VERY bad report for cash4gold.com Beware!
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Anonymous
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nothing came up?
aflacglobal
Well-known member
:wink:
:arrow: http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/cash-4-gold-c115287.html
:arrow: http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/cash-4-gold-c115287.html
AuMINIMayhem
Well-known member
HA! I just read that today and thought "what a great reason to stop in and say hi to the guys".. haven't been around for a while, except for a lurk here and there. Glad to see someone beat me to the punch.. 
I do have a suggestion though.. perhaps a thread on good places to sell your gold/silver/pgms reliably (without the obligatory "sell it on Ebay" posts).
Anyways.. just dropping in to say "hey". haven't had much time to do any reclaiming/refining in quite some time had a few major things happen reltionship-wise and financially over the last year.. and just got that lovely little envelope in the mail last week from the IRS saying "hey, budd-eh.. something's up with your 2007 return there, guy..." so yeahhh...
still alive and kicking! :lol:
Derek
I do have a suggestion though.. perhaps a thread on good places to sell your gold/silver/pgms reliably (without the obligatory "sell it on Ebay" posts).
Anyways.. just dropping in to say "hey". haven't had much time to do any reclaiming/refining in quite some time had a few major things happen reltionship-wise and financially over the last year.. and just got that lovely little envelope in the mail last week from the IRS saying "hey, budd-eh.. something's up with your 2007 return there, guy..." so yeahhh...
still alive and kicking! :lol:
Derek
Hey, Derek,
Someone tried that recently but there wasn't much response. No one really, really knows. Some of the best reports on the forum are from those that have used aragold.com. They supposedly pay 98% for karat gold. Lou has said that he got a fair shake from them and Lou definitely knows his values, probably to the penny. Also, there's a new guy on here that works for Republic Metals (I think). I don't know if anyone has tried them yet.
The idea of who is honest and who isn't is often subjective. It's a common human fraility, when selling, to over-evaluate your own material. It seems that no one ever under-evaluates the stuff, unless they are the buyer.
Instead of making value judgments, I think it would be better to post the returns you get. Name the refiner. Describe the material you sent in great detail, with photos, if possible. What do you think it was worth, and why? Include the refiner's stated charges, the spot prices, and the weights.
According to every one of the many reports I have read, Cash4Gold, and all of it's pretenders, are out-and-out crooks, preying on the ignorant. Anyone who sends material to them is a fool and a fool and his money are soon parted. Check this out:
http://www.wildforgold.com/compare.html
This company is comparing their returns with that of cash4gold. The gold price on Oct 1, 2008 was $880. This company bragged that they would pay $60 for 15.04 dwt of 10K gold, whereas cash4gold paid $31. Figure it out. Assuming it was actually 9.5K, the gold contained would be $261. Pretty poor for both companies.
Electronic materials are a different deal. Refineries lowball their advertised charges in order to be competitive. Let's assume that it actually costs 20%, in expenses, of the actual value of a particular lot of material, to process it. To be competitive with Joe's Refinery, who is quoting lowball charges of 10%, they quote 9% charges. Then, they have to steal 11% just to break even. Then, they steal another 15%, in order to make a profit. If they're greedy, they might steal another 15-20%. As long as it's in the ballpark of the customer's gray area, the customer will be somewhat satisfied and will bring in more material. The refiners are very good at determining a customer's "gray area", based on his ignorance and the state of the material. I once saw a great "insider" cartoon. The refiner had his arm around the customer's shoulder and said, "You're such a great customer, we're going to refine your material for nothing."
When I had my last refinery, I was determined to be honest (c'mon, you can trust me). This was difficult when my competitors were all lying about their charges. I ended up buying most material outright - everybody was happy. I did have a long relationship with a few big customers that believed in my honesty and worked on a recovery basis, although my charges "seemed" higher that those of my competitors.
Someone tried that recently but there wasn't much response. No one really, really knows. Some of the best reports on the forum are from those that have used aragold.com. They supposedly pay 98% for karat gold. Lou has said that he got a fair shake from them and Lou definitely knows his values, probably to the penny. Also, there's a new guy on here that works for Republic Metals (I think). I don't know if anyone has tried them yet.
