The Mint cancelled my UHR order!

ElKevvo

Well one of them anyway....I ordered one for myself and one as a gift for my dad...who lives in a different household in a different state. I guess I made a mistake because obviously the US Mints definition of a 'household' relates to the billing address rather than the shipping address...the order for my dad was canceled as by the US Mints definition my dad and I are in the same household because I used my credit card for his gift. Rrrrr....you would have thought that the system would have prevented this up front instead of wasting my time.

I called and got nowhere with the phone rep...asked for a supervisor and spoke to 'Maggie' who would not provide her last name at all (then they should use an alias!!). I could not get a definition of a household out of her or any other info...no one higher up the ladder to talk to either....just very frustrating...I have always sided with the Mint because I have never had any problems but no more...I suspect that due to price increases and production problems is why they canceled it...seems suspicious that the order was in thier system for a week and the day after the price goes up the order gets canceled.....they really suck.

K

rgCoinGuy

Not sure that I disagree with the mint on this one. With your theory, I could have one shipped to work, shipped to my mom, shipped to my dad, shipped to my brother, shipped to my wifes dad, my wifes mom, my wifes sister, etc. That isn't exactly one per household.

JMO of course.

pheh

Seems to me like their policy caught up with you like it always was. Many others would have dozens billed to one credit card and shipped all over the place if it worked like you wanted it to. And believe me... then you wouldn't be getting either of them for a while because the flippers would have purchased them out to May.

trozau

Order number? Just to see if we got bumped up.

CertifiedGoldCoins

My order was canceled too, sort of. I clicked too many times in the Hour of Madness on the first day, and my account showed one order, but in "suspended" status. Later, it disappeared. I called, they could not find it, so I placed a phone order. After thinking about it, with so many ordered, I realized that buying something else made more sense, so I canceled that order.

There's plenty of time to re-order, and I might. But I already own enough gold, and all this really is, is a fancy piece of bullion.

amiller

You are right, they should catch this at the time the order is placed.

- AND -

They are right, what you did violates the spirit of the rule.

- BUT -

At least they didn't cancel BOTH orders! (which they could do as well since you broke their rule [at least in spirit], even though they can't be more clear on the specifics)

Coll3ctor

<< <i>Order number? Just to see if we got bumped up. >>

Casman

It's not exactly news that you can't order multiples with the same card...

OPA

<< <i>It's not exactly news that you can't order multiples with the same card... >>



Ancient Old news .....

ElKevvo

Well I was probably my mistake...I have never ordered multiple items from them at all and my intent here was not to get a more than one for myself (the Mint has no way of knowing that so I agree with them there).

My complaints are:

1) The system should easily be able to tell you when you cannot order something due to limits..it took both the orders even though it had all of the data needed to see that I was ordering more than one per household per the Mint's definition. It obviously does not and hence is poorly designed...which is something folks who order this stuff know as it takes an hour. I would have to ask, if it is so poorly designed that it cannot limit orders on an as needed where else does it have holes? How secure is it really? Is the CC data encrypted like it should be? That is a basic thing but checking to see if an item can be ordered is too...I am a web developer and think about this stuff...

2) I think the their definition of household is loose at best. I couldn't order one for my dad as I used the same CC...even though the shipping address is 2000 miles away. Should I have used my wifes CC? Different name, same address. If I had a bunch of different CC's with different addresses could I have used these and had them shipped to all of my friends and then picked them up?

3) The timing is very suspicious also...like I mentioned the order was in the 'system' for a week at the original price without any problem and then canceled the day after the prices go up.

Honestly the canceled thing doesn't bother me...I will just order one later if they remove the limits or send my dad a check for the amount and have him order his own...he is a collector and keeps things in OGP so I am not worried about '1st Strike' or any of that stuff and one day I suppose it will be mine anyway. It is the process and bad attitude of the employees I spoke to on the phone is what really grates me....and especially like I said I have always given the Mint a break but no more.

K

ksteelheader

<< <i>1) The system should easily be able to tell you when you cannot order something due to limits.. >>



Why should they have to tell you something you should know yourself??

Johnp

maybe because the gold went straight up in the last few days

amiller

I work in IT and am familiar with the trade-offs in designing a system to run all the logic checks up front vs. later on. The process of checking all UHR orders for a specific CC # or mailing address is probably a resource intensive operation on their database, based on the total number of orders they may have stored or the capabilities of their compute resources. For this reason, rather than irritating every customer with a long wait time at check out, they accept the order immediately so the initial order experience is quick for everyone. They then run batch reports later on during slow transaction hours (night and weekend) or even on a different system, then deal with the problems found in bulk, rather than one at a time.

BlindedByEgo

So, theoretically, if I ordered one to my home and paid with a personal CC, and ordered one to my office and paid with a corporate card, I'd be OK.

I'm theoretically relieved

PerryHall

<< <i>So, theoretically, if I ordered one to my home and paid with a personal CC, and ordered one to my office and paid with a corporate card, I'd be OK. >>



Yes and I'm sure there are many coin dealers and speculators who are doing just that---every friend, neighbor and relative ordering a coin on their behalf.

aficionado

A while back I had a trouble because the Mint kept linking my account to my brothers. They would switch our emails around and everything. Made me glad my name wasn't Smith.

