Review Detail
DO NOT ORDER FROM GC
We order about 20 generic silver bars. One of them turned out to be sterling silver art bar. They should've caught it, we just searched online the art and found it right away. We thought, no big deal. We went to a convention they were at and they exchanged it for us for a new round.
We continue to place orders, several times many of the items we ordered ended up not being available and they would call and see what I wanted to replace the items with that was of equal value. Ok, no big deal there, we let that go too.
After studying how to check for counterfeit silver, we ended up finding a counterfeit 1oz silver bar from our 20 oz batch. My husband did the magnet test and it dragged the small magnet. It was a state art bar. (if you have ANY state bars from ordering generic bars from GC, CHECK THEM!) So then he did the acid test and sure enough it was fake. So we talk with them, they tell me they will email me a shipping label and made a point to let me know that if they receive the bar and they find it is real that my CC would be charged for the return shipping and that IF it was counterfeit, they would refund my debit card. I told them I didn't want a refund. I had paid for shipping and bank wire fee at my bank and wanted a bar returned. It was like he didn't hear me. They made sure I knew they highly doubted it was counterfeit and so they wanted to MAKE sure I understand my CC would be charged if I was wrong. After spending over 80k with them, I could NOT believe my ears.
So when I get the shipping label, turns out the same day we received another of ours orders from them from UPS that had been late to arrive (we always paid extra for 3 day shipping, but it ended up not doing any good because they would take weeks to fill the order). This particular order was WAY late coming in, they told us week after week it was because of hurricane Sandy and that some of the gold we ordered wasn't able to get to FL from NY. I argued then why did it say it was in stock when I ordered it online? Anyways, that shipment FINALLY arrived (we had 2 more outstanding orders that had not arrived yet) and sure enough, as I go through the 7 generic 1oz silver bars in the order, I find another state art bar. Immediately it looked weird because the color was a yellow tint. I go grab our magnet and it pulled it immediately. I call them right away, and they say they will check to see if the return slip they emailed me would be good for mailing TWO ounces. They get back to me and tell me it will and that it is insured for the approximately $75 worth of the silver. I was told if indeed the bars were counterfeit, they would refund my debit card for the two bars. AGAIN, I told him, I don't want a refund, I want a replacement. I didn't want to have to pay shipping and not get the bank wire rate (it has to be over $2k order to get that) just to get my bars replaced. AGAIN, they remind me I will charged if these aren't counterfeit, that he was HIGHLY doubtful we would have two bad bars, even though I explained the magnet test and acid test. I videotaped the bar pulling the magnet to email to my husband at work so he could see, he couldn't believe it. So I get the shipping label, and return the silver. This is now THREE bars NOT 99% silver out of a total of 27 1 ounce generic bars ordered.
So we wait and wait and wait. Then we are told that the package was destroyed somewhere in FL and the contents were missing and UPS was doing an investigation into the incident.
By this point, I was pretty sure I was not ever going to order from them again. Unfortunately I still had a few orders I was waiting on.
So I call GC and they tell me that since it was insured, that UPS was going to be refunding them and then they would send us a check after they received the money from UPS! WHAT!? I argued and argued with them that basically they got off with making the money off of us and having no accountability in the matter and lucked out that UPS had lost the items. One girl argued with me that they were paying the $76 dollars to us because they had to pay for the insurance. I told her no, the insurance maybe cost them a few bucks at the most. NO MAKING UP FOR ANYTHING. They could have IMMEDIATELY sent us 2 new bars as soon as we claimed counterfeit and before ever receiving ours, they could have apologized and made things right, instead I felt insulted. I told them how I felt, how after over $80k I couldn't believe they would risk losing a customer and getting bad reviews over 2 ounces. He said, "what more do you want us to do?" I just said, haven't y'all heard of service recovery, it's not like I'm trying to scam two free ounces of you after having ordered a total of over 80k with them in the last few months. Beyond that, I wasn't going to tell them what to do to make it up. I was curious if they would figure it out. I shouldn't have to tell them that as soon as we found counterfeit they should've apologized immediately and immediately sent out 2 new 1 oz bars to make up for it and wait to get ours in the mail to them and not mention ANYTHING about doubting we were correct. They could've bit their tongues and waited to see if we were wrong and then told me they would charge us for shipping, NOT told me that from the get-go and insult me. Mind you, it was always US calling them and waiting on them to call us back, which they hardly do, we were usually having to chase after answers.
Anyways, our other orders took months to come in. After the 2nd or 3rd call to them about it they finally offered to send all of the two orders but for the one item in each that was holding it up. DUH! (Again, if you do order from them, don't bother paying extra for faster delivery). Eventually we got the last couple of remaining items (it was PAMP bars in case you are wondering which ones took so long).
Once I had found out the package was damaged and contents missing from the return we sent, I was so glad I had videotaped that magnet test for my husband. When I was arguing with GC about how they made me feel, I told them I would email the video and he said ok. They never replied they got it. We didn't get a refund. So after a week or so, I called again. I was told they all watched it and that they couldn't determine it was fake from the video. The video showed the bar on both sides along side two other bars bc I was trying to show my husband the color difference when I filmed it. I KNOW that they take pictures of everything that comes in and out there because they told me that when they had to investigate if we had indeed gotten a sterling silver bar from them. So I told him he should've easily been able to match up their pictures and information in their files of the bar that I videotaped, but no he said.
