Complaint Review: Universal Coin and Bullion (Michael Fuljenz President)

I fully retract all negative reports and comments that I have posted on this website about Michael Fuljenz and his companies, including Universal Coin and Bullion. Certain information has been presented to me since I posted said negative comments and reports which allows me no choice but to completely retract them. Please totally disregard all of my negative claims about Universal Coin and Bullion, Michale Fuljenz, and any of his other affiliated companies. 

In addition to the retractions already made by me, I also retract all of my other negative reports and comments made about Michael Fuljenz and his companies, including Universal Coin and Bullion. 

I fully retract and withdraw my rebuttal. Please disregard it in its entirety. 

I am fully retracting and withdrawing my report. Please completely diregard its contentions. 

I am the President of Universal Coin & Bullion, Ltd. and I’m responding to the misleading, inaccurate and libelous comments posted by ‘Apple Pie.’ It is not our policy or practice to call customers (if “Apple Pie” actually was a customer) who do not want to be called.  That’s not good business.  Toward that end;

 Our employees training includes a  Do Not Call Solutions program.

 We have a lengthy recorded transaction verification script.  The recordings are independently reviewed.  Statements that we make unauthorized credit card charges are libelous and not substantiated by recordings.  The verification asks the customer if he is suitable for the transaction, comfortable with the entire transaction process, and if they are agreeable to being called in the future.  It is defamatory to assert we target those who are not suitable mentally or comfortable with our entire transaction process.

  We have a customer service department whose toll free number is prominently displayed on invoices, brochures and the homepage of our website.  As the President of the company, I would typically be contacted to call a “customer” such as “Apple Pie.”  If utilized, this customer service process probably would have and could still help “Apple Pie.”

 We are registered to telemarket in the State of Texas and have never been contacted by the State of Texas regarding a telemarketing issue.

 We are an accredited A+ member of the BBB and pledge to arbitrate.  If the BBB had been contacted by “Apple Pie”, he could not have remained anonymous.  However, the BBB provides inexpensive arbitration services which my company would pay.  I believe this process could have helped “Apple Pie” as it did the few customers who have utilized it in the past 21 years we have been in business.  It is defamatory and libelous to assert we misuse the BBB process.

 Our products are sold at competitive prices.  Check our website and online store at universalcoin.com.  Our mark-ups for various product categories are also disclosed on our website videos.  A coin’s value, like fine art, stamps or baseball cards, often has little to do with its’ “melt value.”  I am one of a relatively small number of experts who has been asked to contribute pricing to the leading price guides, including the Redbook and Insider’s Guide.  I have the expertise to know that our pricing is competitive, and certainly not at multiples of our cost.  It is defamatory to assert we overprice our products.

 Ed Reiter, Executive Director, Numismatic Literary Guild, said in 2014, “The fact that since 1986 Mike Fuljenz has won so many major awards in so many diverse categories, including the top NLG award ‘The Clemy,’ underscores how important his peers in the rare coins and precious metals markets view Mike’s excellent analysis and reporting.”  Any claims that Mike Fuljenz does not have peer respect and lies about sources of coins is defamatory and libelous. 

 The lawsuits referred to in your June 2014 posting occurred (7) years ago, were dismissed, and nothing like that has happened in the past seven 7 years.  After the cases were dismissed, the opposing counsel even wrote letters to numerous media sources asking them to remove articles about the cases due to “many significant and important statements and allegations contained in the articles that were unfounded, inaccurate or erroneously made on behalf of their clients.”  We were the ones who got numerous judgments against our adversaries in these matters, not them.  The statements posted by “Apple Pie” on June 2014, including old lawsuit issues, are false, defamatory, and libelous.  UCB does not train representatives to overcome objections using psychological bullying and “mind screw” tactics and deceptions.  This assertion by “Apple Pie” is defamatory and libelous.  

 Since then, we have received, locally, top honors from the area Chamber of Commerce, Beaumont Police Department, Beaumont Enterprise Newspaper, Catholic Charities, Lamar University and the Press Club of Southeast Texas.

 I serve in Texas as the immediate past president of the Diocese of Beaumont Catholic School Board, on the Beaumont Crime Stoppers Board and the State Bar of Texas Advertising Review Committee whose purposes include assisting others.  To assert that my public reputation or respect for me is not good or “smoke and mirrors” is defamatory and libelous.

 Nationally, I serve on boards assisting members of the Industry Council for Tangible Assets and the Numismatic Literary Guild.

 I would gladly assist “Apple Pie” too if he would contact me and identify himself so I could better research his issues.

 If the defamatory statements above are not retracted by “Apple Pie”, UCB will avail itself of all legal remedies permitted under Texas law.

  _____________________________________

Mike Fuljenz

President, Universal Coin & Bullion, Ltd.

Partly or even mainly due to having huge markups on certified bullion coins, Universal Coin and Bullion is less than reputable to some people, including me and (apparently) the many people who have sued them. Nonetheless, many other people consider Universal Coin and Bullion to be reputable, perhaps because they neither deliberately overgrade coins nor blatantly steal from customers, as certain other telemarketers do and have been convicted of doing. Again, a major gripe against Universal Coin and Bullion is that they charge excessive amounts over true wholesale for common bullion coins simply because they were certified by grading services in the highest grades (MS69 or PR69 or, especially, MS70 or PR70).

A TRADE SECRET: Anyone can look through hundreds or even thousands of examples of a particular bullion coin issue, select the nicest ones, and then submit them in bulk to a grading service, often for a heavily discounted fee of as low as $5 or so. Chances are excellent that a decent percentage will receive the best grades and thus be listed as having large premiums in retail price guides published by the biased grading services, but will actually only be worth near their melt value at true wholesale. Many consumers pay full retail for such certified bullion coins as investments, only to be disappointed with their typical losses when it comes time to sell to dealers. 

I believe that truly rare coins can be a decent or even fabulous investment, but not the common bullion coins sold by Universal Coin and Bullion and certain other telemarkers. To avoid confusion, my usernames are "Texas Tea" and "Apple Pie".