The London Mint Office - scam?

JamoLew

Penurious_Prince said:

NBLondon said:

accorian said:

Such a shame that you've spent all that money, and all those years, deluding yourself into thinking you've been acquiring "coins". Because you haven 't.

The only place in the UK to get real, freshly issued actual "coins" which can, with luck, grow in value is here:

https://www.royalmint.com

Ahem...  They are coins.  They're just not currency or legal tender in  the UK.  These are coins issued by overseas authorities e.g.  Gibraltar.     Or do you think a stamp is not a stamp if it isn't issued by Royal Mail...

So if our magical chum has bought them as props for his act and he got a good price/deal for that purpose - he's doing the money saving thing.  Especially if this is a better deal than getting them from a prop-maker.

Exactly right. Buying novelty or otherwise coins to do magic can cost a small fortune. In fact most magicians go the route of using silver Morgan dollars and they cost a large fortune. Way out of my range. So yes, I am saving money for sure and also able to use coins that pretty much no one else has and the people seem to like a lot.

£25 or so for the common date/mint ones

103daz

Hi everyone.

I've lost quite a bit of worktime today & am going to have to catch up, as I've actually sat & read through the entire thread today, & not only does it make for worrying reading, but I'm also shocked that this company have been allowed to continue for over a decade!!
I'm usually "Mr careful" & i'm usually the one to lecture anyone else about being Especially careful purchasing (& selling) online!!
However !
After seeing a "Sponsored" Facebook add & a coin by who I actually thought was (or had confused with) the "Royal Mint" I seen an introductory offer for a free coin with just £2.50 to pay in P&P so I clicked through to their website & ordered one.
I thought they would just be loss leaders & that they perhaps did it in the hope that they would get further purchases from customers (But Not in the way they appear to do it of course) I accepted that it would take 28 days to arrive as:
1. I expected Huge demand for them to deal with. And
2. That they would then use the cheapest postage method in order to get a little back from the P&P charges.

Then TBH I forgot all about it until I received a call yesterday. The call came up in red as "Potential Fraud!!" If I'm busy I ignore them, but whenever possible I answer these calls with the intention of keeping them on the line for as long as possible in order to waste their time & thus try to reduce the amount of elderly & vulnerable adults that they scam! They lady on the end of the line spoke broken English but I was surprised that she said she was calling about my coin & then asked me to confirm that she was speaking to Mr *first name* *surname* which I did?? She then asked if I had received my coin to which I replied that I had not, but she then tried selling me more coins???
I said that I wasn't prepared to buy more coins & for the following reasons:
1.I only applied for it as the special offer as its a coin I wanted to give to my wife.
2. The fact that I haven't received the one I was supposed to get for free, (& all you have said about it is "Sorry to hear that") & yet you are trying to sell me more coins?? And
3. And probably the most important one, is the Fact that it actually came up on my phone as "Potential Fraud" & I explained the only reason I answer these calls!
The problem is though, when I told her about the Potential Fraud warning, I repeated it, as it just didn't phase her?? She wasn't in the least shocked or surprised & alarm bells started ringing??!!!
So today I googled them but thought that it was "Royal Mint" then thought to myself? Hang on? Was it not Royal London mint now? Then of course I've realised that I've been duped!!
I never dreamt that there would be (what is basically a) Royal Mint copy site/company & I have always thought/assumed that it was illegal for anyone other than the Royal Mint or Bank of England to produce coins/legal tender with the Queens head on because does producing a coin with the queens head on it not amount to forgery or any other type of crime??

Anyway.
My concerns now are that they asked me to confirm that it was me, & that was my number? But I'm guessing the reason was to hopefully asses if I'm a potential good customer for them, & my age etc, as sadly there seems to be a lot of upset/bereaved families finding large (& possibly worthless) coin collections & financial demands/invoices from this company & still billing those whose families have told them have passed.

I guess I'm in for a nightmare of a time & doubt I'll get the free coin but probably a different one with a bill or (as sometimes seems to be the case) even no coins but a bill for another fictitious one not received??  

NBLondon

103daz said:

Hi everyone.

I never dreamt that there would be (what is basically a) Royal Mint copy site/company & I have always thought/assumed that it was illegal for anyone other than the Royal Mint or Bank of England to produce coins/legal tender with the Queens head on because does producing a coin with the queens head on it not amount to forgery or any other type of crime??

The London Mint Office is a dealer/retailer in coins and commemorative medals.   One with some rather dodgy practices.

