So I bought some coins from Westminster Mint

[slammin86]

I saw an add for Grizzly's for $40.95 + S&H so I called and ordered a few weeks ago. I initially called and was told someone would call me back so I could order.

They called back and I asked how many I could get for that price. I was told 5, so I said I wanted 5 of them. I also asked about the wolf's and was told they were like $54 each. I went ahead and ordered 5 of those also because the cheaper grizzly's helped to offset the cost.

Before I got off the phone the salesman offered me 1 graded ms69 of each for like $110 each. I declined these. He went on to tell me they were numbered and how collectible they would be. I declined. Then he told me that he would discount the wolf's to the same price as the grizzly's if I ordered one of each ms69. I declined again. Then he offered to send them to me and if I did not like them I could return them and keep the other coins at the discounted price. Again I declined.

So my order was now placed...5 grizzly and 5 wolf for $466.45 shipped.

Well today my order arrives...only it was not what I ordered. I received the 5 grizzly that I ordered and I also received 2 ms69 grizzly coins which I did not order. The order total was...get this...$466.55. Strange huh.

So I called and was given a different number to call. I was then able to talk to the salesperson that I originally ordered from. He said that it was a mistake and to send them back. I asked about shipping and he said that I could call and leave a message about how much I paid for return shipping and they would deduct that from my order. He said they would send out the 5 wolves once they got my return.

After I got off the phone I checked their website and it said that they are sold out of the wolves...I called back to see if they even had them in stock and no one answered so I left a message. No call back yet.

I guess I will call back again tomorrow and try to get an answer.

Sorry for the long post...just very frustrated. I read some bad things about westminster prior to ordering, but for the price it seemed like a good deal.

I will update with what happens.

[Turner-son]

I saw an add for Grizzly's for $40.95 + S&H so I called and ordered a few weeks ago. I initially called and was told someone would call me back so I could order.

They called back and I asked how many I could get for that price. I was told 5, so I said I wanted 5 of them. I also asked about the wolf's and was told they were like $54 each. I went ahead and ordered 5 of those also because the cheaper grizzly's helped to offset the cost.

Before I got off the phone the salesman offered me 1 graded ms69 of each for like $110 each. I declined these. He went on to tell me they were numbered and how collectible they would be. I declined. Then he told me that he would discount the wolf's to the same price as the grizzly's if I ordered one of each ms69. I declined again. Then he offered to send them to me and if I did not like them I could return them and keep the other coins at the discounted price. Again I declined.

So my order was now placed...5 grizzly and 5 wolf for $466.45 shipped.

Well today my order arrives...only it was not what I ordered. I received the 5 grizzly that I ordered and I also received 2 ms69 grizzly coins which I did not order. The order total was...get this...$466.55. Strange huh.

So I called and was given a different number to call. I was then able to talk to the salesperson that I originally ordered from. He said that it was a mistake and to send them back. I asked about shipping and he said that I could call and leave a message about how much I paid for return shipping and they would deduct that from my order. He said they would send out the 5 wolves once they got my return.

After I got off the phone I checked their website and it said that they are sold out of the wolves...I called back to see if they even had them in stock and no one answered so I left a message. No call back yet.

I guess I will call back again tomorrow and try to get an answer.

Sorry for the long post...just very frustrated. I read some bad things about westminster prior to ordering, but for the price it seemed like a good deal.

I will update with what happens.

Challenge the purchase with your credit card company and have Westminster Mint fight with them. The cc will win.

[slammin86]

So the messed up portion of the order was sent back on tuesday. I called the salesman and let him know the total for shipping and then asked if they could go ahead and send me out the correct part of my order and put a hold on my credit card. He said they would.

Today I called to let him know that the tracking showed that the coins had arrived at his facility and asked him if the rest of the order had shipped. He said no and that their shipping was very backed up. I asked him when I could expect them to ship and he said late next week. He said he would call me with the tracking when they shipped and I said if I did not hear back from him by late next week I would call.

So at this point should I go ahead and file a dispute with my credit card, or just wait till late next week?

[Cleaner44]

Thanks for the review.

Do they have a standard shipping charge?

[samwiii]

So the messed up portion of the order was sent back on tuesday. I called the salesman and let him know the total for shipping and then asked if they could go ahead and send me out the correct part of my order and put a hold on my credit card. He said they would.

Today I called to let him know that the tracking showed that the coins had arrived at his facility and asked him if the rest of the order had shipped. He said no and that their shipping was very backed up. I asked him when I could expect them to ship and he said late next week. He said he would call me with the tracking when they shipped and I said if I did not hear back from him by late next week I would call.

So at this point should I go ahead and file a dispute with my credit card, or just wait till late next week?

You have 60 days to file a dispute from the date of the charge, so you need to base your decision on that timing. If you can wait a week without exceeding the 60 days, then no harm in waiting. If not, get it disputed BEFORE you hit day 60.

