Nerosmyfavorite68 Posted December 31, 2023 · Member Author Share Posted December 31, 2023 I don't think I'll hear anything back til at least Tuesday, with the holiday and all. Assuming that I don't have to send it back, which I wouldn't anyway - I despise my local post office; I'd rather eat the 80 bucks than do that, I'll give the little guy a 'funeral' and bury it in a drawer. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nerosmyfavorite68 Posted January 4 · Member Author Share Posted January 4 I haven't heard back, shocker. I'll give it til Friday, and resend the email. I used the vcoins email given when they send out the order confirmation. The latest Tom Vossen order came (very quickly), and it didn't droop when I picked it up. Imagine that. He uses a more traditional envelope and the coins are within a cardboard sealer, which is encased in folded, really heavy paper (which I reuse for scrap paper). I want to exhaust all the nice ways before involving anyone else. LAC might be a bit of a slowpoke sending stuff, but they have a really great selection, especially of toned silver. I'm also hoping that perhaps this might set in motion some packaging 'best practices.' Coin packages shouldn't droop. If the second email doesn't get any response 5-7 days after that, then I'll try vcoins, but initially in the nicest way possible. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benefactor DonnaML Posted January 4 · Benefactor Benefactor Share Posted January 4 @Nerosmyfavorite68, you have my sympathies. I certainly hope LAC gives you a refund. I've bought quite a few coins from LAC over the years, and have had only one experience with requesting a refund: I discovered a couple of years after purchasing an Apollonia Pontika Gorgoneion/Anchor drachm from them that it was a fake. I provided LAC with the evidence (several exact duplicates sold in the last few years), and they promptly agreed to & sent a refund. The only annoying part was that I had to mail the fake back to them from the USA to the UK. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sand Posted January 4 · Member Share Posted January 4 2 hours ago, Nerosmyfavorite68 said: I haven't heard back, shocker. I'll give it til Friday, and resend the email. I used the vcoins email given when they send out the order confirmation. The latest Tom Vossen order came (very quickly), and it didn't droop when I picked it up. Imagine that. He uses a more traditional envelope and the coins are within a cardboard sealer, which is encased in folded, really heavy paper (which I reuse for scrap paper). I want to exhaust all the nice ways before involving anyone else. LAC might be a bit of a slowpoke sending stuff, but they have a really great selection, especially of toned silver. I'm also hoping that perhaps this might set in motion some packaging 'best practices.' Coin packages shouldn't droop. If the second email doesn't get any response 5-7 days after that, then I'll try vcoins, but initially in the nicest way possible. Did you check your email spam folder? Perhaps LAC replied, and it went into your email spam folder. You may have to send multiple polite emails to LAC, before they reply. They seem pretty busy. If you elevate the problem to Vcoins, then you run the risk, that LAC may refuse to sell you coins, in the future. If their reply is not in your email spam folder, then perhaps their customer service is mediocre. But, they have lots of nice coins. It seems to be, a matter of risk versus reward. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nerosmyfavorite68 Posted January 4 · Member Author Share Posted January 4 Yes, I checked the spam folder. Just spam. Given their spotty communication in the past, I didn't expect too much. And, given the recent decline in the quality of their mailers, do I want to order, at least for the short term? That's the question. It really wouldn't take too much for them to turn that around. Quit using the el cheapo padded mailers and use a cardboard coin inner mailer, like everyone else. Their selection of toned Roman republican denarii is why I stuck around. There is the expensive DHL option. I guess if I really wanted something I could try that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nerosmyfavorite68 Posted January 8 · Member Author Share Posted January 8 Week one has passed without reply. I guess I'll have to try email #2. I've been quite satisfied with most of my coins from LAC, but their customer service has never been stellar. It's more about the principle at this point. I'd just like a refund, or a store credit. I'm not asking for much. I've heard the vcoins' email system can be wonky, although I had very prompt replies from Tom Vossen, Aegean Numismatics, as well as Musa, and that's only counting the 2023 buys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sand Posted January 8 · Member Share Posted January 8 On 1/3/2024 at 9:42 PM, Nerosmyfavorite68 said: I used the vcoins email given when they send out the order confirmation. If that was LAC@vcoins.com, which is the email address of all of the emails that LAC has sent to me after I ordered coins, then that is the best email address to use. Whenever I've written to a Vcoins company using the email address of the form company@vcoins.com, I have always received a reply to my email. 