I write in reference to the company The British Gold Refinery. The above company is registered online as a sell your unwanted gold site and I have recently sent in a ring to them to be appraised after first seeking an estimate on their website. I had had my ring valued in Leeds City centre approximately four weeks ago and it was valued at £251 however I chose to see what sort of value I could receive online, I visited the British Gold Refinery website and on the homepage is a calculator where you input the carat value and weight of your gold and below the calculation brings up "your items are worth" and an amount is shown. The amount shown on the calculator brought up that my gold was worth £316 so I sent for an envelope to send in my gold, I received my envelope and mailed it back once again checking the estimated value before sending off my ring the value was £312 I ticked the box to say that I would like the amount in the form of a cheque on the understanding that in the short period of time it took between sending off my ring and reaching them there could be a small variance in the price. A couple of days later I received a cheque for £165, I rung immediately to explain there must be an error and was told that the amount was correct, when I questioned the valuation on the website I was first told that the value could have changed since I last looked but sat with the laptop I checked and the amount was the same. I was then told that my ring was 17 Carat not 18 but even if this was the case the estimate for a 14 Carat 12g ring was £255 and my ring was supposedly 17 Carat and then I was finally told that the amount on the website was the price of gold that day and not the price the company pays, the website and calculator are intentionally misleading. I insisted that my ring was sent back as I had been offered £251, the employee named Alex Said she would have it reassessed and said I would be called back. I received a phone call the following day with an offer of £186 I once again requested that my ring was returned and was told it would cost me £50 to have my ring returned I was disgusted by this and asked to speak to a Manager and spoke to a manager called Anthony who said he would send it back to see if they could match the £251 value that I had been offered and glossed over the astronomical returns fee. I once again received a phone call to say the offer had been increased to £203, clearly I was becoming very frustrated by now and once again spoke to Alex who must have had a supervisor listening in on the call as she offered to return the ring for free if the valuation team couldn't match my requested amount from one final attempt. I was called back again by Alex a couple of days later who said am I prepared to take the £203, I reminded her of the previous conversation and she denied saying the ring would be returned free I requested at this point a Manager to ring me back as none were available and could she also forward me the details of the regulator, which she said she would do. I did not received a phone call from a manager nor a email with the complaints details but instead on the 20th March a phone call from another staff member threatening that if I did not accept the offer the gold would be refined on the 22nd anyway and the amount would decrease, so had no option than to take the £203. I since have seen on forums that many people have been misled by this company. I find it incredible that a company can behave in such away with a misleading website drawing people in, an exorbitant return fee and managers refusing to deal with complaints.