Fail Nation: A Visual Romp Through the World of Epic Fails.

BBB logo
Image via Wikipedia

Is Cash4Gold a scam?

If you watched the Super Bowl this past Sunday, then you already know about the service.  Cash4Gold hired both Ed McMahon and MC Hammer for one of the the big game's TV commercials.

“I can get cash for this gold medallion, of me wearing a gold medallion!” exclaims Hammer, with McMahon chortling, “My gold hip replacement.”

Having enjoyed a viral-like growth, it seems not everything that glitters, is Cash4Gold.

Yesterday, a post titled 10 Confessions of a Cash4Gold Employee hit the Consumerist via ComplaintsBoard.

“On my first day of being hired, I was taught the “Cash4Gold Scam” from beginning to end,” begins the post.

Here are some excerpts:

1. We receive your “Refiner’s Pack” within 3-4 days, BUT we are instructed to tell you that it takes “7-10 business days, for us to receive your pack, ALTHOUGH many times, your package has already arrived. (All Cash4Gold customers who have called customer service to track a package can vouch for this)…

2. Your jewelry gets appraised by hand, a magnifying glass, a plastic container, a small weight pad, and a bottle of ORANGISH fluid … I have witness testers being transported to Medical Centers, due to the testing department environment. There is literally a cloud of smoke in the air from acid and other testing material. If you were thinking it was some state-of-the-art testing facility, you thought WRONG.

3. Although the payment (check) for your item is dated within 24 hrs of testing your jewelry, we SOMETIMES DO NOT actually send out the check until up to 3-4 days later. (if you are a customer check the date the check was issued against the stamped date on the envelope.)

4. We do offer a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee or your jewelry returned, BUT THE CATCH IS, that the guarantee is to contact us within 10 DAYS from when your check is DATED…

5. You generally receive your check around the “7th-10th” business day, AND majority of the time Customers are outraged when they lay eyes on the amount of their check. Some Customer’s even receive a check for 0.01 cents.

It would seem that, while Cash4Gold gives customers 10 days to dispute the value of their check or ask for their gold to be returned, they also purposely delay the check to the point that it sometimes arrives after those 10 days are up. By that point the gold has already been melted down.  Nice.

It would also seem that Cash4Gold intentionally underpays, forcing unhappy customers to call and ask for higher rates, which customer service reps are trained to "negotiate".

The Better Business Bureau confirms the complaints, (it has already gotten over 250 of them), although they give Cash4Gold a C+ rating for addressing to the complaints.

Another review on the BBB goes on to suggest that Cash4Gold is also working a U.S. Postal Service scam where they “misplace” packages that they are sent, paying less than their value in insurance.

As one commenter on the Consumerist points out, Cash4Gold is a fence’s dream in that it makes stolen goods utterly untraceable.

Proceed at your own risk.

If you've been burned by Cash4Gold or are hesitant to try them, but you still need cash, we strongly recommend that you look into government grants.  There are grants for just about everything now, there are government grants for starting a business, there are even government grants for debt consolidation.

We recommend going here to see if you qualify as this company was featured on NBC and Fox News.

Click here to qualify

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Sphere: Related Content

It's nice to see you again! Thanks for reading Blippitt. What do you think of this story? Be sure to leave a comment below.

Technorati Tags: Better Business Bureau, Cash4Gold

Most Commented Posts