I told them I hated that they didn't get the bars because now I can never prove to them they were fake, they think we are wrong, and they got off with no costs to them. I was told that they too wished the contents had arrived because they couldn't believe we would've received 2 counterfeits bars. Just insulting!
So here we are 2 months later. We still have not been refunded for the 2 bars, or had 2 bars sent in replacement. I called them today, and they told me they were pretty sure they had sent a check and would look into it. What do you bet they blame UPS?
HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE, HORRIBLE CHECKS ON GENERICS FOR COUNTERFEITS, EVEN AFTER SPENDING THOUSANDS, WE ARE HAVING TO CHASE THEM FOR ANY ANSWERS OR REFUNDS
GO WITH APMEX or someone else. GC looks cheaper, but it only is if you are ordering $2k or more to get the bank wire price. HOWEVER, our bank charged $20 for every bank wire and GC shipping is higher. We have found that with APMEX we can get the cheaper price over the credit card price, with no minimum order, by paying by check (it's easy just mail a check). Their shipping is cheaper too. Yes it takes time for the check to get to them, and they process it and then fulfill the order, but it really doesn't take any longer than GC depending on what you order might even be faster.
WE WILL NEVER GIVE GAINESVILLE OUR MONEY AGAIN, AND I PRAY THAT THERE ISN'T ANY OTHER COUNTERFEIT PIECES in the orders we have received.
Customer's Experience
We continue to place orders, several times many of the items we ordered ended up not being available and they would call and see what I wanted to replace the items with that was of equal value. Ok, no big deal there, we let that go too.
After studying how to check for counterfeit silver, we ended up finding a counterfeit 1oz silver bar from our 20 oz batch. My husband did the magnet test and it dragged the small magnet. It was a state art bar. (if you have ANY state bars from ordering generic bars from GC, CHECK THEM!) So then he did the acid test and sure enough it was fake. So we talk with them, they tell me they will email me a shipping label and made a point to let me know that if they receive the bar and they find it is real that my CC would be charged for the return shipping and that IF it was counterfeit, they would refund my debit card. I told them I didn't want a refund. I had paid for shipping and bank wire fee at my bank and wanted a bar returned. It was like he didn't hear me. They made sure I knew they highly doubted it was counterfeit and so they wanted to MAKE sure I understand my CC would be charged if I was wrong. After spending over 80k with them, I could NOT believe my ears.
So when I get the shipping label, turns out the same day we received another of ours orders from them from UPS that had been late to arrive (we always paid extra for 3 day shipping, but it ended up not doing any good because they would take weeks to fill the order). This particular order was WAY late coming in, they told us week after week it was because of hurricane Sandy and that some of the gold we ordered wasn't able to get to FL from NY. I argued then why did it say it was in stock when I ordered it online? Anyways, that shipment FINALLY arrived (we had 2 more outstanding orders that had not arrived yet) and sure enough, as I go through the 7 generic 1oz silver bars in the order, I find another state art bar. Immediately it looked weird because the color was a yellow tint. I go grab our magnet and it pulled it immediately. I call them right away, and they say they will check to see if the return slip they emailed me would be good for mailing TWO ounces. They get back to me and tell me it will and that it is insured for the approximately $75 worth of the silver. I was told if indeed the bars were counterfeit, they would refund my debit card for the two bars. AGAIN, I told him, I don't want a refund, I want a replacement. I didn't want to have to pay shipping and not get the bank wire rate (it has to be over $2k order to get that) just to get my bars replaced. AGAIN, they remind me I will charged if these aren't counterfeit, that he was HIGHLY doubtful we would have two bad bars, even though I explained the magnet test and acid test. I videotaped the bar pulling the magnet to email to my husband at work so he could see, he couldn't believe it. So I get the shipping label, and return the silver. This is now THREE bars NOT 99% silver out of a total of 27 1 ounce generic bars ordered.
So we wait and wait and wait. Then we are told that the package was destroyed somewhere in FL and the contents were missing and UPS was doing an investigation into the incident.
By this point, I was pretty sure I was not ever going to order from them again. Unfortunately I still had a few orders I was waiting on.
So I call GC and they tell me that since it was insured, that UPS was going to be refunding them and then they would send us a check after they received the money from UPS! WHAT!? I argued and argued with them that basically they got off with making the money off of us and having no accountability in the matter and lucked out that UPS had lost the items. One girl argued with me that they were paying the $76 dollars to us because they had to pay for the insurance. I told her no, the insurance maybe cost them a few bucks at the most. NO MAKING UP FOR ANYTHING. They could have IMMEDIATELY sent us 2 new bars as soon as we claimed counterfeit and before ever receiving ours, they could have apologized and made things right, instead I felt insulted. I told them how I felt, how after over $80k I couldn't believe they would risk losing a customer and getting bad reviews over 2 ounces. He said, "what more do you want us to do?" I just said, haven't y'all heard of service recovery, it's not like I'm trying to scam two free ounces of you after having ordered a total of over 80k with them in the last few months. Beyond that, I wasn't going to tell them what to do to make it up. I was curious if they would figure it out. I shouldn't have to tell them that as soon as we found counterfeit they should've apologized immediately and immediately sent out 2 new 1 oz bars to make up for it and wait to get ours in the mail to them and not mention ANYTHING about doubting we were correct. They could've bit their tongues and waited to see if we were wrong and then told me they would charge us for shipping, NOT told me that from the get-go and insult me. Mind you, it was always US calling them and waiting on them to call us back, which they hardly do, we were usually having to chase after answers.
