Before the Super Bowl advertisement in 2009, Cash4Gold.com was just another company airing late-night infomercials. The mail-in refinery that purchases precious metals for cash featured testimonials of suspiciously attractive women who seemed shocked by the amount of money they could receive for their unwanted jewelry.
“I sold my old jewelry and took the vacation of a lifetime!” one woman said.
Really? She acquired enough bracelets and necklaces to fund her dream vacation? Either she recently robbed hundreds of pawnshops, or her vacation standards are dangerously low.
And these commercials just feel scammish. Too many people are holding fans of $100 bills. There’s even a hand at the bottom of the screen holding fanned money while resting on piles of money as if you’ll receive too much cash to carry with one hand.
Cash4Gold.com has skyrocketed in popularity, resulting from both the escalating price of precious metals and the plummeting economy. When you’re struggling to pay your mortgage or electric bills, smelting down your grandmother’s old necklaces seems like a good idea.
But recently, Michele Liberis, a former Cash4Gold.com employee, exposed the company’s underhanded business practices on ComplaintsBoard.com.
Liberis describes everything from shoddy appraisal facilities — “appraisers” using a magnifying glass and the building receiving health code violations — to outright lying about not receiving a customer’s jewelry.
The post was publicized on Consumerist.com, a not-for-profit consumer advocacy organization, and became an Internet sensation. Cash4Gold.com has since lashed out against this negative publicity, suing both Consumerist.com and Liberis for defamation.
But the damage has already been done. Moreover, Consumerist.com performed an independent investigation that confirmed Liberis’ complaints and published its findings on its Web site.
Earlier this year, Consumer Reports investigated Cash4Gold.com using its wonderfully anonymous army of “mystery shoppers.” They purchased 24 identical gold necklaces appraised at $70 each and offered them to Cash4Gold.com.
The result? They received around $10 per necklace.
According to Consumer Reports, the customer service was remarkably friendly and the transaction was completed very quickly.
Of course it was. Kindness and promptness are designed to soften the disappointing blow of receiving such an outrageous markdown. As Mary Poppins wisely quipped, “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.”
Perhaps scammers understand these difficult economic times better than anyone. They have made a business by cheating hardworking people out of money and personal possessions. They run business models based on such financial anxiety — panic is their second-quarter earnings.
So beware of these leechlike companies sucking the retirement funds from the average consumer, and protect yourself by taking everything with a grain of salt.
Send your comments and any unwanted jewelry to David at david.k.edwards.1@asu.edu.
