Ramsdens 31 Bridgegate, Irvine KA12 8BJ

A few months ago I entered into this retailers premises in Irvine, firstly you have to press the bell and be buzzed in by a member of staff. Seemed a bit strange, but none the less my wife and I ventured inside.The lady who greeted us seemed pleasant enough and asked what she could do for us? I explained that I would like to trade in some old gold which included a couple of Rennie MacIntosh yellow gold wedding bands. We had upgraded our wedding rings and thought they were a bit dated now.As with all other gold buying companies/pawn brokers we assumed that we would be given a price for the total weight of the gold, which would be based on that day's live gold price. How wrong we could have been! All of a sudden we felt as if we had been teleported to the Grand Bazaar in Instanbul, unprofessional would be an understatement!Firstly she asked us how much we wanted for the items? I said to her, "you are supposed to be the expert, as your company specialise in this type of transaction, so you tell us how much it's worth"?She started off by offering £50 and added that that this was good price due to the fact that the wedding bands were ready to retail, without these the offer would have been considerably less! At least Dick Turpin wore a mask when he robbed his victims!!!!My wife and I looked at each other stunned, mainly due to the fact that prior to entering the shop we did visit a professional company who offered us a fixed price per gram of gold, so had that offer as a guide to what to expect. We immediately rejected this paltry offer and she then hit us with the old chestnut, "I'll call my manager and see if she'll allow me to go a little higher"? Wow this was good, her manager was going to be able to see our items by looking down the phone and then allow her to offer more! Steve Jobs or Bill Gates must have been keeping this little invention under wraps!She then raised the offer to £75 which we again rejected, we had been offered £140 elsewhere and like everyone else decided that we would shop around for the best price.To summarise, please do not entertain or listen to these cowboys, they give the industry a bad name and to show the way they think about their customers, they also ignore your emails when you highlight what happened. They are no better than these pay day lenders who at the end of the day are little more than legalised loan sharks.PLEASE STEER CLEAR OF RAMSDENS, YOU WILL GET A MUCH BETTER PRICE FOR YOUR GOLD ELSEWHERE ON THE HIGH STREET, WITHOUT THE THEATRE AND APATHY THAT THEY TREAT CUSTOMERS WITH!Their strapline is "GOT GOLD GET CASH", you'll get more cash elsewhere, of that much I am pretty much certain. Companies such as this think that consumers are stupid, hurt them where it hurts, in the pocket.That way morality and dignity may feature in their staff training manual. Ramsdens, your TV ad's are cheesy to say the least and your staff and immoral practice is nothing short of moral repugnance in its purest form!!!THIS COMPANY ARE COWBOYS, WHO MORE SO THAN THEIR COMPETITORS, PREY ON THOSE WHO NEED MONEY. DON'T BELIEVE THE NONSENSE THAT THEY TELL YOU! SHOP AROUND AND COMPARE EVERYONE ELSE AND ONLY GO HERE AS A LAST RESORT!!

3 weeks ago I put a cheque in for clearance was told it would be ready in 7 days 3 weeks later still waiting !

I go here to get my currency every time I go abroad. Could not fault the girls in the shop. Always get very helpful and cheery staff. I would not go anywhere else.