Heritage auction win lost~anyone else in the same boat?

[KAIZER SA 10]

hi All

 

My heritage auction win is either stolen or lost by very well known courier company. POOF...disappeared...

would like to know if anyone else is in the same boat as me? maybe there is some criminal syndicate going on in this company ?so i just want to find out if anyone else has same problems?

i am tired of international shipping risks.things will never come right.

 

regards

indran

[Guest Guest]

Indran,

Which courier company are you referring to? There's quite a few well-known ones,especially D.H.L. & FEDEX.

 

Aidan.

[KAIZER SA 10]

hi aidan

 

i will let you know the name after the investigation is completed and my claim against them has run its course.

also am not sure if forum rules permit publication of names?

 

keep in touch

regards

indran

[coinoisseur 11]

Its absolute nonsense. When major auction houses start dictating which courier service to use, then you are going to have problems. You are the buyer and you should be responsible for the shipping. As a buyer you should have the choice of which company to use. The biggest problem with Heritage is, they stipulate the full amount of the sale on the packge.

 

1. Its bound to end up at customs

2. With the high value on it, your package is definately a target for theft both internal and external of the freight company.

 

So whats the answer to this....

 

1. Carry on bidding and hope the package gets to you safely

2. South Africans stop bidding with the hope of them changing the postage rules.

3. Have them post your coins a someone in the USA and then arrange your own freight

4. Fly over and bid on the coins and then pick them up yourself and fly back.

 

Indran I sympathise with you bru..... I am hoping the the investigation will prove fruitful and that the package just fell of the shelf and will be found.

 

Not sure about a syndicate! I havent heard of any other parcels being lost or stolen... but hey, anything is possible and this must not be overlooked.... I hope Jaco Van Tonder is not working from the inside... ha ha

 

Cheers

[Guest Guest]

Anthony,

A lot of mail disappears en-route even within America.I had someone who was an expatriate Sri Lankan living in America who posted a set of the new Sri Lankan coins shortly after they came out.The first time around,it was returned to them,but they were repacked & sent to me,but,unfortunately,they never got to me,nor did the sender get the coins back.

 

The ironic thing is,the sender DID put their return address on the envelope!

 

I've also had one package disappear for good en-route from Melbourne,Australia to here in New Zealand.I can get mail from England within 2 weeks,yet,it can take up to a month to receive something in the mail from Australia.

 

Some postal administrations are now riddled with corruption.I wouldn't be too surprised if New Zealand Post ends up that way.Yes,I've even had mail disappear for good even within New Zealand - in one case,even sent within Wellington itself!

 

Aidan.

[coinoisseur 11]

from what I know this package was release from customs in South Africa and the freight company have stated that they have mislaid it in their warehouse. So the package did arrive, it did clear customs but somehow got convienantly mislaid with the freight company.

[KAIZER SA 10]

hi,

 

you get no help from heritage,their only reply is to file a claim with courier company.they absolve themselves from all risk.

and they say when it comes to shipping,"they work with the rules that govern them".

sorry but those yanks,thats why i am depressed and the whole world is in depression.

ONE other thing that is very fishy,when you track the parcel on the net,it shows delivered status.but the address it reflects is the courier company's warehouse in joberg.

[Guest Guest]

Indran,

It sounds like you have to actually physically go to the courier company's warehouse in Johannesburg.

 

Take along any documentation,such as a confirmation of arrival sheet,along with the tracking number.

 

Let us know how you get on.

 

Aidan.

[Invinci 10]

Hi Indran

 

Maybe this will help in the future, i truly hope so. The way i do it when i bid on Heritage, is

 

1) I request that i chose the courier company which i have an account with (in my case FEDEX)

2) That the invoice must not be included in the parcel

 

Instead, i leave on file with FEDEX instructions that any parcel arriving in my or my companies name must be flagged as it arrives in S.A at customs so taht i am notified to supply the original documentation.

