Boycotting GS.be

[BackyardBullion]

Interested to find out thoughts on this consodering the recent thread regarding GS.be

The upcoming group order will be fascinating!

[ilovesilverireallydo]

To be honest - if I buy from GSBE it will be via the group order or if I go direct I will not make any changes to my orders and keep it a straight forward transaction. I

 

[Silverhunter]

I have had a few coins from gold silver.be through the group order which I thank you @BackyardBullion for sorting for me and I also have had a purchase from them on my own.  Personally I would not use them again but NOT because of the recent post but because of the multiple posts before this one. And I can only thank this community for my decision on informing me about the potential problems with dealing with them. It could of been me that has lost out but it wasn't because I made an informed decision on other people's misfortune on the down side I might of paid a few quid more than others but I got peace of mind. But each to their own.

[FFkook]

47 minutes ago, BackyardBullion said:

Interested to find out thoughts on this consodering the recent thread regarding GS.be

The upcoming group order will be fascinating!

I'm curious if gs.be themselves would appreciate this poll, or maybe cancel our group order cooperation because of this? Or am I thinking to far on? 

[Shinus73]

I’ve dealt with other on-line providers lately who have annoyed me much more than GS.be, but who were very polite when explaining why I couldn’t have what I’d actually ordered and paid for or why I couldn’t return an obviously damaged coin.

On the one occasion I needed to return something to GS.be, they did at least let me do it.

[jonrms]

I thinking your thinking too far on. They will only do anything if we make a decision 

[AppleZippoandMetronome]

Based on the other thread yes I will be boycotting them. I think their customer service is completely unacceptable and it is really hard to have any confidence in them. As I said in the thread my orders would only ever be between £500 - £1000 which is a lot of money to me. Seeing how they treated a customer spending 9000 Euros frankly scares me.

If the increase of a coin from another vendor is more than I am willing to spend than I will just wait. As an example during the last group order I asked if the EU mint would price match the incuse maple - the current price difference is € 4.62/coin. That to me is an unacceptable increase and I had been planning on buying a bunch of them from GS.be as well as a handful of other items but now I'll just have to wait until I can find a more acceptable price elsewhere. If I can't find that coin at a price I want to pay I am sure there will be another I'll enjoy for a price I am happy to pay.

[terakris]

I've not had any problems with the few orders I've put through but it is worrying seeing some of the customer service emails. I voted it would depend on the price, if it was a few pence here and there then who cares, but if each coin was say £1 more then that would soon add up.

[Lowlow]

I just don't get it, seriously ... maybe it's my age, I don't know, but I'd never stop dealing with a shop just because they are hard nosed and bitter, some of the best people in the world are cantankerous old curmudgeons.  Personally, I think a lot of young people should deal with more of them, it would build character to deal with people who aren't walking around kissing their a## all the time.  I can't believe I'm witnessing a boycott over this, like if someone kicked a rescue animal, or wore fur, or clubbed a baby seal or something.

"Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance" - David Mamet

[Roy]

2 minutes ago, Lowlow said:

some of the best people in the world are cantankerous old curmudgeons.

Ah, we've met? 🙄

[Groundup]

Reputation of customer service/ company is the first thing I look at.. price is second. Upto now it's served me well.

[BackyardBullion]

Here is something that I firmly believe in that has not really been talked about.

You read reviews for something....it has 90 five-star reviews, 5 three star reviews and 5 one star reviews. Human psyche will forget the 90 five star reviews and will be put off by the small proportion of negative reviews. I know I have done this when looking for electronics off Amazon even!

Bottom line, GS.be are a multi million € per month business and have probably hundreds of thousands of orders all completed to 100% customer satisfaction. A few bad ones, yes, but should that mean a boycott?

I am not defending their recent actions or customer services (I think they are appalling) but I am simply stating that they are a great dealer 99% of the time.

[Seasider]

They say politeness costs nothing  and I greatly suspect that is what most people on here are prepared to pay for it.

Better pricing is a factor but for me it is the variety which means GS.be scores over the European Mint.

