Review: Provident Metals

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This guy is all over the place dropping shit bombs on Provident. He clearly has an agenda.
 


Is there any chance that this is another PM dealer? This person is is in full attack mode. This same posts is popping up all over the internet. From forums to online review sites.

Of my near 20 orders with Provident, I've never had any issues. And what does Joshua Merrick have to do with Provident Metals? I really wonder what the reasoning behind this attack is.
 
hey NR16 welcome ( i hope )

Tell us youre not someone from Provident, trying to do damage limitation.

Or if you are, tell us what you think the attacks are about .......
 
I'm with NR16 on this one. I have seen this troll pepper other sites with some pretty inflamatory stuff. In fact, a lot of it is downright libelous. Until he offers up some hard proof, Provident metals has as good a reputation as any other big dealer out there.
 
Actually from what I seen-they could be more on the ball
 
Okay so here we go. My name is Jake and I am posting here because i am too having a problem with provident as well as i have sent them two postal money orders totaling a large amount placed order on 8/30/12 they have told me my check has bounced the day after they actually received the tracked USPS money orders i sent directly from the post office. This is on Friday Sept 7 at 4pm i receive an email from Jeremy which leaves me very uneasy because i had called an hour earlier and the receptionist had stated my payment was not received and they are still going thru today's mail. I am going to call first thing Monday hopefully this is all a big mistake. I will update everyone, but if everyone can input me or help me with this manner please PM email me at (redacted) as this order was a gift for my nephew and is a lot of money for me to have to worry about. Now there closed till Monday and have to have this on my mind all weekend Thanks ProvidentMetals.com for making me a great weekend!!!!

PS.

Hopefully I won't have to contact the authorities on these bastards.......again hopefully they make good but they deserve the term assholes @ Provident Metals aka Provident Precious Metals on Facebook. If anyone has any input please feel free to email me. I will update everyone as soon as I hear from them.

Thanks and nice to meet everyone here!

Jake
 
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hmmm

Jake

you arrive with a blast against Provident Metals.
You are not the first, yet when investigated or challenged all previous Provident bashers have had their issues resolved or have melted away.

Have you read the full thread here ? -
http://www.pmbug.com/forum/f8/provident-metals-184/

(pmbg note - I moved the previous post and this one to this thread)

I have to say, you seem genuine but that could be because i like to think everyone seems genuine ......... and truly hope the explanation is a simple one and your concerns are unfounded.
 
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Hey Bug, How do I remove my old post? I posted a bad comment that I retracted and do not want it on the blog. Please advise. Thanks
 
Hey, My old post as I have admitted was MY MISTAKE. Not that of PM. I'm sure they will resolve your problem if you give them time and cooperation. They really are a great company.
 
PMD Victim said:
Hey Bug, How do I remove my old post? I posted a bad comment that I retracted and do not want it on the blog. Please advise. Thanks
Click to expand...

I appreciate the desire to retract a negative comment about your experience, but honestly, the post and subsequent follow up from Provident is pretty instructive and valuable for folks to see how Provident conducts business. I did add some notes to your original post to let folks know the situation had been resolved amicably.
 
regarding provident metals

I did receive my order after having to e-mail Jeremy I finally got the matter resolved.....I think they maybe understaffed but my situation had me in a haze all weekend!!! But a happy ENDING!!!! GOT MY BEAUTIFUL 1 oz Lunar Pamp Suisse Brick
 
I totally agree that there is a small contingent of folks who shoot from the mouth (i.e. posting before giving proper time to resolve with company) before they unload negatively. I have had multiple orders with Provident all very successfully completed with no hitches. Their prices are fair and very reasonable. Delivery time is not what I would call fast but I am still satisfied and plan to order from them again soon. Perhaps after repeated orders speed will improve as they deem me a regular and I have earned some of their trust.
 
Draw your own conclusion from my experience.

I've placed two orders with Provident. The first took more than a month to arrive. It's now 3 1/2 weeks since they received payment for the second order, and it hasn't been shipped yet. In both cases, they blamed their slow shipping on delays in receiving product from their suppliers, even though the items ordered were advertised as being in stock when I ordered them, and showed on their website as being in stock when I called to ask why the orders hadn't been shipped.
I won't be doing any more business with Provident.
 
