This scam is fairly simple. Send in your gold, receive a cheque for a fraction of its value, but under their terms, get the cheque too late to have your items returned when you complain about the amount of the payment.
This began when I chose to sent in some unwanted gold items for cash. I had not expected a lot but there was 140g of various items including one 39g 14ct chain (marked) that was the most valuable. According to their web site they paid above $26/g so that alone would be about $1000 dollars. The total payment for all nine items was a paltry $408.48. I'd have been happy with anything from $1000 to $1500 for everything as I had neither the time nor inclination to spend a lot of time shopping these around to jewellers or pawn shops and wanted to get some money for a trip my sons wanted to take.
The items were sent on October 6th. I have a Canada Post delivery confirmation showing they arrived in Vancouver on October 12th. The cheque was dated October 11th, a public holiday in Canada (Thanksgiving), and the postmark shows the letter was not actually mailed until October 18th. My cheque arrives October 21.
The same day, Thursday, I sent an email, immediately advising the cheque was insufficient and I wanted the items back. (By the way they do not answer the telephone if you use the toll-free number. The only way to communicate with them is by email through their web site) The cheque was returned by courier Friday, arriving Monday, but undeliverable as their office (P.O.Box)was closed. It was signed for the following day. There was no reply from them at all to any of my messages other than an auto-response saying someone would bet back to you in 24 hours - never happened. Only when I threatened posting negative reports on the incident or contacting the police did they actually reply. The final result. Their original cheque to me was returned stating I did not meet their Terms of Service, that they did not get their cheque back within 10 days of issue, an impossible task given the dating of the cheque and the one week delay in mailing it.
About Alliance Precious Metals, Cash-for-gold.ca
No address anywhere on their web site. The actual location is MailboxPlus post office box. No real refinery. The web site for Cash-for-gold.ca was registered on October 19 2009 and the Alliance Precious Metals site was only registered on January 16, 2010. The Administrative contact shows as Robin Andrews with a registered address for Nuance Aromatherapy. (Phone 1-604-687-4188, email r1andrews at yahoo.com) You will find this company and Robin Andrews listed with other scams on scam Report.
You should know this "company" also has a referral program which they advertise online. This too will be a scam so I'll be sure to put out the appropriate warnings.
The only good news. Their cheque didn't bounce. And I now have a new hobby, tracking these scum-bags and letting everyone possible know about them. | 
