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REVENGE! /Michael palin voice
2 replies
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@logicalnoise: Our chief weapon is lying about our return policy. Lying about our return policy and \"losing\" our customers' items. Our two main weapons...
Oh I'll just come in again.
REVENGE! /Michael palin voice
@logicalnoise: Our chief weapon is lying about our return policy. Lying about our return policy and \"losing\" our customers' items. Our two main weapons...
Oh I'll just come in again.
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I thought racketeering was an action that could only be brought by federal law enforcement (ie the FBI under the RICO statute). I don't think that's a cause of action for individuals. Then again...my law is shady.
@nstonep: A RICO finding can be used as a basis for punitive damages. It's also a way of getting defendants into a case who might otherwise not be primary defendants.
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@nstonep:
Also remember RICO covers basically anything the feds think it should cover, it was purposely written vaguely so that they could nail organized crime groups.
Basically, if the judge finds that they are guilty, that would amount to Mail Fraud, which would fall under RICO and the FBI could step in. I think.
@nstonep: One of a former employer's clients was served with a 14 count civil complaint, one of which was RICO. The plantiff, who was representing a corporation, of which he was the sole shareholder, alleged kickbacks for towing a vehicle left in a non-parking spot in an HOA for a few minutes. I loved working with the insurance attorney on that one because he got the insurance company to not rollover and play dead but rather fight it.
The case was well known in his office because it was the first he'd ever seen with RICO in it. So, yes, it is possible for civil matters to use RICO.
@nstonep:
I believe the suit requests a Finding by the judge overseeing the case that states that C4G is in violation of the RICO statutes. Then that is handed off to the Fed and they drop their hammer on the defendants.
Something similar in what I had proposed earlier in filing a Finding suit with the courts against the banks.
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@blythedesign: Let's not hijack yet another potentially interesting thread with an obesity troll, shall we?
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That. Guy. Wants. To. Eat. Me.
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Every time I see a pic of the founder, I suspect he just keeps all the gold under his pillow and then puts it all on at once to go to the club on Friday night.
Links to the lawsuit are broken =/ I'd really like to read it too please fix! Thanks~
Is there anyone who didn't see this coming? And how big a moron does someone have to be, to A: stick your GOLD jewelry in a paper envelope and B: expect to get properly paid for it? Hey, I'm going to start a company called Cash4FlawlessDiamonds. And I bet I can get some braindeads to send in their rings!
@Alarm Bell: Yeah but...cash4gold is only ONE of the many companies that do the same thing. People just want to pick on them because their ceo (or president; it's probably a llc or s corp) is a guido. I mean...guidos need all the gold they can get for their chains and to dip their mercedes logos in (can't really do that anymore without taking it off though.)
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@nstonep: He's also a guido with a crapton of misleading advertising and a penchant for suing/trying to pay off anyone who badmouths C4G or reveals its scheme.
Oh and I'm still tempted to request an envelope from them, take a giant rock and spray paint it gold, and send it in with the business relpy costing them hundreds in postage fees. evil? maybe..
@Jon34511: Didn't someone do this? IIRC, he sent in a grape stem, a soda pop tab, a bottle cap and a nickle, all spraypainted gold and got $1.05 back.
I didn't read about it, but if I could make a profit from it hell yeah!
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@Hooray4Zoidberg: \"Next time you see the ad, give them a call and get the gold kit. Isn't there something gold you can send them? \"
Gold condom, slightly used?
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Not all of these gold buying businesses are bad. I recently did business with one (usgoldbuyers.com), and had a great experience. They paid me very close to the raw material value and were fast and courteous.
God, he looks so ... concerned in that photo. Is it concerned? It just looks like he's about to say, \"Here at Cash4Gold, your donation of one ounce of gold can feed 10 children for a week.\"
\"But instead, we pay you a dollar for it and laugh in your face.\"
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I'm optimistic that Cash4Gold's recent SLAPP-happy lawsuits raised their profile enough to make people realize that their scams are vast, systemic and wide-spread.
Because I'm an adherent to the Gods of Irony, and Lardy Lardeson suing consumers to shut them up only to stumble into a Briar Patch of REAL trouble (and: yay! MORE bad publicity!) would feed by gods quite nicely.
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This couldn't happen to a more deserving company. I hope that bastard, and his lawyer both wind up under the f'n jail.
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That guy reminds me of Horatio Sanz in the \"Stavenhagen's Food Pawn Shop\" skit.
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Unfortunately, this will probably see an out-of-court settlement, and Cash4Gold will continue to defraud the elderly and the desperate for literally pennies on the dollar for their jewelry.
