New gem shopper now disillusioned

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genuineshopper

Registered Shopper
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
42
Hi everyone,

I just wanted to say a huge thanks to all of you for educating me on being wary of these shopping channels. I went a bit crazy when I first came across R&C but then when the items arrived many were a disappointment so I started researching and here I am. I feel foolish not to have researched before. You all know so much. I'm now hunting for natural gemstones I can get set myself, not this stuff. I have eyed up Gemstv and TJC but I'm warier now.

Anyway, some of the R&C pieces I bought I still love, whatever their grade and price, and I would have left it at that, slinking away after two or so happy months of trading to go and buy some real jewelry, BUT, I've just had my first unhappy run-in with R&C's customer service on a large purchase, and that's it basically, I felt obliged to join this group and say something. R&C's CS have been great in the past but this time was the total opposite. I've waited 40+ days for a £499 refund on an item sent back special delivery, where the whole order was messed up because of the new computer system going in - I was even sent a ring and not charged for it but I sent it back, honest customer that I am. Several phone calls and emails later it was still me doing the chasing. Finally I spoke to a supervisor. No apology or explanation, and I was talked to as if I was really irritating them and trying to cheat them out of £5.95 p+p. I'm currently owed over £1,500 more which I guess R&C will hold on to until the exact 30 days have expired (better not be more this time!). I believe the other channels refund in less than two weeks despite their terms and conditions.

Not happy. Not happy at all. Still can't believe I was so gullible at my advanced age to fall for the glitzy marketing of this channel.
Btw, yes I agree with lots of your previous comments: windows/some screaming banshee presenters/some dubious gemstone comments/John Scott: even I know more about gems now than you and if you really can't be bothered to sell until 2am then why accept the shift? Can't believe R&C's management are happy when you waffle on, obviously wishing you were somewhere else, and then walk off the set saying "I'm off" before the closing credits have even kicked in. And I've lost count of the number of times I've been told I'm "battling it out with two other customers" by Caroline Lyndsay when I'm actually speaking to the call centre and I KNOW no-one else is there....

But I would add: Ruth Linnett, Stacey Ellis, Victoria Burton, you are good presenters, very good. I work in the media. You can do better.

I was like a rabbit in the headlights with this channel and I'm a sucker for an auction, but now I feel so stupid.

Had my say and it's just my experience and my opinion so no flames please. My lesson learnt. Again, thanks to all of you, particularly the regulars on this forum, who are so informed.
 
Hi Genuineshopper and welcome to the forum!

I'm glad you've found us but not pleased to hear about your troubles with Rocks and Co. Unfortunately their CS is appaling so I'm not surprised to hear that you've had some battles with them.

No constructive advice I'm afraid other than if they've broken their T&Cs by not refunding within 30 days then perhaps it might be worth contacting Trading Standards?

Looking forward to your posts and hope you manage to get your money back.
 
...thanks Meeshoo. You are one of the leading lights I've been following for advice! I shall follow thesse threads in future even if I don't buy from R&C because they are informed and some are quite funny too!

Anyway, thanks for your support - much appreciated.

Out of interest, what's your view on R&C's sudden drop in "AAA" tanzanite prices and these enormous boulders theyr'e airing today?

Will they still be trading after Xmas!!!
 
I'm glad you're liking the forum - we try to have fun!

I believe that R&C have been "forced" to lower their Tanzanite prices to more normal prices because (a) they obviously weren't selling at over-inflated prices and (b) I wonder if they've been challenged on their ridiculous claims of buying Tanzanite in for £1,000 per carat? Whatever the reason, £300 per carat is what's typical/normal and anything above is just pure greed! If customers were doing their homework (or reading this forum) then I reckon most of their over-priced stuff has been sent back and TJC gained more business :)

I don't watch R&C very often as it gives me the worst blood pressure in the world and if I hear Tony Diniz once more say "I've picked this for this hour because in my opinion this is a museum piece and one of the largest we have" I'll scream! I haven't seen any big boulders today as we've been ice skating (far more fun than watching R&C although a bit more hazardous to health)!

