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Complaints Follow Meltdowns Of Many Cash4Gold Customers

Cash4Gold/YouTube

Ed McMahon makes a pitch for Cash4Gold - "my gold hip replacement!" - in an ad that debuted during the Super Bowl.

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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 10, 2009

Updated: 02/10/2009 04:00 pm

TAMPA - Christie Fox says the offer Cash4Gold would pay for her gold fillings was hard to swallow.

Cash4Gold wanted to pay her $5.65 for the fillings, she said. The Lutz woman said she rejected the check from the company and got her fillings back, then complained to the state Attorney General's Office.

Fox isn't the only person upset, but Cash4Gold's chief executive defended the company today, saying it offers a quick way for people to get some value from jewelry. He said the $5.65 offer for Fox's fillings was reasonable.

Cash4Gold chief executive Jeff Aronson said the company stands by its satisfaction guarantee, which promises to return items to customers who don't like the price they're offered. He told the Los Angeles Times that the company's Web site alerts customers that mailing in jewelry so it can be melted down is "not always the right way for somebody to monetize."

Today, Aronson said that nearly 94 percent of all Cash4Gold customers cash the check the company mails them. Still others, he said, are satisfied with the company's service but decide they need a better offer to part with their gold.

Cash4Gold.com, a Florida metal refinery offering money to people who mail in unwanted gold, doesn't always provide boatloads of money for customers. Customers have lodged complaints with the Better Business Bureau or the state Attorney General's Office, the LA Times reported.

During an interview Monday, Fox said she initially thought Cash4Gold was doing something illegal. She said she now thinks they simply don't offer good deals.

"They're cheapies," said Fox, 64.

The company says its appraisal quotes are "based upon the current price of gold," but the exact price it offers on a given day isn't revealed in its literature, on its Web site or by its customer-service representatives.

The pattern of complaints, according to the Better Business Bureau's Web site, is similar to what the Florida Attorney General's Office describes: Consumers allege "the company is not offering a fair value for the jewelry" and that they've had a hard time getting their materials returned.

Aronson said Cash4Gold offers prices competitive to other, similar companies but that pawn shops and jewelry stories might provide better deals.

"People that come to me want convenience, that would never think of going to a pawn shop, [going] to a jeweler and have their name spread around," he said.

Cash4Gold's Super Bowl commercial featuring MC Hammer and Ed McMahon, two celebrities known for financial woes, helped traffic to its Web site dramatically increase, according to the company.

Aronson defended his company's track record, saying that the 269 Better Business Bureau complaints during the past three years out of 700,000 customer transactions was a commendable ratio.

Information from the Los Angeles Times was used in this report. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691.

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