Strange incident at the jewellers...

With gold prices at a real high at the moment I took a selection of scrap gold jewellery to my local jewellers to sell. Amongst my items was a gold band ring I'd purchased from QVC ages ago...the reason I was scrapping it was there was a diamond missing (it had tiny swiss set diamonds inserted into the band), it had happened well past the return day. Anyway, the jewellers didn't want it! They tested it and said 'Whatever it is, it isn't gold'. They had tested all my pieces and they were all fine and accepted, except for this one ring which was the only QVC item out of the lot. Interesting, don't you think?

Very strange Huggles, are you going to contact them?

I don't know what to do, MOMAD. Do you think I should?

did they give you a reason? did you ask why?

If it happened to me I would have been straight on the blower giving them what for.

watersiren said:

did they give you a reason? did you ask why?

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They had taken my jewellery into the back to test so I didn't see what they did to see what type of metal my jewellery was (it turns out it was all 18ct gold), this one ring 'bubbled straight away' the jeweller said, and that wouldn't happen if it were gold. When she said it 'bubbled up' I guess they use some sort of conductivity test with water and electrodes?

Can you find the item number? I wonder if it was a Veronese piece.

Maybe it was veronese ...because i had scrapped quite a few pieces from qvc and got good price on that.

That does not sound good!

I sold some scrap gold at the beginning of the year. I did send it away and most of it was half price jewellers and some QVC earrings. I had no problems and got a really good deal.

Very interesting Huggles! Was the QVC ring 9ct gold then?? I'll bet they pounced on your 18ct gold and couldn't believe their luck!! And when they saw the QVC ring, tossed it out of your stash like a bad cherry.

If your QVC ring is marked as 9ct gold, then it is very interesting indeed for it to be rejected, since so many people in the UK own 9ct gold and surely these 'we'll buy your scrap gold' places must be aimed at 9ct gold owners!! If 9ct gold can legally be called gold in the UK, then surely these places have to accept that it is gold??!!

I've found the receipt! Item number: 665992 Description: 9ct Diamond Accent Band Ring Size 0, £52.16
Purchase 03/05/2007

I'll e-mail QVC with the details and wait to see what they do. I'll let you know. It's definitely not Veronese, way too light.

The other thing I was thinking Huggles was that you said this was your 'local jewellers': this implies to me that it wasn't one of these 'we'll buy your scrap gold' places. If your QVC ring is hallmarked 9ct gold, then just take it to such a place in a bigger town or send it away to one of these places - preferably along with any other 9ct scrap you can get your hands on so you have enough weight and get some decent return on your money.

I don't think your issue will be with QVC on this somehow: if your ring is hallmarked 9ct gold, then I'm sure it will be 9ct gold. I think the issue is more about what your 'local jeweller' is wanting to buy off you.

Please let us know how things go!

The other thing I was thinking Huggles was that you said this was your 'local jewellers': this implies to me that it wasn't one of these 'we'll buy your scrap gold' places. If your QVC ring is hallmarked 9ct gold, then just take it to such a place in a bigger town or send it away to one of these places - preferably along with any other 9ct scrap you can get your hands on so you have enough weight and get some decent return on your money.

strange incident at the jewellers...

You can get the current prices of scrap gold on line at House of Williams.
I have used them a lot, they took all my 9ct gold, as well as the diamonique pieces. they offered to return the stones but I told them to bin them.

They test for gold purity with an acid. Base metals bubble, the purer the gold, the less the reaction.

I bought a pair of earrings from QVC ages ago, about 1996. They were from a range that they pushed a lot back then called Spanish Gold. I have not worn them all that often as they are uncomfortable after a whole evening. They have one of those pierce fastenings whereby the post goes through the ear and the clip is spring loaded and comes above the post and rests on the ear. Anyway, I went to wear them and they shattered in my ears. The pressure of the spring pushing against my ear obviously built up over time and metal fatigue set in. The springs were fine, it was the earring fronts that shattered.

I wrote to QVC, obviously I knew they were no longer under guarantee but I felt that they should be made aware as the earrings had only been worn a handful of times, despite when I purchased them. I got a letter back saying they are out of warranty. I wrote again, said I knew that but as they flog these "artisan" pieces as heirlooms of the future, they should take a bit more notice of my complaint. They just ignored that letter. It is obvious that the alloy in the 9ct gold mix is brittle and poor quality. I still have all the little fragments ina bag in my safe, don't know why, just for pure amusement. These bits of rubbish cost me about £90 in 1996. So, no more QVC gold for me from any of their ranges, heirlooms my backside!

It will be interesting to see if they take your complaint more seriously, do let us know.

Inge

I would get a second opinion at another jewellers.

I took some jewellery to sell (non qvc) and they guy "tested it" and he told me it wasn't geniune and didn't want it.I then pulled out a certificate which I hadn't admitted to having so far - and he in turn admitted that he'd only bought his tester thing that morning and mine was the second item he had got wrong that morning and admitted he'd been conned and his tester thingy obviously didn't work!! I sold my ring him at a nice healthy price!

Maybe I'm niaeve - but I'm not sure qvc would be able to sell something it wasn't - and wouldn't do it.I would just try to get a second opinion - although I'm intrigued to see what they say!

Does your ring have a UK hallmark Huggles? If so, it certainly should be gold.

Huggles said:

I've found the receipt! Item number: 665992 Description: 9ct Diamond Accent Band Ring Size 0, £52.16
Purchase 03/05/2007

I'll e-mail QVC with the details and wait to see what they do. I'll let you know. It's definitely not Veronese, way too light.

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I've just noticed its 2007 - I would definitely want qvc to do something about it - i mean 2007 isn't old for gold is it?

I thought the UK assay(sp) office hallmarked all gold, which they also tested before doing so. Is this not a legal requirement for gold?