Aurinum.de Delivery problem

[SpainStacker]

I placed an order with Aurinum in Germany with a value of over 900 euros on the 31st of January this year. I paid by bank transfer from a euro account in Spain which was confirmed as received by Aurinum on the 2nd of February. They sent me confirmation that the order had been shipped on the 9th of February along with a tracking number for DHL.

I checked the delivery status with DHL every day but the status was always the same. Step 1 saying they had received the details of the package by Aurinum but that DHL still hadn't collected it from them. Today after one week I contacted Aurinum to ask them why the staus hadn't changed and why DHL still hadn't collected the parcel. A few hours later I received an email from the owner Andre Buchloch saying that DHL did collect the parcel a week ago but they had just returned it today as it was damaged and that all the coins were missing! He continued to say that they will now need to make an insurance claim and that some replacement coins would be sent to me 'shortly'.

After a quick search on google I found another customer had a similar experience and was told he had to wait until the insurance claim came through before they would replace the order and that every time he enquired he was fobbed off with excuses. This was on another forum and it never said whether the case was finally resolved or not.

This is my first purchase with Aurinum but I did research them beforehand and I know some forum members here have used them without any problems apart from long delivery times. I am obviously very concerned about this and would appreciate any advice. I have asked for more information from the owner regarding how and when they will resolve the issue and I will keep you all informed as things develop.

Thanks in advance for any advice

[SpainStacker]

Here is the link to the other customers incident with Aurinum:

http://www.goldclubasia.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-15736.html

[MCJ]

Sorry to hear your experience with Aurinum hasn't been a good one.  I've used them many times with no issues and I've always been happy with their service. Although DHL can be a pain I'm told. I think you've taken the correct action by asking them to define shortly. If they are going to make you wait until the investigation has ran it's course, and you dont want to wait, you should ask for a cash refund or be sent your order. Point out that you've done nothing wrong, your cash was good and that you shouldn't have to wait for them to claim before sending you your order. Your situation differs to the chaps in the link since you haven't received anything, no damaged parcel or any silver.

In the UK under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, retailers have, in most cases, up to 30 days to deliver. If the goods still haven’t arrived in that time you can cancel and claim a refund.

 

[MikeOxlong]

I have used Aurinom once and had no issues. I placed an order recently from Germany who used DHL and the tracking also did not update past the 2nd step until it changed to 'delivered'

 

Sorry I can't be more helpful 

[ifing]

Sry to hear this @SpainStacker never had a theft or loss, so don't know how they handle such things. They missed a coin in one shipping. That he apologize for and shipped it right away.

4 hours ago, MikeOxlong said:

I have used Aurinom once and had no issues. I placed an order recently from Germany who used DHL and the tracking also did not update past the 2nd step until it changed to 'delivered'

 

Sorry I can't be more helpful 

I have notice when it comes to the Germanside of DHL tracking. You need to do a extra step to see details on the tracking. After you entered the tracking number, you get the view the different pictures, of pick up deliver etc. under these there is arrow you click to enter your postcode and another random code. Then you will see more details.

[sovereignsteve]

I still have an outstanding issue with this dealer and TBH I haven't been at all happy with the way he has dealt with it. Looking at some of the other experiences people have had, it's clear this guy doesn't take customer satisfaction seriously and is only interested in his own balance sheet. I will stop at calling him crooked as I don't have evidence for that.

I have placed about half a dozen orders with him, a mixture of ebay and website and have had no issues except for the one occasion. He uses DHL and the UK side of it is dealt with by Parcelforce, whose drivers are a shambles. To be fair to Herr Buchloch, this shipment was lost or mis-delivered by the PF driver and after investigation, PF have admitted liabilty but this is where the problems start.

The claim has to be initiated by the sender who claims from DHL, who then ask PF for answers. PF will not say much to me because I am not the client but they do say that DHL should refund the seller as soon as PF admit liabilty, it's some kind of "knock-for-knock" agreement they have.

Every time I asked Buchloch about this it was always "I am waiting for DHL to get back to me" then nothing. He doesn't follow anything up, just ignores it and hopes you will go away. After I had discovered that PF state in their T&C that they will not accept liabilty for precious metals, Buchloch says that doesn't matter as he has separate insurance but they will not pay out until DHL admit the parcel is lost. I have secured an admission by email from PF that they have lost it but he still says DHL haven't responded to him. Maybe all this is true and DHL are completely at fault although I would find this hard to believe.

I haven't had any joy contacting DHL about this but the question arises; has DHL already dealt with this and his insurance has already paid out? Does he have this alleged insurance or does he rely on DHL? They may well pay out on claims when they are at fault but any lost by PF, they will not be reimbursed.

IMO a reputable dealer should reimburse the customer immediately a problem arises and then deal with the insurance claim issues himself. I did have another damaged goods issue with Chemigauer who were brilliant; paid me out and then proceded to deal with the claim themselves and said they would change their courier to a decent one like UPS, as they had a few issues in the UK with PF.

