Aurum Advisors reviews and complaints

n February, 2012, I purchased by wire $100, 000 in gold, silver and platinum eagles from a man who called himself Robert Drake at Aurum Advisors. I was emailed the receipt from a man who called himself Marc Gregory. I suspect he was actually Marc Lubaszka, the owner of the firm. The coins were never delivered. I was never issued a refund. They have stolen my money.

On the 28th day after purchase, I called Aurum and was informed by Robert that there were issues with delivery. He claimed that its insurance company only permitted them to ship a certain amount of metals per day. He claimed there was a large backlog.

Around the second week of March, I demanded to speak with someone of authority. A man named Barry Davis (I suspect he was Lubaszka) called me and assured me that my delivery would be coming by the end of the week. When it was apparent that it wasn’t going to, I called him. He never once took my phone calls.

I began to call close to once every other day to speak with Robert Drake or anyone else at the company. Robert spent the beginning of March dodging my phone calls. He only began to return them when I asked the receptionists if they knew that Aurum was stealing from its customers. The receptionists all claimed they worked for the building company and not Aurum Advisors. Every receptionist stated that there were many people calling in the same situation as me. They indicated that they got calls like this all the time. I would call daily to speak to Marc Lubaszka, Barry Davis, or Robert Drake. Only Drake would call me back. There was no customer service department.

Around the beginning of April, I asked for a full refund. I was informed by Drake that he put in for the refund and would know about it in some time. It was at this time that I asked him for a letter stating that I would receive either my metals or money. Drake’s position was that he was stuck in the middle of a slow moving company. He asked for patience on my part, began to sympathize with me, and started to call me often to give “updates.”

At the end of April, I indicated to Mr. Drake that unless there was going to be resolution to the situation very shortly, I was going to go to the authorities. That is when Barry Davis got a little more involved. He told me I was going to be issued a refund. He said he was waiting on legal for the authorization for the refund. There were a series of conversations where they fed me more and more lies.

On June 7, 2012, I went on to the Aurum Advisors site. It has been shut down. I called the receptionists and they told me that no one from Aurum has come in since the 6th. The receptionist said that they are getting hundreds of phone calls from people like me.

If you go to www.goldcoinsgain.com, it states clearly on the site that it is an Aurum Advisors website. Anyone buying coins from them online is just making a donation to these criminals.

I have filed reports with the FBI, CA Attorney General, IC3, my local PD, and the New York Attorney General. I have spoken with the LA Country Fraud Dept, and have left messages with West LAPD detectives. So far not even one person at any of these organizations has expressed even an interest in speaking to me about this crime. There has not been one person at any of those organizations who has expressed interest when I explained to them how money is still being stolen from innocent people.

I need to get more victims together with real stories of monetary loss in order to wake someone up in law enforcement. I strongly believe that my money is gone. If you are reading this, I am sorry, but suspect yours is gone too. If we can't get our money back, we can at least make life very difficult for those who stole from us. We can do that in numbers. Pls email me at [protected]@yahoo.com with your story.

Ordered and paid for precious metals worth $8, 800. After months of calls with Robt Drake it is now 6/8/12 without resolution. Mr Drake is not longer with company, now calling Barry Davis and Marc Lubaszka (CEO). Neither have returned any of my calls. Filing complaints won't get me any further. My advice, do not deal with this company. Too many complaints. Wish I had read them before I ordered and paid them money. Afraid I will have to hire legal rep

58, 000 + gold coins were delivered to Aurum to sell and send to my IRA account with Sterling Trust. Aurum sent NSF check to Sterling Silver and continues to not call or pay. I am getting ready to go to CNN and all of the News agencies to report this company for stealing and bad business practices. They should be shut down as a company.

I made and order from these guys they cashed my check, 2 months later they call and want to change my gold eagle to smaller cheaper francs- meanwhile gold is up and I am out my money and gold and silver, I have a bad feeleing after reading other complaints, I have never had this problem with other gold and silver dealers.

I called Aurum Advisors in January 2011 and talked to Barry Davis about changing the custodian on my Sterling account from other company to Aurum Advisors. He then told me to convert my gold coins into silver proofs and he gave some reasons. I agreed after I repeatedly made sure that my account value will not drop much because when I changed from traditional IRA to Sterling account I lost about $6, 000 right off the bat. Mr Davis told me that he is going to convert my gold coins into silver proofs for the same value, so that MY ACCOUNT'S VALUE WILL REMAIN THE SAME. I made sure that he wouldn't charge me 18% spread or more. He said, no. For this kind of transaction the spread will be only 4%. Luckily I only converted some of my gold. I converted about $8, 000, thinking that 4% will be affordable, $320. About 4 months later the silver proofs were deposited into my account, and lo and behold my account value dropped by more than $3, 000 all the while silver price rose from $29/ounce since I talked to them to $34 today. I just wished that Mr. Davis was more upfront and honest about the spread. In a year I lost over $10, 000 while gold and silver prices skyrocketed. Be careful before you do business with Aurum Advisors.

