My Mint tale of woe
dorkbar
Posts: 426 ✭✭✭
In November, spring in my step, I sent 5 sets of 25th Anniversary ASEs in the unopened box to PCGS. Imagine my surprise when I was enjoying my coffee several days later and opened an e-mail from a receiving department manager indicating my 5-box, 25-coin order contained only 4 boxes and 20 coins. 
I filed a Certification of Non-Receipt claim at the Mint. It seemed incomprehensible to me that a large box and 5 coins could vanish into thin air, but somewhere along the line that happened. I waited the required amount of time, then checked on my claim. An associate told me it had been forwarded to headquarters. No problem. I expected the replacement set might magically arrive on my doorstep when I least expected it.
After another couple of weeks, I called again. After some explaining, I got a higher-up. She told me my claim was denied. I had not received any notification about that, and still haven't, which I felt indicated a lack of even minimal customer service.
I was told the ultimate decision was since I'd sent the sealed box to a third party, the Mint had no way of knowing what might have happened to the coins and couldn't be held responsible. The Mint higher-up said there was no appeal, which I found hard to believe.
I contacted PCGS again. I was asked for a copy of my original Mint receipt, which I faxed. The PCGS receiving manager e-mailed that PCGS couldn't help me out. I asked Mr. Willis about it, and he said that was correct and that they videotaped the opening of all incoming coin packages.
That's where the story stands.
I suppose if you're mindlessly putting sets of 5 into boxes all day--assuming it's not some machine doing it--you might accidentally stop at 4 sometimes. But since the chain of events is unbroken and inviolate from the Mint to the videotaped opening of the box at PCGS--at least as far as the box being sealed and what should be in it--doesn't it seem all but certain the Mint blew it and should admit its mistake? If I had sent the box to, say, Willie Sutton, I could see the Mint's point, but to PCGS? No jury in the world...
The $300 set was not an insignificant loss for me, and, as you might imagine, I'm extremely disappointed. It taints that Minty fresh taste I usually have in my mouth, to the point where discretionary Mint purchases might not be made going forward. (The irresistibles I'll still buy.) And I can no longer imagine a scenario under which I'll send out a sealed box, because if I can't send one to PCGS without things getting bungled...
Advice, comments, scolding and PMs welcome. Any similar tale particularly welcome.
I filed a Certification of Non-Receipt claim at the Mint. It seemed incomprehensible to me that a large box and 5 coins could vanish into thin air, but somewhere along the line that happened. I waited the required amount of time, then checked on my claim. An associate told me it had been forwarded to headquarters. No problem. I expected the replacement set might magically arrive on my doorstep when I least expected it.
After another couple of weeks, I called again. After some explaining, I got a higher-up. She told me my claim was denied. I had not received any notification about that, and still haven't, which I felt indicated a lack of even minimal customer service.
I was told the ultimate decision was since I'd sent the sealed box to a third party, the Mint had no way of knowing what might have happened to the coins and couldn't be held responsible. The Mint higher-up said there was no appeal, which I found hard to believe.
I contacted PCGS again. I was asked for a copy of my original Mint receipt, which I faxed. The PCGS receiving manager e-mailed that PCGS couldn't help me out. I asked Mr. Willis about it, and he said that was correct and that they videotaped the opening of all incoming coin packages.
That's where the story stands.
I suppose if you're mindlessly putting sets of 5 into boxes all day--assuming it's not some machine doing it--you might accidentally stop at 4 sometimes. But since the chain of events is unbroken and inviolate from the Mint to the videotaped opening of the box at PCGS--at least as far as the box being sealed and what should be in it--doesn't it seem all but certain the Mint blew it and should admit its mistake? If I had sent the box to, say, Willie Sutton, I could see the Mint's point, but to PCGS? No jury in the world...
The $300 set was not an insignificant loss for me, and, as you might imagine, I'm extremely disappointed. It taints that Minty fresh taste I usually have in my mouth, to the point where discretionary Mint purchases might not be made going forward. (The irresistibles I'll still buy.) And I can no longer imagine a scenario under which I'll send out a sealed box, because if I can't send one to PCGS without things getting bungled...
Advice, comments, scolding and PMs welcome. Any similar tale particularly welcome.
