The US Mint today is attempting to contact some 2700 customers to let them know their coin order was deleted, including 2,200 customers who placed one for the highly coveted 2010 Proof Silver Eagle coin.
Each deleted order was limited to an online transaction. Additionally, the latest information indicates that the majority of the deletions, if not all, occurred within a one hour span of time between 2 and 3 pm (ET) on Friday, November 19, 2010.
That was the slice of time at which the US Mint’s online store received the heaviest traffic as tens of thousands of customers raced to place their purchase online. The 2010 Proof Silver Eagle debuted Friday at Noon ET.
Opening demand for the .999 fine silver proof coin proved to be exceptional, with three-day sales at 273,212.
The US Mint is diligently attempting to contact those customers whose Proof Silver Eagle purchase may have been affected. The Mint wants them to resubmit their order by telephone. These customers are receiving priority delivery status and free next day shipping.
For reference, the official US Mint statement on the matter follows:
STATEMENT ON AMERICAN EAGLE PROOF SILVER DOLLAR
ORDER DELETION PROBLEM
24 November 2010
The United States Mint today said that approximately 2200 orders for American Eagle Silver Proof Coins that went on sale last week may have been deleted in error. The deleted orders were placed between 12 noon (ET) on Friday, November 19 and 7:30 pm (ET) on Sunday, November 21. Approximately 500 orders for other products may have also been deleted. Initial indications point to the computer system becoming overloaded because of the high volume of online orders that were being processed.
Only Internet orders appear to have been affected. No telephone orders were impacted.
Between noon Friday and 7:30 pm Sunday, the Mint processed more than 35,000 internet orders. Mint records indicate that a majority of the deleted orders were placed between 2 and 3 pm (ET) on Friday — the time when Internet order traffic was the highest.
The United States Mint is currently contacting the nearly 2700 customers who may have been affected. E-mails are being sent or phone calls are being placed to those customers, urging them to resubmit their orders via telephone. Replacement orders will be given priority handling and free expedited (next day) shipping to compensate for the inconvenience to customers.
The Mint believes that any orders placed after 7:30 pm (ET) on November 21 were processed properly.
The United States Mint is continuing to update its computer-based ordering system to prevent such problems in the future. Although some progress has been made, additional improvements are planned.
This is one more issue the US Mint must shoulder regarding the 2010 Proof Silver Eagle. Two weeks earlier a portion of US Mint subscription customers were sent erroneous emails indicating that their 2010 Proof Silver Eagle order had been placed on backorder status and then canceled. The US Mint apologized for the inconvenience and confusion as it corrected the error and reinstated each order that was affected.
The 2010 Proof Silver Eagle may be ordered from the US Mint website (direct product link), or its toll free number 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468).
