Not Just Precious Metals?!

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AndyW

Registered Shopper
Joined
May 24, 2017
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409
Oh dear. Very very sad to see Victoria N auction a Kaori pearl bangle set in nothing but stainless steel. Nice, but not Gems.?.
 
How the mighty have fallen! This is another step on the slippery slope - the blurdy candles they now flog are bad enough, as are the sunglasses and perfume (remember the days when they kept on about "only genuine gemstones set in precious metals"?? I do think they are struggling, and not helped by their having lost very nearly all the quality presenters. Can anyone out there remember the days of the dreadful "flower fairy" ornaments? This was some years ago, after Steve flogged the company to someone else, and just before he bought it back again. Watch out for the flower fairies - they could make a comeback......:mysmilie_17:

Oh dear. Very very sad to see Victoria N auction a Kaori pearl bangle set in nothing but stainless steel. Nice, but not Gems.?.
 
I went on their website yesterday to look for a new topaz ring. It is terrible to navigate and a right ole palaver trying to narrow down the choices. I narrowed the search down as much as I could, but I could not see a way of selecting what colour of gem I wanted in the topaz stone. Gave up. Maybe I am just not doing it right I don't know, but their website just frustrates me, and their videos are awful. I have also noticed that they don't show the ring 'live' very much, but mostly in the light box. That puts me off too as I wonder what they are hiding.
 
It is all about the light box view now, they don't show you many (if any) 'live' close ups on the hand of a presenter and they don't give a clear sight of the shank of a ring or the pendant bail, so that you cannot see how thick the setting/band is. They do flash up at the bottom of the screen the metal weight in which the gemstones are set, but it's all "blink and you'll miss it" type display. Re: selecting the colour you want, they used to have a pull down menu towards the top of the screen, where you could select the gemstone colour - but having said this, it's so long since I went on their website (which I agree is not user-friendly) that it could have changed.

I went on their website yesterday to look for a new topaz ring. It is terrible to navigate and a right ole palaver trying to narrow down the choices. I narrowed the search down as much as I could, but I could not see a way of selecting what colour of gem I wanted in the topaz stone. Gave up. Maybe I am just not doing it right I don't know, but their website just frustrates me, and their videos are awful. I have also noticed that they don't show the ring 'live' very much, but mostly in the light box. That puts me off too as I wonder what they are hiding.
 
It is all about the light box view now, they don't show you many (if any) 'live' close ups on the hand of a presenter and they don't give a clear sight of the shank of a ring or the pendant bail, so that you cannot see how thick the setting/band is. They do flash up at the bottom of the screen the metal weight in which the gemstones are set, but it's all "blink and you'll miss it" type display. Re: selecting the colour you want, they used to have a pull down menu towards the top of the screen, where you could select the gemstone colour - but having said this, it's so long since I went on their website (which I agree is not user-friendly) that it could have changed.

I cannot find a menu to select colour any longer Historymystery. It may be there but I could not find it. The old website used to be rubbish too - but it was better rubbish!
 
Lol! They keep on tinkering around with the website, especially as now they have hardly any channels to display! When you think of it, at one time they had Gems, the Diamond Channel, the USA one and Gem Collector (and I think there was one other one - the Lounge?) - now the USA and Diamond ones have closed down, and Gem Collector channel is a pale imitation of how it used to be, when it was on from 1pm to 8pm every day. And with the number of presenters who have left, they must be constantly altering the info. on the website. Now they've cut down the hours of Gem Collector channel, and on occasions, it's been on screen for only a couple of hours a day. I'm not at all surprised you can't find what you're looking for - I think this company are a shadow of their former selves and could go the way of Bid in the near future, unless Steve Bennett gets a grip.

I cannot find a menu to select colour any longer Historymystery. It may be there but I could not find it. The old website used to be rubbish too - but it was better rubbish!
 
I agree Steve needs to get a grip and look at the website asap. With the videos they are filmed so far away you need binoculars to see the item.
 
I agree on the website front. It really isn't the best, especially when they apparently won awards for being "e-tailer of the year" (or something similar). I have to say, Rocks&Co's site is one of the better ones. TJC has always been dire.

What's sad about Gems is that us customers from way back in the days of Scott, Rae, Lynn et al really really do know what we're talking about when we say things have ground to a halt or have gone downhill.

Just looking at Kate McCarthy's morganite show, all the designs are dull. You could buy the loose gem, a setting from Cookson Gold and do it yourself. You would also avoid paying for grey I3 diamonds ruining the piece. It's so noticeable that the bands on the gold rings tend to be cheese wire thickness too. Hardly anything over 2g in total (and that's an AVERAGE across the sizes).