I was offered 2008 Buffalo Proof 1 oz Gold coins at $1665 each to be put into an IRA Gold account. I purchased $214, 000 worth. A few months go by and I get a call that informed me that the Government doesn't allow Buffalo Proof coins in IRA Gold accounts.

I was then offered 2004 and 2005 Proof Eages at about $2140 an oz. During the time that had elasped, gold bullion had appreciated close to $200 an oz. I was supposed to get about 128 oz of 2008 Buffalo Proofs, now worth over $3, 000 per oz; instead I got 99 oz of Proof Eagles that now trade below my purchase price somewhere around $2, 000 per oz.

This whole thing started over 1 1/2 years ago and it took them over a year to complete delivery. When calling several times, even talking to the President, no satisfactory response was given.

I expected them to make a comparable offer but they didn't. I had already transferred the money to the IRA Gold account and needed it funded.

I should have an account worth about $380, 000, but ended up with an account worth less than $200, 000. Almost 10% loss in an up market. Obviously I was taken for a ride. They had me over a barrel.

I am like the rest of the complaints. Overpricing. Long hassle. No answer to threats. Said they'll talk with lawyers. Lawyers promised to call back but never did. This took place from August 2010 to January 2011. I had a middle five figure order for silver coins. The person sounded great over the phone (for libel purposes will not say the name here). I believed him. he said they were $117 now, and $110 two weeks ago when i had placed the money in my Sterling Trust account. And gold coins were $xxxx now, and $xxxx two weeks ago (not as high of a gain). Great sounds good. Let me get the silver. Oh when did the big money get into silver? wow sounds good.

About two and a half weeks later, i call in asking about my order. ANOTHER PERSON represents me on my account. Oh what happened to the first person. He's not around now, i can help you. oh, where's my order? it's coming. After this call, i'm wondering. i have to call again and ask exactly what i have. He would not say exactly. i had to ask more than once. American Eagle silver proof coins. I look it up. I see they're $58, $60, $62.

Later i call again, like a week later. I ask why was i sold something for $110, when i see the same thing for $60 average? oh you're looking at the wrong thing. oh ok.

Later, i call again, another week or two weeks later. Are you sure it shouldnt be $60 vs $110? yes, it's $110. you have the wrong product. oh, show me written proof of the right product. here's where the guy got all huffy. he said to go to this dealer site and pay $3, 000 a year to get the dealer prices. oh ok, send me the fax. oh where's my invoice. I FINALLY GET MY INVOICE two months later.

I check out the dealer site. i cannot get the prices without paying. i call aurum again. boy i'm getting tired of writing. anyways, over the period of time they said talk to their attorneys, they will not answer my calls. i did talk to their attorneys who said over a period of a month they would get to me. after the month the attorneys stopped calling. so i called back aurum. i threatened FTC and State Attorney General (in separate phone calls). the main guy, Mark Lubaszka, scoffed at me when he asked "what are you suing us for?" and honestly i was not sure what i was suing them for.

Oh yeah, i figured out in my sleep. i'm not suing them. no need to sue them. Gross misrepresentation. i looked through the web for some citations, and told them i'm having FTC and Attorney General go after them.

It takes more months. I'm getting skeptical about Sterling Trust too. Anyways after a while, and during many of these calls, i faxed them immediately saying i had called them (for paper proof), i finally get my full money back. all intact, unlike the other complaints here about bounced checks from Aurum. the promised payment of IRA fees on their website was for naught, never happened. I would still pursue FTC and Attorney General whenever i get a chance.

after awhile i cleared things with sterling trust. i didnt look and didnt see any bad things about sterling trust. but for now i am continuing with sterling trust. i thought they would look out for my money after i had them wire my money. they said it's a self directed ira. if i had hired a full service broker, the full service broker would be required to look after my money after it had been wired.

A p.s. to my posting from last week. I had agreed to take a $12, 000 loss, just to get away from these 'people." They finally sent a check to my IRA (Sterling Trust) but it bounced! I have contacted the FBI, and their agent suggested that I also file an online complaint at their national site for white collar criminals. Go to www.ic3.gov if you have robbed by Aurum Advisors. The more victims that report their losses, the bigger and faster the ongoing investigations will proceed.

Beware! This company grossly overcharges for their precious metal coins. You can find the same exact coins on the internet through reputable companies for a fraction of what these guys will charge you.
This company has not responded to E-mails and a certified letter explaining their mark-ups to me and why I paid 1/3 to 1/2 more for the same exact coins that other dealers charge (at the same point of time when gold or silver was at the same prices).

Just FYI, on their GoldCoinGain profile they state "We have had a total of 3 complains filed against us with the Better Business Bureau and because of that we have received an "A" rating with the Better Business Bureau. All three complaints have been satisfied."

This is a quote from the Better Business Bureau. "It is the Better Business Burea policy not to pass judgment on prices." From this one might deduct that is why Aurum Advisors has not had more complaints lodged against them as far as pricing discrepancies as those complaints will not be addressed by the BBB.