Goldline International Inc. Goldline International Inc. Deceitful and Fraudulent Sales Practice Santa Monica California
In the middle of August, my fiancee and I were listening on the radio regarding the weakening of US dollars. They stated that investing in gold would protect our asset and wealth instead of investing in stocks. The also gave a nice incentive of purchasing 29 swiss franc and 1 swiss franc would be given for free. Thus we decided to purchase the gold coins on 8/21/07 since we thought it would be a good way to make profit and pay for our wedding this year. We purchased the total of 186 (20 Swiss Franc) from Goldline International Inc. and paid $36,812.92. We then realized a week later after doing a search on ebay that these coins were worth much less then what we paid for. As I can recall, gold prices were around 680.00 per ounce at the time we purchased. Thus, we overpaid more than $10,000.00 of the market value of the coins we purchased. My fiancee contacted Goldline of our recent findings and demanded that we be given a refund. After my fiancee had several contacts with Lisa Weedman, she stated that we would be charged with a restocking fee for returning our orders. Below are the complaints filed and documents given from this company.
I was ripped off in terms of the coin they sell and the amount the market rate is at at. The coins bought would have to over $1082/ounce to just breakeven. They did not mention how much the coins would have to be in order to just to make a profit. From the time we had first purchased from them we currently have lost over $10,000 dollars and feel very very disappointed with the purchases. Complaint Summary
A huge overcharge on the coins they sell. Resolution Sought
Refund the entire amount of money given to them.
This was Goldline's response to our refusal of signing the agreement:
Mr. ____,
Lisa Weedman forwarded your email and letter where you breached our agreement to resolve your concerns with a restocking fee of 5.5%. As you and I discussed extensively, you were fully advised of Goldlines pricing and refund policies and confirmed your understanding of Goldline's spread on taped confirmation. We also discussed that you failed to inform the BBB of these facts when you submitted your disparaging complaint. Nonetheless, Goldline offered, and you accepted, an extremely modest restocking fee to resolve all matters. At that time, you expressly represented to both me and Lisa Weedman that this matter was concluded and that you would not attempt to renegotiate this matter. Your representations to Goldline have proven to be untrue.
Please have your lawyer contact me at the number below and I will refer him or her to our outside counsel. Also, Goldline will take all necessary steps to protect itself from disparagement of our company.
Grant Marylander General Counsel & Vice President Business Affairs Goldline International, Inc. 100 Wilshire Blvd. Third Floor Santa Monica, CA 90401 (310) 587-1416 (direct) (310) 260-0388 (fax) [email protected]
This was the letter that my lawyer friend submitted to Goldline International. Goldline International Inc.
100 Wilshire Blvd. , Suite 300
Santa Monica, CA
Re: RESPONSE TO THE GENERAL RELEASE AND AGREEMENT
To General Counsel:
Please allow this letter to confirmed our receipt of your proposed General Release and Agreement. Upon careful review of the agreement and the transaction that gave raise to this dispute, we hereby reject your settlement offer. As we previously informed you, Goldline International, Inc. has defrauded us in this transaction in every aspect. This does not seem to be a novel business practice for Goldline. I have spoken to other Goldline clients who have been victims to your unsavory business practices.
Your agreement is simply another attempt by Goldline to try, in any possible way, to steal our money. This is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated. This will be our finally attempt to resolve this dispute short of legal action. We will only agree to sign the agreement if the entire transaction is fully rescinded, i.e., we will return all the gold coins we purchased from Goldline and Goldline shall fully return the entire $36,812.92 we paid for the coins.
Please provide your response in writing no later than Friday, October 19, 2007. If we do not receive a response from you by that date or you refuse to accept our terms, then we will have no choice by to pursuit our other legal options in regards to this transaction.
This is the report submiited to FTC:
My fiancee and I contacted Goldline International Inc. after hearing their discussion on the radio. They stated that gold prices were on the rise due to the weak dollar. We decided to purchase gold in order to protect our assets from the falling dollar. My fiancee and I initially purchased 29 swiss franc on 8/21/07. On 8/29/07, we decided to purchase 29 more. On 9/11/07, my fiancee and I went to goldline's physical location to pick up our gold in order to avoid paying shipping fee. When we were there, John Arnette talked to us about the falling dollar. We then decided to purchase 128 more swiss franc. Our total purchase of Swiss Franc was $36,812.92. We eventually found out that we overpaid our gold coins over 30% of the market value. This meant, if we traded in our gold coins for money, we would have got back approximately $10,000.00 less. There advertisement on the radio was very misleading since they spoke about protecting our wealth and asset, when we were actually robbed $10,000.00. We are still waiting to break even from all of our purchases. Goldline business practice is very deceitful since they were not up front about the 30% markup on their swiss francs. I believe there were other complaints made against Goldline business practices, thus we are not alone.