 

The benefit to this is that my parcel never travels with documentation indicating the declared value, which minimises the chance of it being stolen en route. Instead it appears as a normal parcel. Only once the item arrives at customs am i called and to which i supply the original invoice to management at FEDEX who then send this over to customs, for release of the parcel.

 

I know this is a bit of late information, but hopefully a few less parcels will be stolen because of this.

 

Best of luck, i had a parcel go missing when a seller sent an item via Speed Services the other day when they had a strike on 28th Jan. It just seems no courier company is immune to this.

 

Kind Regards

8) Invinci 8)

[coinoisseur 11]

Good advice......... hopefully everyone who bids overseas will take note...

 

 

Cheers

[4kids 10]

Guys,

 

I know of two other local collectors in JHB who uses Fedex that had their parcels Lost/Stolen in the last month...

[KAIZER SA 10]

thanks danilo,

 

will keep that in mind !

 

cheers!

[Guest]

I Battled more than a month to get my Parcel cleared by fedex.

 

It were from Heritage,

and worht close to ( A Huge amount)

And including an 1893 ½ pond which I withdrew as a consignment item.

 

It were scary

 

I stopped buying ever since.

[alloway65 10]

I find FedEx excellent for bringing coins in from the USA, however it still takes a month or so to clear SA Customs even with all the correct paperwork in place....very frustrating...but what can one do

[Diamond Merchants 10]

Message

alloway65 Posted: 17 Feb 2009 08:09 Post subject:

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I find FedEx excellent for bringing coins in from the USA, however it still takes a month or so to clear SA Customs even with all the correct paperwork in place....very frustrating...but what can one do

 

 

the banker Posted: 16 Feb 2009 23:13 Post subject:

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I Battled more than a month to get my Parcel cleared by fedex.

 

It were from Heritage,

and worht close to ( A Huge amount)

And including an 1893 ½ pond which I withdrew as a consignment item.

 

It were scary

 

I stopped buying ever since.

 

 

Hi Guys,

 

I had a parcel recently stopped by customs. It was inspected at FEDEX's JHB warehouse next to the airport. My entire consignment of diamonds valued at R100000 was swopped during the exam. The items werent insured due to the value reflecting on the waybill. I still had to pay duty and vat before the parcel was released to me, but at thta stage I obviously was unaware of what had transpired.

 

I lodged a claim but unfortunately the camera could only catch the back of the inspectors. The could have put it in their top pockets without been noticed. We have a license to import diamonds but the theft in this country makes international trade a lot more difficult.

 

Kindest Regards

Thameez

[alloway65 10]

Thats horrendous, its unfortunate the cameras are always in the wrong place or not working....I think this is done purposly!

David :twisted:

[Diamond Merchants 10]

Hi Alloway65,

 

The sad thing is that FEDEX will never accept that there staff are involved in theft. The parcel subsequent to that was reported missing between JHB and Durban. I found it in the Durban warehouse unscanned!!

 

its unfortunate the cameras are always in the wrong place or not working....I think this is done purposly!

 

I definitely agree. Hope something is done soon with these courier thefts...

[Guest Guest]

Diamond Merchants,

This is what I think that thieves deserve;

 

User banned - Admin

 

Need I say more?

 

Aidan.

[Diamond Merchants 10]

The thieves are protected by the companies they work for. Its a crime ridden country that we live in, and we cant create employment if we get robbed all the time. Its a ripple effect.

 

Hope Indran finds his coins. Sometimes items hold a sentimental value that the thief will never discover. I juts cant phatom the mentality.

 

Thank you for your contributions.

 

Regards

Thameez

[Cold Sea 6]

You know, this ain't right. I don't care how much they tell me that RSA's not the only one , US and UK and NZ etc all have problems. It frustrates the **** out of me. Theft and bad management is one and the same.

 

Then we can get on to the subject of "numismatists". What makes a person an authority in this field. A suit case dealer, a registered dealer, or a flea market dealer. Who is the real deal. Amateur sellers pretending to be "numismatists"? Are we involved with salesmen, thieves and con artists.

