American Precious Metals Exchange

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2016/02/09) */
We reached out to the customer in an attempt to resolve the issue. We sincerely apologize if there's any misunderstanding about the product offered.
First and foremost, our satisfaction guarantee applies. He may return it for a refund. Should...

we have more inventory of this item, it may also be exchanged.
Secondarily, any graded coins sold by APMEX are not graded by APMEX. They are graded by third-party professional grading services such as PCGS or NGC. We keep the coins and their grading slabs "as is" and do no reworking of any kind to these items. Any concerns about grading should be directed to the service that performed the grading. They are responsible for the grade, not the reseller. Offering a non-biased opinion of a coin's condition is why grading services exist.
We look forward to hearing from the customer to assist with the return and refund or exchange of the coin since he's clearly not happy with it.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2016/02/10) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I am not interested in dealing with this company at all. I have had $1224.60 tided up with them for over a month. I can not afford to have my customers money tided up I had to refund there deposit. As I said before I am a licensed precious metals dealer in PA. I can't return this to the company for fear they will just send it out to someone else. I am selling said coin at scrap at a loss and will not do any business with this company and advise others not to. They don't offer any compensation for my loss only a refund or exchange. I have already lost the sale and hopefully not this customer. Thank you for your time in this matter
Final Business Response /* (4000, 10, 2016/02/17) */
We've reached out to the customer numerous times in the past week to discuss the issue to resolve it, but to no avail. Resolving an issue requires two parties to interact to ensure the final solution is amenable to everyone. As such, we won't discuss possible compensation in a one-sided voicemail message.
Returned items that did not meet customer expectations are closely examined to determine what should be done with them. Products causing dissatisfaction are never simply returned to stock as assumed by the customer.
The coin in question was graded by a grading service, not APMEX. If something happened to the coin after it was graded that caused new wear or damage to it, of course we would not resell it if this were brought to our attention.
We stand behind all the products we sell with our return policy. A customer can always get a refund if product is returned 14 days from receipt of the order. This customer has an open invitation to return the item for a refund. We would also cover the cost of shipping to return it to APMEX so the customer pays absolutely nothing for an item that didn't meet his expectations.
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 12, 2016/02/18) */
I have been contacted by apmex. I will be keeping the coin in question. After review it may have been damaged in shipping. Its hard to tell. It was warped properly but may have had a larger package on top of it. I have found a buyer for this coin at this time. I would like to thank you for your quick response in this matter and I wish to withdrawal the complaint at this time.

We are verifying that this bar in question will not fit the bezel and will updated our product description as necessary. We do apologize for any inconvenience but we are not able to accept the item back for a cash refund as this has been in the customers possession for nearly seven months while our...

return policy is limited to seven days from the time the product is received. Given the unique circumstance are willing to accept a return of the item for a store credit refund that can be redeemed through a future purchase.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2015/09/17) */
We are aware of the unfortunate situation the customer encountered. Our insurance company will not approve a claim allowing us to refund or replace what was ordered without more information. We are working with our insurer and the customer to...

determine what types of documentation will lead to closure of this incident.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 10, 2015/09/18) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
At the end of the day I was scammed is the reason I do not accept
Final Business Response /* (4000, 15, 2015/10/02) */
APMEX is not the one causing delays in resolving this matter. We and our insurer have not been able to complete an investigation to support paying a claim for the shipment.
There has been too little documentation about what happened, including a police report to officially document the loss. Filing this report has been the customer's responsibility since day one and has only recently completed this.
We look forward to receiving a copy of this documentation so the investigation can recommence and a final determination be made about the claim.

We apologize for how long this has been taking to resolve. We have confirmed that APMEX shipped the order complete. Had we made an error in doing so, it would already be resolved. Video documentation either confirms accurate packing or reveals any errors, which is why it is an essential tool for our...

industry.It is unfortunate the customer does not trust the validity of the video recording of accurately packing his order for shipment. Please consider we're located in a former Federal Reserve location featuring fully functional vaults, metal detection screening of all persons entering and leaving the vault, a highly trained security staff, and security cameras at key checkpoints including the dock. There is no opportunity for metal to leave APMEX without being shipped and all shipments are logged. With all due respect, the customer is not missing metals because APMEX didn't ship them.We are waiting for a final word on what might have happened to the package while it was in a facility abroad for 4 days before being picked up by the customer. Loss has occurred somewhere, knowing the order was shipped complete but the customer is short. This is what our insurer would like to better understand before they will pay the claim. We appreciate the customer's continued patience. We understand it is difficult to wait.

