Lighthouse USA Web Site

Some companies sort of shoot themselves in the foot and I think maybe Lighthouse is in that select group. They have a very nice website:

http://www.lighthouse.us/epages/lig...euchtturm_us

I have been taking advantage of a 20% off sale by buying binders and mounts I need. First order I signed up and created an account with my email as ID and a password I was careful to record. Next time I went in it would not accept my password. I asked for a reset to be mailed to me, it took two days. Then I couldn't get in using the temporary password. Another email to them- I was told to just create a new account that they cannot help with password issues because the computer is not at their office- assume they farm out their website to a third party. I created a new account but then couldn't use the same email account so I used another one I use sometimes, got in. Today it happened again during checkout of an order, same thing. Again I was told to create a new account- again, had to use a different email account so I pulled an old inactive one just to use for that site. I managed to process the order but I just know next time I will have the same thing. I have no more email addresses to use.

Are you wondering why I just didn't place my order by phone? Because I have never once been able to reach anyone at their number, leave messages and never get a call back, not ever. In three years.

Does anyone on here do business with these people? If you are able to manage it, how exactly do you? The image I now have is some small warehouse with two employees and unattended most of the time. Even Amos isn't this bad- and Lindner is terrific.

Contact Werner Zielnewicz in Germany. He sells Michel, Lighthouse, Lindner and other stamp collecting products at a substantial discount. I find it is cheaper to order through him and pay the shipping costs from Europe than to order from US Lighthouse directly. Unfortunately, he is retiring as of August 1, 2015. His email is WernerZiel@aol.com.

I have never purchased directly from their website - only via ebay from a dealer (Mit_63) who sells Lighthouse binders and Vario pages. He must buy in bulk and get great discounts because his prices are much less than from the Lighthouse website (I can't figure out how to determine shipping costs from the Lighthouse website).

Give Mit_63 a check before spending full retail on the Lighthouse site ...

http://www.ebay.com/sch/mit_63/m.ht...047675.l2562

Brian

Thanks to you both.

I used to do business with Werner- for years in fact. He and I had a falling out a few years back and I doubt he will be receptive to any inquiry- he's retiring soon so that's probably a dead end anyway.

Mit63 is a good idea. I have worked with him in the past. I do not usually buy in the LH site but was doing so recently due to the limited time discount. I will give him a shout next time I need something.

I have ordered from Mit63 as well. He provides excellent pricing and customer service, but he does not always have everything in stock. Still, he's a great resource and highly recommended.

I have ordered labels from them multiple times without any problems. My only gripe are the high shipping costs.

The prices look pretty keen. My GB stockist does Grande binders/slipcases @ £22.50 and 50 Grande leaves @ £36.50. He also offers various combinations, including 3 Grandee binders and slipcases, with 50 leaves each, @ £125. Oddly, Grande prices are lower than Vario, presumably because of his wholesale deal with Lighthouse.

Another thumbs up for MIT_63 (note the underscore in his name).

There are many of us here who buy from him -- and I believe all are pleased with the prices and products

https://goscf.com/t/18163

https://goscf.com/t/31584

https://goscf.com/t/15066#136399

Kirk

P.S. I have no financial interest in MIT_63; just a satisfied customer

I've placed several orders with MIT_63 in the past and just placed another one last night, in fact. Prices are good, service is prompt. He pretty much just sells Lighthouse binders, Vario pages and stock books, however, as well as some coin products. He doesn't carry every single Lighthouse item - e.g. he doesn't sell things like labels and mounts, etc. But for the items he does carry, there is no better source, anywhere. At least in the US, anyway. He sells on ebay, Amazon, as well as his own website. When I was on Amazon last night, it looked like he was having a sale - Vario G binders were only $19.95, for example. At that price, I couldn't place an order fast enough!

I just saw your post and purchased 2 Vario-G Classic binders at $10.95 each on Amazon! It limits you to a single binder of each color. Black was not available.