[BackyardBullion]

54 minutes ago, FFkook said:

I'm curious if gs.be themselves would appreciate this poll, or maybe cancel our group order cooperation because of this? Or am I thinking to far on? 

I think this is a stretch even for them 😉

[richatthecroft]

32 minutes ago, Lowlow said:

"Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance" - David Mamet

I would agree with this quote. 

I guess it’s up to the individual buyers decision making if they deal/ continue to deal with gs.be. 

I haven’t had the time to keep abreast of the recent long thread on the subject of the allegations of this company’s customer service, but my opinion is that I would continue dealing with them, directly or indirectly based upon my own personal experience and taking into account any information forthcoming surrounding the service they provide. 

As cited above, there are plenty of businesses I hate dealing with day to day, but as long as I get out of the transaction what I need, then sometimes you have to put up with the infuriating/ frustrating or negative experience unless you are prepared to inconvenience oneself or pay higher costs. 

I’ve learnt hard lessons over the years gone by of acting on cutting my nose to spite my face.

In addition,  the marketplace always decide the fete of a business- the only time this rule doesn’t appear to apply is in League Football...and perhaps now, certain bullion dealers could be added to the list. 

[Roy]

3 minutes ago, Seasider said:

They say politeness costs nothing  and I greatly suspect that is what most people on here are prepared to pay for it.

Better pricing is a factor but for me it is the variety which means GS.be scores over the European Mint.

Agreed. If EU Mint could price match and offer a greater variety of stock, they would be a one-stop-shop. 

It's a tall order, but I've been impressed with EU Mint's attitude so far. They are keen to listen and hopefully can spot an opportunity.

[Seasider]

Yes.  BYB has been leading that horse to the water.

[kimchi]

Absolutely top notch of you imho to tackle the subject head on BYB

I'm not inclined to use the company as an individual, but for cheap as chips bullion or other low premium coins I don't expect to be top notch on arrival (i.e. I would never buy a Kook for my long term collection from them!) I've never had any problems (beyond poor condition coins, sometimes head-scratchingly so), particularly through group orders. Folk who have done large orders many times and act as a 'buffer' between me and them (and who know how to speak to them so as not to elicit an 'unhelpful response' for either side!) reassures me. That was my position well before the latest thread - I always prefer to go elsewhere if viable, but sometimes when expectations are lowish and I just want to stack or something really cheap pops up it serves a purpose.

That said, and with the topic at hand, firstly I think the other thread needs to be brought to some sort of conclusion with a settlement and a clear sense of what went on from both sides and how it was resolved.

Secondly I think this poll is skewed (not deliberately of course ) and therefore not indicative or particularly useful. Just for starters, for the last European Mint order I understood from the group order thread that they would try to price match or were actually already cheaper than GS on many coins - ? So, I can't vote I'd pay more for the same coins just to avoid GS, however I did put in an order where they got as close to GS as they said they could (Marvel coins) even though unfortunately they arrived damaged and couldn't be replaced (out of stock so refunded). A poll asking if folk would pay more might be inviting other companies not to try to match them on price (if they can) just because they have superior service (which really is not hard by most accounts!). However, with the value of the group orders the leverage is in our hands, is it not?

The group orders are vast. They may be small fry to GS but they always seem to have 'played ball' so far, even if the quality of the coins is sometimes, imvho, not up to scratch - or far from it. Other companies would welcome such huge orders! I think European Mint have led the way here in trying to be as accommodating,  reasonable, polite, upfront, and professional as can be. That is what I'd expect or at least hope for. There are other companies I've dealt with who I think would be equally as grateful for, and helpful with, the forum's group custom, and are well worth looking at, but at the moment European look closest to beating GS on many prices while being the sort of company I'd have pleasure in dealing with directly.

Ease and peace of mind for BYB as organiser is a massive factor as well. I welcome the next big group order from the two different companies. Unlike this poll I think it will be fairly indicative, at least as a recent 'snapshot'. Personally I wish this hadn't come up because I think European would have got most of the order next time myself, it would have been nice to see it on a level playing field.

