One item only in baskets - coming your way

This is in fact a post I put on the Jewellery Maker board, but we are told it will be happening to Gems also so, as the company hasn't seen fit to warn us (other than about one minute from Fiona on the live broadcast), I thought I'd let you know in case they treat you with such discern as well.

I don't know if anyone will see this, as the board appears to be dead, but I'm posting on the off chance.

If anyone doesn't know yet, we are now allowed only one item in our baskets at any one time so you have to check out as you go. As a multiple buyer this is too much hassle for me I'm afraid. I think this site has now become the most user unfriendly one on the web that I have come across. I hate sending money out of the country but I'm left with no choice if I want service with a smile and a chance to think for a minute or two. I'll not be pressured in this way.

The excuse of telephoning buyers missing out and then webbers dropping items isn't good enough. That's life and can happen even in shops and anywhere else - items sell out and then get returned, get put back on shelves from baskets, get put back in the wrong place, etc.

WARNING GEMS SHOPPERS: If it hasn't already, it's coming your way too, and without notice if they treat you in the same way they did us. I suspect this will be a lesser problem for you however as, generally speaking, the items are more costly. It is however madness for JM where prices start at just a couple of quid, and I suspect most people make multiple purchases in any event because of the nature of the products.

Ironic they do this so soon after another channel, cough tjc cough, have vastly improved their basket arrangements for webbers which is hugely useful on the auctions pages, where you can buy made up beads at such reasonable prices they are worth buying to disassemble, and reduced p&p (£2.95) for a single item. This makes you much less inclined to drop items when you only have the one inexpensive piece, which I suspect is a major part of the rejects problem for JM - who wants to pay £4.95 on a basket under £10?

Don't think my old mates Sainsburys, Wiltshire Farm and Rymans would survive long if they were to trade in such a fashion.

How long before customer service completely crumbles under the strain of cancellations where folk have changed their minds? It's not fabulous now - I suspect answered only in preference to buyers on the line.

For a company that likes to keep congratulating itself on its "family run business", friendliness, etc. they ain't doin' a very good job. xxxxxx

PS - I hope I can be forgiven for posting this on Gems as well, but I don't think they know this is coming. Possibly JM customers are being used as guinea pigs?

Forgive me for my ignorance but does it mean, for example, when we buy Milano charms (or a chain with a pendant, in two separate auctions), we'll have to check out one at a time? What happens to our P&P? Or will it take you to another window where you can aggregate all your purchases after you've paid for them?

You will be able to "combine your order" when you add a second item. The problem i've got is if I want to buy 2 strands of pearls, say for a commission piece, I buy one, then have to go back and faff about putting all the details in again for the 2nd strand it could quite possible have sold out. So then I've got 1 strand of pearls which is no good! I think this is absolutely ridiculous. Can you imagine at Tesco, having to put 6 tins of beans in individually and check them all out idividually? Madness

Thanks for the heads-up, Argey. I like to put items in my basket during the auction and hope the price drops to an affordable amount, of course doing it this way often means I have an item I will not check out as it hasn't dropped low enough. I'd remove it from my basket immediately after the auction if I could, but this function isn't available. I really wish the items were available to buy without a falling auction system but the set priced pieces are always so much more expensive. As I've only just returned to Gems TV, I hoped I'd get a few bargains, guess that's not going to happen now.

Sounds like a really irritating process. It will put a lot of people off Argey and thank you for the heads up.

Inge xx

I assume they're going to allow us to immediately drop an item from our baskets if we change our minds? Right now I don't believe there's that option and you have to wait till they expire. If we still have to wait, that will make them lost a lot of business.

I'm not sure how things stand with Gems now as I haven't watched for a long time. However JM baskets are now normal for daytime and the one item only baskets are applying just to the evening show, which is made up of a lot of clearance so I'll accept it as a reasonable compromise. I suspect, given that Gems day and evening programmes are of a similar nature, this basket change will not now come your way, but of course I can't swear to it. Likely they will have learned from the JM fiasco - it was a total nightmare since the technology was dodgy for a lot of us - and even if they do follow suit, you will hopefully at least get a warning and functioning technology. xxxxxxx

Steve was on last night and was saying that in about 2 weeks they are introducing a policy of having to check out items immediately if you don't want to lose them, things in your basket are not "your's" till you pay for them and could be taken out, this must be due to their over selling, with things going quickly on the web, telephone bidders are missing out and as they have to pay immediately he thinks it only fair that web buyers should do the same.
Don't know if this will apply to every auction or just to small amount/popular items, at the time he was selling Glen Lehrer jewellery, which just fly's off the shelf.

I heard Steve saying this also. So, let's look at it logically ........... if you phone up, you get a piece allocated and your card details are taken then and there. If you put an item into your basket you can't check it out UNTIL the piece has dropped to it's final price (otherwise an authorisation is taken for the highest amount). Basically, that means that you will lose out to phone buyers all the time.

I tried to buy several Glenn Lehrer pieces in exactly this way the other day and even though I had secured the item, when it got to the final price and I immediately went to check out my basket, the allocation had gone and had been over-sold.

I REALLY understand why GemsTV want to do this. I do. However, can't a window of say, 30 minutes be given? Or even 15? If somebody has missed out if they know they can call back in 15-30 minutes and there'll be an allocation I'm sure most people will do that. I know I would if it was something I was committed to buying. If they can't be bothered then you know they'll probably not go through with the purchase in any event.

Well, I like to build up a big basket and check it out all at once, saving my p&p. I'm fussy about what I buy, so quite a lot goes back. The Bennetts do offer incredible value for money. However, this means the quality is often not up to what I want from my jewellery, hence it goes back to Gems.

