The Westminster Collection review: unsolicited goods 36

My parents have had the same problem. We returned coins that were sent unsolicitied and they say they cannot trace them and are demanding even more money form my elderly parents. I am taking advice from a solicitor to find out our rights regarding unsolicited goods.
Marion Coote

This Company Westminster are a complete disgrace I purchased some coins only to find out later that they had sent another coin and had withdrawn £45 from my bank account with out me knowing. I then phoned them and they said just send it back and we will refund the money when we receive the coin they were planning to withdraw money on a regular basis and were claiming i had agreed to this on the small print. I also phoned them just before five o'clock and they kept me on hold long after five o'clock saying a member of our team will be with you shortly all our agents are busy this goes on any time threw the night when they are closed just so they can keep you on hold. THE WESTMINSTER COLLECTION DISGRACFUL

They used the excuse that I had ordered a postcard which was "due to be published" as an reason to mailshot me as an existing customer. I wrote to them and emailed them telling them that I had ordered nothing. I told them to have no further contact and not to send me said postcard.
The postcard arrived anyway. a piece of tat with a first class stamp on it - a cheap way of getting leads for their database and creating an excuse to contact you.
They insisted somebody else had ordered the postcard for me (impossible as my name was wrong and nobody would send me that rubbish anyway) but wouldn't tell me who.
I told them in no uncertain terms to remove me from their list or a solicitors letter would follow. We shall see!

I have the same problem - ordered Queens 90th Birthday coin and later was charged 43 pounds for the coin which I haven't ordered.
Vilius

Yes, we have the same problem. We had once ordered a coin from. Westminister collection.
Everything seems ok before the nightmare. One day they are sending me a coin which i didnt order. I phoned them and returned the coin by email. However i keep getting payment reminders, overdue notice from them...
Luckily i kept my postal record and receipt when i am returning the coin. I am going to ignore them from now on. I dont think a cheap company like this will ever try to hire a solicitor or debt collector, just take it easy.

I agree with the foregoing comments regarding Westminster Collection. After recently ordering, and receiving, the five pound Queens Birthday coin, I then received the £39.99 trooping the colour coin - plus £3.99 postage charge. This I did not order. I am about to contact them, quoting the Unsolicited Gifts Act. As the item was not requested I intend asking for a return label (which they can email me) as I have no intention of paying the return postage costs. If they ignore this, I will simply return the trooping the colour coin anyway, but first making sure that I return it ensuring that the coin has to be signed for on receipt.
If it is signed for, they then cannot claim that they did not receive it.
I would strongly advise that anyone thinking of ordering coins from this company - THINK AGAIN!

I am having the same issue! I ordered 1 coin and paid for in on 20th Jan 2016 each month thereafter I recieved a coin I did not order. Then following was a payment reminder! I have since left the house and they are sending final payment reminders along with debt collector warnings! Disgraceful business. Has anyone had them proceed with legal action? Or just ignore this

These people are dispicable I bought a medal recently then without my knowledge they sent another, and had made it so they can debit my card as they see fit. and without my permission. Which apparently they do underhand and decietfully I have cancelled my account with them I shall buy nothing else from them .

i am having the same problems now they knew i had the payment stopped by my bank when i also bought a couple of the 90th birthday coins then i saw £43 gone from my account and for what? i hadn't ordered it, they then said i had clicked a continue box so would get more coins, the one they charged me for sisn't turn up anyway, im still in dispute with them now about this, they gave me £43 back after i had it back from the bank which i mae them aware of but they told me this was a gesture of goodwill now they want that money back?

I had the same problem. I ordered a single coin from them. When it arrived it wasn't very good, and I considered sending it back, but decided that for £8 it wasn't worth it. Then a month later they send me another crappy coin and a "presentation box". I sent them an email saying I wanted no further contact from them and informed them I would be returning the box and coin the next day. I posted the coin and box back and didn't hear any more until they started sending me threatening letters about over due accounts and debt collection. This company is a scam. Avoid at all costs.

Am hoping nothing goes wrong. I'm in the states and used a credit card.

