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Acre Gold is a company that aims to make precious metals investing accessible to lower income people. If you don't have enough money to buy gold coins, that's fine! They allow people to subscribe and accumulate funds over time, automatically exchanging these funds for gold bars when they reach the right amount.
But the company is also plagued by negative reviews and potential issues. Is it actually worth signing up?
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See if Acre Gold made our list this year, or continue with this review below to see if they are possibly the right company for your investment needs.
About Acre Gold
Acre Gold allows people to purchase 2.5 gram or 5 gram bars of gold on a subscription basis. Each customer pays a fixed amount per month, and once their account reaches the right limit, they are automatically shipped a gold bar.
The idea is to make precious metals investing easier for those with lower incomes. Maybe you can't drop all your money at once, but you can set some aside each month.
This setup is significantly different from a traditional online retailer. It also means that there are not any IRA services. With an IRA, you need to comply with IRS regulations. That means that the pieces you purchase must be compliant, and they must be stored in a secure depository.
With Acre Gold, the items are delivered directly to your house instead. Each of the packages is insured, so you'll need to sign for it when it arrives.
Is Acre Gold a Scam?
Acre Gold doesn't seem to be a scam. There are some positive reviews from past customers, which indicate that the company does provide the services that it claims to. Customers have said that they received the gold once they earned it, and a few reviews state that there wasn't any hassle. One reviewer even says that the complaints against the company all seem to be misunderstandings.
However, there is much more negative feedback online than positive. There are 44 official complaints with the Better Business Bureau, plus mostly negative customer reviews. In comparison, there are maybe seven positive reviews at most. That indicates a customer satisfaction rating of less than 20%, which isn't ideal.
If there are this many complaints being caused by misunderstandings, then the issue is one of communication. Acre Gold should be communicating well enough with the customers for them to understand what they're signing up for. Occasional misunderstandings are inevitable with any large company, but they shouldn't affect 80% of the clientele.
Acre Gold has responded to each of the complaints filed, but many of them remain unresolved. The customers have indicated that they were unsatisfied with the response. Because of the volume of complaints, the BBB gives Acre Gold a B- rating, even though they've responded to the customers.
Overall, that alone leaves an unfavorable impression. If the majority of customers are unhappy with the service provided by a business, then there's a good chance that you will be, too. But let's take a look at a few of the complaints to see how the company responded and what the customers were disgruntled about.
Customer Complaints
Of the 44 complaints filed over the past three years, 20 were filed in the past year alone. That indicates an uptick in complaints. Some businesses have seen an uptick in complaints recently due to supply chain issues outside their control, so this isn't necessarily a red flag.
Of the total complaints, 28 were related to issues with a product or service, making up more than half. Another 8 were related to delivery problems, 4 were related to billing and collections, and 4 were related to advertising and sales. There haven't been any complaints filed related to a warranty or guarantee.
As of writing, the 8 most recent displayed complaints have been answered but not fully resolved. We can't look at every single complaint on the website, but we can see what issues customers have had most recently.
Unexplained Cancellation Fees
In June of 2022, a customer left a complaint regarding their account. The customer said that after they signed up, their payments went through twice. But then the company stopped taking payments for the subscription service. Even though the payments had stopped in December of 2021, the customer didn't learn about it until June.
According to the customer, they hadn't been provided any warning about the cancellation. In addition, the customer claimed that the company had given only a partial refund. Though most of the funds had been returned, they had kept $23 as a cancellation fee.
The customer said that they wanted to be refunded the rest of their purchase because they did not believe the cancellation was their fault. They found it very unprofessional of the company to charge cancellation fees over something that the customer had no apparent control over.
The company responded to say that the cancellation occurred after the customer's payment failed ten times. With every failed payment, the customer was sent an email explaining the situation. The account was cancelled after two months of failed payments and notices sent. The company also noted that the customer had fully agreed to the terms of the cancellation when signing up for their account.
The customer responded to say that they did not accept the response because they believed the business was being dishonest. They stated that the company had blocked them over Facebook and that the customer would have no reason to cause trouble now if they'd known about the cancellation all along.
Acre Gold said that over Facebook, the customer had received a screenshot illustrating the failed payments and the emails that were sent. In the exchange, the customer said that they received so many emails that they may have missed the payment notifications. The company further stated that the block occurred because the customer continued behaving hostilely to the customer service team online.
Lack of Discounted Purchases
One customer left a complaint at the beginning of June in 2022 regarding their subscription. They said that they had gotten a subscription that would allow them to purchase gold bars at a discount over time. But after saving up over $900 over the course of nearly a year, the customer only received a single 2.5 gram gold bar.
The customer stated that they wanted to be refunded because they believed that they had not received the product they were promised.
Acre Gold responded the same day that the complaint was filed to say that the company has never sold discount gold. One of the issues was that the customer had several different subscriptions. In addition to earning the 2.5 gram bar, they had also earned a 5 gram bar that they seemed unaware of.