7 hours ago, Nerosmyfavorite68 said: Week one has passed without reply. I guess I'll have to try email #2. I've been quite satisfied with most of my coins from LAC, but their customer service has never been stellar. It's more about the principle at this point. I'd just like a refund, or a store credit. I'm not asking for much. I've heard the vcoins' email system can be wonky, although I had very prompt replies from Tom Vossen, Aegean Numismatics, as well as Musa, and that's only counting the 2023 buys. It wouldn't hurt, to send a polite 2nd email. If the packaging was poor, then they should expect people to complain, if coins get damaged during transit. Even if they don't want to give you a refund, or a store credit, then they should at least be professional, and reply to your emails. If they don't reply to your emails, then they should expect you to complain to Vcoins. If they don't reply to your 2nd email, and if you complain to Vcoins, then be sure to mention to Vcoins, that LAC has not replied to your emails. If I were in your shoes, and if LAC didn't reply to 2 polite emails, then would I complain to Vcoins? I don't know. I probably wouldn't complain to Vcoins, because I've become very skittish, about making waves, concerning ancient coins, and medieval coins, ordered through the mail. I live in the US, and I haven't ordered any coins from outside of the US, since late 2022. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nerosmyfavorite68 Posted January 8 · Member Author Share Posted January 8 Yes, when I get home from work, I'll send a polite second email. I tried the vcoins account. The one time in the past that I actually got them to reply was from the account they send the incessant update/auction spam from, the gmail account. By the way, I haven't been receiving that. Perhaps unsubscribing actually worked. Vcoins will be my very last resort. I might even try three emails before that. I'd rather have a refund in this case. I'll probably wait a few months before ordering them again. My orders had sharply dropped off after the UK postal strike. It shows how much customer service can vary between large firms. When I ordered from HJB, which I hadn't done for 23 years, the boss man himself, Aaron Berk emailed back about a coin's availability. The customer service there was excellent. I also should have listened to Mr. Berk's hint and chosen FedEx. I'm long over the upset part, and it's just an aggravation to deal with, at this point. LAC has an excellent selection and I have no complaints about the merchandise, when it arrives safely. I really like the coins. They're on the very mild end of Captain Slow shipping, but I just bake that into my expectations. Shipping time had actually improved when the Essex packages started showing up. Unfortunately, that's also when the changes took place. My ISP can be funny. For example, emails with verification numbers almost never come through. The spammers do, however. I looked at the spam folders.. I was stupid enough to choose my home email when the Toyota dealer and I were trying to activate the app. It never came through and we got stuck in verification hell, unable to change it on their system. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsyas Mike Posted January 9 · Member Share Posted January 9 I've been following your travails here @Nerosmyfavorite68 and I wanted to say I'm very sorry to hear about your troubles with this great coin. And I agree, there's no excuse for mailing an ancient coin in a "floppy" envelope, even if padded. Since I bottom feed off eBay, I sometimes get shoddy packaging like this, but surprising to say, perhaps, not very often. I don't think anything has shown up broken yet, but I've lost a couple of sestertii that were shipped loose, without being secured at all, in a standard, un-padded envelope. The coin shifts around within the envelope, finally causing one of the seams to split. The Post Office delivers the envelope, but without the coin. This makes it difficult to resolve with the seller because the tracking correctly shows it was delivered - yeah, the envelope, but not the coin. Not the Post Office's fault. But there might be some interesting items underneath the PO mail sorting machinery. But that's eBay - my expectations are low. There's no excuse for a "real" auction house to ship anything like this, not for the fees they charge. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nerosmyfavorite68 Posted January 14 · Member Author Share Posted January 14 Nothing yet. I'll try again. It does put me in an awkward spot. There's nothing I *have* to have from them at the moment, but it's throwing off regular coin orders. I don't want to order anything from thim until both this is resolved and they go back to packaging best practices. I might go back to the Savoca well this time. The only reply that I've received in the past was when I tried their gmail update/spam address. I guess it won't hurt to cc the spam address. I actually enjoy Marc Breitsprecher's updates, which are few and far between. I've been emptying out my trash quite often because of a persistent spammer, but I'm under the impression that LAC has been spamming a lot less of late. It is rather aggravating. I have better things to do. One would think that some of the larger ancients dealers would be reading Numisforums. On the opposite side of the spectrum, a big thanks to Tom Vossen. Order-to-door was 1.5 weeks, by post. Very nice! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nerosmyfavorite68 Posted January 20 · Member Author Share Posted January 20 It hasn't been finalized yet, but it appears that there will be an amicable solution to the issue. That would make me very happy, as LAC is a great source for toned/patinated coins. I've been very happy with every other coin I've purchased from them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expat Posted January 20 · Supporter Share Posted January 20 Fingers crossed that it all works out favourably for you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.