Yesterday I saw some lovely big gems being sold at ridiculously high prices! There was a large green tourmaline that came from "the best source in the world" (yawn) and "was a museum piece" (double yawn) and "I bought it from a collector and said that if he didn't let me buy this piece from him then I wouldn't buy anything else from him" (oh purlease!) that sold for around £3k ish. Total and utter rip off! Yes it was a nice gem and, for once, nicely cut, but overpriced by about 50%!

What gemstones are you looking for GS? Maybe I can help point you in the right direction?
 
...yes, I recently "won" an 18K tanzanite and diamond ring for £379 and then a few days later their tanzanite prices crashed and they were offering much larger carat weight "AAA's" for not much more! Needless to say I sent the thing back and am awaiting a refund.

My worst moment of madness came the other day when I bought a paraiba tourmaline pendant for £1,399 while I was doing the ironing at 1.30 am or so. I would have kept it too but when it turned up in all its "neon" glory it was TINY and tinny looking and had about as much neon glow as a pond. It winged its way back the same day. I wondered why Ruth and Tenner looked like they'd won the lottery when the news came through their ear pieces that I'd bitten the bait.

Anyway, all entertaining stuff I suppose.

The tanzanite boulders really were HUGE - like 31carats +. They were so large they didn't look real. Certainly no-one would believe in them unless you wore them to Simon Cowell's 51st birthday party. One closed, unsold at £13,999. In Tony's "commercial opinion" it was the best in the world, so there!!

Well my gemstone tastes are the usual ones I suppose. I love Kunzite, morganite, tanzanite, amythest and neon paraiba tourmaline (blue more than green) and purple sapphires. My favourite cut is trillion - some advertise this as trilliant? What's the difference please? I love rings and pendants, though R&C's bracelets looked interesting at one point - their neon pink cloudy rubies: quite bizarre. Anyway, I've bought some gemstones from what I think are reputable sources and have been looking to get them set but the gold prices over here seem terribly inflated. I got a friend to set some in the US but the result wasn't quite as I expected, though they were much cheaper.

I guess you're in the real jewelry business. Any advice would be gratefully received.

Btw, your ice-skating, it wasn't in Hyde Park at this Winter Wonderland thing that opened recently was it? I was thinking of making a day of that soon. Thanks.
 
...yes, I recently "won" an 18K tanzanite and diamond ring for £379 and then a few days later their tanzanite prices crashed and they were offering much larger carat weight "AAA's" for not much more! Needless to say I sent the thing back and am awaiting a refund.

My worst moment of madness came the other day when I bought a paraiba tourmaline pendant for £1,399 while I was doing the ironing at 1.30 am or so. I would have kept it too but when it turned up in all its "neon" glory it was TINY and tinny looking and had about as much neon glow as a pond. It winged its way back the same day. I wondered why Ruth and Tenner looked like they'd won the lottery when the news came through their ear pieces that I'd bitten the bait.

Anyway, all entertaining stuff I suppose.

The tanzanite boulders really were HUGE - like 31carats +. They were so large they didn't look real. Certainly no-one would believe in them unless you wore them to Simon Cowell's 51st birthday party. One closed, unsold at £13,999. In Tony's "commercial opinion" it was the best in the world, so there!!

Well my gemstone tastes are the usual ones I suppose. I love Kunzite, morganite, tanzanite, amythest and neon paraiba tourmaline (blue more than green) and purple sapphires. My favourite cut is trillion - some advertise this as trilliant? What's the difference please? I love rings and pendants, though R&C's bracelets looked interesting at one point - their neon pink cloudy rubies: quite bizarre. Anyway, I've bought some gemstones from what I think are reputable sources and have been looking to get them set but the gold prices over here seem terribly inflated. I got a friend to set some in the US but the result wasn't quite as I expected, though they were much cheaper.

I guess you're in the real jewelry business. Any advice would be gratefully received.

Btw, your ice-skating, it wasn't in Hyde Park at this Winter Wonderland thing that opened recently was it? I was thinking of making a day of that soon. Thanks.

Bless him! It's amazing how he sources all of these "best in the world" gemstones and then chooses to sell them on the telly!!!!

No the ice-skating wasn't in Hyde Park but it was fun. Well worth going if you can risk the odd broken bone!

In terms of loose gemstones, have a look for lapidarists in the US. There are some remarkable ones and they will cut a gemstone from the rough for you without obligation.