We sincerely apologize for the customer's delivery issues. The claim documents were sent as promised in before the end of business day on Friday, January 6. Since they were not received, we can only assume they went to the customer's SPAM e-mail folder because they have attachments.We just...

spoke with the customer moments ago, and resent the documents we issued on Friday. We have confirmed the customer is now in receipt of them, and that he sees the time stamp indicating they were sent when promised. Additionally, they are not to be signed electronically. They are to be printed and signed. The customer may opt to e-mail the signed, then scanned documents back as attachments to expedite the refund rather than mail them. Once we are in receipt of the signed documents, we will issue the full refund and mail the check to the customer as requested.

Order was placed 1/21 with several items that were on pre-sale within the order. Customer received email notification of this on 1/21, then a shipping confirmation on 2/1. Order was delivered on 2/3.

The price we agreed upon was $1,244.80 per bar and that’s what he was paid. While the customer now feels the product he had to sell is worth more than he was paid, the details of what he had to sell to us and what we would pay were thoroughly discussed.  By getting the quote, the customer was under no obligation to sell to us. If he felt this amount was not fair, he could have simply declined to sell the bars to us. He even did so a couple of times during the conversation. The moment he agreed to sell to APMEX, the price was locked. That means regardless of market activity going forward, we would never pay him more than that amount per bar and we would never pay him less. APMEX never offered the customer a price of $1,260 per bar. Since that amount was never discussed, there should be no expectation for him to receive that amount now. Pricing was discussed at great length during the call as well as every dollar mattering to the customer since there were 11 bars involved. We even shared why we could not offer money more than we did. Our best offer was on the table and he accepted it. We were transparent about pricing during the quote and paid him one business day after the product was received. We are voluntarily sharing our recorded phone call with the customer so he has the same record of the conversation that we do, including the agreed upon price. There is no more payment due to the customer.

Yes, the compensation we have issued pursuant to this complaint is because the item did not ship when it was expected to and for any subsequent inconvenience. We apologize for any misunderstanding about our response.

We apologize for the miscommunication from the sales level and then again by the issue not being reported to management during your contact afterwards. We are processing an ACH refund of $61 into the originating payment account for this order and will be leaving the $30 store credit that was already...

applied to the customers APMEX account.

We have been in contact with the customer, discussing his experience and how unlikely it is that what has happened was intentional. It is also not likely that the coin received in exchange was the same one he returned, given that we had a good supply of inventory on hand....

Nevertheless, we understand it has been a frustrating endeavor for him and he simply wants to be done with APMEX. A means to get him a coin in the expected, sealed condition that would be proven to be different from the one he was returning was offered. We respect his wishes to close out his APMEX experience and processed his refund as requested.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2015/09/17) */
APMEX has a return policy of 14 days. When you get past the 14 days, then you sell your metals if you no longer want them, whether selling them back to APMEX or someone else. It makes sense that the customer is looking to sell his metals since...

he can no longer return them.
I have researched the complaint and discovered some opportunities to improve our communication of pricing when selling to APMEX.
I can verify the published price for the item in question was $37 per coin. I've listened to the calls between APMEX and the customer and can also verify he was quoted $35 per coin. $2 less than the posted price.
Though we publish the prices we will pay for items, we also have disclaimers that speak to calling us for current pricing. Prices are subject to change and may be more or less than displayed and are subject to quantity discounts. I will enclose and example of that language and where it appears on our site if I can enclose an attachment to the response.
The opportunity we discovered as a result of the claim is to feature this language more prominently and in more places. We are working to make these improvements to our site as quickly as possible.
We will not meet the desired resolution which is to buy back his metals for what he paid for them. That price is almost $10 more per coin than the $35 we are paying for them now. Given our current inventory levels, the best we can do at this time is $35 per coin.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 9, 2015/09/18) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I'm glad you agree that your disclaimer is not prominent and requires users click links, hover links, or navigate elsewhere on the site.
Since the company is not interested in a solution, please ensure that their rating is affected accordingly.
I will proceed with leaving additional reviews/feedback and referring this case to the FTC, which appears to be the proper entity to investigate their online price advertisements.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2015/10/02) */
We are sorry he feels we intentionally mislead him. We make no claim anywhere on our site guaranteeing the published price when buying metals.
We have provided documentation from our site indicating that the prices may vary due to market fluctuation and our inventory levels. What's important about calling out inventory levels as well is we may not be interested in purchasing any of a particular item regardless of the posted price if our current inventory is high.
This variability is also why people wanting to sell to APMEX absolutely must contact us prior to sending us their metals. This allows the two parties to agree upon a price and quantity of the items being transacted before anything is sent to us. There is no opportunity to be unethical or misleading when the customer is the one in control of the deal, deciding to go forward and complete the sale or declining the offer.
We are sorry the customer's purchase has not appreciated by now as he hoped it would. Buying his coins for what he paid for them is not a fair resolution since the difference is almost $10 per coin. We are also sorry he is so disappointed in our company and feels our business practices are not above board. We have caused him no harm. He simply didn't like the current rate we were paying for coins he wanted to sell us and he is upset.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:  company policy is wrong - they took my money,the transaction was final - I will never accept this response from apmex
Sincerely,
[redacted]

