The London Mint Office - scam?

DCFC79

Angielahaha wrote: »

http://www.freeweddingcoin.co.uk/?utm_source=LMO_HF&utm_medium=Promobox_Banner&utm_campaign=92009712

Why post the same link twice ?

Angielahaha

Because when I tried the first one it didn!!!8217;t work and being relatively new to posting on here I didn!!!8217;t know how to remove the original

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Angielahaha wrote: »

I didn!!!8217;t know anything about this company before requesting my free coin with £2.50 postage. It was advertised on TV. Why would I think they were anything but reputable?

Because they are selling royal souvenirs. It's the the equivalent of knocking on pensioners doors and insisting their roof needs mending for £15,000. Nobody in that business is reputable.

Angielahaha

Thanks for the heads up! !!!55357;!!!56842;

Angielahaha

They weren!!!8217;t selling. It was free plus £2.50 postage!

codger

Angielahaha wrote: »

I didn!!!8217;t know anything about this company before requesting my free coin with £2.50 postage. It was advertised on TV. Why would I think they were anything but reputable?

It's a strange company that would think of setting up a pseudo-website via which to entice business, but this one has: freeweddingcoin.co.uk. It's also a strange company that would bury its name at the bottom of that proxy site's webpage as far removed as possible from the preposterous guff about "our gift to the nation". But this one has.

Sadly, alarm bells ring only to those who are able to hear them. Not everyone does.

You therefore need to keep this so-called "coin" as a souvenir not of a Royal Wedding but as a reminder that lunch is never free. Don't feel bad about it though; you're far from alone in taking on trust the word of third parties who appear to be as honest and straightforward as you are yourself. There's no shame in that.

As to this bizarre photographic "gift to the nation", it's merely a sales effort to entice said nation into gifting to said company a mass of detail about individuals whose trust can if so required be thereafter abused and their naivety exploited.

It is not as if this outfit is backward about coming forwards. Its very first dealing with you has seemingly resulted in an attempt to extract more than double the amount you thought you would need to pay. If a business gives every appearance of trying to gouge a customer over a sum as measly as £2.50p, can you imagine what such a business might attempt to do when a considerably higher sum is in play?

As for wrangling over an unexpected £3.95p, you need to ask yourself if such is worth the bother or if it's better to write off that amount as the cost of the proverbial barge-pole with which you will not in future touch The London Mint Office.

You also need -- if you haven't already done so -- to look carefully at the company's 'Privacy Policy' (the link to which features on the our-gift-to-the-nation website page) to satisfy yourself that you have not compromised your identity in any meaningful way.

Finally. . . whilst it is perfectly legal for companies to data-mine wherever they can, it is also perfectly legal to block any such efforts by using an Internet browser suitably equipped with protective defences. Firefox with standard free add-ons such as Privacy Badger and uBlock Origin is the choice of many, but there are plenty of alternatives out there.

Angielahaha

All!!!8217;s well that ends well. Having written to LMO to complain, I have now received the following

!!!8220;Good Morning Angela

Thank you for getting in touch.

Please accept my apologies that you had been incorrectly charged for postage. As a gesture of goodwill we have arranged for the full amount, including the £2.50 postage to be removed from your account. Please keep the coin for free with our compliments.!!!8221;

Don!!!8217;t get me wrong, I certainly will not be dealing with them again but I am savvy enough not to give up at the first hurdle and I think I came out of it relatively unscathed.

I shall certainly check their privacy policy to ensure I have not been compromised in any way.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

You could have had a better outcome - they might have asked for the coin back. Send it back to them anyway and if you are lucky, they might keep it.

codger

Angela: I take it, you have noted the wording of London Mint office's response?

Please accept my apologies that you had been incorrectly charged for postage. As a gesture of goodwill we have arranged for the full amount, including the £2.50 postage to be removed from your account.

What account?

Deleting a sum erroneously charged for from an invoice is one thing.

Deleting a sum erroneously charged for from an. . . account, quite another.

If you think being an account holder with London Mint Office is A Good Idea, we-ell . . . your decision. Then again, if you never knew you actually had a customer. .. account with this company, best get it sorted ASAP.

Ronsky

As a plumber, they called me to do a job.....it’s just a glorified scrap yard... with dustbin upon dustbin full of blank coin cut outs..... security was pretty lax.... you knew everything was tat just by looking at the display cabinets.....