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ABOUT THE RIPOFF REPORT BELOW:
Ripoff Report would like to let readers know that Ripoff Report emailed this customer, so the member business could make things right with them. When a business joins the Corporate Advocacy Program, Ripoff Report emails everyone from the past so the member business can make things right with them. Of course, everything within reason. In order to confirm that the complaints were resolved, Ripoff Report is copied on all responses, so we can insure that the member business did right by their customer. The author of the Ripoff Report below never responded to our offer to help them. The Review below should be ignored.
NOW TO THE ORIGINAL REPORT THAT WAS FILED
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RUN THE OTHER WAY!
I was lucky! This week I narrowly escaped flushing ~$25,000 of my life savings down the toilet.
I am new to gold/silver investing. I can see there is a dollar crisis looming, and wanted to roll a large portion of my IRA into a self-directed IRA and buy physical gold. So I researched precious metals dealers online, and found Goldco was very highly rated. (These ratings are paid-for or contrived, I would come to find later.) Goldco rep David Taylor was extremely helpful and responsive, answered all my questions, assured me that Goldco markups were some of the lowest in the industry, and sent me the paperwork to set up an account with a trustee/custodian to handle the SDIRA rollover. We agreed that silver coins made the most sense for me, and I placed an order for American Eagle proof coins from the Perth mint. THEN I GOT THE ORDER CONFIRMATION:
Silver American Bald Eagle - 1oz Qty 667 $74.90
What the heck did I just buy??? The spot for silver that day was ~$26.50; this price was nearly triple! I was shocked. I frantically googled "silver american eagle proof" and -boom- there were ebay and other trade sites selling 1oz coins for $35-40. So I emailed Goldco, asking 1) why so expensive, and 2) why this email "receipt" doesn't even say "proof" (much less anything else about year/grade/packaging)? What followed was a flurry of emails from David Taylor with PDF flyers (Goldco produced marketing, of course) detailing why "proof coins" are so rare/shiny/desirable/less taxable as to command a premium. Premium indeed!
Thank God I was able to contact my trustee/custodian and remove Goldco as an authorized dealer on my account. I found another dealer - a family business - that was reasonably priced and did not try to upsell me into a ridiculously overpriced or high commission product. In the end bought almost double the amount of silver by weight, AND 10oz Platinum bars. Had I purchased those 667 silver coins from Goldco, I could not have sold them for even HALF what I paid. It would have been the most expensive mistake I have ever made. Please spare yourself the heartache, if it's not too late.
The Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG) maintains a list of accredited dealers, who hold to a strict code of ethics. It may be a good place to look for a precious metals dealer who won't take you to the cleaners. That list is searchable at apmddealers dot org.
Here's a quote from the PNG:
"The personal finance market is filled with slick advertisements touting gold bullion coins labeled with a superb grade or in holders with decorative, autographed inserts. These may be fine collectibles for some, but you could pay more than twice the value of the precious metal content of the coin. There certainly are better ways for investors to buy bullion coins much closer to their actual intrinsic value," Barry Stuppler, president of the Professional Numismatists Guild
Here's a quote from the website of the dealer that I decided to work with:
"We have spent years consoling clients that found us AFTER they funded their gold IRA. Many of them had fallen victim to the most common Gold IRA Review Scam in the market, believing that they had found credible Gold IRA review sites, only to find that these “reviews” were empty copied content from a gold dealer, by people who have never owned a precious metals IRA. Worse yet, they often found that they landed with a dealer that sold them overpriced gold and silver for their precious metals IRA, the very dealer that was rated #1 in the 'reviews'.""
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Alan
Leander,Texas,
United States
I was mistaken about one thing
#4Author of original report
Fri, September 11, 2020
Update 09/10/2020 :
I removed my claim about the coin design dating back to 2014. I see the front side design is different. Sorry for the error.
Notwithstanding, I'm holding in my hands right now your marketing flyer for the coin you sold me that says "Goldco Exclusive" on it three times. Exclusives like this exist to prevent comparison shopping - to pad Goldco's margins, NOT because there's some huge demand in the market for 'limited mintage' premium proofs. I encourage all would-be investors to make a couple phone calls to Professional Numismatics Guild dealers, and see what a professional coin dealer thinks about 1) the market value of Goldco's proof coins, and 2) the wisdom of buying hundreds or thousands of them for your IRA. I made those calls, and it confirmed to me that Goldco are con artists. This review was written to save other hapless investors from making the same mistake I did.
Alan
Leander,Texas,
United States
"confusion surrounding the coin's value"
#4Author of original report
Fri, September 04, 2020
Goldco's response is totally consistent with what I've already written. They're great...right up until the point they pilfer half your retirement savings selling you beautiful, grossly overpriced, premium proof coins. Let's not pretend that your "confusion surrounding the coin's value" is accidental. It's essential.
One quibble, regarding this coin you sold me -- the one you say is a "new coin." As a business manager at Goldco, you mush be aware that the Perth Mint has been producing this design since 2014. There's nothing new about it, save the "2020." Source: bit.ly/3hXildH
Goldco
Woodland Hills,California,
United States
We’re Not Happy Until You’re Happy
#4UPDATE Employee
Wed, September 02, 2020
Goldco appreciates your feedback because we take customer service very seriously. We want to make sure we are on the same page about the coins you were going to purchase. You are correct that the 1oz 2020 Silver American Bald Eagle (Reverse Proof) is minted by the Perth mint. But, there may be some confusion surrounding the coin's value and the process Goldco uses when purchasing coins back from customers. The reason that you could not "shop" the 1oz 2020 Silver American Bald Eagle (Reverse Proof) is because it is a new coin and is, therefore, not readily available.
You claim that the coin is overpriced because it retails for quite a bit above the melt value. Because you never went through with your purchase and never had the opportunity to to sell your coins back to Goldco, you would not know that Goldco frequently buys coins like those from its customers at amounts far exceeding the weight of their metal because its buyback pricing tracks the actual value of the coins it buys and sells.
Having said that, Goldco offers a myriad of metals from which customers can choose. As you noted in your review, we answered all of your questions and our customer service is excellent. If we had reason to know that the coin your contemplated buying was not what you were looking for, we most certainly would have offered you other options. We wish that you had given us the chance to address your concerns and offer metals that may have been better suited for your needs.