Is anybody buying?

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Sammi

Westcountry wench!
Joined
Jun 24, 2008
Messages
939
Location
In cream tea country of North Devon
Good morning, everyone. Returning gemaholic here!
I had to give up buying jewellery due to a change in circumstances but recently started again. Is anybody buying much from Gemporia these days? I bought a chrome diopside solitaire in silver from them last week and it knocked the socks off the diopside ring I also bought from TJC, to compare.
 
I have bought 2 rings lately which are very nice but I do not buy as often as I used to. I bought a 1ct diamond ring a couple of years ago and the diamonds are terrible. They are very grey and cloudy. This has put me off buying diamonds from them. It also anoys me that they say the prices are so low when in fact they are not. Even in their "sale" the prices don't appear to be any lower than they have been before.
 
QVC use really low grade diamonds and chips, so will never give the clarity of their diamonds and to be honest no reputable jeweller will touch QVC jewellery with a barge pole anyway. I agree with what you say, that Lori (gets on my) Wickmire (?) the QVC diamond "expert" with the Texas drawl annoys me how she can sit there and blatantly lie about quality and prices, never mind though if she doesn't value her own credibility and respect, who are we to argue. I was a jewellery snob for years till I realised second hand diamonds and gold is were the best value is, a jeweller will always tell you what you're buying.
 
Havent purchased anything from gemporia for well over a year for a whole variety of reasons. I have never purchased from qvc i dont think they will post outside of the uk anyway. I think its best to buy diamonds only if you know what your buying otherwise it seems to be a large minefield. think its difficult to make comparisons between selly telly channels unless all carat weight and gram metal weight and design is exactly the same.
 
Actually I have bought from them. Well I say bought I mean 'bought on approval'!
But I wonder if there has been a change in their use of Feefo.
It seemed to me that the Feefo request came quite soon after the items had been dispatched and so received allowing me to make detailed feedback on the items received - good or bad.
But here's my recent experience.....
The period of time between receiving the items and receiving the Feefo request has extended it seems. To the extent that if I received four items and returned two within a couple of days that return could be recorded before the Feefo request was sent/received. Consequently the Feefo request is for the two items kept rather than the four items ordered and originally dispatched. So my Feefo score its likely to be positive as I have decided to keep those items and the otherwise Poor or Bad items do not get reviewed. Its as though there is a deliberate attempt to manipulate the Feefo scores.
I have had some particular instances with the gemstone/minerals which Dave Troth has been fronting lately with samples received not being representative of the the on screen sample in the case of the Ruby-Zoisite. On that subject during the presentation some emphasis was placed on the Ruby Ziosite which was sold in Bonhams for some very impressive amount of money and an image of it was shown. What I didn't realise from the presentation was that this piece was actually 228,000 carats and a weight of over 100lbs so it should be expensive!!! Check it out for yourself https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21649/lot/1198/ I think that the photograph shown on the Bonhams listing doesn't give a sense of scale of the piece and could easy be assumed to be much smaller, almost a small as the items on sale at Gemporia. Or did I miss them saying how massive a rock it was?
 
My advice is to buy with your eyes open. There is no doubt that since the shocking failure of the second attempt to sell directly to the US, the general quality of jewellery has gone down. A few pointers:

1. Diamonds: don't buy - even when used as accents. They used to certify their diamond pieces through the London-based lab SGL. They stopped. 99% of what they sell are very included white/grey diamonds. I bought a pair of gold earrings about 4 years ago and was so shocked that I vowed never again - and I've stuck to that.

2. Metals: The general metal weight has dropped considerably. Their gold pieces were always touch & go but it's now questionable in their silver too. A ring really shouldn't be less than 2g of metal in total: it won't last. They've started sourcing from China too and it shows. Steve stopped producing their Tookalon range (too expensive) and replaced it with the Aryonna range which is ok but you can get this type all over the internet - sometimes cheaper.

3. Gemstones: there's less variety now and hardly any new quality ranges. Gone are the days of Anahi Ametrine or Zambian Amethyst. It's all jaspers, re-constituted turquoise or assembled/film coated. Ignore 'rare'. If there's a new range coming, search the web first to give you an idea of how 'rare' and a common price point.

4. Read the feefo 'Bad' and 'Poor' reviews. Yes, they are proportionately few in number and some are just grumpy but they give you an idea of what could go wrong. You'll find the most common complaints are about metal weight, diamond quality, chipped/cracked stones or poor finishing.

5. TV auctions: there is no doubt (in my mind) that they have altered their camera work. Ok, they may not use sparkle or colour filters but the camera angles are now heavily choreographed and they use the lightbox instead of showing the item in the studio far too often now. Watch with a PC, tablet or smartphone with you and check the details online, particularly the metal weight, gem size and dimensions of things like pendants - even if you have a ruler by you too so you know what, for example, a pendant drop of 9mm looks like! One of the growing complaints recently has been about the item received not being representative of the studio sample.

So just be more savvy than perhaps you might have needed to be a few years ago. And always buy for pleasure - never because of the TV presentation hype. I still stand by jewellery from Gems from about 3-5 years ago and - rarely now - I still buy but it's usually 'old stock', never from a live auction and when there's an appropriate discount code.

Hope that helps!
 
Not a fan of diamonds, boring. No really. I love colour.

Totally agree with AndyW, the metal weight is a joke now.

