Royal Mint 1oz Somme coin mintage increase...

[richo]

Hi,

Did anybody else notice that with this coin, which seems to have been a smash hit over the last 10 days, that when it rapidly got to 90% sold out on the stated mintage of 1,916 in the presentation (4K total), that suddenly the mintage doubled to 4K in the presentation and 6k total. I thought this was really poor.

I complained and they said it was a marketing department typo/mistake... I pointed out strange how just as the mintage changed/increased it went out of stock until late July. Didn't get an answer on that one sadly.

Noted below is what it changed to on Monday 4th July after a near weekend sell out. The bottom picture is what most people bought on good faith on and the information that remained on the site right up to 'over 90% sold' on Monday morning, which is when the update occurred. 

The whole incident left me rather disappointed and upset as the original mintage looked a very deliberate choice. I know of several other collectors who felt the same way.

 

[Scuzzle]

All sounds a bit off, many of us choose what coint to purchase by picking out low mintage and to choose this then actually buy it only to have the Mint move the goalposts is out of order.

[sovereignsteve]

Yes piss poor, but what do you expect from a money making machine that cares not a jot for it's customers.

[Paul]

Well if collectors keep returning, time and after, year after year, issue after issue despite having done this same shady practices in the past why is anybody surprised?

"If you always do, what you've always done, you'll always get , what you've always got"

Vote with your wallet and don't be a customer of theirs and simple you don't get ripped of or disapointed or told your £100 coin is not actually worth £100 like we said it was.

[richo]

Is anybody aware of other cases where they have upped mintage on coins after they have been either marketed or sold on lower mintage information? Somebody suggested to me this may have occurred before on the 2014 5 Oz silver Brittania and the 2014 50 for 50? I don't know how to check this though so cannot confirm.

Interestingly, I did some digging on consumer law here, and it's not just a civil / trading standards type matter, if you are proved to have deliberately misled customers it's actually a criminal offence. Of course in the instance I have highlighted, they have advised me it was a mistake.

And yes, I cancelled my order because I felt I was clearly misled.

[sovereignsteve]

Exactly, it would take some proving that it was deliberate, although I would have thought internal emails and other docs could easily do this if a proper investigation were to take place.

[MickB]

Has anyone had any leaflets sent through the post of this coin showing the mintage figures?

Can't see how they would be able to get it wrong twice if a leaflet shows it at a lower mintage as well.

Solid evidence against them if there is a leaflet or booklet to quote them on as well!

[daz]

39 minutes ago, richo said:

Is anybody aware of other cases where they have upped mintage on coins after they have been either marketed or sold on lower mintage information? Somebody suggested to me this may have occurred before on the 2014 5 Oz silver Brittania and the 2014 50 for 50? I don't know how to check this though so cannot confirm.

Interestingly, I did some digging on consumer law here, and it's not just a civil / trading standards type matter, if you are proved to have deliberately misled customers it's actually a criminal offence. Of course in the instance I have highlighted, they have advised me it was a mistake.

And yes, I cancelled my order because I felt I was clearly misled.

Yes they did do something similar with the 2014  and other coins since , they  initially give the mintage as one figure then after a while say that is the mintage for that  set in particular packaging and the actual coin mintage can end up thousands more than you first thought. It's very misleading and a regular thing with rm

[sovereignsteve]

Sounds like tey're getting cocky and immune from the law. Wish someone come come up with some solid evidence to report them with.

[HelpingHands]

Screen grab the mintages on the 2016 proof Brits.  They seem a bit low to me and could be nudged up.

[richo]

Good shout. I noticed the 1/4 Oz Gold Britannia was very low at just 730, normally the sovereign for example is 2,500. I will be watching that one closely.