Clarissa
Los Angeles,#2UPDATE Employee
Mon, April 16, 2007
We are currently female employees of Lear Financial. Some of us are minorities also. We have all been here for quite some time and think it's a great job. The things I read from this supposed ex-employee bothered all of us. We just don't agree with the things said. It bothers all of us when someone speaks badly about the company or Kevin. It's a great company to work for. As far as Kevin being some kind of bad guy, if it was true what this anonymous person was saying, then no one would ever work here. I've seen Kevin help lot's of people, especially employees, through all kinds of things including personal problems. I also know there was a time when some employees were caught stealing and had to leave. But even after that, Kevin forgave them. That's the kind of person he is. This is just the other side of the story from other female employees who think they have a good job working for a good person. Cristina,Clarissa,Sharon,Luz,Lourdes,Joanne,Tani & Danielle
Kevin
Santa Monica,#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Mon, April 16, 2007
Hello, my name is Kevin DeMeritt, and I am the owner of Lear Financial, the precious metals company referenced by "Del" in the attached post. For the last ten years, Lear Financial has been a leader in the precious metals industry, consistently getting the highest reviews for quality, integrity and customer service. I demand that my employees conduct themselves openly and honestly, and I apply the same standards to myself. We have had literally thousands of satisfied customers over the years, and the few complaints that invariably arise are handled swiftly, and always with the clients' needs in mind. I do not want to descend into a "mud-slinging" match with Del. We already have a forum for airing our differences; there is an arbitration pending between us and a point-by-point rebuttal here would only give dignity to baseless allegations that deserve no further comment. But so that there is no mistake, Del once worked at Lear, he was indeed terminated, and he is now suing my company. The rest of Del's allegations are simply untrue. If you are interested in learning more about my company, please visit our website, goldcental.com where, among other things, you can review Lear's standard contract, which fully discloses the "spread" applicable to each transaction. In fact, our contract contains disclosures above and beyond that required by law, because it is my belief that purchasing precious metals is too important a decision to be made blindly. If you still have additional questions about Lear's standards and practices or, indeed, have other issues that you wish to discuss, I would be happy to personally answer any questions you may have. In sum, I hope that you will give Lear Financial the benefit of the doubt. Lear Financial is a professionally run business that demands the highest ethical conduct from its employees, and we do not tolerate any conduct that could bring disrepute to the company. I come from Montana, a place where business is conducted on a handshake. If you want to stop by, I will shake yours. Thanks for listening. Kevin DeMeritt, President Lear Financial
Del
SANTA MONICA,#4UPDATE EX-employee responds
Sat, April 14, 2007
The following list of advertisers should drop Kevin DeMeritt, Lear Financial and Gold Central from their advertising spots for allegations of racial and sexual harassment as well as alleged criminal acts perpetrated against customers, potential customers and employees. FOXNEWS Television Rush Limbaugh radio AM Coast to Coast radio / web with Art Bell AM Coast to Coast radio / web with George Norrey Michael Medved Laura Ingraham Dennis Prager World Magazine and dozens of others This partial list includes some of the largest and respected personalities in broadcasting, particularly from conservative, financial and religious radio, as many personally endorse Kevin DeMeritt, Lear Financial and Gold Central on air; touting Kevin DeMeritt, Lear Financial and other DeMeritt owned enterprises to millions of listeners, viewers or readers. FOXNEWS Television, for example, broadcasts several of Kevin DeMeritt, Lear Financial and Gold Central's national commercials each business day with an actor from the TV show Law and Order who comforts the viewers with the promise that Lear will protect their investments and treat them fair. In fact, according to many Lear Financial investors as well as former and current Kevin DeMeritt employees, for year's investors have been deceived and at least 3 Lear Financial employees have alleged open racial / sexual harassment by Kevin DeMeritt and Lear Financial. One former female employee of Lear Financial gave permission to publish the following information originally obtained from Rip Off Report under Corrupt Companies [Former Employee of Kevin DeMeritt and Lear Financial] Lear Financial - Gold Central - Buy Gold At