Goldline International, Inc. Naive New Investor down $1600 New Castle, Pennsylvania
I can not believe how stupid I was. I thought "how could I be mislead by Glenn Beck, Fred Thompson and Marvin Levin?" Unfortunantly I did my homework after the test. If I had done a simple web search, I would have found the stories about this company instead of reading my own in their stories.
I contacted Goldline because of the advertisement by Glenn Beck. I found both Marvin Levin and Fred Thompson as satisfied customers. Why would I doubt the company's reputation if they recommended them? The answer to that question is, I suspect, they have a lot more to invest and probably are treated differently. (Or maybe Goldline's system of paying the selling commission up front works for them.)
Basically, I was pursuaded to buy Swiss Francs ("That had just become available and were such a good deal"). From reading the stories on-line I realize they just get a larger commission on them. I was strongly encouraged to invest between $20,000 and $40,000 by my "investment advisor." Luckily, I only had $5000 currently available. I was warned about the gold confiscation (whatever that was) and told they would be behind me from buying to selling etc. I was horrified to find from one of the other stories that their "buy back" price is low. I can wait till I sell them for that news, I have had enough bad news right now. After my purchase I was sent a thank you with a hand written note saying that my "financial advisor" was impressed with how I handled my investments. I can not believe I was stupid enough to tell them all about all of my finances. But again, how could Glenn Beck mislead me? They must be reputable.
After I made the purchase, I finally did my homework and found that the coins I had purchases for $318 each could be bought for $208 - $218 each on other sites. I spend over $5000 to get coins worth $3520 at most. As others have pointed out over a 30% mark up. I called my "advisor" and got the same story everyone else does - we are saving you money when you sell them because you have already paid the commission up front etc. I ended the conversation saying I needed to do a little homework. That is when I found this site and read my story.
I just called back to find out if I can get a refund - which I can not even though I only received the coins two days ago. Apparently, the money back guarantee is from the date of purchase, not the day of delivery. The only solice I have is that I did not make more purchases and if I wait long enough (how many years I don't know) I might make my money back. In all fairness, they said I should count on holding my coins for 5 - 6 years, so we will see.
Just be aware of the fact that I heard almost all the same lines everyone else did. I had never purchased any gold so I was a sitting duck. I blame myself for my naivity and getting caught up in the moment. Perhaps this plan works for very large investors but for people like myself, it was not a good idea. I will, as one of the others stated, continue to buy gold but I am now a more educated investor. I am not saying they did anything illegal but I would not recommend anyone else deal with them.
Goldline International, Inc. Reviews
Goldline International Inc. Goldline International Inc. Deceitful and Fraudulent Sales Practice Santa Monica California
In the middle of August, my fiancee and I were listening on the radio regarding the weakening of US dollars. They stated that investing in gold would protect our asset and wealth instead of investing in stocks. The also gave a nice incentive of purchasing 29 swiss franc and 1 swiss franc would be given for free. Thus we decided to purchase the gold coins on 8/21/07 since we thought it would be a good way to make profit and pay for our wedding this year. We purchased the total of 186 (20 Swiss Franc) from Goldline International Inc. and paid $36,812.92. We then realized a week later after doing a search on ebay that these coins were worth much less then what we paid for. As I can recall, gold prices were around 680.00 per ounce at the time we purchased. Thus, we overpaid more than $10,000.00 of the market value of the coins we purchased. My fiancee contacted Goldline of our recent findings and demanded that we be given a refund. After my fiancee had several contacts with Lisa Weedman, she stated that we would be charged with a restocking fee for returning our orders. Below are the complaints filed and documents given from this company.
We filed a report to BBB:
Complaint Classification:
Selling Practices Complaint Description - Posted 10-1-2007
I was ripped off in terms of the coin they sell and the amount the market rate is at at. The coins bought would have to over $1082/ounce to just breakeven. They did not mention how much the coins would have to be in order to just to make a profit. From the time we had first purchased from them we currently have lost over $10,000 dollars and feel very very disappointed with the purchases. Complaint Summary
A huge overcharge on the coins they sell. Resolution Sought
Refund the entire amount of money given to them.
This was Goldline's response to our refusal of signing the agreement:
Mr. ____,
Lisa Weedman forwarded your email and letter where you breached our agreement to resolve your concerns with a restocking fee of 5.5%. As you and I discussed extensively, you were fully advised of Goldlines pricing and refund policies and confirmed your understanding of Goldline's spread on taped confirmation. We also discussed that you failed to inform the BBB of these facts when you submitted your disparaging complaint. Nonetheless, Goldline offered, and you accepted, an extremely modest restocking fee to resolve all matters. At that time, you expressly represented to both me and Lisa Weedman that this matter was concluded and that you would not attempt to renegotiate this matter. Your representations to Goldline have proven to be untrue.
Please have your lawyer contact me at the number below and I will refer him or her to our outside counsel. Also, Goldline will take all necessary steps to protect itself from disparagement of our company.
