Dentaltown October 2019 - 53

getting $3,017. When she broke down the
commissions, fees and additional charges
that she discovered, she said, "No, the fees
are too high; there's too much involved.
Send me back my metals." They sent her
metals in the form of a melted bar that she
then sent to us, who she found through
Dentaltown, and on the same exact bar
got $4,450-about 45% more. Not for a
similar batch of metals, which would be
hard to compare, but for the exact same
bar, because there were so many fees and
middlemen involved that all those charges
added up to about 35-40%.
Dr. William Wong in West Allis,
Wisconsin, similar to Dr. Waggener, had
his scrap melted and the offer was $9,400.
He too discovered all the not-so-noticeable
fees and asked for his bar back. He sent it
to us and got $12,879 for the exact same
bar. And the thing is, when we assayed
the bar, it was the same assay as the first
company-meaning, we both got 47 gold
and 10 palladium, etc. The difference was,
they had additional fees because of all the
different reps involved. We didn't have that
fee structure, which resulted in an additional
$3,000 more for Dr. Wong. We're very proud
when we hear stories like that.
Dr. Licato, same thing: His offer from
another company was $10,400. Got $12,200
or $12,400 with us-and that's even after the
palladium market had gone down from the
time he got his first offers. But despite that,
he still got 25-30% more on the same bar.
HF: On Dentaltown forums, do most
people ask about gold refining under the
Practice Management category? Restorative
Dentistry? Personal Finance? Ask a Dental
Consultant? Seems like a lot of them are
under Restorative Dentistry.
DW: You know, it's funny- there aren't
as many posts about refining as you would
think. The only time people really go online
is when they've had a very bad experience
or a very good experience. On the forum,
if you type in "Scientific Metals" there are

quite a few amazing reviews, and some great
feedback on there. I think the most recent
one was Dr. Culberson, who had a bad
experience with someone else and then went
back to us and said, "You know, these guys
just get it." The problem, though, is when
you have someone in the office, sometimes
the temptation is very great because they
say, "How much does Company X charge
you-10%? I'll do it for 5%." But just because
someone's offering you 5% fees as opposed
to 10% fees doesn't mean that you're going
to get more money back.
If it's too good to be true, usually it is.
Dr. Arpad Sooky posted on Dentaltown a
while back, "Thank you, Dave, for being
one of the seemingly last refining companies
with honor and integrity." I'm really proud
of that.

Discover more online
To learn more about Scientific
Metals' melting, assaying and
refining services, or to schedule
a pickup, go to scientificmetals.com.
Or, call 888-949-0008.

HF: A Dentaltown article back in 2010
says, "Scientific Metals' no-frills business
model and simple shipping process passes
the scrap metal savings on to dentists." I also
like your dad's final quote: He says, "We save
money by virtually eliminating reps, brokers
and subcontractors. The money saved gets
passed on to the dentists and their scrap
return. It's really pretty damn simple." ■
dentaltown.com \\ OCTOBER 2019

53
http://www.scientificmetals.com http://www.dentaltown.com
Dentaltown October 2019

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