I have ordered coins from Westminster Collection for some time now and have to say that I am surprised by a number of the comments above. When ordering coins from Westminster Collection you will usually find that that the first coin is offered at a reduced price. I receive mailshots from Westminster Collection on a regular basis and I have checked on some that I still have. EVERY one of them, unless it is a 'one off' piece, clearly states on the bottom that by purchasing the item you are guaranteed a free trial of the collection from which your purchase is from and that the next delivery will be in 4 weeks time. It also states that the decision is yours, either keep the trial coin at full cost (including p&p) and you will continue to receive coins in the collection usually on a monthly basis, or return it with no obligation or cost. I have returned coins myself, and cancelled collections mid way through, and I have never had an issue with them. If there was a negative side to Westminster Collection, a lot of their coins are not UK coins (unless they state so), and they are a little on the pricey side. Other than that I have found them to be very helpful.

My father has been collecting coins and spoons from this company for a number of years and has asked me to dispose of them. They are in the original packaging and in excellent condition, I visited a coin seller today and was told that the coins that my father had paid over £40 each for were actually worth about 2 pounds each. I understand that he has to make a profit, but looking at his stall there were similar coins on sale for £3. These prices are confirmed by an ebay search.

I feel my father has wasted over £2, 000 with maybe a total sale value of about £250 to £300. Certainly not an investment.

SAME PROBLEM HERE - THEY KEPT SENDING THINGS THAT WE DID NOT ORDER AND THEN CHARGED FOR THEM ABOUT 44 POUNDS. COMPANY THAT ACTS IN BAD FAITH AND DOES EVERYTHING TO STEAL PEOPLE'S MONEY - ARGUING THAT WE AGREED WITH THEM TO SEND UNWANTED THINGS. JUST HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE. IF YOU PURCHASED ANYTHING WITH THEM, MAKE SURE YOU EMAIL TO PREVENT THIS TO HAPPEN (IF IT IS POSSIBLE) ! NIGHTMARE!

I ordered some silver coins with them a month ago. On their website, it clearly said 9 units per household, so I placed two separate orders using two different delivery addresses and billing addresses. Few minutes later, I received an email from these guys telling me I have exceeded my allowance, so they cancelled my second order, WTF? If they wanted to limit to 9 units per customer or account, they should say so rather than saying 'per household'. Anyway, 4 days later, I received a written letter from them saying they could only proceed my first order if I allowed them to do a credit check on me. Yes, I repeat, they demanded a credit check on me! They claimed I was a new customer and the order was over £500 so they were doubting I might be a fraudster. I am not a new customer I have ordered a coin from them before. Anyway, I asked my financial advisor about this credit check thing, he told me a purchase of £500 was hardly to be seemed high value these days, he did not think it was appropriate for the company to do a credit check on me so he advised me not to give the permission. So I told this company to cancel my first order altogether. Anyway I thought if I placed a smaller order I would be fine. How wrong was I? I ordered 3 silver coins for £180. After 2 weeks of waiting, I received another written letter from them saying the order was cancelled by them. This time they claimed it was due to the coins were out of stock. Mmmm… let me think… it took them 2 weeks to work out the coins were out of stock? I was so 'p' off so I contacted them to ask to speak to the manager. I waited for a week, then the manager decided to email me instead of talking to me on the phone. She said the order was cancelled due to the value of the order. She suggested to place some smaller orders to build up my credit score. Again WTF? The written letter clearly says the order was cancelled due to out of stock, nothing to do with my credit score or whatsoever. Furthermore, I talked to two people about the silver coin and they both placed an order individually 3 days AFTER I placed mine. Both of them received their orders and they are new customers too. So now I phoned the parent company, 288 Limited, to make a complaint. I asked them to get the manager to phone me to discuss my dissatisfaction to the service. This company is a company waste of time and space! In fact, I think they are racist too as I am not white but the two people who ordered their coins after I ordered mine are both white!

Having business with Westminster Collection was a really bad experience.
I opened my account 2 months ago. I ordered the collection of Beatrix Potter. They supposed to arrive by the end of April. I recived an email when I supposed to receive the Peter rabbits saing that they were not in stock so the next delivery date would be 6 of May, same treatment on the 6th of May, email and delivery moved of others 10 days. When I called they told me that I had to pass credit check first (Am I asking for a loan or signing up a subscription?). This supposed to be done a month before when I made my account. They just asked for my name and my address. As I was in the rush to get my peter rabbits I asked them what they could do to speed up the process as they were already 1 month late. They said to call after a week and ask for the day after delivery obviously I supposed to pay for it. So I did I called them and they said that I had to send ID and proof of address by email to complete the credit check. They obviously needed more time to check my details. So my delivery is now postponed to the 6th of June. I could feel incompetence when I spoke to the people at the phone. They don't know what to do and how to solve problems they just continue to apologize for the poor service that them company offers. At the end I will wait 2 extra month before recive my coins. I NEVER GOING TO BUY FROM WESTMINSTER COLLECTION AGAINST.
REALLY POOR AND CHEAP COMPANY.

my partner purchased 2 Princess Diana coins £9.99 each and free p and p. Only one arrived with a free presentation box worth £15 but was charged £44.99 and £4.99 P and P . The coin is not now advertised but out of stock. So they lied about free P and P . BUT CHARGED HER £25 too much, and no reference on the invoice about the other coin she did not receive and why charge her 3x the ad price,
Total scam, why have they not been closed down is a mystery, where are the consumers rights. think these issues need to go on tv.

