Important Changes Notice - What Do We Think?

This is now on the Rocks site under "Important Changes". There is a similar one on Gems.

"As a family owned jewellery business that is passionate about offering our customers fine jewellery at lowest prices possible, we need to make several changes in order to keep on track with our mission. Whilst nobody likes change, I am afraid these changes are unavoidable and offer to most customers a real benefit.

Chat Room
As many of you will know the chat rooms have become a real problem for the business over recent months. Many regular customers have emailed me to say they have stopped buying because of the misuse of the chat rooms. Over 83% of the complaints and issues that arrive in Jainey's inbox (Jainey Bennett is head of the Help Team) relate to the chat room, this is not only very time consuming, but also very disproportionate to the business as a whole.

At this stage, rather than close the chat room completely we have decided to make two changes to see if we can get chat back on track. If this does not solve the issue it will most definitely be closed for good.

Change One
The main purpose of the chat room is for regular customers to discuss jewellery and also for chatters to interact with the auction producers and presenters. In order to facilitate this and to stop competitors and non-customers from using our chat room for improper use, we have decided to make the facility only available for existing customers. Anyone who has not previously bought from our company will not be able to use the chat facility.

Change Two
Any chatter who has had more than four different people delete their posts in an hour will have their chatting rights permanently removed. However, to guard against improper use of the delete button, whenever a member is banned by having four different people deleting their posts, we will look at the transcripts to ensure the deleted posts breached the rules. Anyone constantly deleting posts that are felt to be within the rules of chat will have their chatting rights reviewed.

It is hoped that the combination of these two changes make the chat rooms a nicer more friendly place to be - if not we will have no choice but to close it.

Bidding online
As the vast majority of our business is conducted through our two auctions, it is important that whatever we put in to our auctions is sold. Whilst we do offer a 30 day returns period, it is important that this not confused with the fact that when bidding in an auction, it is a requirement of our rules that all customers go through and compete the transaction. Therefore we are making several changes to online baskets.

Removal of Delete Button
We have recently suffered from many people bidding online and then deleting numerous bids and not checking out their baskets. This is strictly against the rules of our auctions and is now causing us a really big issue as often there are other customers who wanted to buy the item being turned away. Obviously, this is very unfair on those customers who would have purchased the jewellery and unfair on us as a business who need to sell all items in the auction to cover our overheads.

Whilst the feature of deleting from baskets was recently introduced at the request of several customers, it has been a real issue for the business due to misuse by a small but significant minority of customers. Therefore the delete button is now going to be removed and we are removing the facility for the Help Team to delete auction items from baskets.

Basket Limit and Expiry
All new customers will be able to add up to 2 items in their basket and will be able to keep them there for up to 5 days. Regular customers will be able to hold between 5 and 10 items in their basket depending on frequency of purchase. Don't forget, that all orders are automatically put on to the same delivery charge, so even if you were to checkout 2 or 3 times over one weekend you would still only have one delivery charge.

The ability to only checkout selected items will remain, however after an auction item has been held in the basket for over 5 days, it will be removed. Where bidders consistently do not check out the items in their basket and let them expire, we will have to review amount that they can hold in their basket.

The number of items that can be in the basket depend on how many times you have ordered. Any items that are bid on from the Gems TV and Rocks TV websites will expire after five days. These items will not be able to be deleted.

The item limits are cumulative; so a new customer can have 2 items from Gems TV and 2 items from Rocks TV. Someone who has had 5 orders dispatched can have 10 items from each of Gems TV and Rocks TV in their baskets.

As you have more orders dispatched, you can have more in your basket, as follows:
Number of dispatched orders

Number of items per website
New customer 2
1 order 5
5 orders 10

When we implement this system (probably on Thursday or Friday) we will take previous orders in to account to make sure everyone is on the right level. So most existing customers will be able to have 10 items from Gems TV and 10 items from Rocks TV.

Websites that are not auction based, Coloured Rocks and Jewellery Maker, feature static prices and therefore the items expire from the basket sooner. It will be possible to delete items from the basket that were put in from these sites.