I think I got the last black one last night at that price. I really had no plans on getting any more Vario G's anytime soon, but I had an Amazon gift card to use up, so I thought I'd browse his listings. When I saw the sale price, it sealed the deal. I use Steiner pages and the part of my collection I care about is already in Vario G or F binders, with various odds and ends still in cheap office binders. I'm at the point now where any collections that will got into a Vario G will probably be worth less than the binder itself, but when the binder is free (or very cheap), I'll certainly still upgrade here and there. I have to remind myself that I'm just 45 years old now and hopefully have 30+ years left to collect. Those essentially worthless collections today may, over time, become halfway decent and worthy of being housed in a good binder. Even at the normal price of about $23 each (buying 5 at a time) Lighthouse binders are a no-brainer in my opinion, but like I said, I'm at the point now where I'm basically moving semi-worthless junk into them. I'll need to get a really outstanding deal on them to keep adding Vario binders, but they're a good use of "free" Amazon money.

I got a reply from MIT_63 today asking me to send a list of what I am looking for- I did so, couple Lighthouse page sets and a binder. In their reply earlier they said they could special order items ot on their store list- if available. we'll see..

Stamps1962,

Sorry about your experiences with the Lighthouse US office. I've been ordering from them for a few years (maybe 2-3 times per year) -- both online and by phone -- and fortunately I've never experienced the issues that you have. And yes, I've been successful several times in reaching them by phone. (They've even left me a couple of messages at my home, telling me that something I wanted is no longer available, etc.)

I do think that at certain times of the year -- like right now? -- it's "supplement season" for them, and those orders probably take priority.

My quibble with Lighthouse is that their US website seems to not be updated very often -- there are pages still listed there that haven't been available for sale for some time (I know, because I tried to order them).

They're basically my favorite line of albums. However, some countries that they used to produce pages for, they no longer do (including some I'd like to have).

One observation that I have about Lighthouse: unlike the other German album companies, Lighthouse appears to edit their country pages with some regard to the predominant catalogue for that country (i.e., not strictly Michel) and/or collecting habits in that country. Examples: US and Great Britain.

PS: They did just recently move their offices (from Hackensack to Fairfield, in New Jersey).

Just came across Stamps1962's issues with Lighthouse. I like Lighthouse product quality, but the US sales org communications is not too good.

A few months ago I was shopping for a quality hingeless album for my classic US collection. I spoke with Lighthouse folks and they sent me a sample page and their product catalog. Unfortunately, the page sample and 2015 Lighthouse product catalog illustrated only the split-back type mounts which I didn't want, so I had purchased a Mystic American Heirloom Collection album because it offers my preferred top-loading mounts plus Scott ID numbers. After I had purchased the Mystic album, I met Lighthouse folks at a stamp show in New York City and found that they were unaware of the type of mounts available in their own US hingeless albums. I was surprised that the senior Lighthouse guy had to unwrap a new Volume 1 US album to confirm that the mounts are top-load -- which is what I wanted.

The US Lighthouse operation lost my sale because they didn't clearly communicate that their product was a solid solution for what I wanted. Lighthouse USA is likely a very small sales operation and relies entirely on Germany HQ for their sales literature. I had explained to the US sales folks what I wanted. But they sent me a sample US hingeless page that uses back-split mounts like pictured in the 2015 Lighthouse catalog.

Now I'm looking for an album for my US Revenues. I'd love a hingeless, rather than using hinges when I consolidate my collection, but I am unaware of an album publisher that markets a hingeless US revenue product. But if anyone knows of one please give a yell. Thanks!

The feeling I get on Lighthouse is that their US sales office is a very small thing- probably a one or two person operation. I did communicate with a lady there via email who told me to send a list of products I was needing and she'd advise if in stock. That was a week ago, nothing yet.

I am surprised you got a page sample with split backs- all I have ever known them to produce are albums with the open top mounts. I think Schaubek is the only hingeless producer that offers split backs. They are closing out all of their 'regular' album pages and apparently will only offer those with mounts. I hope they are not going over to split backs. I dislike them for a number of reasons, not the least is the aesthetics, they always seem to stand out at the bottom from the page.

dcaraz 1949- I am still scratching my head at your post. Are you sure this was Lighthouse you got the sample page from and not Schaubek? Schaubek uses the spit back mounts in their albums, Lighthouse has never done so, other than I think maybe for some of the self adhesive stamps in the past few years, I wonder if what you got was a sample page for recent stamps, that would explain things. I have been looking at the Lighthouse catalog and web site and all I see illustrated appear to be the open top mounts on their pages.
I do hope LH is not changing mount types. A lot of their users including myself are going to be very upset at them!