By Maureen Vander Sanden
SLN Staff
An Illinois-based company that has come to town at least eight times in the past two years to buy old jewelry, antiques and other collectables from locals looking to make some quick cash has yet to make good on bad checks written here last spring.
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection has received a handful of consumer complaints about THR & Associates, a company based in Springfield, Ill. that hosts resale “roadshows” at local hotels and conference centers throughout the country soliciting residents to bring in their valuables.
Consumers are complaining about bounced checks that they received for items they sold to the company at events in Elkhorn and Prairie du Chien in April, according to a DATCP release.
The Elkhorn Police Department took complaints in April from at least two individuals who claimed they were issued bad checks from THR & Associates, the parent company of Ohio Valley Gold & Silver Refinery, also known as “Treasure Hunters.” According to Police Chief Joel Christensen, at least one complainient has been made whole, and since the other resident had not followed up with local police, he assumed that person was paid as well.
THR set up shop April 10-14 at the AmericInn, 210 E. Commerce Court, in Elkhorn, where they purchased gold silver and platinum.
Previous purchasing events under THR held at AmericInn included Treasure Hunters Roadshow, International Coin Collectors Association and International Vintage Guitar Association, among others. The company booked events for May 1-5 in Elkhorn and Burlington, but they were abruptly canceled.
The bad checks totaling $1,095 from the April event were issued for the purchase of gold and silver.
Christensen said previously that once his department got word of the bounced checks, officials at THR were immediately contacted and cited a banking glitch before assuring that the checks would be reissued.
Matthew Enright, vice president of media for THR & Associates, said in a previous interview that his team had been busy making “several thousand calls” and reissuing checks after the bank blunder.
“For whatever reason, PNC (Bank) shut our account down,” he said May 7, confirming that as many as 15,000 checks written to employees, vendors and customers who sold valuables to the company may not have cleared.
Asked about the sudden cancelation of the scheduled shows and Enright said he was unaware of the specific reason, though, he suggested it could have been “a staffing issue.”
He says THR runs 140 shows a week, so it is not uncommon for some to get canceled.
“We want to make right with our customers as quickly as we can, and would like to get this past us before we come back,” Enright said when news of the bounced checks broke.
At that time, Enright encouraged anyone with complaints to call THR at (217) 787-7767, so employees could immediately rectify any problems.
That phone number is now disconnected.
Last month CBS reported that besides being nailed for the widespread undervaluing of gold, THR – which took in over $200 million last year – issued a reported $1.7 million worth of bounced checks in April 2012 alone.
“In the wake of these investigations, several former employees have come clean about their part in the fraud. Kenny Birdsall, who resigned from the company after discovering that he had been writing bad checks in his role at THR and Associates, says he didn’t know he was issuing bad checks until they were already in the hands of customers,” Julie Watts reported in her CBS story.
In May, the Better Business Bureau reported 35 complaints in the last three years surrounding THR’s products and services, advertising and sales, billing and delivery.
THR responded to each of those complaints, according to BBB, which had given the company a B+ rating on a scale from A+ to F.
Today the company is not rated, and, according to the BBB, the company has declared bankruptcy.
Since May, complaints to the BBB have skyrocketed up to 308 – 284 of which are centered on problems with the company’s product or service.