What I don't want is a visit from Mr DPD several times a week, plus the prices at the weekend are noticeably higher, so unless I can consolidate my purchases I doubt I'll be a regular customer.

Miss Kitty said:

Well, I like to build up a big basket and check it out all at once, saving my p&p. I'm fussy about what I buy, so quite a lot goes back. The Bennetts do offer incredible value for money. However, this means the quality is often not up to what I want from my jewellery, hence it goes back to Gems.

What I don't want is a visit from Mr DPD several times a week, plus the prices at the weekend are noticeably higher, so unless I can consolidate my purchases I doubt I'll be a regular customer.

Click to expand...

Are they? That's never occurred to me, food for thought! :cheeky:

I too heard Steve mention that he's expecting a lot of flak for this decision, certainly not going to be popular amongst the 'webbers'. I hate being rushed into a decision and consequently, if I have the pooter on, want to consider whether to pop something in my basket. Very seldom have I ever phoned in and even then it was a bit of a hassle to get through! Not a pleasant experience.

I do think Meesh's idea of a 15/30 min deadline is a sensible compromise in which to get CCs to hand and to make a final decision on a piece.

I do think Mr B forgets there is quite an age gap in his customers and not all are able to dash to the phone....what if someone else is using it.....and also grab their payment cards and watch a presentation and make a decision to buy and phone through quick enough, especially when pieces are flying out as they did last night! Less mobile and active customers are definitely biased against in these circumstances.........and I for one don't think that's right.

Well, I've frequently noticed the things I've bought have been cheaper in the week following than they were at the weekend. Now, whether this is true or just my imagination not noticing the reverse is open to debate.

Anyone else care to comment? I could well be wrong. :hi:

I'm like you Miss Kitty, I like to build up a big basket over five days so that Mr DPD only has to come once. However, I've been so disillusioned recently with the vast majority of presenters and the general screechy, manic presenting styles, heartbeat music etc., that I haven't watched or bought anything for several months, which is unheard of for me.
I'm confused after reading above posts - have they now stopped web buying completely, or is an item automatically nicked from your basket if a phone buyer wants it? Sorry, I know I'm being a bit dense, but could someone please explain?

Apologies for a bit of a ramlble....

It is all a bit confusing and I hope that Gems take the time to explain to customers this major change, instead of ad hoc comments now and again!

The current website is quite frankly a bit of a white elephant, it seems to be there just as a display case rather than a realistic sales medium. In the past the falling web auctions had the same prices as the TV auctions, plus £1 for a pre-bid or a bit more for a prior 'buy now' purchase. And then there was a huge separate clearance section with excellent fixed prices.......I think we all used to enjoy browsing and buying at our leisure, confident that we weren't paying over the odds compared to TV auctions.

Now, even though some items have been reduced, very many are way way more than they have been auctioned for....I know that from my own experience. And then very irritatingly, pieces up for live auction are either removed from the website or marked as unavailable!! So if you want to see the full and complete details on a piece, you can't! Even worse when it remains unsold on the website for an hour and there's no link to the details....bizarre! :wonder:

Now here's a thought....:confused2:....why not just make the prices on the website the same as the TV auctions, which are pretty much fixed beforehand anyway, and make them available to buy at the same time as live auctions are on. Just a matter of allocating numbers. And re-instate the feature of being able to edit our baskets. I got the impression Steve was a bit miffed that many web buyers (he said) of Lehrer items from two weeks earlier had not checked out their items and left them to lapse after 5 days, hence last Saturday's auction. But Gems have to accept the responsibility for this, taking away flexibility of baskets and introducing the five fixed days.

And lastly, why deliberately alienate webbers when in huge auctions, phone lines are busy and presenters request folks to buy from the web instead of several minutes wait on the phone! Buying jewellery should be enjoyable, not a hassle.

Phew! :emo:

Very disappointing to see this, so it seems you're going to be even worse off than JM buyers who have an hour to decide (though who knows, maybe they're planning to stop this as well). Pressure selling however you look at it. Once more the company seems to have forgotten its original supporters. I'm seriously beginning to think I've had my fill of the company in whatever form, and give my custom to those that appreciate it and don't only see me as a nuisance. I'm fed up with Steve throwing his toys out of the pram every time things don't go exactly his way. This is not some sort of ring the bell to access, and we only want you if you're rich and/or famous, type of Bond Street jeweller - oh hang on two out of three! xxxxx

I completely agree with the flexibility of baskets. I have (she confesses) on more than one occasion put something into my basket and then seen something in the same show later that I have liked better so that goes in also. When we had flexibility I would always play fair and delete the unwanted item and on occasion, with expensive items, I've even phoned GemsTV to say "please delete from my basket so others can benefit" but that was stopped and I was told they couldn't do it. SOOOOOOOO, things just get added and then lapse.

A solution is surely - (a) flexibility to delete from baskets (b) timed baskets where the piece is yours for X hours and then automatically deleted. That means that you have time to scramble for the credit card or phone up or do whatever you need to do without panicking!

oh well ! this would be the kiss of death to me buying - i echo the comments of many - i like to maximise my p&p, so put things in my basket and build up a truck full.......i havent heard anything at all about the one item basket total stupidity - but then I "watch" on my pc with no volume as i cant stand the yelling, the complete twaddle that is spouted etc etc etc etc.....and finally - lets kick the people who started supporting the business first, have been there for years, spent a fortune ...have more in their purses but are treated with contempt.......................how does it go - dont kick those on your way up that you may one day meet on your way down again!

as an additional comment - as us dastardly webbers are the offenders.....would it be polite to inform us via email before making such a fundamental change to the way we are able to buy ............................again, unless we dont matter any more which seems to be the reality of the situation. So anyone got any recommendations as to where I can redirect my hard earned funds and be appreciated as a customer, getting myself pretty things at the same time????