CGS "membership" Fee

[Rob]

Second edit required, Dave? Amny thnaks.

[azda]

10 minutes ago, Rob said:

Second edit required, Dave? Amny thnaks.

Lol, I added the NOOOO THANKS Roberto

[azda]

28 minutes ago, Paulus said:

Entirely agree - again.

I've been speaking with Bill Pugsley (CGS Forum Chair) about this today to try and make some sense of this as a business model

So what's the deal with those who were already members Paul? Are they asking everyone for cash or just newbies who thought about joining but won't due to the fee?

[PWA 1967]

I got an invoice last night for about twenty and was just charged normally and nothing mentioned.

[Paulus]

6 minutes ago, azda said:

So what's the deal with those who were already members Paul? Are they asking everyone for cash or just newbies who thought about joining but won't due to the fee?

It feels like a moving feast with more breaking news to follow shortly (or not).

My guess is that after a cut-off point (which may have already just passed, as the submission form, with the old pricing on it, has now been removed from their site), any new submissions, from existing members or new, will have to be accompanied by the £499 fee (which as I read it is a on-off payment towards future life-time submissions, not an annual fee).

There needs to be clarification, and there is no info (yet) on turnaround times.

 

[mhcoins]

I'm still confused as to why people persist with CGS 

[azda]

10 minutes ago, mhcoins said:

I'm still confused as to why people persist with CGS 

The unfortunate thing is Alan that PCGS don't know all the errors or variants of the British coinage, that was the reason I sent my F260A, but I definately won't send anything else

[PWA 1967]

I wont be sending anymore as fortunately got the date run i set out to compleat.

They cant cope with what they get know due to the auctions.

Its impossible to control as i could just submit them through someone else should i want to send the odd one.

[mrbadexample]

What do you think they'll do if there are no "elite" members and no-one's using them any more? I can't for the life of me see what they're trying to achieve. 

[Sword]

2 hours ago, PWA 1967 said:

I wont be sending anymore as fortunately got the date run i set out to compleat.

They cant cope with what they get know due to the auctions.

Its impossible to control as i could just submit them through someone else should i want to send the odd one.

I think you are right that they don't have the staffing to cope with the number of submissions. (Hence the three months turnaround time). As far as I know the graders are employed by London Coins and they grade for CGS in their "spare time". Could it be that they now have enough big customers and don't want ( or can't manage) the additional business of the occasional slabbers?

I slab 1-3 coins a year with them and so I too am out as there is no way I will hand over £499.

 

 

[Rob]

I typically deslab 1-3 coins a year, most of which seem to cost considerably more than 499

[mrbadexample]

Their website is currently down. One would hope it's crashed under the volume of complaints.

[Nonmortuus]

Seems to be fine here and no changes to the fee's mentioned above that I can see

[azda]

2 minutes ago, Nonmortuus said:

Seems to be fine here and no changes to the fee's mentioned above that I can see

Non, you've probably submitted at the worst point. I sent one last year with the fee of £13.whatever plus postage to be deducted due to what it cost me, Semra deducted the higher fee and when I emailed to ask why I got no response what so ever. If I were you i'd perhaps try and get in contact to make sure that your submissions will be taken at the previous level before the hike.

[Nordle11]

Oh the joys of her customer service skills.

This is probably going to spring a second hand market of people who buy an elite membership and cater to the people who just want one or 2 coins slabbed, with their own mark-up of course.

[Nonmortuus]

25 minutes ago, azda said:

Non, you've probably submitted at the worst point. I sent one last year with the fee of £13.whatever plus postage to be deducted due to what it cost me, Semra deducted the higher fee and when I emailed to ask why I got no response what so ever. If I were you i'd perhaps try and get in contact to make sure that your submissions will be taken at the previous level before the hike.

I have no hope of contacting them at the moment. The CGS number goes unanswered and the London coins number gets answered by Semra and you're told we're not CGS and get hung up on.... emails are hit an miss sometimes the reply is within minutes others there is no reply. I will have to wait and see what happens but contractually they cannot take the higher fee as its not what I signed up for.

[Paulus]

On 19/05/2016 at 6:18 PM, Paulus said:

It feels like a moving feast with more breaking news to follow shortly (or not).

My guess is that after a cut-off point (which may have already just passed, as the submission form, with the old pricing on it, has now been removed from their site), any new submissions, from existing members or new, will have to be accompanied by the £499 fee (which as I read it is a on-off payment towards future life-time submissions, not an annual fee).

There needs to be clarification, and there is no info (yet) on turnaround times.

 

They are now stating that there is a maximum fee of £99 per coin

[Nordle11]

Seems to me like they should have sat down and worked it all out before just changing everything and losing clientele. They still haven't got any 'agents' listed and you still need to have a membership to even look at that part of the site which is just silly.

Very unprofessionally handled IMO, although going by their customer service that seems to be the status quo for CGS.

[jacinbox]

£499

[azda]

5 hours ago, Nordle11 said:

Seems to me like they should have sat down and worked it all out before just changing everything and losing clientele. They still haven't got any 'agents' listed and you still need to have a membership to even look at that part of the site which is just silly.

Very unprofessionally handled IMO, although going by their customer service that seems to be the status quo for CGS.

Trying to grab money due to a few more slabs being done per year, this is going to end in tears, it's onviously not been thought through how much money they're about to lose. I guess agents are probably the ones who only sell their slabs such as jnwcoins at a guess

[Peter]

What is to guarantee your £499 doesn't disappear into the ether. LCA will surely suffer because of this farce.

 

[evansuk2000]

Is there another company in the UK that offer a slabbing service? I'm a member of CGS but won't be paying £499.

[copper123]

50p a year would be excessive!

[Sword]

13 hours ago, evansuk2000 said:

Is there another company in the UK that offer a slabbing service? I'm a member of CGS but won't be paying £499.

They are the only UK based TPG company. I guess the slabbing concept is not popular enough here to tempt anyone else from starting.

Hypothetically, I wonder if Spink could back a new TPG? Their grading is well respected  and they are publishing price guides already.  

 

 

[PWA 1967]

Wont be long until Baldwin/stanley gibbons start