The Florida Attorney General‘s office is looking into nearly 60 complaints they’ve received about Cash4Gold.com. A number of them complain about sending in valuable jewelry and getting pennies back, and then the company not sending their stuff back as promised.
Beneath Cash4Gold’s shiny veneer, a dull reality [LAT] (Thanks to Anthony!)
PREVIOUSLY: 10 Confessions Of A Cash4Gold Employee
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Cash4Gold is the anti Robin Hood…. Steel from the poor and give to the rich.
@Design3r: I prefer to brass from the poor and give to the rich. Much cooler alloy.
@Design3r: “Steel” from the poor? I see what you did there, Mr. Clever!
@Design3r: You mean it’s a corporation?
@DemolitionMan: You mean businesses exist to make money and not help people?!?! SHOCKING!!
@xtc46: Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to do both. It’s even possible to make money off of people without scamming them out of their valuables. Fun fact.
Looks like that money spent on the SuperBowl ad wasn’t wasted, eh? No such thing as bad press! Bad lawsuit outcomes, yes, but press? NO! MC and McMahn better cash their check(s) before they freeze the assests.
On a “wouldn’t it be funny if…” note, I wonder if the AG googled Cash4Gold, and Consumerists articles came up, where upon they bolted for the Judges Chambers.
@269InchDiagonal_GitEmSteveDave: I knew as soon as I saw that commercial it would be the end for them. And after reading the cockeyed article when it first came out I wondered how long it would take for these scammers to get taken out. Glad to see they did it to themselves the greedy pricks.
Oh you mean sending your gold somewhere not knowing exactly where your gold is going and what happens to it with no idea how much its worth and then having no way of getting your gold back is a bad idea in the first place?
Well im here to solve that problem with my new startup company called (Insert Something)4gold. Yep thats right… you send me gold and ill send you something. Itll be more than nothing! Its Something! Can you beat that? Nope! Message me for details.
@NeonNoodle:
Sir, I am intrigued by your ideas and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
@NeonNoodle:
How about a “random bag of crap” a la woot? You send us gold, we send a brown bag full of random crap. Sounds promising…
@NeonNoodle: Seriously. The first time I saw their ads, I just couldn’t believe that they were asking people to a) trust the USPS to deliver *gold*, b) trust them to admit receiving said gold, c) trust them to honestly evaluate the worth of such gold and pay for it….
@jenl1625: They key part you are missing is the “pay the appraised value”. They absolutely do the 3 you listed, but then they want to make a profit so they give you 10% of its worth.
@jenl1625: Not to mention their “GOLD KIT” shouts “OH HAI VALUABLE STUFF IN HERE” all over it. That’s going to work out well, right?
Might as well send you gold to someone in Nigeria. At least you’ll feel good getting large money order for your gold.
@Mikestan: Wow! I completely butchered that comment. Lets try again.
Might as well send your gold to someone in Nigeria. At least you’ll feel good getting a large money order for your gold.
@Mikestan:
I second this.
FTA: “Cash4Gold’s promise to pay ‘top dollar’…”
Zimbabwe dollar?
@JollyJumjuck: Hey, it’s Liberian legal tender. The first time that 9 and 11 have been used together to add up to the total dollar amount on the bill.
@Jaynor:
With it’s wings spread in all it’s majestic glory, layered in 24k pure gold clad proof.
Translated: It’s a coin of an eagle that’s gold electroplated.
@Blueskylaw: WHERE CAN I GET ONE OF THESE? MUST HAVE!
@JollyJumjuck: No, they have a neat stack of $1 bills in their office. You send them your family heirlooms, and they’ll send you a crisp dollar off the top of the pile! Yuk, yuk…eh.. not funny.
I saw one of their commercials the other day and at the end they had a BBB logo on the bottom left of the screen. They have a C+ rating with the BBB and they are not even a member. Odd to have the logo on the commercial.
@Wild Monkey: Maybe they added the disclaimer- “We do not use the BBB”??? or something like that…
I’m shocked! I’m shocked, I tell ye, that any business employing MC Hammer is a little shady. Cash4Gold ought to pray, pray just to make it today.
@Yoko Broke Up The Beatles:And You’d think Carnac the Magnificent would have warned McMahon about the recession so he could keep his golden throne.
Whats a black guy and power drill have to do with Cash For Gold?
I’m going to show my age:
That’s M C Hammer. Can’t touch this…
@Samets: Knowing an extremely popular 18 year old tune is “showing your age”? Weird.
[en.wikipedia.org]
AWESOME! They have been getting a LOT of bad press lately (on tv and the internet).
You know that you’re bad if even the state of Florida investigates you.
@johnva:
Shit, you got a point.
@johnva: Lots of old gold in Florida retirees’ jewelry cases.
Is anyone really surprised there guys are a scam? I mean c’mon…
Pure BS!
What’s next? Cash for Diamonds?
perhaps they should be better known as Ass4Gold
@crazyasianman:
You send them your gold, they send you back what…a hooker? Does she come padded in an envelope? Erm, I meant in a padded envelope?