The idea of who is honest and who isn't is often subjective. It's a common human fraility, when selling, to over-evaluate your own material. It seems that no one ever under-evaluates the stuff, unless they are the buyer.
Instead of making value judgments, I think it would be better to post the returns you get. Name the refiner. Describe the material you sent in great detail, with photos, if possible. What do you think it was worth, and why? Include the refiner's stated charges, the spot prices, and the weights.
According to every one of the many reports I have read, Cash4Gold, and all of it's pretenders, are out-and-out crooks, preying on the ignorant. Anyone who sends material to them is a fool and a fool and his money are soon parted. Check this out:
http://www.wildforgold.com/compare.html
This company is comparing their returns with that of cash4gold. The gold price on Oct 1, 2008 was $880. This company bragged that they would pay $60 for 15.04 dwt of 10K gold, whereas cash4gold paid $31. Figure it out. Assuming it was actually 9.5K, the gold contained would be $261. Pretty poor for both companies.
Electronic materials are a different deal. Refineries lowball their advertised charges in order to be competitive. Let's assume that it actually costs 20%, in expenses, of the actual value of a particular lot of material, to process it. To be competitive with Joe's Refinery, who is quoting lowball charges of 10%, they quote 9% charges. Then, they have to steal 11% just to break even. Then, they steal another 15%, in order to make a profit. If they're greedy, they might steal another 15-20%. As long as it's in the ballpark of the customer's gray area, the customer will be somewhat satisfied and will bring in more material. The refiners are very good at determining a customer's "gray area", based on his ignorance and the state of the material. I once saw a great "insider" cartoon. The refiner had his arm around the customer's shoulder and said, "You're such a great customer, we're going to refine your material for nothing."
When I had my last refinery, I was determined to be honest (c'mon, you can trust me). This was difficult when my competitors were all lying about their charges. I ended up buying most material outright - everybody was happy. I did have a long relationship with a few big customers that believed in my honesty and worked on a recovery basis, although my charges "seemed" higher that those of my competitors.
Fournines
Well-known member
Look at it this way: Cash4Gold spent $3 million on a Super Bowl ad. They spend another $1-2 million every month on advertising in general. It's not possible for them to do that if they are paying 95%...or 75%...or 40%...
Their strategy should be to get in, make a killing, and get out. The greedier they get, and the longer they stretch it out, the greater the possibility that this could bite them on the ass. Someone is going to file a class action lawsuit. Eventually, the media will catch onto it. The problem is that about 99.9% of the customers have no idea of what they have and have no proof of the value of what they sent them. They only know what they paid for the item, which was usually 3 to 10 times the metal value. Even cash4gold doesn't know exactly what they buy until it's refined. And, then, the refining destroys the identity of the scrap. The only way they can possibly get them is to set them up, but even that has its pitfalls.
What about the several copycats, like dollars4gold?
What about the several copycats, like dollars4gold?
jimdoc
Well-known member
I bet the some of copycats may even be the same people as cashforgold.
Fournines
Well-known member
There are dozens of places now that offer the same type of service as Cash4Gold. There are people who have been doing this kind of thing way before Cash4Gold came along, they were just the 1st ones to really commercialize and capitalize on it.
I don't think that Cash4Gold is operating under other names since they have spent so much money developing the brand recognition that they already have. But who really knows... :?
I don't think that Cash4Gold is operating under other names since they have spent so much money developing the brand recognition that they already have. But who really knows... :?
qst42know
Well-known member
They were exposed on 60min, or 20/20, one of the investigative news programs a short while ago. They may well have changed names as the commercials are near identical. They should have changed the name to
Trolling for Suckers.
Trolling for Suckers.
teabone
Well-known member
Cash4Gold is front for Albar refinery in Pompano Beach, Florida. They don't even refine the gold, they send it down the road to Republic.
qst42know
Well-known member
Fournines
You guys refine for Cash4gold?
You guys refine for Cash4gold?
Fournines
Well-known member
I work up north in New York and I don't usually follow who all of our customers are down in Miami. In general, unless a customer has given us permission to use their name, I'm bound by confidentiality agreements from talking about anyone.
There are plenty of companies up north that we do business with that I would love to name-drop....but I can't.
What I know about Albar is that they are Cash4Gold, you can find that out by going to their website. I believe that they used to be mainly a silver refiner. They might be handling karat gold too now, at least according to their website.