OPA

<< <i>Yes and I'm sure there are many coin dealers and speculators who are doing just that---every friend, neighbor and relative ordering a coin on their behalf >>


Exactly ... Have you not ever wondered why some Dealers seem to have an endless supply of Mint coins, where the order limit was one?

percyb

<< <i>Not sure that I disagree with the mint on this one. With your theory, I could have one shipped to work, shipped to my mom, shipped to my dad, shipped to my brother, shipped to my wifes dad, my wifes mom, my wifes sister, etc. That isn't exactly one per household.

JMO of course. >>



How about ex-wives and in-laws?

percyb

<< <i>My order was canceled too, sort of. I clicked too many times in the Hour of Madness on the first day, and my account showed one order, but in "suspended" status. Later, it disappeared. I called, they could not find it, so I placed a phone order. After thinking about it, with so many ordered, I realized that buying something else made more sense, so I canceled that order.

There's plenty of time to re-order, and I might. But I already own enough gold, and all this really is, is a fancy piece of bullion. >>



Huh? Could you go over that one more time and you tell us if you'll be getting one or not.

ElKevvo

The process of checking all UHR orders for a specific CC # or mailing address is probably a resource intensive operation on their database

One word for them...Indexes....if the column are properly indexed there should be no problem at all querying the data. What are they using MS Access or FoxPro? Shoot, I query multi million record DB's that are much more complicated that any ordering system should be all the time and get records back sub second. Proper indexing and SQL execution plans work wonders!

Thanks for all the responses....I will just wait a few months and get another one if I can. No big deal....

K

amiller

Yes, indexes help speed queries, but add overhead to inserts, which is mainly what occurs when an order is placed.

YaHa

<< <i>

<< <i>1) The system should easily be able to tell you when you cannot order something due to limits.. >>



Why should they have to tell you something you should know yourself?? >>




If I see that deer one more time KSTEELHEADER I am going to shoot that SOB. It gives me a weird look everytime your page pops up. Also that other deer at the bottom of your page has a tick. I bettca his damn leg and neck are sore from ticking so many times.

08HALA20

<< <i>So, theoretically, if I ordered one to my home and paid with a personal CC, and ordered one to my office and paid with a corporate card, I'd be OK.

I'm theoretically relieved >>



If you use the same email for order confirmation they will cancel one.

I ordered a spouse coin for a friend and his got cacelled because of the common email address.
Everything about the orders were different except email.

Joe

greghansen

It's a long standing rule when order limits are in place; and frankly they are probably not interested in getting into a debate with everyone who wants to explore the nuances of how they define a 'household'. On high demand items, I've actually heard of them cancelling BOTH orders when two orders are placed placed for seperate shipping addresses on the same credit card.

crazyhounddog

<< <i>Not sure that I disagree with the mint on this one. With your theory, I could have one shipped to work, shipped to my mom, shipped to my dad, shipped to my brother, shipped to my wifes dad, my wifes mom, my wifes sister, etc. That isn't exactly one per household.

JMO of course. >>


YEP!!!!

derryb

<< <i>Order number? Just to see if we got bumped up. >>



Do you think moving up one notch is gonna get it to you quicker?

derryb

<< <i>So, theoretically, if I ordered one to my home and paid with a personal CC, and ordered one to my office and paid with a corporate card, I'd be OK.

I'm theoretically relieved >>



And, you theoretically got bumped up one notch when the original poster had one cancelled. If of course your order was placed after his, theoretically speaking.

ElKevvo

I agree with what everyone has said and won't post to the thread again but...here is an official definition of household per dictionary.com (which ties into what I have understood as a household all my life)...it has nothing to do with a billing address which may, or may not, even be a household. So it should be either one per shipping address (which is one per household per below) , or one per billing address (which it is today).

**************************************************************
house·hold (hous'hōld') Pronunciation Key
n.

1.
1. A domestic unit consisting of the members of a family who live together along with nonrelatives such as servants.
2. The living spaces and possessions belonging to such a unit.
2. A person or group of people occupying a single dwelling: the rise of nonfamily households.

adj.

1. Of, relating to, or used in a household: household appliances.
2. Commonly known; familiar: has become a household name.


[Middle English houshold : hous, house; see house + hold, possession, holding (from Old English, from healdan, to hold; see

*************************************************************************
Well I have learned something today at least! Thanks again for all the replies...and glad I could help out by bumping up so other orders for you all!


K

CertifiedGoldCoins

<< <i>

<< <i>My order was canceled too, sort of. I clicked too many times in the Hour of Madness on the first day, and my account showed one order, but in "suspended" status. Later, it disappeared. I called, they could not find it, so I placed a phone order. After thinking about it, with so many ordered, I realized that buying something else made more sense, so I canceled that order.

There's plenty of time to re-order, and I might. But I already own enough gold, and all this really is, is a fancy piece of bullion. >>



Huh? Could you go over that one more time and you tell us if you'll be getting one or not. >>

What goes up, goes down, right? Gold averaged $734.50 not long ago (the second week in November). It may not go that low soon, but I can wait. Months from now, eBay will be clogged with them, and if gold sinks, I might be able to buy one $200 cheaper than they are now. The platinum piece I'm selling cost someone a lot more than what I paid for it, for example, because platinum used to be over $2,000/oz.