[ian clay]

My name is Ian Clay I'm the president of Westminster Mint. We are human and people make mistakes. It seems to me that people here have already offered to correct our mistake, so I don't know why you are posting on this forum. If you contact me and make your name known to me I will make sure things are settled to your satisfaction.

[curmudgeonista]

My name is Ian Clay I'm the president of Westminster Mint. We are human and people make mistakes. It seems to me that people here have already offered to correct our mistake, so I don't know why you are posting on this forum. If you contact me and make your name known to me I will make sure things are settled to your satisfaction.

Man, you could have done yourself so much good just saying, "If you contact me... I will make sure things are settled to your satisfaction."

But you had to throw in the bit about "It seems to me that people here have already offered to correct our mistake, so I don't know why you are posting on this forum."

Pretty obvious why. The OP was concerned about the runaround, the hard-sell on the slabbed turkeys and the fact that his money is tied up with you for something he didn't get. This forum is chock-full of gold and silver buyers who might be potential customers. What you should be doing is offering slammin86 to retroactively reduce the missing wolves at today's lower price to make up for jerking him around for two weeks... and two weeks where you robbed him of being able to sell those coins in a peak market if he so chose.

[Ebenezer Scrooge]

Wow, wild thread.
Another reminder to always do business in person when possible.

[Chester-Copperpot]

The customer in good faith paid up front for the merchandise. As a business you should send out the rest of his order and then have him return the unwanted items once he has recieved what he ordered.

[rodzm]

FWIW my dad had a similar problem with an order of his being partially correct. This is not the first time...needless to say I strongly advised my dad to stay away from Westminster...he hasnt been back since

[Scorpio]

If you contact me and make your name known to me I will make sure things are settled to your satisfaction.

That would be great if you could make that happen,

Our members here seriously watch out for each other,

Which can be a good thing or a bad thing, dependent on which side one is on.

Once they have made a decision, all they want is for whatever was agreed upon, to happen, and to happen in a reasonable time frame.

Scorp

[slammin86]

My name is Ian Clay I'm the president of Westminster Mint. We are human and people make mistakes. It seems to me that people here have already offered to correct our mistake, so I don't know why you are posting on this forum. If you contact me and make your name known to me I will make sure things are settled to your satisfaction.

Wow is that really how you are going to represent your company. I just filed a report with my credit card company. My phone call I was told I would receive this week with tracking never came through. This whole deal was a PITA. Seems your guys who were going to "correct their mistake" were full of empty promises.

Too bad it went down this way.

[samwiii]

My name is Ian Clay I'm the president of Westminster Mint. We are human and people make mistakes. It seems to me that people here have already offered to correct our mistake, so I don't know why you are posting on this forum. If you contact me and make your name known to me I will make sure things are settled to your satisfaction.

Wow; not the response you would expect from the president of the company, especially on a board monitored by heavy-duty PM buyers. I was still considering trying them out if a good deal came along as every company has hiccups every now and again, but it looks like the poor service level comes from the top down on this one. Good luck with your dispute, although I doubt you'll have any issues with the proof you have.

[Cleaner44]

My name is Ian Clay I'm the president of Westminster Mint. We are human and people make mistakes. It seems to me that people here have already offered to correct our mistake, so I don't know why you are posting on this forum. If you contact me and make your name known to me I will make sure things are settled to your satisfaction.

It might be helpful if you made your phone and email available.

[southfork]

If it seems to good to be true, it normally is, something is always lacking, they got me once, never again.

[newmisty]

Same here unfortunately.

[Dude]

Do be a dear and pass the poupon. This grizzly is absolutely grizzly.

[Dawg]

Somehow I think Mr Clay will not be responding anymore. I have never done business with them, nor will I after the comment he made. Pretty dumb on his part.

[Argentum47]

I totally agree. If that's his view on how to treat customers concerns, he would never get my business.

[slammin86]

well the dispute has been filed and for now the amount credited back to my card.

lesson learned I suppose.

[bulloncoins]

My name is Ian Clay I'm the president of Westminster Mint. We are human and people make mistakes. It seems to me that people here have already offered to correct our mistake, so I don't know why you are posting on this forum. If you contact me and make your name known to me I will make sure things are settled to your satisfaction.

Why did you post on the forum Mr. Clay? Seems to me you are trying to watch out for your company and it's reputation.

The origianl poster was watching out for other members here. (We tend to do that.)

Guess who made the better impression on the folks here?

I would bet your attitude just cost you many potential customers.

Your website says you offer the highest level of customer service in the industry, and fast delivery of your metals.

Your post above might as well say...STFU, we made a mistake, but we don't want you telling anyone...

He posted on this site because this is America and he can...just like you can come here and whine about him doing so on your first post here.

[Irons]

Wow, wild thread.
Another reminder to always do business in person when possible.

BINGO Mr Scrooge.

[Argentium]

I've bought several times from Westminster a couple years ago, don't recall any problems. Just checked their website for Ag bullion products and their prices seem competitive. They appear to have plenty of inventory. I don't remember why I stopped buying from them, perhaps there was an issue with slow shipping?