The dealer chooses the means of delivery and should have adequate insurance. if not, it is they who should accept any risks not the purchaser.

It isn't a large amount but I am still out by over £200. This could be a significant amount to a lot of people and should be a trifling amount to a large coin dealer.

I would be interested to learn how he deals with problems from customers within Germany and can't get over the suspicion that he relies on the distance and language problems with customers in other countries and just sits on these issues knowing that in the majority of cases, thay will eventually get fed up and write off their losses.

[MCJ]

16 minutes ago, sovereignsteve said:

I still have an outstanding issue with this dealer and TBH I haven't been at all happy with the way he has dealt with it.

Sorry to hear that Steve, hope your saga ends favourably for yourself. Thanks for sharing your experience, it has made me think twice about ordering from them again in the future. What happened to the customer always being right?

[SpainStacker]

Thanks everybody for your comments.

@sovereignsteve I agree with you 100% that the dealer should take full responsibility for the order and delivery right up until the buyer receives and signs for the package. The deal between international couriers has nothing to do with you.

I did receive a long email from Andre Buchloh last night explaining the delivery process and going into more detail about what actually happened in my case. He confirmed that it is not my responsibility and he will send me the replacement coins once they receive more 2016 monkeys which hopefully should be by the end of this week.

Obviously problems can occur with any supplier but it is how they deal with these issues when they arise that shows a company's true colours. I will of course keep you all updated.

[sovereignsteve]

Must be something about those dratted monkeys going AWOL. The parcel I received from Chiemgauer was split open and a roll of monkeys was missing!

I have sent yet another email to Buchloch and will make renewed efforts to contact DHL.

[motorbikez]

@sovereignsteve Not quite the same issue,but I have to say without starting a new thread, Silber corner another German company are a real pain in the a--e they charge a fortune for shipping 30 euros plus VAT for anything eg 1 or 2 coins. I placed an order with them over 2 weeks ago & paid by bank transfer they haven't even dispatched my coins yet.

I know they will arrive eventually but their service is abysmal only plus point is they do have hard to get coins & they do arrive at some future date.

Now a good German company to deal with is EMK I ordered some coins on Sunday over t net & they dispatched Tuesday morning.1st class company to deal with.

[sovereignsteve]

Yes Silber-corner do have exhorbitant delivery charges but I assume this will be because they use a reliable courier service and will have full insurance. Hopefully we'll never need to find out. The problem now from a personal POV and I'm sure many others will be in the same boat; I bought into their offer last year of the 2oz lunar proof set so am committed to them for the next 3 years. The best way round this as I see it is to purchase some other coins at the same time but they don't always have what I'm looking for.

I agree, EMK are great, I've only place about 3 or 4 orders but have been more than satisfied so far.

As I said, Chiemgauer have been great so far.

I've always been impressed with the delivery service from STG

There are other small German dealers I have bought from via ebay and they have always delivered. Can't comment what would happen if the package went astray as they almost invariably insist on bank transfer so not sure how ebay would react.

 

[motorbikez]

1 hour ago, sovereignsteve said:

 The problem now from a personal POV and I'm sure many others will be in the same boat; I bought into their offer last year of the 2oz lunar proof set so am committed to them for the next 3 years.

 

 

LOL you me & about half a dozen others on here. Silber corner didn't used to be this bad, stuff used to arrive in around a week after payment, now 3 weeks plus seems to be the norm.

[Vulture]

Useful thread.

 

Regarding Silber Corner. I have previously ordered things from them about 18 months ago and packages arrived a week later. Obviously things can change over time. They do have the useful tool of Paypal for a buyer to use as insurance but that costs of course. One thing I do note looking at their website is that they do not seem to have much variation of coins available to buy i.e. there seems to be many out of stock.

 

Regarding Aurinum.de. Sorry to hear of the problems encountered by Spain Stacker and also Sovereign Steve. Never ordered from them but these types of incident would I think make me steer clear personally.

 

I have in the past couple of weeks ordered for the first time from Silver to Go. Very impressed as the package arrived 4 days after ordering. Germany to UK

 

I have also dealt with Kettner.de a few weeks ago and they were also impressive taking 5 days for the package from Germany to UK

[JB3]

I've used Aurinium once and it was fine. I vaguely remember it taking a few more days than I was expecting, but this was a couple of years' back and, to be honest, I can't really remember.

 

Your contract is with the dealer. (Usually. Some dealers - I've seen an Estonian one - ask you to arrange delivery.) His problems with his delivery service are not yours. You paid for the goods, he accepted the money, and they've not arrived. So, while English law doesn't apply here - and I'm not a lawyer - I'm sure German contract law will say he either has to refund you the money or deliver the goods in line with the terms agreed at the time of sale. Even those probably have to be 'reasonable'.