At least at a sleazy pawn shop, you know you're getting screwed, and can say no and walk out.
@Segador: C'mon, most pawn shops aren't sleazy. There's a local one here in Columbia SC I sold my HS class ring for. Got 80% of the melt value for it too.
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I'd like to see the attorney generals in all the state start investigating them. Has that happened yet? If not, it's probably only a matter of time....
But, but, they helped Slim Thug with his money troubles! His video on the Daily Show had his girlies sending off his chains to Cash4Gold and he's Still a Boss.
I would dearly love to see some traction on the issue of deceitful support practices. Constructing support such that it frustrates customers into going away is far too common.
@8abhive: I will certainly second that. I used to work in a State Farm call center. Everything was so scripted there was no way I could help folks with even the simplest issue without first alienating the customer. I eventually could but often I ended up pissing off the customer something fierce before I was able to finally get to helping them. It comes down to the simple fact that in order to provide good customer service, a company has to be willing to open itself to criticism...then take action to correct it.
@m2ky2fo: Or hopefully, make the customer mad enough to either hang up in disgust or blow his cool giving YOU the opportunity to hang up on him. Problem solved for the company.
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How does one join said lawsuit?
Wow, a class action lawsuit that actually makes sense. Not because some guy got 12 less Cheerios than advertised and is eager to get the massive 10 cents off coupon payout at the end.
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\"I asked Cash4Gold for comment yesterday, but have not heard anything back from the company.\"
You're kidding.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-73986-100x100.png\")
@techstar25: I'm sure that was a fun call to make/email to write.
\"Hi, this is Ben from the Consumerist. You know, the website you tried to sue because we reported you were complete sleezeballs. I noticed you are now being sued by your customers for being sleezeballs, do you care to comment on your upcoming sleezeball trial?
His photo does nothing to help his case. I mean come on...if you own a company like this one...you best hire a clean cut looking PR guy to field all media inquires...especially if you look like Guido here. I'm just trying to point out the power that perception plays in business. The internet has become such a powerful consumer tool...how many of you regular consumerist readers have ordered a Dominos' pizza this summer??
If we are lucky this will somehow result in them going out of business and their owner being prevented from opening up similar scams in the future.
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I sentence the owner to 10 rounds with Mr. T. Winner takes all the gold in the world.
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3 words: Karma, Karma, Karma
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\"a deliberately frustrating so-called \"customer service\" system which results in most individuals eventually giving up attempting to receive compensation for their \"lost\" or greatly under appraised jewelry.\"
This for a lot of companies is a perfect example of an excellent, profit generating customer service system. More and more now, customer service policies are designed to prevent customers from extracting any kind of money or compensation from the company. Once they have your money, they don't want to give it up. EVER.
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No response from Cash4GoldResponse?
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@Smashville_is a statue of limitations: Reached for comment, Cash4Gold responded, \"Cash4Gold has not been served with a complaint and therefore has no comment at this time.\"
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I'm sure his completely rational response will be to sue the attorney general of California for defamation.
And Cash4Gold responds with a hard-hitting press release at 12:30 today: Cash4Gold Confirms Plans for Dance Party in the Vaults at Company Headquarters With the Legendary MC Hammer
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LOL! Looks like he is eating his words and the gold!
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Id give them the golden poo award but they'd only melt it down and send you back a nickel from the march of dimes.
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How about some mail fraud.
anyone stupid enough to send in gold deserves to be ripped off. I took mine to a local jewelry store and they offered me $426. I walked half a block to a estate sale and buyer and got $125 more. Sell it locally and get a second opinion.
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A little roll reversal eh?
Just watch out for the CEO, if Subway Jared were to have an evil little man on his shoulder telling him to eat disgusting things I would expect it to look like him.
Anyone stupid enough to just mail in their gold deserves to be cheated. I took mine down to our local jeweler. He offered me $426. I walked half a block to a estate buyer and seller and got $150 more. You have to shop around.
If the guy in the photo was worth his weight in gold...anyone think we could pay off the national debt?
What would really be fitting is for the discovery in this case to reveal enough that a state AG will get the bit in his mouth and put these guys out of business altogether.
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That gave me a happy.
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Is it me or does this have a mafia flavor to it? It always seems these kinds of operations are run by mafioso types...
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Can we melt down the corrupt business owners as well as the gold? Just an idea..
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He looks like every Iraqi that owns a gas station / quik mart / liquor store in and around Detroit. LOL.
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Ha, serves these bastards right.
Hope the lawsuit will milk them for every single penny they've got.
@Bearded Rapper:
They have no pennies. Only gold doubloons.