Poor Experience

I asked for a refund since they did not deliver for over a month and sent no notifications about delays which they are obligated as online merchants to do. In response they said they would need to charge me a fee and a full refund cannot be done.

Here are your rights:
http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus02-business-guide-mail-and-telephone-order-merchandise-rule

After a long wrangling discussion, all of a sudden they could ship my order. The thoughts go through my head wondering why did they not do it sooner or on that day as I called at the end of the business day. I did not want to deal with a suspect PM merchant so I decided to continue to ask for a refund which they refused.

I have reported the business to the BBB and FTC as they are clearly in violation to consumers rights to a timely shipping or notification.

A retailer that cannot properly manage their inventory should not be in retail.
 
I have created an account here because of this thread. I have read some things on the web about provident but all of it just sounds phony. The biggest complaint is about wait times ok so I knew that going in but no one else price was as good and shipped smaller amounts of silver. I may eat crow on this but it appears to me that other PM dealers are out destroy providents reputation. These people posting all the complaints like the one above they are copying and pasting the same stuff all over the web. I hope I dont eat crow but I think these provident bashers are just competition. Think about it if your just getting into buying pm your going to look at web reviews especially if your going to drop some serious dough on some stuff. Anyway i will post back my progress when my pm arrives
 
I placed my 1st order with Provident on May 2nd, mailed cert. check on the 3rd. It is sitting on the truck on the other side of town right now and should be delivered on Tuesday, May 28th. per FedEx tracking. That's only 16 business days.
 
My order has shipped yesterday and should arrive tomorrow I think it took a total of 7 business days when they had said up to 15. So not to bad. What a joke that all of these people are trashing provident all over the web
 
Why should it even take one day? That's stupid. I deal with many suppliers that have a lot more sku's to keep in stock, and a lot more money (most likely) tied up in inventory - and their ship times are always "today" - period. Think McMaster-Carr, DigiKey, Mouser, Grainger and the like. With so few SKU's in the PM business, this taking so long is a joke, someone is playing games with the float is the usual issue.
Of course, the prices of most things from those vendors doesn't fly around like a demented moth, which the PM dealers have to deal with - but last I heard, they hedge that and no worries especially, at least if they are competent. So, what gives here? I know Apmex ships more or less "Right now" from experience when I wire them money. Most of the suppliers for my shop/physics stuff are even better - open accounts(!) and ship as soon as I click a mouse.

Edit:
For example, McMaster's record is 22 hours, order to my front door from the mouse click - by ground shipping(!).
DigiKey is 2 days from Minnesota to VA, also ground.
 
and shouting how good they are before the goods actually arrive in your hand seems like a good way to test providence (no pun intended )

Im always a bit dubious about newbies who turn up with an axe to grind.
Ok they may be genuine but its too easy to rock up and pitch or bitch .....
 
Ok my metals were fine with provident. I do realize they are playing the float but I am a small time buyer $1000 at a time if that. Does anyone know of a vendor that has the prices provident does for a small order? I searched high and low I am not going to pay $1-$2 more an ounce just to order from apmex and get my metal right away. Provident has maple leafs for $2.49 over spot any amount even 1 coin. Any suggestions for a vendor with good prices and will ship any size order?
 
Try Liberty CPM. I've bought 2x from them, and have been happy with the process. Not the most communicative, but they are timely. Their prices are comparable to Provident, and not NEARLY as high as Apmex or even Silvertowne.

Since you specifically mentioned Maples, Liberty's Maple price is spot + $2.83.

Based on what you said about buying ~$1,000 at a chunk... here are some other price comparisons:

ASEs
Provident (if buying ~40 EA): spot + $3.59
Liberty: spot + $3.28

Silver Buffalo Indians
Provident: spot + $1.69
Liberty: spot + $1.48

$100 FV 90% junk bags "Current" as of 2013-06-07 price:
Provident: $1,809.67
Liberty: $1,771.55

1/4 toz Gold Eagles
Provident: spot + $34.61
Liberty: spot + $34.42

If I recall, their shipping is flat fee of $17. Highly recommended. You can see my review somewhere here.
 
Thanks I will definitely be trying them out good prices from what I see nice website also!
 