Cost - Kevin DeMeritt crooks, dishonest sales and rip offs Santa Monica California I am a minority woman who worked at Lear Financial for about one year. During this time employees were not reprimanded for screaming arguments regarding deals, potential deals and office politics. They were allowed to commonly use derogatory racial slurs and sexual vulgarity without consequence. Other important points- 29 of 32 brokers were male. 28 of 32 brokers were white. OPEN racial and sexual harassment. NO standard selling or business procedures. These are not financial brokers/advisors of any kind! There are no required or accredited industry certifications (ie. series 7, series 63 etc.) of any kind to be hired as an Account Manager/broker. When clients call, concerned about their coins, current coin evaluations or when attempting to sell they are given the run around. Salesmen misrepresent fees by quoting just a few percentage points when actual fees are about 45%. Salesmen misrepresent coin recommendations - numismatics is not bullion, though many customers think their buying bullion. Before purchasing from Lear Financial, aka Gold Central, aka Buy Gold at Cost DON'T! Former Employee Los Angeles, California U.S.A. [End "Former Employee"] Here's an excerpt of statements / comments by another Lear Financial female employee, supporting allegations of wide spread deception, open sexual harassment and other wrongful or illegal business's practices by Kevin DeMeritt and Lear Financial. [Excerpt a woman point of view] My experiences at Lear Financial was not the best experience as an employee, in how I was treated or how I viewed the clients getting treated. Kevin DeMeritt is greatest man in the world in the eyes of the companies he advertises with, acting very well educated and proper around them. But the longer I worked there I saw that in reality he was vocally intimidating to everyone in that office, using threating language or gestures that made people cower. If they only knew that he has a very violent temper. I have experienced that first hand. He screamed at me and other women many times. I cried at work many times, other women have as well, but there was no one to help us. Kevin DeMeritt once screamed sexually vulgar profanities at a woman during dinner a company Christmas party, in front of maybe one hundred people. As a woman you always felt tension in that office because it was mainly made up of men. Men that you can't say anything to because if you say the wrong thing and it got back to Kevin DeMeritt you got reprimanded, wrongfully. Many times other woman I knew came to visit and one of the brokers or Kevin DeMeritt would say something sexually inappropriate to them. Kevin looks down on women, I don't know why. I remember talking to many other women who know Kevin, and we all share this same opinion. The company in my opinion is based on a lot of deceit for both the client and employee. Everyone in my personal life wanted me to quit or file my own lawsuit. I bet many can sue them, if they wanted to. I do know that the brokers recorded clients because I heard them practice after work while listening to tapes with the clients (often making jokes or planning sales scams)that they had already pitched. Many of those tapes lingered around in the office. As a matter of fact Kevin DeMeritt would use those tapes to train the new brokers. I have heard Kevin DeMeritt tell the brokers to tape their pitches and take them home and practices his pitches. They lied a lot. The client got sold and then they are forgotten about. In many instances the client will call the broker many times after they have been sold because they have a question in regards to their portfolio. But many of the calls went unanswered. I witnessed brokers not wanting to deal with the aftermath of what they have done to the client. I felt bad because many clients are older people that feel they are safe investing but reality they are not. Those brokers were so greedy that they don't care what happens to the client's portfolios once they have already gotten paid their commissions. a woman point of view Los Angeles , California U.S.A. [End excerpt "a woman point of view"] Both woman responded to the Rip Off Report.com and since the following letter was published several others, citing similar and other wrongful business practices by Kevin DeMeritt and Lear Financial, have contacted Attorney Peter R. Dion-Kindem: [Attorney letter to Kevin DeMeritt and Lear Financial customers] Dear Lear Financial, Inc. Customer or Prospective Customer: We represent a former employee of Lear Financial, Inc., a company that sells gold coins, other metals to individuals for their personal accounts and also for their IRA and other retirement accounts. Our client has sued Lear and Kevin DeMeritt, its President, and other employees of Lear alleging that Lear and DeMeritt wrongfully terminated his employment in retaliation for his complaints