All the rings I own are 1.94grams the lowest and that was the early 00s, others 2.5 up one even 4 plus when gold was much cheaper. All my rings are 9ct gold.

I dug out my little cards a short while ago and had a nose. Pezzottaite is one ring I bought and it is a stone no one seems to mention now. Just a simple half carat in 2.5 grams of gold.
 
Andy and Bristol, well written and informed pieces and totally agree with your comments. Many of you will know that i cannot watch gems on the tv for years now and i cannot nor will i watch on my computer, particularly as the new format on my laptop is awful, the screen is so enlarged it gives me a headache, who the hell gets paid to do their website, its almost as bad as an egyptian website and they are pretty dire.
 
Having just seen Dave Troth working hard to shift product I am more convinced that he is the Chief of Deception as well as everything else on his Job Description.
The rarest mineral in the world Astrophyllite Druzy according to Dave, well perhaps its not that abundantly available but https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=Astrophyllite+Druzy&_sop=16 or if you prefer Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=Astrophyllite+Druzy at a fraction of the Gemporia price.
Or perhaps 65.50 carats of Burmese Jadite Jade which was never shown being worn by the presenter could still have been a bargain but no mention of the fact that the beads were 4mm rounds. All of the above in just one afternoon.
I think that the advice is always expect to be able to buy, especially 'new' and rarest, gems and minerals at better prices despite what Dave says. Of course Gemporia has a straightforward returns process if you prefer 'no risk shopping' and are prepared to pay for the privileged of actually viewing the piece. One thing that Rocks were/are good at is that if you return/reject their pieces in the 14 day period that they allow they always without asking but as a matter of course refund the original shipping and handling charge.
 
Afraid Gems have priced themselves out of my range, items that used to start at £19.99 now start at £29.99. I like matching earrings, pendant & ring. I only buy in silver but three pieces were costing around £100+ & as many have commented the silver weight has gone down.

Good thing is I bought lots of Jewellery from Rocks/Gems when prices were a lot lower & there were different/unusual designs.
 
Havent purchased anything from gemporia for well over a year for a whole variety of reasons. I have never purchased from qvc i dont think they will post outside of the uk anyway. I think its best to buy diamonds only if you know what your buying otherwise it seems to be a large minefield. think its difficult to make comparisons between selly telly channels unless all carat weight and gram metal weight and design is exactly the same.

Yea same thought, It's been ages since I bought or made any purchase from gemporia.
 
Yea same thought, It's been ages since I bought or made any purchase from gemporia.

Hello Chinmoypborah, and welcome to the forum. I haven't been buying, every time I switch on all I ever see is Dave blooming Troth waffling on, or a clip of a mine or something else, then eventually a presenter who talks for so long, I have lost the will to live, and have to save myself by turning over. I have had some really nice things from them in the past, but it seems to me like they don't want to sell anything, but would rather prattle on instead of selling. And don't get me started on the light box!
 
The other day flicking up and down the shopping channels caught them selling a rare size and fantastic colour Kunzite(the female's presenter's words), she rare how much it cost per carat for the size and colour.

I thought, oh that looks like silver? Then the details came up and yes it was set in silver with white topaz. Yes, the colour is so fantastic and costs so much per carat, of course, you set it in silver with white topaz!

I did use to buy way back and great deals fantastic gemstones all in gold.
 
They were showcasing a gem a few days ago, cannot remember what it was, and they had made a mistake with setting them in silver. David Troth said they should have been set in gold and was texting his sister live on air to tell her about this 'mistake' :mysmilie_19:
 
Just been listening to Chloe on the Outlet who was doing "clearance / last of stock" prices. "Never been this low before ... never been at this price before ... will never be at this price again .. trust me". Yet a pair of Czarite earrings she was flogging at the most "ridiculous price" at the bargain price of £299, previously sold at £229. How can they blatantly try to mislead customers like this? This was not the only item overpriced in this particular hour - there were several other pieces being sold well above the previous prices in the "sale".
 
Just been listening to Chloe on the Outlet who was doing "clearance / last of stock" prices. "Never been this low before ... never been at this price before ... will never be at this price again .. trust me". Yet a pair of Czarite earrings she was flogging at the most "ridiculous price" at the bargain price of £299, previously sold at £229. How can they blatantly try to mislead customers like this? This was not the only item overpriced in this particular hour - there were several other pieces being sold well above the previous prices in the "sale".

I am not sure how they get away with it either.

I think their prices have gone up. Not seen anything thankfully in a long while that I like the look of. The presenters make me turn off anyway, I hate the over the top selling they do.
 
I am not sure how they get away with it either.

I think their prices have gone up. Not seen anything thankfully in a long while that I like the look of. The presenters make me turn off anyway, I hate the over the top selling they do.

I agree about the presenters. I laugh at that Jess who is on at 11. Everything she sells is the best thing she has seen and like the rest, she can't believe how they can sell it at such a low price. They must think we are stupid. We can see right through there falseness. Like others I haven't bought anything for ages.
 
I dug out my little cards a short while ago and had a nose. Pezzottaite is one ring I bought and it is a stone no one seems to mention now. Just a simple half carat in 2.5 grams of gold.

I dug out my little cards a short while ago and had a nose. Pezzottaite is one ring I bought and it is a stone no one seems to mention now. Just a simple half carat in 2.5 grams of gold.
 

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