Gold And Silver Buyers Beware

     This piece will remain at the top of the blog for a few days, to ensure that all visitors see it.

     On November 4, 2015, I ordered a large quantity of silver from Northwest Territorial Mint, a company based in Washington state. Their representative gave me a projected delivery date of January 8, 2016. I wired the payment to them later that day.

     By February 12, 2016 I was concerned and more. My silver had not arrived. Neither had I received word from the vendor about why it had not been shipped. In reply to my complaint, their representative wrote back as follows:

     Thank you for your inquiry. We are continuing to ship all orders in the order of payment clearance as quickly as possible. We do apologize for the extended delay and we do appreciate your patience!

     At this time you do qualify for a full refund if you choose to liquidate your order. The refunded amount would be at the higher price of either the price you paid or the current market rate at the time you contact us to lock in that market price. You also have the option to have your order refunded and immediately applied to a new order. This would enter you into the shipping queue a new but also allow you to take advantage of the lower market rates we have been seeing recently. If you choose one of these options please call us at 1-800-344-6468 and let the receptionist know you are looking for a refund, they will connect you to the correct department.

     If you choose to continue to wait for your order please be assured that we will ship it as quickly as possible. Based on the orders that are currently shipping, I would anticipate your order being filled within the next several weeks (approximately 5-7 weeks) or so. Please understand that this is an estimated time frame and shipment will be made at the earliest time possible.

     I elected to wait, as the product I’d ordered was unavailable from other vendors.

     Yesterday -- five months since the original order and payment for it – I called the vendor again. I was told that:

• The person who wrote the above reply to me “had left the company;”
• The company had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy;
• The owner had suffered a large judgment against him personally;
• No silver would be shipped and no refund would be made.

     Despite all that, as of yesterday morning Northwest Territorial Mint was still accepting orders.

     Read this article from the Federal Way Mirror for more details.

     Because of the steady deterioration of the dollar, an unprecedented number of Americans have begun to acquire gold and silver as protective assets. That’s attracted an unprecedented number of persons and firms into the precious-metals business. Some of those persons and firms are thieves. Unfortunately, they aren’t discovered or charged nearly as often as they should be. When they are discovered, they don’t get nearly as much publicity as they should get.

     It appears that Ross Hansen, the owner of Northwest Territorial Mint, has been running a pyramid scheme of an unusual kind. I’m out quite a lot of money for having been taken in by it. Let my experience serve as a warning to you.