Grant Marylander General Counsel & Vice President Business Affairs Goldline International, Inc. 100 Wilshire Blvd. Third Floor Santa Monica, CA 90401 (310) 587-1416 (direct) (310) 260-0388 (fax) [email protected]
This was the letter that my lawyer friend submitted to Goldline International. Goldline International Inc.
100 Wilshire Blvd. , Suite 300
Santa Monica, CA
Re: RESPONSE TO THE GENERAL RELEASE AND AGREEMENT
To General Counsel:
Please allow this letter to confirmed our receipt of your proposed General Release and Agreement. Upon careful review of the agreement and the transaction that gave raise to this dispute, we hereby reject your settlement offer. As we previously informed you, Goldline International, Inc. has defrauded us in this transaction in every aspect. This does not seem to be a novel business practice for Goldline. I have spoken to other Goldline clients who have been victims to your unsavory business practices.
Your agreement is simply another attempt by Goldline to try, in any possible way, to steal our money. This is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated. This will be our finally attempt to resolve this dispute short of legal action. We will only agree to sign the agreement if the entire transaction is fully rescinded, i.e., we will return all the gold coins we purchased from Goldline and Goldline shall fully return the entire $36,812.92 we paid for the coins.
Please provide your response in writing no later than Friday, October 19, 2007. If we do not receive a response from you by that date or you refuse to accept our terms, then we will have no choice by to pursuit our other legal options in regards to this transaction.
This is the report submiited to FTC:
My fiancee and I contacted Goldline International Inc. after hearing their discussion on the radio. They stated that gold prices were on the rise due to the weak dollar. We decided to purchase gold in order to protect our assets from the falling dollar. My fiancee and I initially purchased 29 swiss franc on 8/21/07. On 8/29/07, we decided to purchase 29 more. On 9/11/07, my fiancee and I went to goldline's physical location to pick up our gold in order to avoid paying shipping fee. When we were there, John Arnette talked to us about the falling dollar. We then decided to purchase 128 more swiss franc. Our total purchase of Swiss Franc was $36,812.92. We eventually found out that we overpaid our gold coins over 30% of the market value. This meant, if we traded in our gold coins for money, we would have got back approximately $10,000.00 less. There advertisement on the radio was very misleading since they spoke about protecting our wealth and asset, when we were actually robbed $10,000.00. We are still waiting to break even from all of our purchases. Goldline business practice is very deceitful since they were not up front about the 30% markup on their swiss francs. I believe there were other complaints made against Goldline business practices, thus we are not alone.
Kyoung los angeles, California
U.S.A.
Goldline International, Inc. Naive New Investor down $1600 New Castle, Pennsylvania
I can not believe how stupid I was. I thought "how could I be mislead by Glenn Beck, Fred Thompson and Marvin Levin?" Unfortunantly I did my homework after the test. If I had done a simple web search, I would have found the stories about this company instead of reading my own in their stories.
I contacted Goldline because of the advertisement by Glenn Beck. I found both Marvin Levin and Fred Thompson as satisfied customers. Why would I doubt the company's reputation if they recommended them? The answer to that question is, I suspect, they have a lot more to invest and probably are treated differently. (Or maybe Goldline's system of paying the selling commission up front works for them.)
Basically, I was pursuaded to buy Swiss Francs ("That had just become available and were such a good deal"). From reading the stories on-line I realize they just get a larger commission on them. I was strongly encouraged to invest between $20,000 and $40,000 by my "investment advisor." Luckily, I only had $5000 currently available. I was warned about the gold confiscation (whatever that was) and told they would be behind me from buying to selling etc. I was horrified to find from one of the other stories that their "buy back" price is low. I can wait till I sell them for that news, I have had enough bad news right now. After my purchase I was sent a thank you with a hand written note saying that my "financial advisor" was impressed with how I handled my investments. I can not believe I was stupid enough to tell them all about all of my finances. But again, how could Glenn Beck mislead me? They must be reputable.
After I made the purchase, I finally did my homework and found that the coins I had purchases for $318 each could be bought for $208 - $218 each on other sites. I spend over $5000 to get coins worth $3520 at most. As others have pointed out over a 30% mark up. I called my "advisor" and got the same story everyone else does - we are saving you money when you sell them because you have already paid the commission up front etc. I ended the conversation saying I needed to do a little homework. That is when I found this site and read my story.
I just called back to find out if I can get a refund - which I can not even though I only received the coins two days ago. Apparently, the money back guarantee is from the date of purchase, not the day of delivery. The only solice I have is that I did not make more purchases and if I wait long enough (how many years I don't know) I might make my money back. In all fairness, they said I should count on holding my coins for 5 - 6 years, so we will see.
Just be aware of the fact that I heard almost all the same lines everyone else did. I had never purchased any gold so I was a sitting duck. I blame myself for my naivity and getting caught up in the moment. Perhaps this plan works for very large investors but for people like myself, it was not a good idea. I will, as one of the others stated, continue to buy gold but I am now a more educated investor. I am not saying they did anything illegal but I would not recommend anyone else deal with them.