Quote:
Originally Posted by ksbeckaa
I really learned ALOT after reading this thread and typing Dollars for Gold Scam into google!
|
I know this is already resolved, but I was curious about what ksbeckaa said
And there's some interesting/funny stuff out there
This is good:
http://www.cockeyed.com/citizen/goldkit/cheat.shtml
Someone took gold jewelry and asked the pawn shop what they would pay for it... the pawn shop said $198.
Then they tried sending it to one of the "Cash 4 Gold" / "Dollars for Gold" companies. The company sent a cheque for only $60! Apparently, if you're not satisfied, you can ask for your gold to be sent back (although elsewhere on the web, people say there can be problems getting it back). So when the guy asked for it back, and then the company upped their offer to $178.
So basically, just like that, they tripled what they were willing to pay (and it still wasn't as good as a pawnshop's offer), which shows how badly they rip people off.
It seems those companies generally only offer 10% to 20% of what the value of the gold is when melted down. So even when they triple it, they still make a huge profit.
This is also interesting:
http://consumerist.com/2009/02/10-co...-employee.html
They're "10 confessions" of a former employee of one such company, basically saying it really is all a scam (for that company anyway... but it seems to be the biggest American one).
The most interesting parts:
"Your jewelry gets appraised by hand, a magnifying glass, a plastic container, a small weight pad, and a bottle of ORANGISH fluid, which your items are then determined a value for. Not million dollar equipment or specially trained jewelry experts. The company was temporarily closed recently due to health and code violations. 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."
(that's just one company, but still)
Also, this about how they get bonuses for minimizing the payout (
funny part in blue):
"For ex: Sally Smith receives a check for $27.86 for a Rolex watch(which we don't issue value for), a class ring, a ring with diamond chips, a pair of earrings with emeralds, as well as a few sterling silver pieces, and maybe a few items that were really of no value. Now Sally Smith calls the cust srvc dept, where she speaks to a rep who seems so concerned and will see if she can do better with the amount by speaking to a "SUPERVISOR". We then place the caller on Mute, and speak to our neighbors or doodle on a sheet, or twiddle with our hair for about 45 seconds, while we are supposedly speaking to our supervisor about Ms. Smith's complaint. We then come back with an offer to "BUMP UP YOUR MELT DATE or any other lies the cust srvc reps can think of, and offer you a total amount of $53.20 which is a little under double the amount of your original check; in which case if you accept, the cust srvc rep makes a 15.00 bonus off of your transaction. If the customer service rep offers you under triple the amount of your orig check, he/she makes 10.oo in bonuses."
It's also funny that this iSaintJohn thread is already on page 2 of the Google search results when you search for dollars for gold scam. And the 3rd result for Canadian sites