Royal Mint bullion quality issues

[paulmerton]

I just saw this blog post from silvertrader who bought 1,000 silver Britannias and ended up returning them all due to bad scuffing, only to have the same coins sent back to him a month later. There are some other damning things worth reading in the post: https://www.silvertrader.uk/royal-mint-quality-controll-has-no-standards/

Has anyone else had these kind of problems? I remember someone on the forum returning a single coin that was arguably in a better state and they got it swapped without any problems.

Sure, there will be the "but it's only bullion" brigade, but I don't believe such badly scuffed coins like Martin received are acceptable when they're supposed to be of a similar quality to brilliant uncirculated coins (Royal Mint's own description). Maybe they're doing it on purpose to make people more accepting of scratches and dings on their proof coins 🤣

[modofantasma]

I've had silver Brits turn up in various states fresh out of the tube and generally not good. 2021 brits for eg had milky marks (I think it was still 2020 when I got them) 

[modofantasma]

My 2 oz bullion tudor lions are all great condition though which I was genuinely surprised about. I ordered extra to hopefully end up with at least had a few nice ones 

[dicker]

This is where buying from a good dealer pays dividends. In my experience anyway.  

[GoldDiggerDave]

Read the link and it’s similar to trying to get a refund from them, you have to go round in circles until you kick off then they do something about it. 
 

it’s a nonsense that being polite and patient with them get you nowhere fast.

x blaming y,  y is on holiday so you need x who then puts you back into y but y needs to speak to their manager.  I’m sure it’s a ware down tactic to make you keep the coins.   
 

either we all put up with it or all keep sending the stuff back until they get it right. 

 

[Pete]

I found the quality decline of silver bullion from the RM started with their first issue of 999 silver Brits in 2013.
Until then the Britannia silver coins were excellent but as soon as they cranked out the pure silver variety scuffs, abrasions and dings were a serious problem.
Some commentators blamed the abrasions by rubbing in tubes but my first 2013 Brits were in flat sheets so each coin was inside a flimsy plastic cell.
I ordered a few hundred and I would say 90% were badly scuffed on the Queen's cheek.
At the same time the usual eBay business sellers were adding a warning about marks and scuffs in their descriptions.
As the year progressed they got much better.
Currently however a lot of their coins ( I have multiples of Queens Beasts ) have lots of small milk spots.
Compare this with e.g. the Perth Mint or American Mints where it is extremely rare to receive a bullion coin that isn't MS69 at least.


 

[LawrenceChard]

3 hours ago, paulmerton said:

I just saw this blog post from silvertrader who bought 1,000 silver Britannias and ended up returning them all due to bad scuffing, only to have the same coins sent back to him a month later. There are some other damning things worth reading in the post: https://www.silvertrader.uk/royal-mint-quality-controll-has-no-standards/

 

I took a quick look at SilverTrader's blog post:

ROYAL MINT QUALITY CONTROLL HAS NO STANDARDS

But that was as far as I got!

😎

Edited May 2, 2022 by LawrenceChard

[Pete]

Having now read Martin's account of RM lack of QC and customer care I am speechless and very sympathetic to him as he is a great source of nice coins.
I also know some dealers that would just pass them on regardless.

[BullionBuyerUK]

I noticed last month that he has some little John coins heavily reduced on his website, as he states "these coins are bad, even for royal mint stanards". Not good if your a small dealer just trying to make a living.

But I will say ever item I've ever ordered from him have been in a brilliant condition 

[kimchi]

Wow, great blog post, thanks for posting!

Did anyone else know that the Mint have a production facility in the US??? Never heard that before.

[kimchi]

1 hour ago, LawrenceChard said:

I took a quick look at SilverTraders blog post:

ROYAL MINT QUALITY CONTROLL HAS NO STANDARDS

But that was as far as I got!

😎

Could you give it a rest please Lawrence? You dropped an apostrophe here. Almost all your posts have a typo or a grammatical error. It's getting tiresome imvho to have you picking up on others for similar errors.

[LawrenceChard]

31 minutes ago, kimchi said:

Could you give it a rest please Lawrence? You dropped an apostrophe here. Almost all your posts have a typo or a grammatical error. It's getting tiresome imvho to have you picking up on others for similar errors.

I don't mind being corrected.

I do also find a lot of my own typos, but miss some.

As the blog was about quality control, it's actually someone else picking up on the RM's errors.

😎

[bluffer]

its not just PM.  I finally got my 2022 base metal proof set after 9 ish weeks despite it being in stock at the time of ordering.  open up the "book" and the acryllic case lid on one side was off.  not just loose but actually off. 

 

was tempted to take a photo of it and the ahem qc sticker on the carboard box and ask for comments.  but knew nothing would actually happen so didnt boter.

[LawrenceChard]

16 minutes ago, bluffer said:

its not just PM.  I finally got my 2022 base metal proof set after 9 ish weeks despite it being in stock at the time of ordering.  open up the "book" and the acryllic case lid on one side was off.  not just loose but actually off. 

was tempted to take a photo of it and the ahem qc sticker on the carboard box and ask for comments.  but knew nothing would actually happen so didnt boter.