[AppleZippoandMetronome]

This isn't just a question of bad customer service. The problem (at least the problem I have) is the full on to borderline (depending who you ask) illegal actions GS.be have decided to take against one of their customers. When I first heard of GS.be I did the (IMO) sensible thing of looking for reviews and I was admittedly put off by what I saw on the surface. As I kept looking though I decided that most of the negative reviews were on things like GS.be's attitude or people ordering bullion coins only to be shocked by them coming in bullion condition. In the end I wasn't too phased by these as so many people reported receiving the goods they ordered so that was fine. They've crossed a line here though by acting in the (borderline to full on) illegal way they have. I see their actions and again I have to ask...  if this is how they treat a customer spending €9000 what confidence does that give me for my £500 order? Also as their (borderline to full on) illegal actions seem to be an escalation in how badly they deal with customers one has to ask what else are they willing to do? There is clearly a lack of morality on show there that just flat out makes me uncomfortable.

[blackadder]

33 minutes ago, Roy said:

Agreed. If EU Mint could price match and offer a greater variety of stock, they would be a one-stop-shop. 

It's a tall order, but I've been impressed with EU Mint's attitude so far. They are keen to listen and hopefully can spot an opportunity.

But then someone like the Eu mint does step up their game,has the prices and a better attitude etc etc.then starts taking trade away from the other shop/dealer.it might not matter now to them,but it might do in the future.

50 minutes ago, BackyardBullion said:

You read reviews for something....it has 90 five-star reviews, 5 three star reviews and 5 one star reviews. Human psyche will forget the 90 five star reviews and will be put off by the small proportion of negative reviews. I know I have done this when looking for electronics off Amazon even! 

I don't do this As most of the time them five one star reviews are from retards normally things like,them buying blue paint then leaving a bad review saying they don't like blue paint.Or buying an iphone charger,when they have a samsung etc etc.

[Sal]

1 hour ago, BackyardBullion said:

Here is something that I firmly believe in that has not really been talked about.

You read reviews for something....it has 90 five-star reviews, 5 three star reviews and 5 one star reviews. Human psyche will forget the 90 five star reviews and will be put off by the small proportion of negative reviews. I know I have done this when looking for electronics off Amazon even!

Bottom line, GS.be are a multi million € per month business and have probably hundreds of thousands of orders all completed to 100% customer satisfaction. A few bad ones, yes, but should that mean a boycott?

I am not defending their recent actions or customer services (I think they are appalling) but I am simply stating that they are a great dealer 99% of the time.

If that is the case whomever David? that dealt horribly with this situation needs to take a course in business management and customer relations.

[StackingItAll]

Hi this raises a question as a being fairly new to the forum. I have been quite excited about the idea of group purchases and looking forward to being part of one. However I'm wondering if the result say ended up 50/50 split wouldn't that be damaging to placing an order with them anyway. As clearly 50% dropping out of purchasing would damage buying power with them. Just curious on this thanks.

[Silverhunter]

7 minutes ago, Willike said:

Hi this raises a question as a being fairly new to the forum. I have been quite excited about the idea of group purchases and looking forward to being part of one. However I'm wondering if the result say ended up 50/50 split wouldn't that be damaging to placing an order with them anyway. As clearly 50% dropping out of purchasing would damage buying power with them. Just curious on this thanks.

Don't think it matters too much as each customer pays their own order value

[StackingItAll]

3 minutes ago, Silverhunter said:

Don't think it matters too much as each customer pays their own order value

@Silverhunter thanks for reply so if say normally 60 people order £1000 worth dropping to 30 people spending £1000 the price of coins would still get same discount as before? 

[Pete]

When I attended a business / managers course many moons ago it was stated that one bad customer review will be shared and affect at least 7 other potential customers. Good customer reviews are on parity with reviews so the message was abundantly clear - always deal properly with dissatisfied customers if you don't wish to loose business.

Unfortuantely GS.be have not dealt with the cancelled order in a business-like manner and that will temporarily loose them a few orders but considering their turnover in PMs this will not even be noticed and very soon people will return to them when they check prices.