Complaint Review: Lear Capital Inc. - Los Angeles California

Rip-off Report REVIEW:

Editors UPDATE: Positive rating and recognition has been given to Lear Capital for its commitment to excellence in customer service.

Rip-off Reports discussions with Lear Capital have assured us that Lear Capital has made customer satisfaction a core principle and that Lear is constantly seeking ways to improve its already high standard of customer care. This means that Lear Capital will provide accurate, timely and courteous information to its clientele and that Lear staff will work quickly to satisfactorily resolve any client questions or concerns.

It also means that Lear is committed to learning from its customers through regular, voluntary follow-up calls and conversations. This feedback helps Lears customer care team to correct any mistakes and to ensure an even higher standard of customer service in the future.

RipOff Reports was pleased to learn that Lear Capitals president, Kevin DeMeritt, deliberately focused on excellent customer service as a business hallmark in order to make Lear stand out from other gold and precious metals investing firms. Indeed, great customer service is what DeMeritt terms the Lear Advantage.

As an investment industry leader, Mr. DeMeritt understands that Lear clients investments are precious and that Lear has a responsibility to meet the highest standards of transparency, integrity and customer assurance. Lears goal is to establish a long-term relationship with its clients and understands that it can only do so by providing them with the best and most timely information and guidance.

A top executive at Lear told Ripoff Report that Mr. DeMeritt is an innovator constantly looking for ways to provide added value to his customers. Kevin understands that the world is changing and that investors needs change just as fast. He strives to provide clients with real-time answers to real-time questions about precious metals investing. His goal is to provide the best and most responsive customer service in the industry, whether through knowledgeable and friendly customer care representatives, or through constantly-updated information on Lears full-service website. Kevins philosophy is: Never make a customer wait, never make a customer wonder.

Lear Capitals customer care team notes that the expertise of Lears senior management gives Lear clients confidence. DeMeritt, predicted the market crash of 2001 on national radio and the ensuing strength of gold as an investment. He has steered Lear to a position as one of the most prominent precious metals investing companies in America, with frequent endorsements from a range of media leaders, including the Rush Limbaugh Show, Michael Medved, Dennis Prager, George Noory, Laura Ingraham, Mike Gallagher, Oliver North, Noah Hutchings, the late Marlin Maddoux and many others.

More importantly, DeMeritt and his team have helped thousands of investors protect their savings and retirement through the well-timed purchase of precious metals. As a result, Lear clients report high customer satisfaction.

Polly Gable, a customer of Lear Capital has this to say, My representative, Victor DeRose, rates an A+. I had tried to purchase some coins from another company but they were so rude that I just hung up the phone. I was delighted to find Victor and his professional, kind, and helpful manner. I am recommending him to friends. All in all my first experience buying metals was a wonderful one. I hope to purchase more as time goes on.

Lear Capital recognizes that complaints posted on Rip-off Report (whether true or not) are issues that need to be addressed, not ignored. If handled correctly, complaints can be valuable learning opportunities. With the feedback generated by Ripoff Reports Investigation, Lear Capital has instituted systematic changes to ensure that problems are resolved quickly and quality standards remain high.

In summary, after our investigation, which included discussions with Mr. DeMeritt and many of his past and current associates, Rip-off Report is convinced that Lear Capital is committed to delivering high quality services resulting in total client satisfaction.

Read more about why consumers should feel confident when doing business with a member of Ripoff Report's Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation & Customer Satisfaction Program. Yes, its a long name for a program that does a lot for both consumers and businesses alike.

Read about Rip-off Report Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation & Customer Satisfaction Program,.. A program that benefits the consumer, assures them of complete satisfaction and confidence when doing business with a member business. this program works.

SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT MOST OF THE REPORTS FILED ABOUT LEAR CAPITAL:

As a matter of policy, when a business becomes a member of the Corporate Advocacy Program they agree to allow Ripoff Report to contact every person who filed a complaint so the member business can make things right with them. In order to confirm that the complaint was resolved, Ripoff Report emailed the author of all the reports about Lear Capital.. Fortunately, the posting of false reports is not the norm, ..Sadly in this case, most of the reports posted about Lear were filed by the same person. The good news is, the few Reports that were real where people did respond did so in a positive way..