about the widespread and systematic fraud and illegal tape recording of customers' phone calls perpetrated against Lear's customers, among other wrongful acts. In the lawsuit, our client contends that Lear systematically misled its customers about the amount of commissions they were paying and overcharged them. Our client also contends that Lear also systematically violated the California Penal Code by unlawfully recording and eavesdropping on conversations between Lear salesmen and Lear customers without the customer's knowing consent. Under California law, Lear is subject to a $5,000 civil penalty payable to the customer for each such violation. We have obtained a declaration from one Lear customer who has stated under oath that he was told that he was only being charged a 7% commission to purchase coins. The Lear documents we have obtained, however, reflect that he was charged 40%. We have obtained from Lear other documents reflecting that it charged another client 40%. We are investigating whether you had a similar experience at Lear and would greatly appreciate it if you could call us to so that we could determine if you also were subject to Lear's wrongful conduct alleged by our client. I look forward to hearing from you in this regard. Peter R. Dion-Kindem P.C. Dion-Kindem & Crockett [End Attorney letter] Doug Hanes (invested $25,000), a Lear Financial investor, spoke to Kevin DeMeritt and the following is excerpts of Mr. Hanes's email that supports Lear Financial employee's allegations of wide spread misleading and deceptive sales practices as well as the often cited anger and dishonesty in which Kevin DeMeritt speaks to investors and employees. [Doug Hanes excerpt dated April 4, 2007] Mr. Dion-Kindem, I received your letter dated March 29, 2007 asking about my dealings with Lear Financial. I had a very bad relationship with Kevin DeMeritt and Lear Financial and will assist in any way I can in your lawsuit against them. I knew nothing of how the gold markets worked and I put my trust in a Lear salesman? I fell for his smooth talking and ended up sending over $25,000 to Lear Financial. After about a month of additional research into the rare gold coin market, I realized I had been ripped off! I confronted Kevin DeMeritt on the phone and had a nice loud discussion with him about their sales methods of misleading their customers. He first tried to tell me these coins were premium quality and worth the extra money. I found out later from other sources that was a bunch of BS! DeMeritt's only defense was the "sales contract" that they had me sign which had a bunch of fine print in it about markups and other crap. I published my experiences with Lear Financial on an eBay chat room and heard back from a few other customers who had similar experiences. One elderly gentleman wanted to buy over $80,000 worth of gold bullion (current gold coins that sell for the published market price of gold) and his Lear salesman talked him into buying a bunch of low-quality rare coins that were just as over-priced as mine. Instead, the old guy is going to lose a bunch of his retirement money. So after talking to a few other people about getting ripped off by Lear, I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in California . This quickly prompted a call from Kevin DeMeritt and we had another loud conversation about their misleading sales practices. His response to the BBB was full of lies and contradictions. .. there was absolutely no way ever told me they were marking up these coins by 40%! I will be very willing to testify that Lear Financial engages in widespread and systematic fraud of their customers. I have a feeling you will hear from many more former customers who have had similar experiences. Good luck and let me know how I can help! Doug Hanes. [End Doug Hanes excerpt] Other Lear Financial investors have come forward with similar experiences, such as an investor from Nevada that stated I also bought gold from Lear - I think they are nothing but a bunch of crooks. Kevin DeMeritt has many business enterprises including ReferNow, other investment type companies and several income producing real estate properties. Kevin DeMeritt's many business enterprises are currently using US radio airways, US print, US wired sources and US television to advertise his private business interest. US Advertising sources that have aired multi-spot ads dozens of times every day of the year, including weekends, for years, with Kevin DeMeritt, Lear Financial and Gold Central reaping the benefits or allegedly conducting illegal business activities, at the expense of others, which may include the American investor. Less not forget Government agencies such a the US Postal services and US banking institutions that have unknowingly moved hundreds of millions of investment dollars due to what many allege as the wrongful, illegal or criminal activities of Kevin DeMeritt, Lear Financial and Gold Central.
