Dentists: Know your facts before choosing a refiner

For a dental practice, choosing the right company to use for the reclamation of their precious metal bearing scrap is not an easy decision.

WHY?

The reason is simple. Most dentists have very little knowledge of the refining industry.

Regrettably, this allows some companies to take advantage of your lack of understanding. You will have heard dental scrap companies throwing around terms like “middleman” “unlicensed” “processing facilities” whilst claiming that they pay up to X amount more than their competitors. These operators rarely offer any kind of evidence to back up their claims.

This is why i have decided to write this blog post, to help you to make educated decisions based on hard facts. Competition in this industry is welcome,the precious metal market has always been competitive and is a part of the job that appeals to traders such as myself. But, it is important that dental practitioners have honest and factual information at hand to base their decisions on.

1. Licensing

Any company that removes dental scrap from your practice must hold a waste carriers license. Any reputable company will be happy to give you their waste carriers license number, you can then check the validity of the license number by calling the environment agency on 0800 80 70 60. A consignment note should be issued to you with every collection.

2. Middleman or Refiner

In the refining industry a middleman is somebody who purchases your scrap from you and then passes it on to another company for processing. This includes sales reps who purchase your scrap from you and receive up to a 60% commission based on the value of your scrap. If you are not dealing with the company owner, you are dealing with a middleman.

3. Facilities

Not all of the “Refining” companies that call into your practice possess the facilities or the skills required to process your dental scrap. Unfortunately there are some companies that falsely claim to have their own processing facilities. Any company that does actually perform it’s own in-house processing will be eager to show it’s customers behind the scenes. See our video blog Here for an example of this.

4. Transparency

Some refining companies claim to pay X amount more than their competitors but how would you as a customer ever know whether such claims are true?

A good refiner will talk you through their valuation process and show you how they have arrived at the price they have offered to you. Never feel pressured to accept a quote that you are unsure of, any company with an upstanding price structure will be happy to leave you with a quote so that you can shop around.

I hope you find the above information useful. There is a lot of very misleading information flying around in the wake of the recent precious metal price rises, we receive calls from confused customers everyday. I hope this has helped in some way to improve your understanding of how the industry works.

Mike Jonas

Co Owner of King Refining