OFT clamps down on gold buying firms
Three gold trading companies, CashMyGold, Cash4Gold and Postal Gold, have been ordered to improve their customer service following an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading.
The consumer watchdog found that that the traders, who operated by post, offered customers only a very narrow window within which to reject an offer, beyond which any submitted items would be smelted.
Agreeing with the OFT’s concerns all three have promised to amend their business practices to give consumers more time to respond.
Gold trading firms have proliferated in recent years as the price of the precious metal has skyrocketed. Firms have been accused of not passing on these rises to their clients however with a previous investigation by Which? finding that companies offered, on average, just 6% of the gold’s retail value.