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When you first set off to buy silver and gold
products, there are many factors which will likely influence your decision
making.
A product's price is most certainly one of the most
important decision making factors. Gold and silver dealers know this,
and therefore most dealers build their business models and advertising
campaigns around low price offers.
Dealers understand that most people are trained to
think that in a shopping comparison, lowest price wins.
This presumption should especially hold true when
investors are comparing fungible or like-kind silver and gold bullion
products from one dealer to the next.
Who doesn't want to save some fiat
currency on a trade if they can?
Apparently there are hundreds of active silver and
gold buyers who might prefer to actually receive the products they supposedly
bought rather than simply saving a few bucks on their original purchase
price.
The article states, "Consumers across the
country have reported late or missing shipments of rare, silver and gold
coins purchased from the Orange County precious-metals dealer. Clients say
they have lost tens of thousands of dollars in investments, prompting some to
take the business to court."
About.ag, a silver and gold internet blogger, has
painstakingly documented this delayed delivery fiasco since its inception (click
here for more details).
According to The Better Business Bureau, there are
more than 200 complaints regarding the dealer over
the last 3 years.
What about gold dealers supposedly
offering low cost bullion product(s) only to allegedly switch their customers
into high profit, commission driven products?
Last Thursday, the city of Santa Monica filed a
lawsuit against another Santa Monica-based precious metals dealer for allegedly engaging in a nationwide �bait and switch scam� by
using false, deceptive, and aggressive sales tactics to trick customers into
buying heavily marked-up collector coins instead of gold or silver bars.
Perhaps you have seen their 1% over cost internet
banner advertisements or TV commercials?
The city's suit alleges that when consumers call in
to buy bullion, the dealer�s sales staff instead convinces them to buy
heavily marked-up so-called �collector� coins instead, while falsely telling
consumers:
� That the collector coins are a better
investment than bullion.
� That the collector coins offer more
privacy than bullion.
� That the collector coins are not
�reportable� on consumers� taxes.
� That the collector coins can�t be
confiscated by the government, while bullion can be.
The lawsuit further alleges that the supposed
collector coins have none of those advantages over gold or silver bullion.
City attorneys claim the nationwide scheme has
allowed this dealer to defraud consumers of "tens of millions of
dollars," as a "typical... customer 'invests' five
figures, six figures, or more in overpriced coins".
Bullion Buyers Beware! - Always
Perform Your Due Diligence
One might think that when performing Due Diligence
on gold and silver dealers, you could simply do a quick Better Business
Bureau (BBB) investigation to make certain a prospective company is doing
business ethically.
Checking the BBB rating of a business (or in
California the Business Consumer Alliance - BCA Rating) is not as important as
specifically investigating the volume and types of complaints filed against a
business.
Always examine the actual volumes of complaints a
company receives as well as viewing the actual complaints themselves. By
doing so, you will get the best insight as to how a company handles
discrepancies and what types of issues their customers habitually run into.
Some filed complaints may seem minor (perhaps an
undisclosed shipping charge of $20 or so) while some are much more egregious,
where people's retirement or life savings hang in the balance.
For instance, below is a BCA complaint filed by a
customer of the company which, according to the City of Santa Monica's
lawsuit, allegedly displays low cost bullion bait and switch ads only to
up-sell consumers into overpriced collector coins.
The BCA customer complaint states:
Run away from this company. When I
bought my gold coins, gold was just a little over $1,000 per ounce. I
purchased $25,000 in gold coins from this company through my IRA. Today gold
is just over $1,700 per ounce. What are my gold coins worth according to my
IRA? Only $20,000. How is that possible? XXXX Financial made a 100% markup on
my coins. That's right, I paid double their value. These people are not
honest brokers, they are salesmen. They aren't interested in honesty, ethics,
or morals. They are interested in making as much money as they can from you,
the novice and unsuspecting buyer. I was told it was a 3-5 year investment.
For what, to break even while gold soars? XXXX Financial are scam artists.
Run away. Fast.
Even with 67 individual customer complaints over the last three years, this dealer still has a AAA
rating... the highest most exemplary rating achievable with
the Business Consumer Alliance (BCA).
Hopefully now you understand why I am stressing to
you to check a company's complaint volumes and substance over their (easy to
buy) ratings.
You can also use the following methodologies to
perform additional due diligence on a potential dealer:
- Google Search the company's name or url with
additional terms like "scam" or "rip off" to find
potential postings of customer complaints.
- Search the company's name on consumer protection
websites like RipoffReport.com.
- If a company does not publish their buy and sell
prices live online be wary. If
a dealer balks on giving you their buy and sell information on any product
they offer you, move on.
Stay
tuned as we will continue to supply you with actionable high quality
information helping you make the right choices, choose the right product(s)
for your needs, and deliver you genuine products at fair prices within
transparent timeframes.
The information, opinions, and financial data presented are for
educational purposes only and are not intended as investment advice. No
guarantees are made as to the accuracy of the information provided herein.
Situations can change from day to day. Every investor should do their own
due-diligence to determine which investments are best for them.
