Gold-buying firms told to improve by OFT

The high price of gold has meant that companies that exchange people's gold for cash have grown in popularity.

But the OFT found that a handful were locking customers into accepting the offer made for their gold items.

Sometimes customers' jewellery was melted down on the assumption that they had accepted a quote.

CashMyGold, Cash4Gold and Postal Gold agreed to make changes after an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) investigation.

Robert McDougall, the assistant director of the Office of Fair Trading, said, ''As a result of our investigation these companies have changed their business practices."