Heritage Shipping Rant-Update From Heritage!
Eldorado9
Posts: 2,396 ✭✭✭✭✭
How is it that Heritage, just can't ship promptly? I won a coin on May 4th. It's been 16 days, and I've not received any notification, so it looks like I will continue to wait. To add insult, the laggard's charged me over $40.00 in shipping fees, and then when I inquired with customer service, the friendly woman informed me that for an additional $30.00 she might get things moved up in the queue. I responded that I wasn't interested in paying over $70.00 to ship one PCGS slab. Let's contrast with Great Collections. I buy on Sunday, and I receive on Wednesday. Yup, 2 days, always on time, no issues. Someone knows how to do this....Heritage, you listening?
Is there some secret decoder ring, or password I am missing that gets Heritage to ship in less than 2-3 weeks? Please let me in on the secret!
UPDATE: I did reach out to Heritage Customer Service this morning, and was informed my coin would be shipping out today, for delivery tomorrow/Tuesday. Additionally, they offered their apologies, and a $50.00 auction voucher, which was a very nice touch. To be fair, I like many aspects of the Heritage operation. Their catalogs, and auction site are world class. I hope they can get a handle on their shipping processes, and bring them up to reasonable standards.
Comments
Thanks for posting this. I won one on May 3 but since it was part of the CSNS the auction did not officially end until May 8. I am the same as you - have had zero communication from HA, except to pay for it. I was/am wondering about it.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wwmUMvhy-lY - Pink Me And Bobby McGee
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https://youtube.com/watch?v=D0FPxuQv2ns - Ruby Starr (from 'Go Jim Dandy') Maybe I'm Amazed
RLJ 1958 - 2023
Have you made legacy status yet? I won a coin in that auction and received it in a record 3 days! I'm not sure what the thresh hold is, I'm thinking 500K+ in business.
I've only done low 6 figures, so I guess I am still "slum" status.
Sounds like they are holding your coin ransom for an additional $30 in small unmarked bills.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I'm a legacy status heritage member.
I also won an item in the CSNS auction.
I paid the same day they invoiced.
Hasnt shipped yet.
This isnt typical for them, but the service in this latest auction is awful.
Exactly! They are holding my $7,800.00 which I paid them for the coin, they are holding my coin, and they are holding the miserable $40.00 for shipping. I am holding zero, and I get the pleasure to talk with the nice lady, whom is requesting more!
Sounds like I got lucky! I did pay immediately after I won as I wasn't going after anything else. I didn't wait for an invoice.
I got my lot last week by fedex only two days after paying.
I made my first ever purchases ever at the 5/3 Heritage auction...had only bought at GC and eBay before. Paid within ten minutes of invoicing - coins shipped 5/12 . Maybe I'm spoiled by GC but it makes me not want to do business there. Although I'm now 4 business days in after the 5/16 SB auction (my first there also), paid invoice within 10 minutes and no word as of yet.
I think the answer for me, unless it's a really amazingly special coin, is to stick predominantly to GC.
I usually get my heritage shipments very promptly. Occasionally, there is a delay.
My grub hub order is late today also... maybe I'll start a rant thread.
Could be worse...
Now that Heritage trusts me to pay in a timely manner, my winning coin(s) ship within 2 days of the auction close, many times one day after.
You must be kidding? So what am I missing here?
My friend had the same problems with heritage. Spent over 10k on a 73 cc quarter and had to wait forever. He made several calls , poor customer service. Even after wiring the money.
Great collection gets them in hand in a few days.
Only heard of one worse when the person double dipped on shipping.
You are missing nothing. I have received a lot from HA before my payment that I mailed in got to them (usually one of those one day auctions). However, for this CSNS auction something has gone wrong. Someone will go first and someone will go last but last should not be over two weeks later and additionally with no communication from HA.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wwmUMvhy-lY - Pink Me And Bobby McGee
.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=D0FPxuQv2ns - Ruby Starr (from 'Go Jim Dandy') Maybe I'm Amazed
RLJ 1958 - 2023
I have had a similar experience with Heritage regarding the shipment of winning lots; after doing business with them for a while, they began shipping winning lots right away. I did have one interesting experience with them in the past where Heritage sent the won lots to the wrong address-- Heritage owned the error and immediately corrected it. I was impressed with their response, and they were even able to retrieve the coins and get them to me eventually.
I have always had excellent service and shipping speed from Heritage……. Until lately.
