I sent a 24 carat gold bracelet to The British Gold Refinery and they ripped me off saying it was only 9 carat gold. I knew that it was 24 carat as it was hallmarked as such and I have 2 witnesses to verify this. I phoned to complain on several occasions and asked for my bracelet back and was told that I had to pay them an additional £50 to have my bracelet back, they did acknowledge the 24 carat hallmark at first and tried to tell me that a jewellers can put any hallmark on jewellery but I knew they were lying and told them I knew about the Hallmark Act of 1973, where anything weighing more than 1 gram had to be hallmarked and checked by an independent Assay office to make sure it's of the correct purity. I told them I was seeking further advice and asked them not to refine my bracelet until we resolved this dispute. I contacted the judge but he was unable to resolve this for me. I contacted a lawyer and The British Gold Refinery completely ignored all letters and emails sent. I have had representatives write to this company from the start. I told them I would give them the £44.15 they paid me back but they wanted an additional £50 returns fee I refused. They refined my bracelet anyway even though I asked them not to and we were in the middle of a dispute. They decided to resolve it by default. I am not happy about this I have issues with this company since October 2011 and still nothing is resolved as far as I am concerned they stole from me and refined my bracelet to cover their tracks.

Diane Kaczan