Anyways, our other orders took months to come in. After the 2nd or 3rd call to them about it they finally offered to send all of the two orders but for the one item in each that was holding it up. DUH! (Again, if you do order from them, don't bother paying extra for faster delivery). Eventually we got the last couple of remaining items (it was PAMP bars in case you are wondering which ones took so long).
Once I had found out the package was damaged and contents missing from the return we sent, I was so glad I had videotaped that magnet test for my husband. When I was arguing with GC about how they made me feel, I told them I would email the video and he said ok. They never replied they got it. We didn't get a refund. So after a week or so, I called again. I was told they all watched it and that they couldn't determine it was fake from the video. The video showed the bar on both sides along side two other bars bc I was trying to show my husband the color difference when I filmed it. I KNOW that they take pictures of everything that comes in and out there because they told me that when they had to investigate if we had indeed gotten a sterling silver bar from them. So I told him he should've easily been able to match up their pictures and information in their files of the bar that I videotaped, but no he said.
I told them I hated that they didn't get the bars because now I can never prove to them they were fake, they think we are wrong, and they got off with no costs to them. I was told that they too wished the contents had arrived because they couldn't believe we would've received 2 counterfeits bars. Just insulting!
So here we are 2 months later. We still have not been refunded for the 2 bars, or had 2 bars sent in replacement. I called them today, and they told me they were pretty sure they had sent a check and would look into it. What do you bet they blame UPS?
HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE, HORRIBLE CHECKS ON GENERICS FOR COUNTERFEITS, EVEN AFTER SPENDING THOUSANDS, WE ARE HAVING TO CHASE THEM FOR ANY ANSWERS OR REFUNDS
GO WITH APMEX or someone else. GC looks cheaper, but it only is if you are ordering $2k or more to get the bank wire price. HOWEVER, our bank charged $20 for every bank wire and GC shipping is higher. We have found that with APMEX we can get the cheaper price over the credit card price, with no minimum order, by paying by check (it's easy just mail a check). Their shipping is cheaper too. Yes it takes time for the check to get to them, and they process it and then fulfill the order, but it really doesn't take any longer than GC depending on what you order might even be faster.
WE WILL NEVER GIVE GAINESVILLE OUR MONEY AGAIN, AND I PRAY THAT THERE ISN'T ANY OTHER COUNTERFEIT PIECES in the orders we have received.
| Overall rating | 1.0 | |
| Shipping Time | 1.0 | |
| Customer Service | 1.0 | |
| Buying Experience | 1.0 |
Comments
Again, insult to injury.
I want to make clear, we were not upset about the bars being fake, we would've still done business with them. We understand that it can happen in the secondary market of silver. What upset us was how they handled it.
I told them in my email that I would be writing reviews online letting people know about our experience.
This is the reply I received:
"As of this morning all of our correspondence (email and phone calls) has been turned over to our legal team. Any attempt to libel or slander our company will result in immediate legal action. "
Even though I have not engaged in libel or slander because all of my statements have been true, I have contacted this website asking them to remove my remove my review as it won't let me do it myself. I am just a customer who doesn't have a "legal team" and it isn't worth it to me to risk having a large company with big resources possibly come after me for something I didn't do.
if a company tries to bully customer it really is missing the point of good customer service and basic ethics.
investment of 100 dollars would yeild them a loyal customer. Now they have a toxic review(s) which you rightfully posted.
if they ever threaten you, contact silverfish vt, bigstackmcgee, and chris duane on youtube. Contact the florida attourney genral, and better business beurau with all your papers/video. counterfeiting bars triggers very serious investigations.
goodluck and god bless.
Prior to that, I had been watching silver prices on comparesilverprices.com and since GC was a few bucks cheaper than the other places on the comparison site, I started looking into why they weren't included on the comparison site.
Cloaking.
Turns out they supposedly would display a price 3% lower for the comparison site than they would if you just searched their site directly. For that cloaking allegation, the comparison site pulled GC from the listing.
After that, I started looking at more GC reviews, and found several here with 1.0 Stars, like your review. Your review alone is enough to make me laugh at the idea of my spending money with GC, no thank you.
Fake items, damaged goods, shady refunds, excuses on shipping.... that stuff makes me livid when I buy ANYTHING.... but when it is precious metals, that would be enough to send me over the edge.
With silver dipping under $16 recently (Nov.2014), I had plans to buy and lower my cost-per-ounce in my stack, so thanks very much for the review, you saved me possible headache. I registered here just to be able to post and thank you for the review.