[ian clay]

Westminster Mint has over 100,000 active bullion accounts. I asked the person posting on this site to contact me and I would resolve their issue to their satisfaction. As of today I have heard nothing further regarding this matter. We are sorry that on this occassion the order did not work out for the customer. The experience this customer had with our company is the exception and not the rule. We do our best to provide a good service and fair prices to anyone who wants to buy or sell silver.

[Cleaner44]

Westminster Mint has over 100,000 active bullion accounts. I asked the person posting on this site to contact me and I would resolve their issue to their satisfaction. As of today I have heard nothing further regarding this matter. We are sorry that on this occassion the order did not work out for the customer. The experience this customer had with our company is the exception and not the rule. We do our best to provide a good service and fair prices to anyone who wants to buy or sell silver.

Interesting that you say this, but I have seen other forums where you have had this same conversation. Chasing down people sharing their misery of using your company seems to happen too much. Are you training your employees as much as you are complaining to customers for sharing their stories?

Also, are you making your contact info available?

[Cleaner44]

Hey Ian, do you still employ the person responsible for this mess?

...Way back in August, when it was so hot that you couldn't pick a dime off the pavement without burning your fingers, Mr. Takacs placed an order with the Westminster Mint...

...What followed was six months of confusion and disappointment as he made numerous calls to Westminster, which continued to claim that it's Florida outfit never received his package, even though the United States Postal Service had ironclad proof that it did -- on Sept. 4, 2010, at 9:39 a.m.

Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/...#ixzz1M9vUZBWw

[slammin86]

Westminster Mint has over 100,000 active bullion accounts. I asked the person posting on this site to contact me and I would resolve their issue to their satisfaction. As of today I have heard nothing further regarding this matter. We are sorry that on this occassion the order did not work out for the customer. The experience this customer had with our company is the exception and not the rule. We do our best to provide a good service and fair prices to anyone who wants to buy or sell silver.

Did you give me your contact number? Did you pm me any information? Did you provide me an email?

No, no, no.

All you did was try to insult me and make me feel bad about posting this thread in the first place. You did not try to resolve anything. I am still waiting on a phone call from the guy who was going to call me late last week with tracking info. At first I was holding my breath...but then I passed out. I will not hold my breath any longer.

[Scorpio]

slammin,

Please provide your info to the person responding, or he cannot help resolve the situation?????

Give the guy a chance to make it right with you????

Gracias'

Scorp

[ian clay]

You posted earlier that you had disputed the order with your credit card company and they had resolved the issue. In this case there is little else I can help you with other than to offer an appology.

[slammin86]

You posted earlier that you had disputed the order with your credit card company and they had resolved the issue. In this case there is little else I can help you with other than to offer an appology.

Sent you a pm with my name if you want to look into this further.

[ian clay]

Did you not get my responses. We credited the funds to your card. I was expecting you to post this.

[ian clay]

I replied to your PM informing you that we had issued a credit to your card. Please call your card company and they will confirm the transaction.

[Usury]

Hmmm....I recently placed an order with them. I might have thought twice had I seen this post first, but I'll reserve my judgment until I see how mine turns out.

[Argentium]

I used to buy fairly often from Westminister a couple of years ago, then stopped. I can't remember exactly why, perhaps it was lack of inventory? I've been buying from Provident lately, but decided to do some shopping around on the last dip. I placed an order with WM and my total cost was a few cents lower than Provident and I got my order within a week! What's not to like there?

They still have a rather limited number of bullion products and most of their bars are their own hallmark. However, the quality of the bars that I bought were quite acceptable.

On the same day, I made a small test buy from Goldmart. Pricing was good, but I haven't received the bullion yet.

[Oz Waver]

Hey Ian,

Poorly handled, perhaps your company should hire a PR representative to deal with this kind of thing.

We have just witnessed a customer in good faith get put through the ringer. Both your staff and yourself had multiple opportunities to redress the issue and the response from yourself was below substandard to be polite.

I would unhesitatingly overlook Westminster Mint for any purchases. As to the other poster saying that WM has over 100,000 accounts, so what? Enron had how many accounts? What about Kitco now (we don't know on this one now do we)? Or the failed banks? It means little to me to have a business if a customer can be treated so poorly.

Scorp,

I agree that an opportunity should be given and was. Unfortunately for the customer it was unsuccessful and for all the troubles he simply got his money back after he filed with the Credit Card company. Hardly proactive and best service from the pushy up sell to what we have witness from Ian on this thread.

They need a PR and better staff training.

[Snow]

This thread is insane.

[Oz Waver]

So I was thinking who is WM and wanted to do some research because I was still surprised by the response of Ian.

So, I typed in Westminster Mi... and the 3rd google search option was "Westminster mint scam".... so I indulged and hit it.

Not a flattering result, a lot of unhappy people with the way they conduct themselves, complaints appear to be legitimate and consistent.

[j-son]

I ordered today from them before I read this thread.
hope it goes smoothly for me.they told me I can return anything for a full refund within 60 days of receiving the item without any restocking fees.