Just saw this on the web, which is a link to Tulving (California based) reviews. Seems to indicate a problem with customer service and shipping, although his prices are very competitive. http://golddealerreviews.com/reviews/gold-dealers/3-tulving :|
Have never dealt with the firm, but that sort of negative feedback is easily manipulated by competitors. Reading those reviews, the language style and references, e.g. repeated names Karen and Hannes, makes me feel the bulk of them were written by the same individual. Not hard to schedule "slag off competitor" into Outlook every few days.
I have often looked at his prices and wondered how the heck he can offer such skinny margins. Now I feel better about paying comparatively higher margins, but being able to walk in with money and walk out with shiny. You do make a very pertinent point about competitors and ratbags going for him online.
Tulvig is pretty well known here in the states, and there are a lot of people who either love them or hate them. It is true that many people complain about them online (think RSC). Karen and Hannes are the two you almost always deal with (phone or email) so that's why many of the online accounts name them specifically. They sometimes take months to ship, but for good bulk pricing, they are very hard to beat.
Because Tulving refused to answer my complaint against them in 2008, BBB dropped them from an A to a C. They must not keep complaints past 3 years, because all the complaints I saw where within the last couple of years. Tulving prices are hard to beat. The problem is that any problem is your problem even if it is Tulving's fault. In a large AGE, I received 3 1988 AGEs with large deep scratches. Called Tulving, he denied selling the coins to me and slammed the phone down in my ear. Another time, they did not send a monster box of ASEs in an order, but shipped the remainder of the order. This time Tulving told me to file a police report before he slammed the phone down in my ear. Fortunately, his shipping clerk figured out from the weight of the order that it was only 300 ASEs vs. 800 ASEs. After the second incident, I limited any future business with Tulving to items no one else had. Only order I can recall with Tulving in the last 2-3 years was some 1oz gold lunar coins. The coins were fine, but some of the capsules were badly cracked or busted and it didn't happen during shipment. Fortunately, my friends now have most of the gold they want to own.