We first became aware of the concern when the customer contacted us on 12/29/2016.  When doing some preliminary investigating of the delivery, though the customer is from the Philippines, he had it shipped to a relative in Singapore. The package was delivered on 11/24/2016 and signed for by...

his uncle. The customer alleges the package was not opened by anyone until the day he contacted us, which is more than 4 weeks after it was delivered to someone else. All of our shipments are insured against loss. It is important to note that no refund or reshipment will occur until our insurance underwriter has confirmed proof of loss through the investigation.  An investigation about the delivery was started with the carrier when we first heard from the customer. We are waiting for UPS to report back with details about the shipment. Please note that UPS requires any damage or loss be reported with 21 days of receipt of the shipment, and this deadline was missed by the customer. We have also requested the customer file a police report to officially document the loss. We may require other assistance from the customer throughout the investigation and are hoping he will comply. APMEX video records the packing process of all orders. We have reviewed the video for this order and can confirm all 7 items purchased were packed into the box. Since APMEX shipped all 7 items not just 2, it is unfortunate the customer no longer trusts us. Any loss incurred after the package was shipped would not be the result of actions taken by APMEX. We sincerely apologize for disappointment from not receiving what was shipped. Since that investigation is not complete, no refund or reshipment will occur at this time. We understand it may be difficult to do, but we ask the customer to remain patient while we work through the process of investigating the loss.

We regret the customer continues to be dissatisfied with our policies and our apology. We are not going to fulfill the orders as requested or offer further compensation. While we reserve the right to cancel any order for any reason, as many online retailers do, we specifically call out not fulfilling orders because of a typographical or pricing error. We acted on that right and we returned the customer’s money as quickly as possible.   When placing an order with any company, it is important to take the time to read the terms and conditions before placing an order. If a customer can’t agree with a vendor’s terms and conditions, then it’s best not to place an order with that vendor.

We apologize for the delays in getting this transaction completed. We send kilo bars away for verification of authenticity since we are unable to do so in house. We apologize if we omitted the time this would take to process the trade order. Since we are forwarding it on for inspection, it can take...

a few days after we receive the bar to know whether or not it is genuine.   The assayers we use were quite busy, but they prioritized reviewing the customer’s bar as a favor to APMEX. Late Monday on May 8th, we received word that the bar is genuine and can proceed with exchanging the gold bar for the platinum bars as agreed. We expect to ship the platinum tomorrow and pay the reminder on May 9th.   We spoke with the customer the day the complaint was filed and didn’t sense a problem then, so we’re surprised to have raised this level of concern. We sincerely apologize for any miscommunication or misunderstanding. Now that the gold has been verified as authentic, the customer can expect to receive his platinum within a week or so.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:I do not feel that I was fairly paid according to the gold prices at that time ,but since I accepted their price then I do not want anything from Apmex anymore , I just want to voice my disappointment with the way I was treated since I have been a customer for years 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/01/05) */
I reached out to the customer to better understand the expectation of receipt of the order and research the delivery issue. The customer was getting out of town and needed to receive the package before leaving.
Fortunately, the delivery...

occurred before the customer left town. Still, we were working together to consider options should the package not arrive since it had already experienced repeated delays in transit due to the heavy seasonal volume of the carriers .
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 8, 2016/01/06) */

We sincerely apologize if the customer felt this was truly his experience with APMEX. The customer's order was shipped on Friday, February 12th and delivery was first attempted 2 business days later, on Tuesday, February 16th.
We have received very positive feedback about our communication and...

business processes, some of which can be viewed here: http://www.apmex.com/testimonials. We sent this customer the same best in class e-mail communication sequence we send every customer. Everything customers need to know about the order they placed, such as what they ordered, how to pay, receipt of their payment, personal check hold times (which did apply to this order), when the order will ship, the ship method and the tracking number are all included in the sequence. Unless there is a problem or a change, this is all the information any customer needs. Though we confirm they were sent, we have no way of knowing if these e-mails were ever received.
If there was a miscommunication, it was not reaching out to inform him that we were not going to meet the expected ship date of February 11th. Had it shipped then, the order would have been on time and just as communicated. When the customer contacted us via chat on February 11th, the vault confirmed the order was being packed for shipment that day. Everything indicated it would ship on time but for some reason it didn't. This was the first and only time we provided incorrect information. While that's unfortunate, that doesn't mean as an organization we don't know what we're doing.
The customer contacted us via chat again the following day wondering when the order would ship. Again, the vault confirmed it would ship that day. Understandably, the customer questioned this having heard the same response on the prior day. The order did indeed ship later that day as promised and will be delivered any moment now.
We sincerely hope the customer is pleased with his purchase from APMEX.