I recently bought a special from them it was free shipping with the purchase of an OPM 10oz bar. It took them 2 weeks to get it in the mail a little ridiculous but not insane.

I noticed that after they ended there special they raised the price on the OPM 10oz bars to $6 higher than there other generic 10oz bars. My theory is when they run a special like that they then raise the price of the bars to cover there shipping and they wait until someone pays the higher price of the bar then ship yours. The reason I think that is when I called about my order they said the delay was because I took the special and they were backed up and I was in line. Its just strange they would raise the price of the bars right after the special ended. Anyway Provident is the cheapest they are just slow at times so I would still order from them but I wont order unless I am willing to wait up to 4 weeks to get something.
 
Hello All,

I wish to respectfully inform you all here that Provident Metals cheated me in a large transaction.

-->I ordered online and made a prompt payment (same calendar day) through a cashier's check (certified check) and never heard anything back from them for a while.

-->I contacted them later and they told me that I have to pay for the order, which confused me.

-->Inquiring into the issue they are alleging that I had many (in multiples of 10) open orders in the last 25 months or so and the check I sent was used to cover the market loss!

-->I wish to respectfully inform that I had no open orders in the past with any metal trading companies.

--> When I also contacted them to get more detailed information, they are refusing to provide any information (even a phone number of their legal department etc or even put me to a supervisor) and are saying that they cannot answer any kind of questions and I cannot call them again (it was just 2 phone calls - very polite from my side, not theirs).

I understand that the metal dealers have been burned due metals trading so low, but I sincerely feel that they are ripping me off! I believe they should be angry at Wall St commodity traders rather ripping off individuals.

My piece of advise, please avoid PROVIDENT METALS LLC at any cost! There are many other reputable metal retailers out there!

****** I am hearing that Provident Metals threatens and shuts people off who write their bad experiences with them, which is a very bad tactic******
 
Sounds like you need a lawyer and to file a lawsuit. You should get some answers in discovery.
 
I believe so.. But they will not give me any kind of information about them, including their legal address or legal team's contact information. They have registered their business with State of Texas with their PO BOX address!

Once I started asking them politely (they got hostile) of how can I contact their legal team, they said "they cannot disclose those details" - which good business will say that?

They also say that I can speak to BBB about legal issues :which sounds dumb like a teenager/young immature trying to avoid questions.

They looks like a shady business. People who got their orders fulfilled were lucky. You never know when you will be picked to be ripped off.

I am contacting ANACS, PCGS, BBB, ICTA, NCG, ANA and Coin exchange regarding this.
 
One more thing, I had just two phone conversations regarding this, believe me, each call took more than 60 minutes with just 5 minutes of talking.

For every question I asked they put me on hold for a minimum of 20 minutes! At last they did not even come with an answer to my questions.

Every 20 minutes they will come back and ask, are you still they (probably they expected me to hang up!) and say we can't answer the question!
 
The longer this thread gets with allegations, true, untrue or 1/2 true, the worse it gets for provident metals imo.
 
got another order in today, the shipped fast and is everything was wonderful.
 
one time customer of Provident

I placed an order 7/1/13 with Provident using a free shipping promotion. I assumed I'd have to wait a long time because of the free shipping, but it shipped on 7/11/13 and I received it in normal USPS time. I am happy with their product, handling, and communication. This is based on one transaction mind you, but I'd try them again.

TS
 
Good to hear ts. Thanks for the feedback. Seems like we had a rash of negative reports recently. Hope this means Provident is getting back on track.
 
Second purchase from Provident

I ordered from Provident's website on 9/17 and it shipped 9/18. It was delivered via USPS on 9/20. I am completely happy with the price, and the $4.95 flat rate shipping deal. I don't see a reason why I wouldn't go with Provident from now on.

TS
 
I am thinking of ordering some one pound bars of .9995 copper, just for the hell of it. I might get ten or twenty of them.
 
I am very pleased with my order. My second time buying from Provident. Put in a order on Sept 20, send out a cashier check same date. Received confirmation of payment via email on Sept 23. I was expecting shipment on Oct 1. As stated on their policy, there is a 5 business days hold on cashier check. So I was expecting to get my shipment on Oct 3, or 4th. To my surprised, got my shipment today sept 27. Great Job Provident. Will definitely do order again.
 
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