 

Good luck, and I'll bear this in mind next time I think of buying metal from Europe!

[SpainStacker]

15 minutes ago, JB3 said:

I've used Aurinium once and it was fine. I vaguely remember it taking a few more days than I was expecting, but this was a couple of years' back and, to be honest, I can't really remember.

 

Your contract is with the dealer. (Usually. Some dealers - I've seen an Estonian one - ask you to arrange delivery.) His problems with his delivery service are not yours. You paid for the goods, he accepted the money, and they've not arrived. So, while English law doesn't apply here - and I'm not a lawyer - I'm sure German contract law will say he either has to refund you the money or deliver the goods in line with the terms agreed at the time of sale. Even those probably have to be 'reasonable'.

 

Good luck, and I'll bear this in mind next time I think of buying metal from Europe!

Thanks for your comment. Very much appreciated.

[Vern]

Sorry to hear this and I hope they resolve this for you asap, do keep us updated on your experience.

Slightly off topic as you did not receive the goods at all. I just wanted to encourage people to video their deliveries of unboxing for peace of mind. (have your camera at the door so you can record the whole thing ) My posty probably thinks I make adult movies with my dslr hanging around my neck.

 Dealers are people and people can make mistakes so if you come up short you will feel a little more protected that you have clear evidence if needed.

If you come up heavy send it on to me and I will be sure to send it back to the dealer to keep good karma for all 

[Cointreau]

I too have used Aurinum many times with no problems.  I did just receive 10 koalas instead of 10 Lunar monkeys but

the matter has been resolved to my satisfaction and I have another order pending with them.

The last package I received from them was like overkill. I suppose they were doing their best to conceal the presence of the coins inside.

Incidentally my postie knows me and he saw me walking down the road and said he had a package for me (the Aurinum delivery).

I did have a package from another German Company stolen at a depot here in the UK about two years ago. So been there.

[ArthGoch]

14 hours ago, motorbikez said:

@sovereignsteve , Silber corner another German company are a real pain in the a--e t

Now a good German company to deal with is EMK I ordered some coins on Sunday over t net & they dispatched Tuesday morning.1st class company to deal with.

I'll second that on both counts ........The former is the worst company that I have dealt with by a country mile. What is more alarming is them being the/a quasi distributor for the Perth Mint in Europe 

[George]

What happens if you buy some gold, and when you open it nothings in the pack? Do you get refund, with insured packages ?

[sovereignsteve]

therein lies an inherent problem with buying gold on ebay or indeed any form of "mail-order". You are trusting the honesty of the seller and a reason for video recording all parcel openings. I go as far as recording the packing of any gold I sell on ebay.

The problem is it is possible for people to make a genuine mistake especially if they are packing more than one coin. So lots of potential for dispute.

[Pipers]

• I made two orders from this company and both were met by problems, 1  he said the payment never went through a lie it did currencyfair proved it did and i emailed him the proof I gave him the benefit of the doubt as he is not an English speaker and my German is very poor. 2 My next order I paid via paypal on items he said were in stock I waited 3 weeks the items were dispatched and never picked up step 1 I checked with DHL, he is a liar, so I opened a case with paypal and blocked him as soon as i could this made him refund me part of my order and send the rest out straight away. 
• I will never use Aurinum.de again  

My advise would be to get in touch with DHL

[Murph]

I've ordered from them a number of times now and apart from a cracked encapsulated case I haven't had any problems I can recall.  Unfortunately he didn't have an exact replacement but we worked out a deal.

As for stg/coininvest I haven't been exactly exstatic with their service as I have had the wrong gold coin sent a number of times but decided to keep it instead of paying for a return.  In fact I've held off on orders more recently as they wanted to charge extra to select a specific date or date range of coin and going by their history of sending the wrong coins I had no confidence in them to send the selected date.

[sovereignsteve]

4 hours ago, Murph said:

As for stg/coininvest I haven't been exactly exstatic with their service as I have had the wrong gold coin sent a number of times but decided to keep it instead of paying for a return. 

Inetresting. I have only had one issue with them when they sent me a damaged 5oz ATB. They were great about it, paying for the return postage and refunding the cost of the coin via a credit note as I was just about to order some more stuff anyway.

[SpainStacker]

The replacement order has been sent today and already there is a change on the DHL status. The strange thing is the tracking number is the same as the original one which was apparently damaged and minus all of the coins and now subject to an insurance claim. I hope everything is present and correct when it finally arrives.

 

[Stu]

1 hour ago, SpainStacker said:

The replacement order has been sent today and already there is a change on the DHL status. The strange thing is the tracking number is the same as the original one which was apparently damaged and minus all of the coins and now subject to an insurance claim. I hope everything is present and correct when it finally arrives.

 

Same tracking number as the original shipment which is now being investigated, now that does sound dodgy! I hope your shipment arrives with no issues this time.