This morning i phoned City Gold at mt Gravatt in Brisbane to ask do they test gold with an XRF & what the possibilities were of having a couple of items tested for a fee. The response was a very cold/irritated "No only if your selling items to us". I know their running a business but i wasn't looking for a free scan was happy to pay, guess that explains their google rating & customer feed back. I then contacted BGB (Brisbane Gold Buyers at Annerley), complete opposite to the previous call, happy to test for free as a standard service, pleasant in person and even took the time to show me a fake Pamp carder 5g bar. I know where i will and wont be going in the future. As always I'm happy to share "word of mouth" for either good or bad service pity some companies seem to forget this basic fact.
I've had similar experiences with City Gold... Good to know about BGB. If in Brisbane, I would also highly recommend the Imperial Bullion kiosk in Chermside Westfield.
As OP Purchased a quantity of 1oz silver ingots from GC Adelaide, customer service was second to none, good price and personal service. Had free delivery to the mount Gravatt office so I could pick up. That’s when the fairy tale ended. Old mate in the office was hmmmmm.... Best I can say is Bill Steam Shovel on a bad day would have been more polite.
I have sold some scrap gold from my pawnbroking business to Brisbane Gold company in the past. Yes they pay a good price in relation to spot, but I can tell you that where they make their money is rounding down the purity readings on the XRF. Pieces that were hall marked and acid tested as 9k, were XRF testing as 8.75K for example, so they would quickly show me the low reading then write it down as 8K gold. Meanwhile pieces that tested slightly over 9k for example, they wouldn’t show me the XRF and would just write down 9K. It felt like this is their strategy for increasing their margin but still advertising the best prices paid in Brisbane.