I also hate the constant comparison with coloured diamonds sold at Sotheby's. Steve used to extol the virtues of coloured gems for themselves. Far, far too many shows now with coated or colour diffused topaz and quartz (leave that to TJC!).

The trouble is, once you've educated your audience, you can't go back and treat them like idiots.

Sigh. (Rant over! ��)
 
Agree with what you say, Andy. No innovation, wafer-thin gold and presenters who lack any charisma and convey precious little knowledge. I've just watched 5 minutes of Angeline presenting, and had to switch off, she is so giggly and childish - just get on with presenting jewellery, Angeline, and stop all the hysterics and "we've lost money on this hour" carp. NO business loses money every day and still stays in business, so stop treating the viewers as though they are thick - most of them know more than many of your presenters! I thought Angeline was bad when she was in the 'double act' with Sheridan, her presenter: now Sheridan appears to have vanished into the Bermuda Triangle that many people have disappeared into at Gems, but Angeline seems to be carrying on in the same way. I think they are suffering from competition - you've mentioned Cooksongold being just one of their competitors who are offering better deals, and there is 77 Diamonds and Diamond Heaven, offering good deals on higher-spec diamonds (and speaking as someone who has bought from Diamond Heaven in one of their sales, I was delighted with the specification of the stone I got and the thickness of 18K gold, it's a heavy weight and really looks like a quality ring and not a ring-pull top from a drinks can, and no p & p, also 10% discount card for future purchases). And don't get me started on the Gems' 'accent' stones: personal thing, I know, but I HATE white topaz accent stones or (as you've said) dirty-coloured diamonds. Just leave them out, they bring the piece down.

Another thing that bugs me about Gems is that they never send customers any discount vouchers - to be fair, I've had several vouchers from TJC, and have never bought a huge amount from them, and no purchases at all in the past 18 months. Gems should look after their past customers, pull their socks up regarding the dull, boring, flimsy jewellery they are selling and have a cull of current presenters.

I agree on the website front. It really isn't the best, especially when they apparently won awards for being "e-tailer of the year" (or something similar). I have to say, Rocks&Co's site is one of the better ones. TJC has always been dire.

What's sad about Gems is that us customers from way back in the days of Scott, Rae, Lynn et al really really do know what we're talking about when we say things have ground to a halt or have gone downhill.

Just looking at Kate McCarthy's morganite show, all the designs are dull. You could buy the loose gem, a setting from Cookson Gold and do it yourself. You would also avoid paying for grey I3 diamonds ruining the piece. It's so noticeable that the bands on the gold rings tend to be cheese wire thickness too. Hardly anything over 2g in total (and that's an AVERAGE across the sizes).

I also hate the constant comparison with coloured diamonds sold at Sotheby's. Steve used to extol the virtues of coloured gems for themselves. Far, far too many shows now with coated or colour diffused topaz and quartz (leave that to TJC!).

The trouble is, once you've educated your audience, you can't go back and treat them like idiots.

Sigh. (Rant over! ��)
 
I've just realised that I haven't seen Sheridan for ages either. Thank God for that. I hope she has left. She was well annoying!
 
I find Angeline even more annoying than Sheridan was. I think Sheridan has left, but who knows, people disappear regularly from the channel. I'm not sorry if she's gone, as she seemed unsure of her job description as a producer! The producer is not there to muscle in as a presenter, and the presenter should not keep calling out for the producer to co-present with him/her - it got to the point where it was ridiculous, they were like a double act of 'ham' actors.

QUOTE : Anna;898290]I've just realised that I haven't seen Sheridan for ages either. Thank God for that. I hope she has left. She was well annoying![/QUOTE]
 
I find Angeline even more annoying than Sheridan was. I think Sheridan has left, but who knows, people disappear regularly from the channel. I'm not sorry if she's gone, as she seemed unsure of her job description as a producer! The producer is not there to muscle in as a presenter, and the presenter should not keep calling out for the producer to co-present with him/her - it got to the point where it was ridiculous, they were like a double act of 'ham' actors.

QUOTE : Anna;898290]I've just realised that I haven't seen Sheridan for ages either. Thank God for that. I hope she has left. She was well annoying!
[/QUOTE]

I saw Sheridan bring her children out once onto the studio floor. I am sorry, but I am not interested in them, and don't get me started on the woolly hat!
 
:mysmilie_497: I also don't want to see their kids - or someone wearing a woolly hat indoors in the middle of summer, either, which I found rather bizarre. Why these presenters assume we are interested in their personal lives defeats me. To be fair to TJC and Rocks, there's far less emphasis on the presenters telling you things from their personal lives - and I've never seen anyone bring in their kids!


I saw Sheridan bring her children out once onto the studio floor. I am sorry, but I am not interested in them, and don't get me started on the woolly hat![/QUOTE]
 

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