 

Like my friend, who knows nothing about collecting coins, and accompanied me to the most recent coin fair, said to me afterwards:" You know, nobody looked me in the eye"

 

Maybe customs and fedex ain't the only ones.

[Guest Guest]

A couple of years ago there was some heated discussion on BoB about items from JHBG INT MAIL CENTRE disappearing in the mail with many sharing their stories.

 

Apparently, after things got better for a while thieving hands are once again running rampant at WITSPOS and Joburg's International Mail Section.

 

Nearly two months ago I purchased five cased Mandelas through BoB from a very reliable seller. The tracking facility at South African Post shows the item arriving in perfect condition at WITSPOS at 5.57pm BUT just ten minutes later at WITSPOS suddenly being noted as a "damaged item".

You can see for yourself using the tracking code: RD313633747ZA

 

The next day (10 March 2010) it went to JHB INT MAIL CENTRE and then simply disappeared!

If one interprets the tracking...

 

Item arrives at WITSPOS after close of business in perfect condition. Someone at WITSPOS decides to open the parcel because it looks like valuable coins under the scanner (officially used to identify dangerous goods in letters and parcels travelling overseas). Slabbed coins removed from envelope which is now noted as a "DAMAGED ITEM" and sent on its merry way after the coins have been pocketed by the worker.

 

The opened envelope arrives at JHB INT MAIL CENTRE and is withdrawn because it has clearly been tampered with.

 

What I do know is that the envelope never left South Africa because the tracking number was never recorded this side of the Indian Ocean.

 

The seller is now launching an investigation - it will be interesting to see just what the outcome is especially as the 2010 World Cup approaches.

 

My advice to sellers when packing valuable items like coins to overseas buyers is to use aluminium foil to wrap around and hide the shape of the coin from scanners. Then use cardboard sheets on either side or a thin book/booklet to mask its shape.

 

When sellers have used this simple strategy I have always received my coin purchases because the scanner does not pick up the shape of coins which thieving hands are obviously looking for.

 

And none of my many book purchases from BoB or book sellers in South Africa have been intercepted.

 

Kind regards

 

Scott Balson

[eZethu Coins 10]

Both those centers remain problems unfortunately. What is however more frustrating is following the claim procedure. They stole a parcel that I send in December last year. I had to wait a month before they would accept a submission of the claim. Then 3 months before I could follow up on the claim - I could only submit a 2nd request yesterday. Now 4 months later the parcel is still missing and no resolve.

 

I seem to recall their motto being "We deliver whatever it takes" - doesn't seem to have anything to do with what they really do. I can accept the odd incident, but incompetence has never been my favorite.

[Linka 11]

I think they should say " We deliver whatever we don't take " :D:D

[alloway65 10]

"We deliver whatever it takes"

 

Letters and packages excluded!

 

To be honest since I got involved on BoB with sending and receiving nearly 1000 packages....only two have been lost!

 

I even received a package 4 months after it was sent...had received a replacement by then and had to return it!!!:rolleyes:

[ThomasMueller 10]

 

My advice to sellers when packing valuable items like coins to overseas buyers is to use aluminium foil to wrap around and hide the shape of the coin from scanners. Then use cardboard sheets on either side or a thin book/booklet to mask its shape.

 

When sellers have used this simple strategy I have always received my coin purchases because the scanner does not pick up the shape of coins which thieving hands are obviously looking for.

 

And none of my many book purchases from BoB or book sellers in South Africa have been intercepted.

 

Kind regards

 

Scott Balson

 

Yes, I also was told the trick: just pust a sheet of carbon paper inside the letter so customs can´t detect the coins with a scanner. I tried it and can tell you, it didn´t help.

 

I may tell you how things are cleared up here in Germany. If losses accumulate and there is a suspicious employee of a postal or parcel service, there will be a house search. I one case hundreds of "lost" parcels were founds... Then there will be trial and he will be NEVER working again for a parcel or postal service.