London Regiment - once more unto the breach - 2nd opinions PLEASE. THANKS!

[manchesters]

Originally Posted by manchesters

Hello,

Anyone who is a dealer and sends you that amount of blatent fakes should NOT have a decent reputation.

I think he is taking advantage of your limited knowledge and I would send the lot back to be honest.

regards

You are being ripped off in my opinion, but the choice is yours. My advice is clear. We are here to help you hence the advice.

I will say no more on the matter.

regards

[kaiserwilhelm2]

Originally Posted by manchesters

You are being ripped off in my opinion, but the choice is yours. My advice is clear. We are here to help you hence the advice.

I will say no more on the matter.

regards

Thank you Simon - advice appreciated!

[Jelly Terror]

There are many so-called 'reputable' dealers who are most definitely not above knowingly flogging dicey badges. The lamb in post #41 was bought from a very well-known and highly respected dealer, and was being sold as 'genuine'.

Did he know it was a fake but sold it as a good badge anyway, or did he have no idea it was a fake and was therefore not as erudite and well-informed as the collecting community have us believe?

[grenadierguardsman]

Originally Posted by kaiserwilhelm2

Dear Luke,

Thanks for your post. I am not sure why given the circumstances (which are those?) you do not feel like vetting any more. Of course you are completely free to help me out or not. However reading what you wrote I get the feeling like I am somehow doing something wrong which I am pretty sure I have not done. I checked on the forum if the seller had anything bad written about him and I did not see anything of the sort. He was mentioned several times on the forum as a source for badges and participating in various fairs. So I contacted him told him I was looking for original ww1-era and ww2-era badges and selected these which were on his website and asked him again if these were genuine and correct for the period which he said these were. I then discussed with him returns and he agreed to take back any and all badges without any problems within four weeks after I received these for inspection. I told him I would have these checked out. Then I turned to the forum to get help. I am not sure if people would have responded more possitively if I had posted two hunderd or more links on this forum with the question is this badge ok and only then order it. I fear people would have been turned off by that approach.

As for returning the whole batch - how does that help me? I and others, including you, on the forum have put quite a bit of time into this and so far this has turned up 20 or so fakes which is of course not great when looking at what the seller told me but on the other hand the great majority (at the moment about 90% or more still appears to be genuine). I am not helped by returning the good badges and having to start the whole process again with possibly a similar outcome unless of course someone can refer me to a dealer which without exception sells genuine pieces for reasonable prices.

As for naming the seller I am hesitant to do so as I still need his cooperation in getting my money returned for fake badges and as such am not in a possition to name and shame. I hope you understand this and you and others will continue to help me out as I am just trying to build up a fake free collection of these beautiful badges and with it honour the British Army for its part in liberating us in occupied Europe from the Germans. IMO nothing wrong with that. If you see things differently feel free to let me know. I will also send this post in a pm to you. In any case thank you and others for your help so far.

Cheers, Tom

By not naming the dealer, you are allowing others to buy from him/her.
Andy

[kaiserwilhelm2]

Originally Posted by grenadierguardsman

By not naming the dealer, you are allowing others to buy from him/her.
Andy

Please understand that I have not concluded my business with the dealer as I am still dependent on him returning payment for the fake badges. Please some understanding for my situation.

[Hoot]

Tom, try asking the dealer why there is a four week limit on returns. If he is as straight as you appear to think he is then I see no reason why he would shackle you. It would seem you are being railroaded into this deal.

[kaiserwilhelm2]

Originally Posted by Hoot

Tom, try asking the dealer why there is a four week limit on returns. If he is as straight as you appear to think he is then I see no reason why he would shackle you. It would seem you are being railroaded into this deal.

Thanks for your post. Actually there is only a one week return but before buying the badges I asked for a four week inspection period which at the time seemed sufficient. Now one week into the four week inspection period a little over 50% of the posted badges have been given opinions on. So half the vetting has now been done. If people keep extending their help as they have been doing so far - shout out to you for giving such great assistance - hopefully those badges not yet vetted will have been done as well and I will know which to return and which to keep. Please keep up the good work! THANK YOU!

[Hoot]

Originally Posted by kaiserwilhelm2

Thanks for your post. Actually there is only a one week return but before buying the badges I asked for a four week inspection period which at the time seemed sufficient. Now one week into the four week inspection period a little over 50% of the posted badges have been given opinions on. So half the vetting has now been done. If people keep extending their help as they have been doing so far - shout out to you for giving such great assistance - hopefully those badges not yet vetted will have been done as well and I will know which to return and which to keep. Please keep up the good work! THANK YOU!