There are plenty of companies up north that we do business with that I would love to name-drop....but I can't.
What I know about Albar is that they are Cash4Gold, you can find that out by going to their website. I believe that they used to be mainly a silver refiner. They might be handling karat gold too now, at least according to their website.
qst42know
Well-known member
Yes, that was a bit of a trick question. I didn't really expect you would name your clients.
Whatever it is they are doing it's obviously working for them, they keep buying ad space. Someone must be mailing in their gold for gas money. :wink:
Whatever it is they are doing it's obviously working for them, they keep buying ad space. Someone must be mailing in their gold for gas money. :wink:
AuMINIMayhem
Well-known member
GSP... I have heard good things about aragold as well, but that was from some people outside of the forums who really weren't interested in refining, they were more in the business of buying up failing pawn shops and one of the things they would do is send the jewelry to aragold.. said it was the best prices they would get without becoming heavily involved.. of course the people I knew were just into making a quick turn-around, not necessarily getting (or caring TOO terribly much so long as they weren't being ripped off) "melt" prices..
back to $-4-Au.. hard to believe they can get away with that, but then again.. Madoff made-off.. sooooo... yeah.. the vultures are ALWAYS circling.. it's a crying shame people are so willing to screw people to such a degree.. making a profit I totally agree with, hell it's what our economy is based on, but the savagery of some of these companies.. ick... it just makes me ill..
back to $-4-Au.. hard to believe they can get away with that, but then again.. Madoff made-off.. sooooo... yeah.. the vultures are ALWAYS circling.. it's a crying shame people are so willing to screw people to such a degree.. making a profit I totally agree with, hell it's what our economy is based on, but the savagery of some of these companies.. ick... it just makes me ill..
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You folks may find this interesting. Certainly is enlightening!
The company in question (Cascade) was my direct competitor when I ran my refining service. I can only assume that the individual interviewed is the son or grandson of the founder, who was at least my age, perhaps a little older. We never met, but we each knew of the other.
The best point of the short clip is the outrageous prices that were paid for scrap gold. The gal (Dana) that was used to verify values for channel 5 (KSL TV) was one of my customers.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=5768029
Harold
The company in question (Cascade) was my direct competitor when I ran my refining service. I can only assume that the individual interviewed is the son or grandson of the founder, who was at least my age, perhaps a little older. We never met, but we each knew of the other.
The best point of the short clip is the outrageous prices that were paid for scrap gold. The gal (Dana) that was used to verify values for channel 5 (KSL TV) was one of my customers.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=5768029
Harold
jimdoc
Well-known member
Harold,
That link doesn't work, it says something about timingout.
I searched for gold and found this;
KSL Investigation: Putting money-for-gold offers to the test
Is that the right story?
Jim
That link doesn't work, it says something about timingout.
I searched for gold and found this;
KSL Investigation: Putting money-for-gold offers to the test
Is that the right story?
Jim
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2007
- Messages
- 8,360
Edit:jimdoc said:
I apologize for the link. It appears that I managed to drop the last digit, which has now been corrected.
To answer your question, yes, that is the article in question.
Sorry for the inconvenience, jimdoc.
Harold
qst42know
Well-known member
You have to admit from a buyers standpoint 700,000 transactions at <1/6 value, it certainly is profitable.
Still the other end of the gold buisness is pretty much the same. A jeweler takes $25 of gold turns it into a ring, adds a $200 stone and puts on a $2800 price tag.
It all depends on which side of the counter you are on.
I once bought a stoneware crock at auction for $.55 after buyer premium. It sold for a bit over $3000.
If I could make that happen a few times a week for a while I could quit my job and retire early like some of you lucky guys :lol: :lol:
As GSP has said many times, You have to know your material.
Still the other end of the gold buisness is pretty much the same. A jeweler takes $25 of gold turns it into a ring, adds a $200 stone and puts on a $2800 price tag.
It all depends on which side of the counter you are on.
I once bought a stoneware crock at auction for $.55 after buyer premium. It sold for a bit over $3000.
If I could make that happen a few times a week for a while I could quit my job and retire early like some of you lucky guys :lol: :lol:
As GSP has said many times, You have to know your material.