Del
SANTA MONICA,#5Consumer Suggestion
Fri, April 13, 2007
The following list of advertisers should drop Kevin DeMeritt, Lear Financial and Gold Central from their advertising spots for allegations of racial and sexual harassment as well as alleged criminal acts perpetrated against customers, potential customers and employees. FOXNEWS Television Rush Limbaugh radio AM Coast to Coast radio / web with Art Bell AM Coast to Coast radio / web with George Norrey Michael Medved Laura Ingraham Dennis Prager World Magazine and dozens of others This partial list includes some of the largest and respected personalities in broadcasting, particularly from conservative, financial and religious radio, as many personally endorse Kevin DeMeritt, Lear Financial and Gold Central on air; touting Kevin DeMeritt, Lear Financial and other DeMeritt owed enterprises to millions of listeners, viewers or readers. FOXNEWS Television, for example, broadcasts several of Kevin DeMeritt, Lear Financial and Gold Central's national commercials each business day with an actor from the TV show Law and Order who comforts the viewers with the promise that Lear will protect their investments and treat them fair. In fact, according to many Lear Financial investors as well as former and current Kevin DeMeritt employees, for year's investors have been deceived and at least 3 Lear Financial employees have alleged open racial / sexual harassment by Kevin DeMeritt and Lear Financial. One former female employee of Lear Financial gave permission to publish the following information originally obtained from Rip Off Report under Corrupt Companies [Former Employee of Kevin DeMeritt and Lear Financial] Lear Financial - Gold Central - Buy Gold At Cost - Kevin DeMeritt crooks, dishonest sales and rip offs Santa Monica California I am a minority woman who worked at Lear Financial for about one year. During this time employees were not reprimanded for screaming arguments regarding deals, potential deals and office politics. They were allowed to commonly use derogatory racial slurs and sexual vulgarity without consequence. Other important points- 29 of 32 brokers were male. 28 of 32 brokers were white. OPEN racial and sexual harassment. NO standard selling or business procedures. These are not financial brokers/advisors of any kind! There are no required or accredited industry certifications (ie. series 7, series 63 etc.) of any kind to be hired as an Account Manager/broker. When clients call, concerned about their coins, current coin evaluations or when attempting to sell they are given the run around. Salesmen misrepresent fees by quoting just a few percentage points when actual fees are about 45%. Salesmen misrepresent coin recommendations - numismatics is not bullion, though many customers think their buying bullion. Before purchasing from Lear Financial, aka Gold Central, aka Buy Gold at Cost DON'T! Former Employee Los Angeles, California U.S.A. [End] As well an excerpt of 25 published statements / comments by a woman point of view another Lear Financial female employee, supporting allegations of wide spread deception, open sexual harassment and other wrongful or illegal business's practices by Kevin DeMeritt and Lear Financial. [Excerpt a woman point of view] 1. My experiences at Lear Financial was not the best experience as an employee, in how I was treated or how I viewed the clients getting treated. 2. Kevin DeMeritt is greatest man in the world in the eyes of the companies he advertises with, acting very well educated and proper around them. 3. But the longer I worked there I saw that in reality he was vocally intimidating to everyone in that office, using threating language or gestures that made people cower. 4. If they only knew that he has a very violent temper. 5. I have experienced that first hand. 6. He screamed at me and other women many times. 7. I cried at work many times, other women have as well, but there was no one to help us. 8. Kevin DeMeritt once screamed sexually vulgar profanities at a woman during dinner a company Christmas party, in front of maybe one hundred people. 9. As a woman you always felt tension in that office because it was mainly made up of men. 10. Men that you can't say anything to because if you say the wrong thing and it got back to Kevin DeMeritt you got reprimanded, wrongfully. 11. Many times other woman I knew came to visit and one of the brokers or Kevin DeMeritt would say something sexually inappropriate to them. 12. Kevin looks down on women, I don't know why. I remember talking to many other women who know Kevin, and we all share this same opinion. 