You must assume the responsibility and liability for all decisions that you
make on the basis of the information herein contained. GoldSilver.com, makes no warranties,
expressed or implied, as to the fitness and accuracy of the information
provided or for the results obtained by using the information. Those making
investment decisions based on any of the information presented should do so
in the knowledge that they could experience significant losses. In no event
shall GoldSilver.com be liable for direct, indirect, or incidental damages
resulting from the use of the information.
When
you first set off to buy silver and gold products, there are many factors
which will likely influence your decision making.
A
product's price is most certainly one of the most important decision making
factors. Gold and silver dealers know this, and therefore most dealers
build their business models and advertising campaigns around low price
offers.
Dealers
understand that most people are trained to think that in a shopping
comparison, lowest price wins.
This
presumption should especially hold true when investors are comparing fungible
or like-kind silver and gold bullion products from one dealer to the next.
Who
doesn't want to save some fiat currency on a trade if they can?
Apparently
there are hundreds of active silver and gold buyers who might prefer to
actually receive the products they supposedly bought rather than simply
saving a few bucks on their original purchase price.
The
article states, "Consumers across the country have reported late or
missing shipments of rare, silver and gold coins purchased from the Orange
County precious-metals dealer. Clients say they have lost tens of thousands
of dollars in investments, prompting some to take the business to
court."
About.ag,
a silver and gold internet blogger, has painstakingly documented this delayed
delivery fiasco since its inception (click
here for more details).
According
to The Better Business Bureau, there are more than 200 complaints regarding the dealer over the last 3 years.
What
about gold dealers supposedly offering low cost bullion product(s) only to
allegedly switch their customers into high profit, commission driven products?
Last
Thursday, the city of Santa Monica filed a lawsuit against another Santa
Monica-based precious metals dealer for
allegedly engaging in a nationwide �bait and switch scam� by using false,
deceptive, and aggressive sales tactics to trick customers into buying
heavily marked-up collector coins instead of gold or silver bars.
Perhaps
you have seen their 1% over cost internet banner advertisements or TV
commercials?
The city's suit alleges that when consumers call in
to buy bullion, the dealer�s sales staff instead convinces them to buy
heavily marked-up so-called �collector� coins instead, while falsely telling
consumers:
� That the collector coins are a better
investment than bullion.
� That the collector coins offer more
privacy than bullion.
� That the collector coins are not
�reportable� on consumers� taxes.
� That the collector coins can�t be
confiscated by the government, while bullion can be.
The lawsuit further alleges that the supposed
collector coins have none of those advantages over gold or silver bullion.
City attorneys claim the nationwide scheme has
allowed this dealer to defraud consumers of "tens of millions of
dollars," as a "typical... customer 'invests' five
figures, six figures, or more in overpriced coins".
Bullion Buyers Beware! - Always
Perform Your Due Diligence
One might think that when performing Due Diligence
on gold and silver dealers, you could simply do a quick Better Business
Bureau (BBB) investigation to make certain a prospective company is doing
business ethically.
Checking
the BBB rating of a business (or in California the Business Consumer Alliance
- BCA Rating) is not as important as specifically investigating the
volume and types of complaints filed against a business.
Always
examine the actual volumes of complaints a company receives as well as
viewing the actual complaints themselves. By doing so, you will get the best
insight as to how a company handles discrepancies and what types of issues
their customers habitually run into.
Some
filed complaints may seem minor (perhaps an undisclosed shipping charge of
$20 or so) while some are much more egregious, where people's retirement or
life savings hang in the balance.
For
instance, below is a BCA complaint filed by a customer of the company which,
according to the City of Santa Monica's lawsuit, allegedly displays low cost
bullion bait and switch ads only to up-sell consumers into overpriced
collector coins.
The
BCA customer complaint states:
Run
away from this company. When I bought my gold coins, gold was just a little
over $1,000 per ounce. I purchased $25,000 in gold coins from this company
through my IRA. Today gold is just over $1,700 per ounce. What are my gold
coins worth according to my IRA? Only $20,000. How is that possible? XXXX
Financial made a 100% markup on my coins. That's right, I paid double their
value. These people are not honest brokers, they are salesmen. They aren't
interested in honesty, ethics, or morals. They are interested in making as
much money as they can from you, the novice and unsuspecting buyer. I was
told it was a 3-5 year investment. For what, to break even while gold soars?
XXXX Financial are scam artists. Run away. Fast.
Even
with 67 individual customer complaints
over the last three years, this dealer still has a AAA
rating... the highest most exemplary rating achievable with
the Business Consumer Alliance (BCA).
Hopefully
now you understand why I am stressing to you to check a company's complaint
volumes and substance over their (easy to buy) ratings.
You
can also use the following methodologies to perform additional due diligence
on a potential dealer:
-
Google Search the company's name or url with additional terms like
"scam" or "rip off" to find potential postings of
customer complaints.
-
Search the company's name on consumer protection websites like
RipoffReport.com.
-
If a company does not publish their buy and sell prices live online be wary.
If a dealer balks on giving you their buy and sell information on any product
they offer you, move on.
Stay
tuned as we will continue to supply you with actionable high quality
information helping you make the right choices, choose the right product(s)
for your needs, and deliver you genuine products at fair prices within
transparent timeframes.
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