The TV commercials promise quick money for your unwanted jewelry—a tempting offer, what with the rising price of gold in recent years. But mounting allegations of pitiful payments, ignored return guarantees and other deceptive and unfair practices mean that your attempts to sell those old necklaces and rings could subject you to a golden fleece.

Many mail-in gold companies are legitimate, with some earning “A” ratings from the Better Business Bureau. However, officials charge that it’s not always the case with industry leader Cash4Gold, which has generated more than 300 complaints to the BBB in the past three years and has resolved most of them.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum recently launched an investigation into Cash4Gold after receiving at least 72 complaints from customers about the Pompano Beach-based company. A few weeks earlier, Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., called for the Federal Trade Commission to look into practices by Cash4Gold and other companies, and said he intended to introduce legislation to regulate mail-in gold buyers that use the U.S. mail. And in October 2009, a class action lawsuit was filed against Cash4Gold and its parent company, Green Bullion Financial Services.

McCollum, Weiner and past customers level two main allegations against Cash4Gold:

(1) They say the company pays only a fraction of the true value of customers’ gold, issuing checks as low as seven cents for individual items. An investigation by Consumer Reports found that Cash4Gold and similar companies paid only 11 to 29 percent of the day’s market value for jewelry it submitted. By comparison, pawnshops and other venues paid up to 70 percent of value for the same merchandise.

(2) Some customers say that when they are dissatisfied with Cash4Gold’s payment and try to get their merchandise returned, they are told it already had been melted down—even when they have contacted the company within its 12-day window for returns. Others allege that when they send back the check for their gold’s return, they receive nothing in return—or sometimes, an empty envelope.

In the past two years, the U.S. Postal Service has received numerous complaints about items lost in the mail going to or from Cash4Gold. A spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service tells Scam Alert that his agency has found that in the overwhelming majority of those cases, incoming mail with jewelry was properly delivered to Cash4Gold, but raises the possibility of “delay tactics on the company’s part” in replying.

Richard Santamaria of the Office of the Inspector General for the USPS in Miami, who has also investigated these cases, says the missing mail represents less than 1 percent of Cash4Gold’s total mail volume.

Cash4Gold CEO Jeff Aronson insists that his company is not a “scam business” and that dissatisfied customers often “have unrealistic expectations of what that material is really worth.”

I sent off close to 20 grams of gold to Cash4Gold and recieved a check for $40. I was not satisfied so I decided to send the check back and get my gold. I had to ship the check to Europe and they only gave me three days to return the check so I had to pay $20 for overnight shipping to ensure they recieved the check on time. They call me back with a counter offer of $55. I said no thanks, just give me back my gold. Fortunately I did get my gold back and I took it to National Pawn where they paid me $375 for the same gold. I would never reccomend Cash4Gold to anyone. I really feel like they were trying to scam me if I had not stayed on top of things. Go to their website and try to contact them, it is not easy.

I sent in my jewelry which was worth more than they set me a check for. I sent in a watch, a gold chain, earrings, a brooch that stated 18K, and three rings. They sent me a check for $25.45. The items that I sent, some of them were not on the itemized check that they sent me. I believe that they kept the most expensive items, and only paid me for junk. THIS COMPANY IS A RIPP OFF.

what a scam this is..i'm sure with current prices they already made millions...a day after sending in my jewelry, i stumbled on this website and almost fell sick to my stomach..i started calling them right away and threatened a lawsuit, if they don't send me my jewelry back. luckily it worked. i got it back just over 2 weeks later. after diligent research, i decided to deal with www.allamericangoldbuyers.com.. they don't ask you to blindly trust them like www.cash4gold.com does. rather they explain the whole evaluation process on the video and send it to you for approval. definitely recommend them. I suggest you do your research.
Walter, VA

I guess i was scamed by cash 4 gold too. I mailed them my gold & they said they never received it. This really sucks, because i really needed the money!!!