There will be an expiry date next to each item in the basket, so that you know when it expires."

Seem fair and reasonable to me, no big complaints. Considering the chat room caused so much grief i wouldn't have blamed Rocks for taking it out long ago.

Sacha said:

Thank you for drawing our attention to these changes Miss Kitty, I hadn't noticed them on the website. It was only on Monday that I saw there was a 'remove' button in the basket and now its already being itself 'removed'. I always liked that facility previously on GemsTV, so its a shame they feel its being abused and are already withdrawing it. In truth it makes me less likely to start off a basket if there's no possibility of amending its contents!

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Hope chat stays as its a unique feature of rocks! I agree with Sacha regarding the delete button as when you are buying lots its always a nice facility to cull your basket before checking out, as we all get carried away when adding to basket Hope they can re consider this option!!

I have to confess to not having bought for a while from any of the jewellery channels. However, it is almost certain that I will again in the future.

Having read through the new rules the only problem I can see is with the remove button as already mentioned. I think it should be at Rocks' discretion as to who warrants the option to remove. Regular buyers who have 'earned' a 'VIP' status so to speak are less likely to abuse the system and will probably buy more if they have time to seriously consider what may be an expensive piece. Although Rocks are gaining interest on a purchase during the 30 day MBG, that item is not available to be resold and ties up the warehouse with delivery and return. Surely better to be able to have it back on air asap? Sorry, bit of a ramble... :smirk:

Beading Belle said:

Hope chat stays as its a unique feature of rocks! I agree with Sacha regarding the delete button as when you are buying lots its always a nice facility to cull your basket before checking out, as we all get carried away when adding to basket Hope they can re consider this option!!

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Also, the way in which they split matching items without advising you that there are matching pieces, or do the same styles but in different gemstones/minerals I frequently see an item that I prefer to the one in my basket. It is rare for me to collect one design in a variety of stones. If we don't know what's coming, we can't plan our shopping and control our baskets. If you're selling is aimed at spontaneous shopping then of course there will be a high drop-out rate.

I've no interest in chat either way. It was fun when humour was allowed, but if you can only fawn all over the jewellery, presenters and owners then that's not for me - either to participate or lurk. xxxxxx

PS - Nessie is of course absolutely right about the 30 day guarantee. The only point I'd raise in relation to that is they have your money for that period it takes for you to return and them to refund. Quite a long time in total, so possibly useful for cashflow. In the basket is of no use to them.

My issue with the removal button being removed is that if you bid on a design of a certain gem and then see the same gem in a more desirable (to you) setting in the next auction or the next hour the choice to remove the unwanted item for the more desirable item is being removed. Auction buying is impulse buying and more so when the presenters urge bidders to 'not miss out' get it in your basket etc etc - if we have no notion of what is coming up how can we make an informed choice - I dont want something for the sake of it or because I put it in my basket in good faith but then found a) a more desirable design appears or b) I am penalised for not checking it out because I have checked out the better design ! Also with smaller auctions the presenters will tell bidders 'fastest fingers first' well fastest fingers is not informed buying !!

However I appreciate there are customers who make huge bids and do not check out which ties up stock - however with enforced purchases surely that means more returns which is going to tie up both stock and refunds even longer.

I cannot see the point of the featured hours advertising especially on rocks atm because it never sticks to the schedule - what is quite often advertised does not happen because presenters change their minds about what they are going to schedule (?) according to John in Q &A.

Hats off to those in CS though who seem to field and sort problem after problem.

As for chat - well I have enjoyed chat over two years and enjoyed talking and in some cases meeting the people I have chatted to, I have seen in the past, huge support for peeps including advice and information. I enjoy chatting with new people and old. However of late and in the last week or so in particular where on a couple of occasions I physically turned chat off given what was being posted - I venture into chit only with peeps I know but have very little desire to venture anywhere else.

Hope ST continues to give good info and advice I can see a slight defection coming on rofl

A compromise......

argeybargey said:

If we don't know what's coming, we can't plan our shopping and control our baskets. If you're selling is aimed at spontaneous shopping then of course there will be a high drop-out rate.