Trillion/trilliant - just depends on who's advertising. They're the same thing.

For settings, if you buy loose gemstones that are calibrated you can buy semi-mounts from Ebay and upgrade the diamonds. Setting them at a jewellers in the UK shouldn't cost more than about £20 and I think Outwork in Birmingham have set some of our forum members loose stones for less than that. You can of course go custom made with settings but this does take experience to make sure you end up with what you thought you were going to!

As a rule of thumb if you buy a setting already made, the tolerance when setting a non calibrated gemstone for prong set is less than .5mm (with some cuts it can go to 1mm but you need to be uber careful going above .5mm) and with bezel set the tolerance is much less at around .1mm to .2mm.

Also, look at Heart of Water on Etsy. Sally is an American who lives in Thailand and makes settings to your design or she has some great settings at brilliant prices. Everything is hand made and she's a darling. You simply send your stone to her and then get it back all made a few weeks later. She's made a number of items for me.

For really expensive gemstones (where you want something very special), look for a jewellers who use CAD. That way they can replicate your ideas into a 3D CAD drawing and then it can be adjusted if you don't like X Y or Z. Once you've agreed the CAD it laser cuts a mould so it will look exactly like the drawing (albeit slightly less chunky). CADs like mirrors(!) tend to put on a bit of weight and you need to allow for that when looking at it.

If you're a full member on here go into The Drop forum and look at the Bling section and I think if you search you'll see some CADs to final rings that I've had made (I think they're in there anyway)!

Hope that helps.
 
Welcome Genuineshopper, glad you've found the forum. Always ask, because you'll get loads of helpful advice.
 
Welcome.......

.

Well my gemstone tastes are the usual ones I suppose. I love Kunzite, morganite, tanzanite, amythest and neon paraiba tourmaline (blue more than green) and purple sapphires. My favourite cut is trillion - some advertise this as trilliant? What's the difference please? I love rings and pendants, though R&C's bracelets looked interesting at one point - their neon pink cloudy rubies: quite bizarre. Anyway, I've bought some gemstones from what I think are reputable sources and have been looking to get them set but the gold prices over here seem terribly inflated. I got a friend to set some in the US but the result wasn't quite as I expected, though they were much cheaper.

I guess you're in the real jewelry business. Any advice would be gratefully received.
Hi Genuineshopper and a warm welcome from me and thank you for your very interesting first posts. Look forward to hearing more of your experiences with the jewellery channels and hope they will be happier ones. Though I am very sorry to hear of your recent dire experiences with R&C customer services and do hope they expedite your outstanding refunds asap.

Trillion and trilliant...interesting question as to what is the difference as we frequently hear both terms being used. I had always understood that the Trilliant cut was developed specifically for the Tanzanite stone.....but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong! The link above is worth having a squizz at as it has pictures of pretty gemstones cut in this shape.

The trillion cut was developed in Amsterdam by the Asscher brothers as referred to in the first link, but this second link gives more info about the facets in this cut...particularly with regard to diamonds. HTH a little bit.

 
Sacha you're right as ever but unfortunately the two are used interchangeably irrespective of facets.
 
Sacha you're right as ever but unfortunately the two are used interchangeably irrespective of facets.
Yes of course, I always put it down to personal preference on the part of the presenter....
just like Platinum and Platnum....(particularly on TJC)......but that one does bug me a little!
:mysmilie_738.gif:
 
Welcome to the Forum, Genuineshopper!

I agree with the criticisms of Rocks & Co (especially the hype!) but, unlike some, I haven't abandoned them altogether and I do still buy from them from time to time. (But t hanks for the warning about CS; I'll be extra-vigilant about refunds on returns.) They do have some lovely designs and beautiful gems rarely seen elsewhere, and their prices on the whole have dropped a bit from the ridiculously overinflated levels of late (though unfortunately not back what they were when they first started, when they were selling at a loss and I bought loads!)

I guess I am always going to have a certain loyalty to Rocks & Co, since my favourite (though by no means the most expensive) piece of jewellery in my entire collection - a faceted rainbow moonstone flower bracelet - came from them. (They haven't had rainbow moonstone for a while, but Tony Diniz told me in an e-mail that he has recently bought some; if it's like the previous batch, it is absolutely TO DIE FOR.)