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Comments
<< <i>In November, spring in my step, I sent 5 sets of 25th Anniversary ASEs in the unopened box to PCGS. Imagine my surprise when I was enjoying my coffee several days later and opened an e-mail from a receiving department manager indicating my 5-box, 25-coin order contained only 4 boxes and 20 coins.
I filed a Certification of Non-Receipt claim at the Mint. It seemed incomprehensible to me that a large box and 5 coins could vanish into thin air, but somewhere along the line that happened. I waited the required amount of time, then checked on my claim. An associate told me it had been forwarded to headquarters. No problem. I expected the replacement set might magically arrive on my doorstep when I least expected it.
After another couple of weeks, I called again. After some explaining, I got a higher-up. She told me my claim was denied. I had not received any notification about that, and still haven't, which I felt indicated a lack of even minimal customer service.
I was told the ultimate decision was since I'd sent the sealed box to a third party, the Mint had no way of knowing what might have happened to the coins and couldn't be held responsible. The Mint higher-up said there was no appeal, which I found hard to believe.
I contacted PCGS again. I was asked for a copy of my original Mint receipt, which I faxed. The PCGS receiving manager e-mailed that PCGS couldn't help me out. I asked Mr. Willis about it, and he said that was correct and that they videotaped the opening of all incoming coin packages.
That's where the story stands.
I suppose if you're mindlessly putting sets of 5 into boxes all day--assuming it's not some machine doing it--you might accidentally stop at 4 sometimes. But since the chain of events is unbroken and inviolate from the Mint to the videotaped opening of the box at PCGS--at least as far as the box being sealed and what should be in it--doesn't it seem all but certain the Mint blew it and should admit its mistake? If I had sent the box to, say, Willie Sutton, I could see the Mint's point, but to PCGS? No jury in the world...
The $300 set was not an insignificant loss for me, and, as you might imagine, I'm extremely disappointed. It taints that Minty fresh taste I usually have in my mouth, to the point where discretionary Mint purchases might not be made going forward. (The irresistibles I'll still buy.) And I can no longer imagine a scenario under which I'll send out a sealed box, because if I can't send one to PCGS without things getting bungled...
Advice, comments, scolding and PMs welcome. Any similar tale particularly welcome. >>
Send me the four sets and all the original government packaging and I'll give you a full refund.
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
mbogoman
https://pcgs.com/setregistry/collectors-showcase/classic-issues-colonials-through-1964/zambezi-collection-trade-dollars/7345Asesabi Lutho
Sorry for your loss, that sucks.
Down side is they screw up the labels too...I remember getting some Jack Hunt ATB's wherein the label said 2lbs...and my scale indicated 4lbs..It was raws vs. slabbed being the heavier...
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
Finally I started calling. Every person I got on the phone spoke only poor English (They were not foreign; they were just uneducated.) and could tell me nothing about the status of my order. I asked to go one step further up the line and still got no satisfaction. Finally after three months of phone calls I was directed to a gentlemen who was the boss’s boss, and I finally got an answer.
The distribution of the sets had been farmed out to an “equal opportunity” company that had screwed up the orders big time. The mint seemed to have no handle on who had ordered what. I had my canceled check, and that saved me. I finally got the coins but the battle to get them made it less than an enjoyable transaction. To add to the frustration the mint mailed one of the silver dollars in 1983 and the other silver dollar plus the “Dick and Jane” $10 gold in 1984. Coin dealers had all of the coins for sale in their shops months before I got my coins.
I understand your frustration, but it’s the sort of thing you get from a government agency that has priorities where your satisfaction is one of the last things that concerns them. My problem was with a totally missing order. Yours is with one item missing from the order that was sent to someone other than you, which is harder to prove. I’d chalk it up to experience and think twice before I repeated those arrangements.
<< <i>Send me the four sets and all the original government packaging and I'll give you a full refund. >>
Thanks, Perry. Glad somebody's looking out for me.
<< <i>maybe one last call to mint asking if they would rather be talking to an official representative on your behalf >>
Teddy's right, call your Congressman's office and get them involved. Don't donate without a kiss.
bob
<< <i>Ask for the video of your package being opened...is that possible? >>
I sure hope PCGS steps up and helps the OP out...