The company stated that they had explained the spread between retail and spot pricing of gold, then explained how different gold bars go for different prices. They concluded by saying that the entire situation had been clarified to the customer a long period of time before the complaint was filed.
Given the complaint, it seems that the customer was still confused about the situation after Acre Gold explained it to them. But they never followed up to indicate whether they accepted the response or had further issues.
Lack of Updates
In May of 2022, a customer wrote a complaint alleging that the company had consistently been shown to be negligent and mismanaged. The customer was upset about a lack of communication and interest in their holdings. They had been with the company for about six months.
In December, they had begun a subscription to earn a 5 gram bar. But in March, they had not received any information about their account, so they reached out. The company then began to send progress updates every week.
The customer then was charged for their sixth month of the subscription without being given any progress updates. They were frustrated with the service by this point, so they decided that they would withdraw their funds. They reached out about closing their account but didn't get a response for three days.
Even after getting a response, the company was continuing to delay the withdrawal of the funds. The customer believed that this was a purposeful tactic to avoid issuing a refund. They were extremely frustrated and stated that they were operating within the refund guidelines, since they had canceled the subscription prior to a shipment being scheduled.
Acre Gold responded to say that the company's gold pricing is updated every Monday. Following these updates, every customer receives an update in their Customer Portal regarding the progress toward their next gold bar. Emails are also sent with the progress.
Apparently the customer's first email had stated that they did receive the email updates, but didn't understand them. So the Acre Gold staff explained them. They further stated that any monetary issues were related to the difference between spot and retail price, plus the sales tax required based on the customer's state.
The customer had accumulated enough money to have a bar shipped with their final payment. But they had asked for a refund. The cancellation policy stated that there is a $20 fee to cancel prior to receiving a shipment, which the customer agreed to.
Finally, the company stated that the customer had been given a refund, along with an email explaining all of the charges in the refund. The customer had replied with a notice to stop emailing them.
Mispriced Gold Bar
Another complaint from May of 2022 was related to the price of a gold bar. The customer had been saving up for a 5 gram bar and had looked up the price. According to their research, they had paid well over the cost of the gold bar. But the company website said that the customer needed to pay more to receive their due.
The customer decided that they wanted to be refunded for their purchase, so they sent multiple emails. But the company didn't respond. Then the customer threatened to file a BBB complaint, and they got a response.
Even after receiving the response, though, the customer said that the refund still hadn't been processed. They acknowledged that not much time had passed, but said that they still found the whole affair shady.
Acre Gold responded to say that the customer hadn't sent multiple emails, but had instead sent only one. They also stated their point about spot versus retail price again. The customer was looking at the spot price, while Acre Gold charged more in a retail markup.
The customer said that they didn't accept the response. While they acknowledged that they had received their refund, they said that the business was making excuses. They claimed to have proof of the email chain showing that they'd contacted the business multiple times. In addition, they said that they were unable to get any response until filing a BBB report.
Acre Gold contended that they themselves had proof that the customer had only sent one email about their issue.
Overpriced Products
One customer left a complaint in March of 2022 stating that he had paid more than $2400 in total and been given eight 2.5 gram bars. Based on the online price of gold, he believed that he should have received 13 bars by now. Even if the company marked the bars up to a higher retail price, he should have received at least 11. He believed that he was missing at least one shipment.
Acre Gold responded to say that the customer was confused. He was paying two subscriptions, each for a 2.5 gram bar. Each subscription had a cost of $50. There were payment processing fees for every payment, which didn't count to the gold.
They stated that with the fluctuations in the price of gold, the customer had paid a different price for each of the bars. Gold had been more expensive back when the first bars were shipped, so the customer had paid more than he would now. In addition, the customer had been charged sales tax based on his state.
The company said that they had checked the records and determined that eight bars was the correct number. The customer had recently reached the threshold for his next shipment, so he had been sent an email explaining his shipping date. In addition, the customer had been given emails explaining the payment breakdown of each shipment when it happened.
Pros & Cons of Acre Gold
Pros
Cons
Final Thoughts
Acre Gold's overall setup is fairly unique. In theory, the company should make precious metals investing more accessible to people with less disposable income. But in practice, there are a lot of complaints.
The company seems to have issues with communication. Many customers have indicated that it's difficult to get a hold of a customer service representative. They also say that they've had delays in refunds and shipments.
On top of that, there are multiple complaints about the pricing. Acre Gold seems to mark their prices up far past the spot. Plus customers often seem confused by the processing fees and sales taxes in their states.
All in all, we don't recommend investing with this company. There are better platforms that you can use to purchase precious metals, whether you have a lot to invest or just a little.
Don't forget to checkout our top 5 companies before investing!
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We hope that we were able to help you determine where or where not to put your investment!