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Excellent point Argey. If the 'remove' button in the basket is no longer available then 'spontaneous' shopping could become a tricky in that its very easy to regret an impulse purchase that has only been seen for say two minutes or less on the screen.

Until fairly recently both GemsTV and RocksTV were displaying on their desks (on stands etc) the items up for auction in that hour. So we could see what be coming up shortly and they were previewed. Whereas now, although themed hours are appearing on GemsTV, we still have no idea of what pieces will be on our screens shortly. Showing us in advance all the items for that hour gives time to think about a purchase and less likely to want to 'dump' it later.

Have rambled on a bit but I hope that would be a fair(ish) compromise......I hope? (Though I still would like to keep the flexibility we have been used to....and kept us (ahem...me) shopping at GTV. :happy:

I haven't really participated in Chat for a long time, so I won't miss it. If I do ever switch it on, I don't recognise any of the names and recently saw an unbelievably childish reaction to being gently told by Rocks to stick to jewellery talk. It's not really my cup of tea at all.
As for the Remove button, I agree it will make people think twice about buying and will lead to a higher return rate, but if that helps the company survive, so be it.
I do think it's a good idea to have the removal date against your basket items. This will make it easier to save on postage by clumping an order together and not lose an item because you've waited too long.

So.... possibly when John gets round to reading our posts there might be a consideration of:
A preview of what is coming up in the hour and more than a subliminal flash - which often happens
An exchange button or similar for the more desirable setting/item
Themed hours with a preview of what is going to be auctioned and presenters who do not change their minds
And sets and matching items - At the moment as an example we are seeing 3 strand bracelets - no one can tell me if this design will also feature in Lapis - I bought a single strand brclt in Multi Tiger Eye and yes deleted it when the 3 strand came up at better value and more desirable - had I known about the 3 strand in the first place I would have waited.

Brutal but necessary changes. All seem pretty fair. Time will tell how it affects the regulars.

Rocchic, did you get the pink tourmaline and HOW WAS IT? Was it all you hoped it would be hun?

I was just disappointed that Rocks didn't send us an email. The only reason I was looking for an announcement was Jainey Bennett telling everyone in chat we would all receive an email about some new changes. So it was just luck that I spotted it.

So what do we think of the changes

charmaineg said:

Brutal but necessary changes. All seem pretty fair. Time will tell how it affects the regulars.

Rocchic, did you get the pink tourmaline and HOW WAS IT? Was it all you hoped it would be hun?

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Right, first time I have tried replying and quoting so is it going to work lol - lack of techy skills. Hi Charmaigne - it is really lovely lovely pink tourmaline, really heavy 14k gold weight at over 4 grams and a great look ,a tad snug but even with a re size well worth the money - if I can find a rubelite in the mayhem tomorrow will be well pleased. So thank you

I am glad that these changes have been made. OK I wish the delete button was there but I used to buy from Rocks pre-Sky with no delete button when the agreement was that you took delivery if you put it in your basket and then returned it if you changed your mind. CS were always helpful for mistakes but Hey Ho....
Chat has been a bit of a lottery recently - Chit chat much better. maybe this will ge tit back on an even keel.

Hi all
I don't often comment on here any more or chat in Rocks chat anymore really, only on the odd occassion. Felt I had to make comment on this though. Changes to chat system, seem more than fair to me and I would be sad to see it go if Steve thought necessary, but with these changes I think it could lead to the chat system staying as its quite useful for information.

As to the remove button, well it wasn't there when rocks first started, but you had the ability to leave items in your basket and not check them out. I can certainly undertand the change from Steves point of view, however I think it will certainly put me off from buying if as said in the statement if people continually leave items to be removed will have their limits reduced. I must say this has definitely put me off buying anymore. I think it might be a long time before I buy from gems or rocks again. Having spent thousands with gems and rocks, to be penalised for not checking out a few items I feel is wrong.

Sorry to go on

Hi All,

Many Thanks for your feedback here. We do read and as always will take all of your comments on board.

Please feel free to email us with your thoughts.

Best Regards

Sarah