgy, too. So have a little patience with your sellers, it helps being friendly and understanding.
You must have missed the part where he said the seller lied about having shipped it. It wasn't the shipping company or their software, or customs, it was the seller. I'm sure it was a rare transgression, but apparently it happened - the unprofessional part is how the seller reacted to it, by lying about it rather than simply acknowledging their mistake, apologizing, and fixing it.
