Cash4Gold.com, the metal refinery that offers fast money to those who mail in baggies full of jewelry, has hit on a formula that would make 13th-century alchemists weep: It's found a way to turn desperation into gold.
And in this economy, that's a growth business. The Florida company ponied up enough bullion Sunday to buy 30 seconds of famously expensive Super Bowl airtime, capping an ascent from the basement of late-night "as seen on TV" marketing.
But Cash4Gold's jewelry exchange doesn't always translate into big bucks for its customers, who have lodged hundreds of complaints with the Better Business Bureau and the Florida attorney general's office, saying the company shortchanged them.
In one, New York resident Frank Poindexter complained to the attorney general that "he mailed in $150-$200 worth of gold," but "all he got back was a check for 15 cents."
Thomas Valle of Colorado said Cash4Gold sent him $16.61 for gold and diamonds that he believed were worth $300. Unsatisfied, Valley requested the prompt return of his jewelry, as per Cash4Gold's terms. "They have not done that, and it has been a month," he reported.
Cash4Gold Chief Executive Jeff Aronson said that those two complaints had been resolved and that the company stood by its satisfaction guarantee. He also said the company's website made it clear that trading in jewelry to have it melted down was "not always the right way for somebody to monetize."
The airwaves and Internet are filling up with quick-money schemes, not just Cash4Gold and its competitors -- Dollars4Gold, GoldKit and GoldPaq -- but simple ways to make thousands a week at home, or wring a profit from the depleted housing market.
But it's Cash4Gold, a 350-employee spinoff of Chicago-based Albar Precious Metal Refining, that has been able to buy its way into the cultural mainstream. Its Super Bowl commercial featured Ed McMahon and MC Hammer, faded celebrities known for their financial woes. Hammer, once a chart-topping rap artist, filed for bankruptcy protection in 1996, and last summer McMahon narrowly missed losing his Beverly Hills estate to foreclosure.
"Heeeeere's money!" McMahon intones, in a less-than-enthusiastic reference to his "Tonight Show" heyday. He and Hammer then heft a series of "gold" objects they've decided to unload. For Hammer, it's his gold records and a medallion embossed with his own face; for McMahon, now 85, it's a "golden hip replacement" and a solid gold toilet.