It probably is right to do so, and let them know, even if it's a PITA. They may log the problems, then fix or improve them. Sure, they also may not, but they definitely won't if they don't know because nobody complains.

I / we would rather receive a complaint so we can put it right, rather than never know.

Of course, we would prefer not to receive complaints because we were perfect, but in the real world it's difficult to hit perfection, and there are also external factors, such as a delivery service not doing their job.

[TeaTime]

I too received a year set where the coins were loose in the packaging - They are basically a set of BU coins placed in a pre-formed plastic sleeve and then sealed in a cardboard folder. Two of the coins were not visible because they had either moved when the packaging was sealed or had been thrown in with no regard for where they ended up. The coins were ok but i had to destroy the packaging to get to them.

This was so obvious that i can only think that either there is absolutely no quality control (one half-second glance would be enough to notice two of the coins were not visible) or it was done deliberately by a disgruntled employee. I have never known RM quality to be this poor.

It's also been two months since i ordered my Britannia one ounce two-coin set - when i see people posting pictures of their new coins that were released last week i really have to wonder what the hell is going on with this company. I sincerely hope that whoever is managing this shambles is held accountable.

[LawrenceChard]

21 hours ago, kimchi said:

Wow, great blog post, thanks for posting!

Did anyone else know that the Mint have a production facility in the US??? Never heard that before.

Someone told me they had a US production facility, but it was ambiguous.

😎

[Stuntman]

Well the typo in the Silvertrader blog post headline has now been corrected, at least.

As to RM QC - in my fairly limited experience (about 20 coins and bars) direct from them, the QC is a lottery but the majority of the products that I have received have been OK.  Some have been perfect (or virtually so), some have arrived with a few small flaws that I can live with, and I think there were 3 that I had to return for a replacement.   On all 3 occasions it took multiple emails and/or posts on their facebook page before they actually pulled their finger out.

Echoing @dicker, I agree that you generally get a better quality item when you purchase from a reputable bullion dealer.  But as we have previously discussed, sometimes the RM is the only source of the item you want, at the time that you want it.

Edited May 3, 2022 by Stuntman
replacement, not refund. I still wanted the items!

[dicker]

1 hour ago, LawrenceChard said:

Someone told me they had a US production facility, but it was ambiguous.

😎

I had not heard that.

To save all the fuss, they should just ship the dies to Perth (from where the Silver blanks are sourced) and get them to do the job properly!

 

[LawrenceChard]

18 minutes ago, dicker said:

I had not heard that.

To save all the fuss, they should just ship the dies to Perth (from where the Silver blanks are sourced) and get them to do the job properly!

 

I suspect that you missed my double entendre!

😎

[dicker]

I did.  One over on me @LawrenceChard!

[MancunianStacker]

I’m currently not buying from Royal Mint just dealers

[kimchi]

On 03/05/2022 at 18:42, LawrenceChard said:

Someone told me they had a US production facility, but it was ambiguous.

😎

Well, now Lawrence, you present me with quite the problem here, as I have no idea what you mean, due to your horrendous writing!

Is this post still part of a (presumably) quoted passage that you never used punctuation to indicate was closed?

If so, will it ever be closed? Will the circle be unbroken, as Johnny Cash so movingly and adeptly, put it?

Is 'Someone' a friend/colleague/acquaintance? A strange name, perhaps, but then, recalling the likes of Man Friday, we all do our best I'm sure

Likewise (or, rather, contrariwise), have you failed to capitalise 'ambiguous' here? Is it in fact a person (possibly gender unknown)?

Oh! The mess one might leave behind, when one leaves (departs, flies, rejects) common sense in English, whereupon should art be only one's behind!

Anyway! Got any cheap Sovs for me at the moment codger?

[LawrenceChard]

13 minutes ago, kimchi said:

Well, now Lawrence, you present me with quite the problem here, as I have no idea what you mean, due to your horrendous writing!

Is this post still part of a (presumably) quoted passage that you never used punctuation to indicate was closed?

If so, will it ever be closed? Will the circle be unbroken, as Johnny Cash so movingly and adeptly, put it?

Is 'Someone' a friend/colleague/acquaintance? A strange name, perhaps, but then, recalling the likes of Man Friday, we all do our best I'm sure

Likewise (or, rather, contrariwise), have you failed to capitalise 'ambiguous' here? Is it in fact a person (possibly gender unknown)?

Oh! The mess one might leave behind, when one leaves (departs, flies, rejects) common sense in English, whereupon should art be only one's behind!

Anyway! Got any cheap Sovs for me at the moment codger?

"US" is often used as slang for "useless", so having a US production facility has two possible meanings.

😎

I don't know what cheap sovereigns we have in stock at present, which is possibly good as I often know about things which are good, bad, or different, as distinct from "normal".

I do know we have been getting new RM bullion products much more quickly since March / April, which is both good and different.

 

[Shell]

Erm...buy from Coin Connection? They slap a mark up on the price but at least they are QCed and may actually be a 70. Thing is though, they have been bombarded by people demanding 70 coins...

 

[Shell]

And another thing. I have only bought two coins this year and not from the RM. IMHO the designs/visual quality are not very good this year. I do not even bother to keep a keen track anymore...