I won a widget coin at a weekly internet auction and the thing didn’t ship for a couple of weeks. That wasn’t the only problem with the order either. Lots of stuff in the world is broken right now it seems.
nothing wrong with a good rant (these times leave us with plenty of opportunity) but if you want better results, private shipping/insurance may yield better AND cheaper results w/o compromising.
some of the big boy sellers i've transacted with used private insurance with the double usps box method. i think they are express and even if not, if you buy a lot, spend a lot, you should save a lot.
pcgs provides a spot for a submitters own shipping method.
is it not worth a coupe phone calls/emails? hope it helps.
Great customer service is rapidly going the way of the dinosaurs. It's been turned into an automated after thought. Reminded of a quote by Warren Buffet, “Any business with delighted customers has a sales force they won't have to pay; You don't see them, but they are talking to people all the time.”
You've already added insult to injury, so I'm not sure what this is adding (a kick while you're down, insulted, and injured?) but don't forget that the actual shipping cost will be wildly lower than what you paid. And while I understand they have insurance costs and the like, I'll point out that they charge far more than I do on eBay (where I charge to cover my costs, including private insurance) and there is no possible way a company of that size is paying more than I am for postage or insurance. And given how quickly I can package something up (I suppose I don't pay myself for shipping work), even if their shipping department folks are getting paid handsomely, that still doesn't account for it.
I had the same situation. I even took comparable invoices to Central States. Both coins, one Heritage, one GC were slightly over 5K. Paid for both coins the next day by ACH. Coins purchased the same month. Both companies deducted the amount due the same day I authorized it. Shipping from Heritage was $40 and Gc $15 by the way. Of course, half the commission also. GC shipped the same day I paid arrived within three days. Heritage took over three weeks to ship! Arrived 4 weeks after being paid. When I spoke to the very nice people at Heritage during Central States they said they hold ACH payments for a week and then START the two to three week shipping window. I ran a business doing over one million dollars weekly for over twenty years. I never held an ACH check and never had one in many hundreds of thousands disputed. The ladies at Central States took notes and then told me that I would receive a call after they returned to Dallas. Hasn't happened yet. Perhaps they are holding the call three to four weeks. I have always had good service from Heritage but the shipping department is a not what it once was. Thanks for the rant opportunity.
I'm in the same bottom status. Won 2 coins, paid first day, sent email on wednesday for an update. Crickets!
I use to live close to a senior HA auctioneer in Fort Worth. Always brought me winnings the day after auction ended to a mutually convenient location. I would hand him a personal check and we were good to go. That was customer service!
Now I'm just another number living on the Left Coast waiting with all the other no status customers. At least I can occupy myself calculating stock losses each day. Other than that life is good
To be fair to HA, they are a first class organization. In my opinion, a top tier website for bidding online with best of class market data on the lots. This shipping issue is an exception for them, I'm sure it will get fixed. Customer service has never been a problem until CSNS. I'm unhappy about the current shipping situation, but for now will give them a pass, assuming my winning lots will get shipped next week.
Dallas we have a problem. And the problem's name is "fulfillment" Interesting concept fulfillment. It's the other half of any product transaction. It is the part, where you have accepted payment as the vendor of said product, and now you have to deliver or fulfill the order for that product.
I have not any shipping delays beyond two weeks, max. Then again, I just won a coin a couple days earlier this week...prompt payment normally results in punctual shipment.
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Could be worse - I bought a few proofs from GC and they shipped my coins to someone in California while I live in Ohio. I was pretty surprised the USPS delivery confirmation said "Delivered in my garage" - I search for an hour - LOL! At least my scoots were easily refunded! I guess all companies run into problems eventually.........
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
In contrast to miserable HA experiences I have had wonderful experiences with GC, buy on Sunday, pay same day and have by Thursday on the opposite coast.
Their slow and expensive shipping has been around for years, not just since a recent show. I would welcome them to prove me wrong, but I’ll go out on a limb and guess this problem won’t be solved any time soon.
Yup, I've had quite a few experiences with their slow shipping and I pay within a day of any coin invoices I receive. There's really no excuse for it, especially given their high shipping charges. Compared to Great Collections (who, if you pay right away, will almost always ship within 2 days max), they need to step their game up. I find myself buying less and less from them, unless it's a specific coin and grade that doesn't show up that often.
I have been battling with Heritage for 6 months over this issue.
Excuses, excuses, excuses
Recently informed them why they would not get to auction my collection a 2nd time.
My stacks lots are shipped within 3 days.
CRO ships to me in one day... hell before the check clears sometimes.