@LadySiren:
Hmmm ass4gold, I wonder if I still have my hs ring laying around….
One way to deal with this is to find a pawn shop and get them to assess the stuff. They have test kits which will determine the carat weight of the stuff. And you can just walk out of the store when you have an answer. Plus, it’s a decent way of getting cheap stuff. I got a $350 air compressor for $150.
What’s even worse about it all is it specifically states in their Terms and Conditions:
Limitation of Liability section:
“This limitation of liability shall be binding on each and every customer and any third party, including, but not limited to, the customer and the customer’s successors, assigns, insurance carriers and any other individual or entity asserting any right or claim relating to customer’s transaction with Cash4Gold. In no event shall Cash4Gold be liable for any damages from the loss or destruction of property in its possession for any reason, including negligence, except as stated herein. In no event shall Cash4Gold be liable to any third party, including any insurance carrier. Cash4Gold shall not be liable for any subrogation claim brought by the customer’s insurance carrier, and, by submitting an item to Cash4Gold, customer expressly and specifically waives any such subrogation claim on his or her behalf as well as on the behalf of his or her insurance carrier.
Cash4Gold’s liability is and shall be expressly and specifically limited to the LEAST of the following sums:
1. The liquidation value placed on the total contents by Cash4Gold in Cash4Gold’s sole discretion.
2. One-third (1/3) of the appraised value of the contents according to an appraisal submitted by a customer/seller to Cash4Gold, which appraisal was issued prior to the shipment of the item to Cash4Gold; and,
3. The sum of One Hundred ($100.00) Dollars.
The customer/seller expressly acknowledges and agrees that if there is no appraisal which was issued prior to the contents begin submitted to Cash4Gold, Cash4Gold’s liquidated value shall be conclusive and binding and further, that in no event shall Cash4Gold’s Liability exceed One Hundred ($100.00) Dollars.
Cash4Gold shall not be liable to anyone for any damages, including but not limited to, incidental, consequential, punitive, loss of profit or opportunity, other than as set forth herein above. By submitting the items, customer explicitly and expressly accepts this limitation of liability.
If you believe your gold jewelry or other property is worth more than $100.00, we recommend that you insure your shipment for more at your own expense using any carrier you choose. We also strongly advise that you list the contents of your Pak on the enclosed brochure, which you must return to us. “
Even worse, they have a 10 day material return period. Basically it states “if you don’t return your check in 10 days, your things will be processed by the refinery and, therefore you can’t get it back.” That’s paraphrased in my own words obviously, but you get the point. If you call and make a, what they call, Verbal Offer, then that 10 day period flies out the window:
“Any customer or prospective seller may request Cash4Gold to provide a telephone or e-mail quote for his or her items after such items have arrived at Cash4Gold’s processing facility. Verbal offers may, at the discretion of Cash4Gold, be recorded. Upon a verbal acceptance by the customer of the telephone or e-mail quote, payment will be issued by Cash4Gold within twenty four (24) hours of such acceptance, and the ten (10) day customer satisfaction holding period guaranty will no longer be applicable to such transaction.”
I realize some of this is a restatement of the confessions of the employee article, but on the Verbal Offer section, there is no statement of that. The employee stated that if you signed for Fast Cash then the 10 day period would be waived. So that would be another thing to keep in mind.
@charlie.evans: And obviously, go check out the full Terms and Conditions link on their site to really see how you are getting screwed.
How sad that Ed McMahon is so strapped for $$$ that he’s shilling for these creeps.
It’s another sign of the economic turmoil when even a lifelong huckster like “Mr. Hey-o” winds up broke or colluding with thieves…
I got my packet in the mail today. I’m going to load it up with so much useless and heavy stuff just to cost them money. Then repeat.
@Mr_Mantastic: That is the answer. We need to start a movement. Yes please send me a gold kit. What those rocks from the driveway weren’t gold awe shucks. Now multiply by 1 million people = scammers out of business.
@frodolives35:
Paint the rocks with gold spraypaint.
Or better yet, find a stream and find all the fool’s gold you can.
According to Young Buck, we all know gold is gettin’ old. The ice on his teeth keeps his Cristal cold.
A stitch in time would have saved nine but better
late than never.
I have no pitty for people that even think about doing business with one of these types of companies!
The sad thing is you don’t even need a pawn shop or a shady operation like this to sell your broken gold jewelry or whatever. Some jewelers (the non-chain type, ha, pardon the pun) buy this stuff all the time, you’re still not going to get rich but they’ll typically buy it, and since you’re right there you have the option of saying “no thanks” and going home with your item.
I had send cash4gold my 14 K white gold necklace that would have worth between $500 and $600 and I send them a silver ring with a diamond $150 and a plain silver necklace and all i got back from them was $13.52 ? They didn’t even include my 14 K white gold necklace in the description item in the checks. This Cash4gold is a big ripp off. My pack number was C4G1378322 AND THE VENDOR NUMBER IS V0001361661 Check number was 215301 from cash4gold
I almost did this because I saw MC Hammer pawning his gold for cash in the commercial. Did MC Hammer ever had any Gold Records?