In which a mix-up means I get higher-quality Stuff

[pne]

We get these little booklets irregularly with little postcards bound together, each from some company offering something or other—from cars over lingerie to credit offers.

A while back, we got two booklets in close succession (from different companies), each of which had a postcard from a coin seller: one offered a set of Cypriot euro coins for 5 euros and the other a set of Maltese euro coins, also for 5 euros.

So I thought that instead of sending off both postcards (and potentially paying for S&H twice), I thought I'd call them instead and try to order them over the phone.

The lady on the phone asked me for one of the two discount codes (she could only enter one per order) and the item numbers and said I'd only have to pay S&H once. She did say I might have to wait several weeks as there was quite a long waiting list.

Fast forward about five weeks: coins arrive, together with an invoice. Oops, I don't have any money left in my account as something unexpected had come up a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, the invoice isn't due for another couple of weeks so I decide to wait until a bit closer to "payday".

Then the other day, while putting a book away, I take out the thing I'd used as a bookmark, and it was the original postcards—and find that I was supposed to pay 5 euros for each set, yet they billed me 11 euros for each set! (I hadn't remembered the original price when I opened the invoice. But 12.95 sounds like something I'd have taken advantage of more readily than 24.94.)

So I called them this morning (Stella said the phone call shouldn't take too long, or the cost of the phone call would eat up my savings), and the lady on the phone looked up the order by my customer number and said that because there are so many people currently after Maltese and Cypriot euro coins, they had made a mistake taking or filling my order, and had mistakenly sent me better-quality coins than I had ordered. (The ones I got are in a little cardboard booklet with each coin in an individual plastic capsule) and are in "Stempelglanz" quality, which Wikipedia tells me is "Brilliant uncirculated" in English; the ones I ordered were apparently simply coins out of a regular roll.)

At any rate, she offered to settle the issue like this: just take 10 euros off the final total and send them 14.94. That's two euros more than I "should" have to pay, but I end up with higher-quality merchandise and neither they nor I have to go through the hassle of returning them. Sounds like a fair deal.

Comments

[otana.livejournal.com]

I hate to sound like a cynic, but are you sure she's not trying to pull the wool over your eyes and get you to pay more by thinking you got something better than you anticipated? I guess if you're happy with the purchase then that's what's important, I'm just wondering if they didn't do the same thing to every customer and see how many noticed.

[pne.livejournal.com]

It's possible, but given that the face value of the coins is already €3.88, €5 is so cheap that it wouldn't surprise me if that really doesn't include the little cardboard thingy etc. and you're just paying for the privilege of having a full set of a small country that you'd otherwise have more difficulty laying your hands on, and paying effectively €6 per set doesn't worry me enough to care.

(The invoice also says that the regular price for what they sent me is €40 for one set and €50 for the other or thereabouts IIRC. I have no idea whether that's really what they regularly charge but it wouldn't surprise me now that I've learned what coins cost, despite what they're worth. Or, as we found out after visiting an expert with our coin collection, "the only person who earns money on collecting coins is the company that sells them to the marks^H^H^H^H^Hcollectors".)

[anicca-anicca.livejournal.com]

Exactly. It's a sham. They rely on people's honesty. I'd pay for what I'd ordered and not even comment on the different amount on the invoice.

[elgrande.livejournal.com]

This seems all the likelier to me because most people will send off the card with the price and then virtually have to trust the invoice and accept the price put on it.

[elgrande.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait_and_switch