ASA Complaint

Some of you may recall that I submitted a complaint to the ASA because a pair of earrings I won at auction, via the internet, failed to pass "quality control" which we all know is a euphemism for "we oversold because of our rubbish systems and internet buyers always lose out".

Today I received a letter from the ASA stating "we have not had any other complaints about Rocks & Co regarding availability of items. In light of this and the fact that the advertiser did make efforts to source a pair of earrings, we do not have grounds to pursue your complaint further under our Code".

I have written back to the ASA linking them to this forum and in particular the thread where loads of people had the same issue and explained that the only reason Rocks & Co offered to find me an alternative pair of earrings was because I had posted on here. Prior to that, I had not been offered anything. We all know that Rocks & Co., fail to supply goods to customers due to overselling and use the "didn't pass quality control" excuse all the time.

If you've experienced a similar incident, please would you email the ASA. If the ASA realise that this is not an isolated incident and is prevalent, they will make Rocks act differently or risk fines and more negative publicity. Please email if you have experienced the "QC" excuse.

Thanks in advance.

Well done Meeshoo - I have never bought anything from Rocks & Co - they drive me so mad watching them - apart from John - that I haven't been able to bring myself to.

I really hope you get the response you need from this, because it appears to me that there is a big problem, from having read all the posts.

Everyone supports each other here in the forum, so go on, support each other where it's needed.

Good Luck

I havent had anything failthe QC - I did buy something via the internet ... a blue fire opal ring, which dropped to 199 ... I clicked buy and had put in most of my credit card details before the auction closed (with the online lag) I thought it was me who won, (had the email saying I did) then, when I didnt see any movement in the order (payment sitting in pending) I called to be told I hadnt won, I was too slow, had gone to a telephone caller and that I would get my money back and they were going to let me know .... dunno when though
I was livid, mailed Andrew who DID help and I got a similar ring ... a week or so later, the ring, my original one, was sold on air ... for £399!!! always had a wee doubt(maybe the price had been incorrect), but there was nothing I could do do prove or disprove ...

if nothing else, I hope that they do improve their systems ... its either that or they lose a whole lot of customers ...

I have had this problem a few times. It is their systems - sometimes the system lets too many people order the same item. I, too, find it annoying when they say that the item has failed QA when really it is sold out, but it seems to me that the CS people really don't know what's going on at all! I have mentioned to Andrew that they should simply tell customers when an item is sold out.

I honestly don't think they've been deliberately canceling sales when the item dropped too low - it's just that when this happens a lot of people jump in at once, and the time lag in the system results in too many orders being placed. This happened to me on one occasion on a AAA tanzy pendant which dropped to a great price - when I contacted Andrew, he found another one in the same design with a better stone (slightly larger carat weight, great colour) which should have been more expensive, and let me have it for the same price.

I know I often defend Rocks & Co, but I have had some truly beautiful things from them. Their systems were designed for a fixed price channel rather than falling auction - with a fixed price channel, you wouldn't often get many people trying to buy the item at the same second. Yes, I too am impatient with this - it is extremely annoying, especially when you miss out - but I really do think it's C***-up rather than conspiracy.

I know they were trying to upgrade their systems, in fact Andrew told me in an email they had a new manager in place and their new system was being tested and should be up and running by the end ..... of Feb!!

Surely, even if there were still a few 'blips' their new system should be working better by now ... its nearly June and the original problems still remain .....

Time and again, they announce queues at the call centre and to use the web ... but then, will you get the item anyway if someone on the phone 'beats you to it'? and then they ask you to check out straight away .... but that means you pay postage every time ... soon people wont order on the web because at the end of the day its 50/50 whether you get the item or not!!


hopefully they are dealing with the issues, but, they can only 'deal with them' for soo long.... or complaints to the ASA are made ......

too Meeshoo ... well done for highlighting the complaint though ... hopefully fixes will get put in motion ...