Investors are looking for a secure way to protect their assets. Naturally, they would choose a reputable firm. This 'Is Liberty Metals Group A Scam?' will answer if this company is among those firms.
First, we will be looking at their products and services. Second, their customer ratings and reviews are a good venue to gain a better understanding of their work. Third, we will tackle the question on why did they stopped their operations.
Without further ado, let us start this 'Is Liberty Metals Group A Scam?' article.
Liberty Metals Group Quick Summary
Name: Liberty Metals Group
Website: Website no longer working
Founder: Mark Lonneker
Account minimum: No information available
Fees: No information available
Promotion: No information available
Rating: 1/5 (Not recommended and is already closed)
What is Liberty Metals Group?
At first, this California-based precious metals firm dedicated their selves to supplying precious metals. From gold and silver to platinum and palladium, they really tried.
During their founding year, 2010, they are working as earnestly as any other firms out there. However, it was around 2014 when they receive a ton of not-so positive reviews from their customers.
From there, things started to turn for the worst. Unfortunately, their physical store as well as their online platform did not fare well. Ultimately, they decided to shut down their operations.
Even so, they managed to garner some customers. In their website, which is not accessible as the time of this writing, they were boasting of some IRA services. However, no comprehensive information about this is available.
Admittedly, they had separate sections for education materials about investing in gold. In addition, they sport a FAQ and News section regarding self-directed IRAs.
Truly unfortunate, but that is how things will proceed if you do not take your business processes seriously. In comparison, a longstanding and reputable name can be found with Augusta Precious Metals.
Products and Services
As stated, they are experts when it comes to precious metals. Surprisingly, they also boast a vast inventory of items. These are some of the products they offer:
- Gold American Eagle
- Silver American Eagle
- Gold Canadian Leaf
- Silver Canadian Leaf
- South African Kugerrands
- Gold Australian Kangaroos
- American Gold Buffalos
- Platinum American Eagle
- Bars of different denominations
As for their services, not much is mentioned about self-directed IRAs. Although, the company was adamant to include this type of service in their repertoire.
How Does It Work?
As with any other companies out there, Liberty Metals Group had a way of conducting business. First, is through direct purchasing of items from their online platform.
Apparently, the whole process of selecting and paying can be done with ease. Moreover, they are not that strict with it comes to gathering your personal information.
Second, investors had the choice to call one of their representatives through one of their contact details. However, there is no concrete evidence about the availability of their team with regards to this matter.
Why Did They Close?
Regardless, the company still went into despair, ultimately leading them into the decision to close down. Here are some of the reasons why they decided to call it quits.
1. Negative Customer Reviews
As per above, it is abundantly clear that many customers are not satisfied with how they work. A negative review here and there may be acceptable, but this continued up until the year they closed!
Additionally, they did not attempt to settle almost all of the complaints against them. Sadly, some clients reported unanswered calls and emails, ignored protests, among other problems.
Hence, they built up a negative image upon their clients. Also, they were no imminent actions to improve their work ethic. Put is simply, they just did not care!
2. Complaints and Lawsuits
Next, based on the same image above, there were times wherein court summons were served to Liberty Metals Group. Still, there were no effort to communicate from their part.
What's more troubling is that it did not happen to one customer alone. In addition, huge sums of money went missing. Some customers even reported not receiving any items at all!
With this, I can firmly say that it is right and just for this despicable company to cease their operations.
3. Scams and Rip-offs
Third, and most likely the most infuriating reason, is that most customers reported they were scammed. Customers were either given a partial number of items they ordered. Worst case scenario, the items they got were not even legitimate!
Scams like these are becoming rampant in the precious metals industry. In addition, Liberty Metals Group are charged with several complaints about rip-offs!
Pros and Cons
From what I have already written, you might be wondering that this company should never have any advantages at the first place. But, I need to give credit where credit is due.
The list below are some of things Liberty Precious Metals are good and bad at before they closed.
Pros
- Good inventory of metals
- Offers IRA
- Started strong in terms of reviews
- No minimum purchase
- Buyback policy availability
Cons
- Ultimately shut down its operations
- Many negative reviews and ratings
- Numerous court lawsuits
- Scams and rip-offs
- Lowest degree of business etiquette possible
Customer Ratings and Reviews
- Better Business Bureau - not accredited and no ratings available
- Business Consumer Alliance - no ratings available
- Yelp - 2.5 out of 5 based on 21 reviews
- Trustpilot - no ratings available
As you can see, Liberty Metal Group's customer satisfaction survey is pretty much non-existent. Also, with what a few reviews they only have, almost all of this contains complaints and reports.
So much for being a trusted dealer that they had plastered on their website.
Final Words
To conclude this 'Is Liberty Metals Group A Scam?' article, the answer is that they are a legitimate one. For once, they had a physical store, an online platform, and products.
However, things went downhill pretty quickly for this company. Alas, the insurmountable problems led to their premature closure. To summarize, here are the reasons why they stopped.
First, they mostly have negative reviews from their customers. This speaks of how badly they treat their clients. Second, they accumulated a lot of lawsuits. Third, scams and rip-offs are flying here and there pertaining their products.
As such, one can say that closing their business was a good call on their part. I really hope that those that encountered problems with this company has already settled. Also, I do think fondly of those that received at least some form of compensation for their troubles.
If you want to avoid all these problems, conduct business with a trusted gold IRA firm and precious metals dealer. For that, I sincerely recommend Augusta Precious Metals.
As usual, my thanks goes to you, my dear readers. Any comments or suggestions is well-appreciated. Do write them at the appropriate section below.