Do not return unsolicited goods. Tell them to come and collect their goods.
You DO NOT have to return unsolicited goods. What you must do is keep the goods and inform WC that you have them and they must come and collect them. Send them a seven day letter. 14 days if you want to be generous. Tell them you will hold their goods for 14 days in which they must make arrangements for collection, after which you will dispose of the items.

Once you have written this letter and sent it a court cannot convict you of withholding payment for goods received because you have informed the company that they have sent unsolicited goods and you 1 do not want them, 2 are willing to give them back.

Be careful because you might have inadvertently signed up to a collection when you thought you were ordering one item.

To the best of my knowledge if one receives unsolicited good and you are sure you have not ordered them, the UK law states that you are not under any obligation to return them or pay for them. You are however obliged to notify the sender of their error and to tell them that the said goods are awaiting their collection at an arranged date. After 4 weeks, I believe it is, the goods legally become your property.
PLEASE CHECK THIS WITH POSSIBLY THE CITIZENS ADVICE OR A LEGAL PERSON AS THE LAW COULD HAVE CHANGED SINCE I HAD THE SAME EXPERIENCE WITH A WELL KNOWN BOOK CLUB.
Crocky Dave

Glad I checked here, I was just about to order some supposedly limited addition Queens 65 years reign coins the are offering at the moment for GBP49:00

Hello to anyone on here who has had the misfortune to deal with this company and hello to the obvious company employee, possibly one of the directors who has so elegantly put a perfect piece of communication describing how wonderful the, Westminster collection as a company are. You are so obvious and deceitful.
I myself have had the misfortune of receiving unsolicited goods. A royal coin. The thing is I had purchased a coin from them several weeks ago and this was for the new 50 pence Paddington Bear coin and folder. So how I had now managed to sign up to receiving monthly coins is anybody's guess as it is a completely different field to the one off coin.
Unfortunately like many on here, If I had read about this company beforehand, then I certainly would not have ordered from them. I am now £28.99 out of pocket. I have also had to block my card and change it so they cannot take anymore money from my account and I advise others to do the same. I also recommend that you contact your banks immediately because this falls under fraud from this company and ask the banks to investigate this company for fraud and hopefully they will try and get your money returned..
These types of companies need to be investigated. Another area to look into would be the media. BBC watch team may be a way to go. Contact the BBC to investigate and have these companies seen for what they are and hopefully have them discredited. If there is enough evidence found on them, then it is possible that they will pay the price for their unlawful ways, but it will not happen if all we do is complain about them on here.
You need make a stand or this company will keep getting away with it. Don't let them take anymore of your hard earned money.

They sent me a coin which I never order and are demanding £44 which I have refused. I have advised them if they want the item to arrange a courier to collect it. They have said they don't have that facility, yet they have the facility to instruct a debt collector and charge me an additional £30.?

When the bailiff turns up, I'll hand it to him to return for me.

I'm not paying the £43 nor the £30 admin cost, and if they want the item they will need to arrange collection.

If I were ill, disabled or bed bound then what would they do? This is a wicked scam that catches people out, in particular the elderly and the vulnerable.

Utter swines

I ordered 3 coins, which came late

They were not part of any collection but now I have another coin and a collection book and a bill for about £30.

Scammers pure and simple

Same again here.

My other half ordered a (that is to say one, as in less than two and more than zero) coin and they sent her and charged her for five. How they continue to operate without consequence for this persistent lack of ethics or competence is beyond me.

They have passed on to the debt collectors and I have advised the debt collectors to take it to court as i will not be paying for it. I didnt order the coin and had no intention of entering into a subscription when i ordered the first coin last year. Its a scam and Im not interested

Same with me. I've returned the coin and they keep sending me threatening emails which is affecting my mental health. I've asked them to close my account. They also send emails in the middle of the night which I find odd.