13. The company in my opinion is based on a lot of deceit for both the client and employee. 14. Everyone in my personal life wanted me to quit or file my own lawsuit. 15. I bet many can sue them, if they wanted to. 16. I do know that the brokers recorded clients because I heard them practice after work while listening to tapes with the clients (often making jokes or planning sales scams)that they had already pitched. 17. Many of those tapes lingered around in the office. 18. As a matter of fact Kevin DeMeritt would use those tapes to train the new brokers. 19. I have heard Kevin DeMeritt tell the brokers to tape their pitches and take them home and practices his pitches. 20. They lied a lot. 21. The client got sold and then they are forgotten about. 22. In many instances the client will call the broker many times after they have been sold because they have a question in regards to their portfolio. 23. But many of the calls went unanswered. I witnessed brokers not wanting to deal with the aftermath of what they have done to the client. 24. I felt bad because many clients are older people that feel they are safe investing but reality they are not. 25. Those brokers were so greedy that they don't care what happens to the client's portfolios once they have already gotten paid their commissions. a woman point of view Los Angeles, California U.S.A. [End excerpt] Both woman responded to the Rip Off Report and since the following letter was published several others, citing similar and other wrongful business practices by Kevin DeMeritt and Lear Financial, have contacted Attorney Peter R. Dion-Kindem: [Attorney letter to Kevin DeMeritt and Lear Financial customers] Dear Lear Financial, Inc. Customer or Prospective Customer: We represent a former employee of Lear Financial, Inc., a company that sells gold coins, other metals to individuals for their personal accounts and also for their IRA and other retirement accounts. Our client has sued Lear and Kevin DeMeritt, its President, and other employees of Lear alleging that Lear and DeMeritt wrongfully terminated his employment in retaliation for his complaints about the widespread and systematic fraud and illegal tape recording of customers' phone calls perpetrated against Lear's customers, among other wrongful acts. In the lawsuit, our client contends that Lear systematically misled its customers about the amount of commissions they were paying and overcharged them. Our client also contends that Lear also systematically violated the California Penal Code by unlawfully recording and eavesdropping on conversations between Lear salesmen and Lear customers without the customer's knowing consent. Under California law, Lear is subject to a $5,000 civil penalty payable to the customer for each such violation. We have obtained a declaration from one Lear customer who has stated under oath that he was told that he was only being charged a 7% commission to purchase coins. The Lear documents we have obtained, however, reflect that he was charged 40%. We have obtained from Lear other documents reflecting that it charged another client 40%. We are investigating whether you had a similar experience at Lear and would greatly appreciate it if you could call us to so that we could determine if you also were subject to Lear's wrongful conduct alleged by our client. I look forward to hearing from you in this regard. Peter R. Dion-Kindem P.C. Dion-Kindem & Crockett WOODLAND HILLS, CALIFORNIA 91367 (818) 883-4400 Office (818) 676-0246 Fax [End excerpt] Kevin DeMeritt has many business enterprises including ReferNow, other investment type companies and several income producing real estate properties. Kevin DeMeritt's many business enterprises are currently using US radio airways, US print, US wired sources and US television to advertise his private business interest. US Advertising sources that have aired multi-spot ads dozens of times every day of the year, including weekends, for years, with Kevin DeMeritt, Lear Financial and Gold Central reaping the benefits or allegedly conducting illegal business activities, at the expense of others, which may include the American investor. Less not forget Government agencies such a the US Postal services and US banking institutions that have unknowingly moved hundreds of millions of investment dollars due to what many allege as the wrongful, illegal or criminal activities of Kevin DeMeritt, Lear Financial and Gold Central. Please continue to post comments, and be advised that due to the volume of replies it may take up to a few days for counsel to contact those who have written, emailed or telephoned.