HA... oh we day to please allow 7 to 14 business days to process... absolutely ridiculous. I was, initially, very cordial but this last time I showed my ass a bit.
So frustrated with the company.
I have not used HA in well over a year HA for this and a few other reasons that will remain private. I am perfectly content to spend money with Ian! Excellent customer service!
Yes, just addressing the shipping. Refuse to get into so so so much more.
Calling @MFeld
I also won a coin on the May 4th auction. I also am still waiting. I won a lot at Stacks Bowers on May 18th. I bet they arrive at the same time.
Where's Mark?
It's the weekend already. Maybe he gets that time off?
Heritage's shipping times have been trash for years, in my experience. Shouldn't have to drop a ton of money to get my stuff in a timely manner, it's just unprofessional as hell that an auction house of their size can't get items out quickly.
Candidly, and all due respect to Mark, who I respect the heck out of, I don't understand why people use HA any more when SB and GC and DLRC don't have these issues. My last SB auction wins were in my hands in less than 5 days. GC, likewise. DLRC, 3 days (but I'm closer to them).
"It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
If I was a dealer or a flipper I would be upset with HA’s shipping delays but for someone like myself I really don’t care if it takes three days or three weeks to get my order.
I’m always two weeks before shipping, way to slow.
"Paid for both coins the next day by ACH."
Interestingly, none of the auction houses utilize ACH credits
An ACH credit sends funds from an account — you initiate the payment. For example, you might set up automatic bill pay with your bank to pay your rent or mortgage each month. Instead of having another company “pull” payments from your checking or savings account, you “push” payments from your account.
So my bank ends up mailing a paper check to the auction houses. SB held on to my check for a month before sending my coin even though I had done past business with them.
Instead some auction houses utilize ACH debit
When you authorize a payee to request a withdrawal of funds from your bank account, that’s an ACH debit. The person receiving the payment initiates the transaction.
For example, you might authorize your power company to automatically pull your monthly utility bill from your bank account via ACH. You give the power company your bank account information and permit it to withdraw money from your account each month.
I've never been comfortable with someone else pulling money out of my account especially large sums of money. I wonder why auction houses don't agree to ACH credits?
Heritage shipping has always sucked and expensive. I am a legacy member and it doesn't help me one bit. The only way I can save on shipping is to put all my winning lots on a hold, this way they will combine shipping. The problem with that is it might be weeks, months before I win another lot.
Now GC, on lots over $500 they ship Fed-X for $14.50 plus .50 cents a coins. Like someone it said above, win on Sunday and the coins are in my hand Wednesday! Thanks customer service,
Heritage just doesn't care! There are the big boys so they THINK they don't have to, just wait.
As far as I'm concerned GC does it the way it should be done.
Yeah, where is Mark????
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
I'm so glad you started this thread, I got a chance to VENT!
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
I have had similar experiences. Heritage charges more than any other auction house with whom I do business for shipping, and yet they provide the slowest service. I am a legacy costumer, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. When I complained about the high prices and slow service they got really defensive.
To those of you who have asked or wondered, I saw this thread last night and have made Heritage aware of it. Thank you.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
They are the behemoth and leviathan all rolled into one....A dealer I know complained years about a 1936 proof set that was not imaged or described and when he got it he saw the problems, but they refused a return. He was blocked from further business with them. On ebay most sellers ship promptly, often free.
I wait so long with them that despite e-check prompt payments, I forget that I have any "winnings" and then one day a box finally shows up at the office......I usually only "win" one or two coins in the auctions I participate in as I tend to target and am a strict collector who does not resell. Usually the coins I bid on are not "widgets" and are not likely to show either at HA or other venues so not really much choice.
IMHO it reminds me of waiting on an airplane flight out in the sticks in a 3rd world country - just readjust your expectations as not much choice. As has been pointed out, it does push you to alternative venues if they are somehow available.
Well, just Love coins, period.
I guess I am just lucky. I won a coin in the Monday auction and it arrived today. Saturday.
Day 17 now. No coin. Paid in full over two weeks ago. Calls to Customer Support. Email to Customer Support. Zero, Nothing, Nada. No shipping notification, no response.
I’m a Legacy client, and I usually just mail them a check when they invoice me, and I’m used to the relatively long wait but I do start to get antsy about day 14- I feel your pain Eldo! We won it, we paid for it, and we want to enjoy it!
This! Exactly right! Last time I did a response it something like labor conditions are tough and having difficulty keeping people in our shipping department. Seems they could pay them a little more to retain them given the amount they charge for shipping.