Most of the other Reports that were not posted by the same person looked suspicious.... Ripoff Report has the evidence. Ripoff Report waited more than 2 weeks to post this UPDATE. It is the opinion of Ripoff Report, because the Precious Metals industry is so competitive, that it is more than likely unscrupulous cut-throat competitors posted the reports about Lear. Executives at Lear admit to Ripoff Report they are not perfect, as no company or individual ever is, but, the people at Lear have made a commitment to do their best to always do right and what is fair by their customers. If any of our readers feels a member of the Corporate Advocacy Program did not do right by them, to please contact us here at Ripoff Report. [email protected]

=====================

NOW TO THE ORIGINAL REPORT THAT WAS FILED

=====================

Lear Capital Inc. Lear Financial Victim of exceptionally deceptive sales practices. In asking about gold, I was pressured instead to make an immediate purchase of overpriced coins. Los Angeles, California

I would like to share my story to help others avoid making the same mistake that I did. 

After hearing numerous ads for Lear Capital on the radio, and being interested in gold investing to protect against inflation, with the encouragement of my son, I called Lear to ask for information.

I told my "senior portfolio manager" I was interested in buying in the future some gold buffalo coins. (He quizzed me for a dollar amount and I said maybe about $10-20000 worth.) However, he told me that this would be a mistake. (I found out later these coins have hardly any markup for Lear!) He said my best bet was pre 1933 gold coins for reasons such as taxes, government reporting and seizure, and did a very hard sales pitch to this effect.

He then said they would do me a special favor and lock in the price. He asked if I wanted to accept his favor to lock in the price. He did not use the word buy. Sounded good so I said yes. One thing led to another and before I knew it he had hooked me to invest $30000 immediately, in pre 1933 $20 liberty gold coins with a markup of $648 over spot price. He made it sound like it was such an incredible deal, and played on my fears of government reporting and having the coins seized, that he broke down all my defenses. I had never intended to buy that day, but he didnt even use the word buy, hooking me with locking in the price, and then later turning it into an order for overpriced coins! I told him that I was a novice at all this, and he totally took advantage of me. 

When my son returned and saw what I had done, he saw others selling similar coins for only $84 over spot. I overpaid about $564/coin. At 15 coins, I overpaid $10000 on a $30000 investment!! That's 30%!

This is sickening. Now searching online I see cases of other people with similar issues on sites such as this one and (((Redacted))). I trusted Lear but was completely taken advantage of. I do have a recording of the call. I am following up with BBB, sites such as this one, the LA District Attorney, and anyone else I can think of. If anyone reading of this can think of any other options, please post to this thread.

Also, I tried calling "Jon", the "V.P of Sales at Lear Capital", who posted his number to another thread at complaintsboard.com, and was passed to two other people in the office, neither of which knew who the "Jon" was that I was asking for. I said "He's your VP of Sales, you don't know?" and eventually they transferred me to someone's voicemail. I left a message but still haven't gotten a call back. I don't know if he even works there anymore. I also tried calling my portfolio manager, who also was unavailable to take my call, so I left another message and am still awaiting a call back.

I feel a bit better seeing that other people have been ripped off as much as 40% (see http://www.ripoffreport.com/Financial-Services/Lear-Financial-Goldc/lear-financial-goldcentral-c-mde42.htm ).

STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY! Use a reputable place such as APMEX instead! My son showed me APMEX's spread on $20 liberty gold 1 oz coins is only $82 versus Lear's $300+. APMEX's price for the same coins is only about $80 over spot, versus Lear's amazing $650 markup for circulated coins! Absolutely unbelievable.

Amazingly, in the ABC news this morning, they had a segment on Goldline, another commodities dealer, using deceptive sales pitches, almost exactly the same as Lear! A search for Goldline on Google news will show you the story, or check http://industry.bnet.com/advertising/10007548/why-the-probe-of-glenn-beck-sponsor-goldline-might-interest-the-ftc/

CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.