The coins they sell are produced by other countries/states which have the Queen as Head of State so it is perfectly legal for those authorities to do so.  (Those coins may even physically be made at the Royal Mint in Wales). Those coins may be legal currency/tender in the state that issues them but here in the UK they are collectibles.

Danbury Mint, Franklin Mint, Bradford Exchange and others operate in the same line of business.  Franklin Mint actually used to produce legal coins for small nations  - before they realised that selling tacky Lady Diana plates was more profitable.

p00hsticks

103daz said:

I'm usually "Mr careful" & i'm usually the one to lecture anyone else about being Especially careful purchasing (& selling) online!!

<snip>

After seeing a "Sponsored" Facebook ad

As a careful online purchaser myself, I have a rule never to click on Facebook ads.....

Pollycat

p00hsticks said:

103daz said:

I'm usually "Mr careful" & i'm usually the one to lecture anyone else about being Especially careful purchasing (& selling) online!!

<snip>

After seeing a "Sponsored" Facebook ad

As a careful online purchaser myself, I have a rule never to click on Facebook ads.....

My thoughts exactly when I read that post.

I'll go one step further and say that before I give my money to a company I've never used before, I check them out.
How long they've been in business, where they are based, what their returns policy is. Etc. Etc.

I'm not sure what 103daz means by 'sponsored' ad but some companies are using all sorts of 'celebrities' to advertise various stuff - without their permission.
Even the founder of this website isn't immune...

103daz

Thanks for the replies guys.
It was the fact that I had a bit of a "Brain fog" moment & confused this company with the Royal Mint (which I see various coin collection groups regularly refer to & post links to certain coins, so felt there was no need to check them out (more or less in the same way I wouldn't check out a Gov.uk site when renewing my car tax for example) 100% of the time whenever buying from a company I've never used before I do usually check them out, but a promotion from who I thought was the legit "Mint" company I didn't think necessary.
Anyway.
I sent the following email below (Which has been ignored) 
And what I'm wanting advice on is should I now contact my credit card company or try contacting them in an open post on their Facebook page?
I'm just thinking that they may perhaps Deliberately wait for me to cancel the £2.50 payment, & THEN send out the coin & demand more money??

Anyway, please find said email copied & pasted below. (oh, its past the (Up to 28 days for delivery too which I also should have mentioned in the email)

Hi there.

I am hereby giving in writing that you have 48 hours notice to kindly just refund me the £2.50 P&P!

Failure to respond & I will inform my credit card issuer that I wish to claim the payment back!

Although I don't need to give a reason it is for the following reasons:

1. I received an unsolicited phone call from yourselves trying to sell me More coins when I haven't even received the so-called "Free" one! This phone call came up in red as "POTENTIAL FRAUD" (The Only reason I answer these phone calls is to Deliberately Waste the fraudsters time by reducing the amount of Vulnerable adults who get scammed by these people) the lady spoke broken English & didn't seem in the slightest phased when I informed her that it came up as "POTENTIAL FRAUD" & this sent "Alarm bells ringing??" so

2. I decided to do a bit of searching & quickly realised that I had confused your company with the legitimate company the "Royal Mint"  & found a "Very Long" post on Martin Lewis forum & it makes for Very Shocking reading!!

As a result of these 2 main reasons (amongst Many others when searching the internet) I am hereby placing in writing that I "Do Not" want Any further correspondence (No post, No emails & No phone calls) from your company (or Any other affiliate companies) 

The ONLY exception to this being 1x email to confirm:

1. That you have received my email & acknowledge it!  

2. That you Will be refunding me the £2.50 to my credit card.

3. That I have been Removed from your mailing lists. 

And one last thing.

I do Not give permission to either sell or give, my details to Any other company whatsoever & with for you to Completely remove All information that you hold on me with Imediate effect.

Regards

Mr xxxx

Pollycat

103daz said:

Thanks for the replies guys.
It was the fact that I had a bit of a "Brain fog" moment & confused this company with the Royal Mint (which I see various coin collection groups regularly refer to & post links to certain coins, so felt there was no need to check them out (more or less in the same way I wouldn't check out a Gov.uk site when renewing my car tax for example) 100% of the time whenever buying from a company I've never used before I do usually check them out, but a promotion from who I thought was the legit "Mint" company I didn't think necessary.
Anyway.
I sent the following email below (Which has been ignored) 
And what I'm wanting advice on is should I now contact my credit card company or try contacting them in an open post on their Facebook page?
I'm just thinking that they may perhaps Deliberately wait for me to cancel the £2.50 payment, & THEN send out the coin & demand more money??

