A Good Story on the Mint's Website Ordering Process and Their Customer Service
dragon
Posts: 4,548 ✭✭
I had told the president of our firm (and also a good friend) a couple weeks ago about the Mint's upcoming release of the 5-coin Silver Eagle Sets and how he should set up an account and tru to get 5 of them online as they would likely be worth a strong premium in the aftermarket. I've advised him in the past on coin / bullion related deals and he's done very well so he was naturally excited and said he would do it. I explained how the demand would probably be intense and he'd just have to be persistent starting at 12PM ET and hopefully he'd be able to order 5 sets.
So he calls me on Wed. night to tell me he's leaving early Thurs. morning to fly out to the west coast for an important meeting and will return on Tues. morning next week and would I please place the order for him on Thurs. on the website if he gives me all his info. OK sure, no problem.
I finally get through to place an order for 5 sets for him at about 1:09PM ET and when I hit the 'PLACE ORDER' button the next screen just goes blank and so I have no confirmation if it went through or not, and I cannot refresh that page. So I start over and go through the process again and order 5 sets, and this time the order confirmation page shows it went through and gives me an order number.
Well this morning just for the helluva it I sign into his acct. to make sure his order is OK and the Mint's website shows his order as 'Line cancelled'. Well knowing that I got in well before the cutoff I wondered what happened and I decided to call that 800 cust. service number and see what's up since the website is only showing one order number for 5 sets under his order history.
After the CS lady asks for my last name, zip code, daytime phone and order number 6 separate times and continues to apologize, I explain to the CS lady what happened during the online ordering process and that perhaps their records show that I tried to order twice, but in fact I was not and just wanted the one order for 5 sets. I also explain this issue was not my fault but rather a result of the mint's website being extremely slow and unresponsive and I had absolutely no way of knowing if it went through the first time. She then puts me on hold and comes back and starts reading some form letter to me about how to ensure that the public has fair and equal access and how the mint reviews and cancels orders entirely at their discretion and blah, blah. etc. and she tells me I have exceeded the household limit of 5 sets and my order was cancelled and there's not a thing she can do about it. I ask to speak to her supervisor and this other lady gets on the phone and immediately starts reading the same form letter to me. I tell her what happened on the mint's website and that I was not trying to exceed the household limit and didn't feel it was fair they should cancel this order to to a website snafu, and also the website only showed ONE order number and not two. She again just starts to read this form letter to me and follows by saying once an order line is canceled it cannot be reinstated by any person or under any circumstances.
After several more minutes of going back and forth with this now irate and rude supervisor I could see this was going nowhere and she also informed me that her supervisor does not work on weekends nor would he be able to help me or reverse the mint's decision on cancellation. So now he gets zero sets and I have to tell him this Tues. morning after I already left him a message on Thurs. telling him he got his 5 sets and congrats.
So he calls me on Wed. night to tell me he's leaving early Thurs. morning to fly out to the west coast for an important meeting and will return on Tues. morning next week and would I please place the order for him on Thurs. on the website if he gives me all his info. OK sure, no problem.
I finally get through to place an order for 5 sets for him at about 1:09PM ET and when I hit the 'PLACE ORDER' button the next screen just goes blank and so I have no confirmation if it went through or not, and I cannot refresh that page. So I start over and go through the process again and order 5 sets, and this time the order confirmation page shows it went through and gives me an order number.
Well this morning just for the helluva it I sign into his acct. to make sure his order is OK and the Mint's website shows his order as 'Line cancelled'. Well knowing that I got in well before the cutoff I wondered what happened and I decided to call that 800 cust. service number and see what's up since the website is only showing one order number for 5 sets under his order history.
After the CS lady asks for my last name, zip code, daytime phone and order number 6 separate times and continues to apologize, I explain to the CS lady what happened during the online ordering process and that perhaps their records show that I tried to order twice, but in fact I was not and just wanted the one order for 5 sets. I also explain this issue was not my fault but rather a result of the mint's website being extremely slow and unresponsive and I had absolutely no way of knowing if it went through the first time. She then puts me on hold and comes back and starts reading some form letter to me about how to ensure that the public has fair and equal access and how the mint reviews and cancels orders entirely at their discretion and blah, blah. etc. and she tells me I have exceeded the household limit of 5 sets and my order was cancelled and there's not a thing she can do about it. I ask to speak to her supervisor and this other lady gets on the phone and immediately starts reading the same form letter to me. I tell her what happened on the mint's website and that I was not trying to exceed the household limit and didn't feel it was fair they should cancel this order to to a website snafu, and also the website only showed ONE order number and not two. She again just starts to read this form letter to me and follows by saying once an order line is canceled it cannot be reinstated by any person or under any circumstances.
After several more minutes of going back and forth with this now irate and rude supervisor I could see this was going nowhere and she also informed me that her supervisor does not work on weekends nor would he be able to help me or reverse the mint's decision on cancellation. So now he gets zero sets and I have to tell him this Tues. morning after I already left him a message on Thurs. telling him he got his 5 sets and congrats.
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Comments
You could always give him your order.
Exit bunker, enter Matrix. LOL
Michael Kittle Rare Coins --- 1908-S Indian Head Cent Grading Set --- No. 1 1909 Mint Set --- Kittlecoins on Facebook --- Long Beach Table 448
<< <i>Same thing happened to me when I was ordering for my Dad... everything froze up right after I clicked to submit the credit card information. Not just the website, but my entire computer froze and I had to restart. Instead of trying again, I just gave up. Later that night, my dad forwarded me an email confirmation from the Mint though, so apparently it sneaked through as it froze. Glad I gave up and didn't try again, otherwise it appears it would have been cancelled anyways. Sorry it didn't work out for you, if you had a double order, they should only cancel one, not both!!!! Ouch! >>
How many times do people remember posting here only to have it hang up and later find out that the post did go through?
Sorry about your co-worker's situation (yours too now).
I also feel really bad for the guys and gals who, as Frankcoins pointed out in another thread, are used to calling in their orders for mint product within the first weeks of release.
These folks are loyal mint customer's ordering mint sets and proof sets onesie twosie year after year.
edit to answer BAJ; I turned my back on the computer screen for at least twenty minutes once I finally got through after 10-15 of lockups.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
I wonder if his email showed two order confirmations? That is a good thing to quickly check if there is some doubt your first order went through. Of course, there may be some lag to it with something as crazy as this sale.
type2,CCHunter.
lol
bob
Apparently, the Mint will do whatever it wants, and there is no process for appealing.
you need to check to se if he received 2 order confirmations.
it is possible the first order, if confirmed, "disappeared." There have been reports of this happening in the past during high server load and for this issue.
You may need to call in with the first confirmation number and say it disappeared, if it was confirmed and disappeared.