I guess what I'm saying is that you just have to be selective, and not be taken in by the overblown hype (and, I'm sorry to say, this channel does seem to be the very worst in that direction). Watching with the sound off might be a good move!
 
Hi Genuineshopper and a very warm welcome from me too.

Sorry to hear of your problems with Rocks & Co and I hope you get all your refunds very soon. You'll know if you've read any of my posts that I'm not their biggest fan!

Look forward to reading more of your posts in the future.
 
...many thanks all for your replies. There's some great information here and it's set me off roaming the Internet again. I love looking for jewels! I shall explore all the suggestions.

I take your point too Miss Magpie. The items I've kept from R&C I love. A couple don't seem to have quite the same bling as they did on the screen but they are still very nice and I was happy to keep them. I bought a particularly lovely Kunzite ring a while ago, and a trillion cut Kunzite pendant the other day, and a yellow Amazon quartz pendant which reminded me of summer and is so chunky I want to bite it.

See:

http://www.rocksandco.co.uk/index.php?task=historicSearch

and

http://www.rocksandco.co.uk/index.php?task=historicSearch

I looked up your rainbow moonstone Miss Magpie and it looks intriguing. Not really comparable but it put me in mind of a moonlight topaz I saw on GemsTV at:

http://www.gemstv.co.uk/Shop/productDataSheet.jsp?productid=UET8178&menuselection=3&colourScheme=9

I like topaz. I prefer the deep pink of the flamingo topaz to the pink tourmaline. I also like Cherryade - can you still buy that?!
 
Genuineshopper, the links to the Rocks & Co items haven't come up properly. Can you post the item numbers please?
 
...sorry. The R&C item codes are 352152, 834288 and Gemstv is UWZ6615. The GemsTV one is up on an online auction tomorrow. Mine arrived this morning but I take back what I said about it being vaguely comparable to a rainbow moonstone. It has a petrol knd of gleam and looks suspiciously Christmas cracker-ish to me so it's going back.

The R&C Kunzite ring I mentioned earlier is 507777. The stone is rather huge on my finger but I fell in love with the deep colour. I also bought a lovely trillion cut Swiss blue topaz pendant which reminds me of a little handbag - see 828952.

Ah, rocks I have bought!

That Ametrine ring last night did look lovely. Am starting to pine. R&C 278003. 7.14ct of purple/yellow sparkle. Oh dear I can feel myself falling in love again....
 
Your Kunzite pieces are lovely Genuineshopper, especially the pendant. From all the other very pretty pieces I can see you are into the larger gemstones. :)

Have you seen the Patroke Kunzite that was sold latterly on R&C and on GemsTV......some while ago? Lovely deep shades of pink imho. Though I believe they need the same amount of care as regards temperature changes and strong sunlight.

Thanks to Miss M for the above links, I tried mine but they were obviously out of date and non-functional! :rolleyes:
 
I bought Patroke kunzite from both Gems and Rocks & Co (though it was VERY expensive). The Gems PK seemed a good bit darker than most of the Rocks & Co examples; they did have a few very dark pieces, but they were the exception.

My PK pendnat from R&Co was not as deep in colour as I hoped, but I kept it anyway because I fell in love with the design - apparently, this was a handmade one-of-a-kind piece:

http://www.rocksandco.com/index.php?task=jewelleryItemDisplay&action=display&sku=014 547
 
...ooohhh I love your PK MissMagpie! I have a loose PK I want to get set. It's 10.62cts. I'll try and post a pic as an attachment. I've also got a Kunzite (not PK) of a storming 42.90cts!!!! Again I'll try and post a pic here.

I just gave in on the Ametrine ring. I looked elssewhere and saw the prices were peanuts for 3cts (£45 etc) compared to RC's 7ct £279!! But I rang the R&C call centre ad they quoted me a new price of £181.37 for the same ring as last night. They said it was a web price and this sometimes happens!! Meanwhile I'd emailed the Studio at R&C and asked when they'd be having any more Ametrine rings like this one and they replied that I could have this one if I wanted, guess what, for £279!

So call the call centre the day after auctions close and see if you can get a better deal!
 

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