Anyway, please find said email copied & pasted below. (oh, its past the (Up to 28 days for delivery too which I also should have mentioned in the email)

Hi there.

I am hereby giving in writing that you have 48 hours notice to kindly just refund me the £2.50 P&P!

Failure to respond & I will inform my credit card issuer that I wish to claim the payment back!

Although I don't need to give a reason it is for the following reasons:

1. I received an unsolicited phone call from yourselves trying to sell me More coins when I haven't even received the so-called "Free" one! This phone call came up in red as "POTENTIAL FRAUD" (The Only reason I answer these phone calls is to Deliberately Waste the fraudsters time by reducing the amount of Vulnerable adults who get scammed by these people) the lady spoke broken English & didn't seem in the slightest phased when I informed her that it came up as "POTENTIAL FRAUD" & this sent "Alarm bells ringing??" so

2. I decided to do a bit of searching & quickly realised that I had confused your company with the legitimate company the "Royal Mint"  & found a "Very Long" post on Martin Lewis forum & it makes for Very Shocking reading!!

As a result of these 2 main reasons (amongst Many others when searching the internet) I am hereby placing in writing that I "Do Not" want Any further correspondence (No post, No emails & No phone calls) from your company (or Any other affiliate companies) 

The ONLY exception to this being 1x email to confirm:

1. That you have received my email & acknowledge it!  

2. That you Will be refunding me the £2.50 to my credit card.

3. That I have been Removed from your mailing lists. 

And one last thing.

I do Not give permission to either sell or give, my details to Any other company whatsoever & with for you to Completely remove All information that you hold on me with Imediate effect.

Regards

Mr xxxx

Re the bit in bold:
Oh dear.
You really should check that you are on the official government website.
Many threads about people renewing their licence using the wrong website.
There's even a MSE article warning about it.

103daz

Really??
Wow.
I wouldn't expect many threads regarding people renewing their tax on a .gov website?
The address is on the renewal/reminder letter, so you Always know that your on the Correct site surely?

103daz

103daz said:

Really??
Wow.
I wouldn't expect many threads regarding people renewing their tax on a .gov website?
The address is on the renewal/reminder letter, so you Always know that your on the Correct site surely?

Edit:
What I meant was that we all know that there is a government website where you can renew your car tax, so wouldn't think, "well is that right? Can I renew my car tax online? If better research it 1st?"
That's what I meant, when I said "more or less in the same way I wouldn't check out a .gov website when renewing my car tax"

Thanks.

GraceCourt

103daz said:

If anyone able to give any constructive information or advice on my posts it would be greatly appreciated.  
Nitpicking or pointing out irrelevant un-useful information isn't really constructive, informative or helpful I'm afraid, & surprised that's mostly all I've had??  

It might help you to know that this company is actually called "The London Mint Office Limited" because it is subject to Section 59 of the Companies Act 2006: the word "Limited" can only be dropped using the exemption under S.60, which does not apply here.

Why is that good news?  Well, for starters, both the company and each of the directors in default are committing criminal offences by failing to include the company name on the Web site, because Part 6 of The Company, Limited Liability Partnership and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015 requiries it to be there.  The offence of failing to comply with Part 6 (set out in Regulation 28) is somewhat unusual in that it is committed both by the company and personally by each of the company directors in default: this is sensible because the company is failing to identify itself, so the directors can be prosecuted even after the company is dissolved or if it has no assets.

There is also a fairly good argument that, because the name of the company doesn't even appear in the terms and conditions on their Web site, none of them can be enforced: any contractual terms have to define the parties to the contract and these don't.

Anyone who is sick of receiving e-mails or post from this company might also want to know that it has a Data Protection registration with the ICO, reference Z4761698, and that - because personal data must be processed lawfully in accordance with the Data Protection Principles - as a data controller this company is liable to pay civil damages to anyone whose personal data is stored and/or processed unlawfully, e.g. still used when the data subject has formally required The London Mint Office Limited not to use their personal data in this way.  You can contact the company's Data Protection Officer directly at dpo@londonmintoffice.org - keep a copy of the e-mail in case you need to prove that you made the requirement.

It's worth knowing that "nominal damages" for claims in respect of distress caused by such unlawful processing were set by the Court of Appeal decision in Zeta Jones & Douglas v Hello! Magazine [2003] EWHC 786. So your local County Court is bound by that decision, and although you can normally only claim for actual financial loss under English law, this is one of the rare exceptions.