One week return!!!. That sounds even more like railroading to me. Still, you pays your money, you takes your choice, as they say. Good luck with that.

[Frank Kelley]

Okay, well my thoughts would now be to make your decision and conclude this business as soon as possible and be very careful what you buy and where you buy from in the future to avoid this from happening again.

Originally Posted by kaiserwilhelm2

Hi Frank, THANK YOU for your continued interest and help with my collection in the making. After Luke's post and my reply I send an email to the seller pointing out the number of multi-source confirmed fakes so far (19) and that I was rather disappointed by this as these had been sold to me as originals. Seller replied he would keep his promise and take everything back that was considered bad/undesirable for full money back - so in case of your example 45 GBP paid is 45 GBP returned. As you will understand I am very keen to seperate the bad from the good while I still have the opportunity to get my money back for bad examples. Therefore I hope everyone will continue to help out with this process of selection for which I continue to be very greatful. Cheers, Tom

[Frank Kelley]

Just out of interest, I note you use the term "multi source confirmed fakes" I assume to refer to them being confirmed as fake by members of this forum rather than actually "multi sourced" by the seller before being deliberately sold to you?

Originally Posted by kaiserwilhelm2

Hi Frank, THANK YOU for your continued interest and help with my collection in the making. After Luke's post and my reply I send an email to the seller pointing out the number of multi-source confirmed fakes so far (19) and that I was rather disappointed by this as these had been sold to me as originals. Seller replied he would keep his promise and take everything back that was considered bad/undesirable for full money back - so in case of your example 45 GBP paid is 45 GBP returned. As you will understand I am very keen to seperate the bad from the good while I still have the opportunity to get my money back for bad examples. Therefore I hope everyone will continue to help out with this process of selection for which I continue to be very greatful. Cheers, Tom

[kaiserwilhelm2]

Originally Posted by Frank Kelley

Just out of interest, I note you use the term "multi source confirmed fakes" I assume to refer to them being confirmed as fake by members of this forum rather than actually "multi sourced" by the seller before being deliberately sold to you?

Hi Frank, yes the first i.e. confirmed as fakes here by more than one Forum member. Cheers, Tom

[kaiserwilhelm2]

Originally Posted by Frank Kelley

Okay, well my thoughts would now be to make your decision and conclude this business as soon as possible and be very careful what you buy and where you buy from in the future to avoid this from happening again.

I agree with concluding this business a.s.a.p. In order to do so I am still hoping a few more badges get second opinions on them so I am returning those that are not good while keeping the ones that are good. As for buying items I usually follow the same set of rules which are: buy from a knowledgable and trusted source, have a money back guarantee and get second opinions from those who are knowledgeable when lacking the necessary in some cases minute knowledge of the objects at hand. Now what is different here as opposed to previous dealings are several things:

- I am operating outside my own field of expertise more so than is usual (I am not a cap badge expert);

- although the source of these items appeared trustworthy and knowledgeable based on the search I did on this Forum (due diligence) or at least there were no warning signs - seeing that I was sold a number of fakes as originals question marks can now be placed with the source being trustworthy and/or knowledgeable - this has come as an unfortunate surprise;

- however I still have my money back guarantee which the seller has reconfirmed he will honour - so although not a great experience all should be well that ends well;

- now the only thing open is how many of the badges I will return to the seller. This is influenced by the feedback I get in the threads I have posted which has been good - thank you again - nevertheless I am still looking for some second opinions on others. Now I have gathered from two forum members that this is for some a sore point as I seem to have overstepped an invisible mark i.e. I have posted too many badges for second opinions. Although I have given some reasons why I have bought many badges in one go (high shipping costs of both receiving and returning, customs issues and, which I forgot to include, high transfer costs: my bank charges me about 6 GBP for transfering money to the UK as it is now outside the EU) which, makes it financially hard to collect badges in small amounts as the costs surrounding the purchase of a single badge are far outweighed by the costs that are associated with getting a badge in hand - with my big badge batch approach and posting these all on the Forum I seemed to have ruffled some feathers. The latter was not my intention and, if in doing so I unwittingly did, I appologize.

[manchesters]

Would you tell us what price in UK Pounds you are paying, for example, a standard Infantry badge? ie, Essex, Devon, East Yorks etc etc etc

regards

[kaiserwilhelm2]

Originally Posted by manchesters

Would you tell us what price in UK Pounds you are paying, for example, a standard Infantry badge? ie, Essex, Devon, East Yorks etc etc etc

regards

Differs a bit but let us say for what appear to be common badges anywhere from 6- 12 GBP.

[manchesters]

Thats quite a difference, I would have expected on such a bulk deal to get an average price at the lower figure.

regards