Oh Happy Day !!

Stopped in at my dealers today. Arrived shortly after UPS. Old Field Point arrived. Beautiful.

My serial number was three times greater than showroom piece. And mine was one of the lowest. Seems HL did a normal auto-ship, then filled Society orders, and then filled the rest of the dealers order. My MISunderstanding was that Society orders would be filled first and the remainder would be shipped to the dealers.

Why bother with a certificate? A call to HL brought the response that the certificate assures me of getting a piece. Heck, my dealer will assure me of that.

I, for one, am very bitter. Is HL starting to ignore their membvership? Are we going to continue to have this kind of service? What next?

Fred, once I figured out the system HL was using on Old Field Point, I just took my usual auto-ship number and told them to sell my pre-order when it arrived. It doesn't seem necessary to reserve a light when you can get a better number from your usual dealer.

Hey Fred

Back on July 18th, I posted a message about how Old Field was going to be distributed:

http://www.lighthousekeepers.com/forums/Forum3/HTML/000020.html

Mea Culpa. Mea Culpa

I remember reading the post. But, it didn't penetrate my thick skull. However, I am still irratated. Why bother with a redemption certificate? If it is going to be a LE of 10,000, why not just leave it that way.

I have already heard from several people who are also very unhappy. And not all of us are on the net. At best, it is a poor job of communication. Not even the dealers (at least some of them) were aware of the intended system.

Will certainly check out thoroughly before sending in another redemption certificate.

My store had the same problem. We thought Society Members would get theirs first. Not so! We received our normal autoship order of our low numbers, but no Society Members pieces have come yet. I myself took my usual number and will let the store sell my "reserved" one. I agree that is didn't make much sense to reserve it. Plus, with the increase of edition to 10,000 pieces on this Christmas Edition, it seemed odd. I wish they would limit the Christmas pieces more, to make them special, like with the past pieces.

Sara Morton

I finally received my East Quoddy yesterday. The edition number is 7781. I normally receive a number in the low 400's from my dealer but since this piece is ordered through a redemption certificate, you get what is delivered to them.

This is the reason I brought back this older thread about purchasing Christmas pieces through redemption certificates or just buying them off the dealers shelves. I know you can't always count on finding the Christmas HL on a dealer's shelf but there certainly seems to be a lot of them out there.

Is it a waste of time to purchase it through the redemption certificate when you can walk into a dealer and get, in most cases, a lower number? I realize all the pieces are the same except for the edition numbering but for some reason lower numbers appear to be more desireable on the secondary market.

As a faithful member of the Collector's Society I would think preference would be given to members in regards to lower numbers via the redemption certificate than John Q. Public can buy retail right off the dealer's shelf.

What do you think?

Bob

I agree with you Bob even though the edition number on a piece doesn't matter to me. But just to let you know: I didn't send in my certificate for East Quoddy, was in a shop last week, saw the piece and liked it. So I brought one home with me. (#6107) So much for reserving one, but I do agree that preference should be given to those who send in the certificates.

"TheLightkeeper"

I agree the system should be set up to benefit the Society Members. I brought my redemption certificate to my dealer several months ago, they do not receive autoships, and my piece came in last week. I got #2366 for the Christmas 99 light. I quess I did better than some getting a lower number, but if they are going to be random with the certificates, they need to find a way to give preference to Society Members.

Turbo

I ordered mine with the certificate and received it October 16th. The number was 1318. Doesn't make sense how they ship them. I'm more interested in the light than the number on it. But I agree it is nice to get a lower number once in a while.

I didn't reserve the Christmas piece. My husband decided to pick it up at our local dealer as one of my Christmas gifts. I looked at the outside of the box for the #, no peeking inside 'till Christmas. Number was 1259, stopped the next day to see what other numbers they had, (I like meaningful #s like B'days, ages, house numbers. Anyway all their other X-mas HLs were 7,000+. So I'm assuming the 1259 was one of their autoships (which will remain the X-mas gift.)

Donna

I assume your 'regular' dealer receives an autoshipment Bob (and others). If so, then simply provide that dealer with your redemption certificate and let them know you want your usual number.

Now if you receive the autoship from your dealer, your dealer doesn't NEED your certificate, but it would provide your dealer with an 'extra' East Quoddy -- and for dealers, that will be a plus since after auto ships are filled, the remaining pieces are on allocation.

For Christmas pieces, HL fills the autoships then ships numbers in the order received. If you give your certificate to the dealer and they take a few weeks to return it to HL, then you may end up with a higher number.

Alternatively, call HL and tell them you want your redemption piece sent to your regular dealer. HL will let your dealer know.
This only works if you call right after you get the certificate.

Hi John, ...Unfortunately, my dealer doesn't receive every piece made by HL. He told me lights from other areas of the country don't do that well at his store. I admit I didn't think of asking for my usual range of numbers instead of the one HL shipped in my name. Oh well, maybe next time.

Bob

I also turned in my redemption slip for East Quoddy to my dealer. He was still able to give me my regular # that I always purchase from him because of autoship. Maybe the next time you turn in a redemption slip you could ask for your same autoship #. I think the best thing anyone can do is to have a good relationship with your local dealer. They seem to work with you so that you get your pieces first(from autoship)and you don't have to wait for a second order to be placed.

Hmmm, very interesting. #2095 here. I called HL to order mine and have it sent to the dealer. Actually I didn't even realize that they received autoships on the Xmas pieces. Thought the ones hanging around after Xmas must be those that were ordered and not picked up. Have #586 on Tarrytown and Cape Disappointment purchased from same dealer so assume I could have gotten that number on E. Quoddy if I had realized. Too late now. Guess that's why we have these forums, to learn the ropes!