Charlie Barron

[leslie61]

Just odd. A full brand new 22K gold sovereign is roughly £62 a gram. Even VF antique ones are less than £126 a gram (roughly), even from retailers with a famous name such as Eric Knowles. Perhaps £126 is the factored cost of producing a standard "cast & plonk gemstone in basket" ring but for a 9K ring? It also utterly ignores the fact that a ring with a total metal weight of less than 2g, where most of the weight is in the basket, is both unwearable and has a real risk of the band just snapping in reasonably short order.

I'm sure that I've seen someone post on here that a Customer Service response has been "For our customers, it's all about the gemstone" (or something similar). OK but the Elsanta variety of strawberries that used to be the supermarket standard were red, looked like a strawberry but were utterly tasteless. I stopped buying them (especially after Michel Roux Jnr did a review for the BBC years ago and explained why and said that you would be wasting your money). You buy a 9K gold ring to wear a lot, don't you?

If you watched the full 'advert' that they showed they weren't saying that if you went to a gold supplier it would cost £126 per gram. They were doing a price comparison with the high street jewellers. They bought 3 gold rings the combined weight of which was X, the 3 rings together cost Y, divided X by Y and the price came out at £126 per gram.

I totally agree that the price is far from a good buy but in this case the high street jewellers are the ones at fault so to speak but that's the cost of overheads for you. Even so the ring that Gemporia showed was only very thin and hardly an every day ring and def not worth their £99.99 price tag.

All that said this comparison was far easier to take than the ones where they compare their wares with the high end suppliers i.e. Asprey, Harry Winston, etc.

 

[Kit10]

Has anyone else noticed the old saying are coming back: we cut out the middle man, we are a reverse auction and a family orientated company. Old clips of when they used to go to the mines! Angeline, Lyn and Ellis I find are so false now you can hear it in their voices. As for Hattie she is so over the top .... Jess and Lyndsey..... For my money they all can leave sooner rather than later. I can no longer watch for more than a few minutes.

I was thinking the same thing, Rubia. Heavy emphasis on ‘Cutting out the Middleman’ again, and the charity work. And also how lucky they are to have Sarah Bennett involved again. Those customer ads are excruciating-especially the ones for Ellis. Ever so slightly out of date! Millie has inherited her mother’s experience? Really, no love, she’s gone. And the lady who finds Ellis approachable and honest, surely these are only things you would know if you knew her personally? I did catch a bit of Steve on the other day when a customer had messaged in to say that it was wonderful to see him on again with Jewellery, and hoped he would be on more often. He kind of shut down the comment by saying he was trying to save the Nations health. Well, that’s ok, then.

 

[TheManWithNoName]

If you watched the full 'advert' that they showed they weren't saying that if you went to a gold supplier it would cost £126 per gram. They were doing a price comparison with the high street jewellers.

It wasn't an advert where I saw the claim about the price of gold. It was Steve himself. He very strongly hinted, without actually saying it directly, that the price of gold was around the £126 per gram mark.

He also sold a piece of jewellery and claimed that "we're selling this at a loss". Really? A company that clearly has / had money problems selling items at a loss?

He kind of shut down the comment by saying he was trying to save the Nations health. Well, that’s ok, then.

Perhaps he can start by lowering customers stress levels then by providing timely refunds again and stop with the endless 'sales' hours to prevent people from getting price promise credit. They don't really fit in with the "friend in your living room" mantra either.

I wouldn't say refunds have got a great deal quicker - my last few refunds have taken exactly 14 days. Yes, its quicker than before - but still VERY slow compared to other online retailers.

 

[TheManWithNoName]

I was thinking the same thing, Rubia. Heavy emphasis on ‘Cutting out the Middleman’ again, and the charity work. And also how lucky they are to have Sarah Bennett involved again. Those customer ads are excruciating-especially the ones for Ellis. Ever so slightly out of date! Millie has inherited her mother’s experience? Really, no love, she’s gone. And the lady who finds Ellis approachable and honest, surely these are only things you would know if you knew her personally? I did catch a bit of Steve on the other day when a customer had messaged in to say that it was wonderful to see him on again with Jewellery, and hoped he would be on more often. He kind of shut down the comment by saying he was trying to save the Nations health. Well, that’s ok, then.

The Ellis adverts are totally cringeworthy and, as you say, VERY out of date.

The one that says "And I believe her daughter works for the channel now too - and she's inherited many of her mothers ways". Since that advert was made, Millie has been made redundant, re-employed, and made redundant again.

They still show Scott Worsfold going down a Tanzanite mine - even though he left around 9 years ago - and they still show Matt Macnamara comparing Zircon to Cubic Zirconia next to a river - even though he also left about 8 years ago.

As for the 'cutting out the middleman' nonsense - when was this last relevant? They've made no secret of the fact that they now buy from Gem shows like Tucson, the Hong Kong Trade Fair, etc. Their only references to mine visits in recent years are the Mogok mine, and the 'Nilamani' Kyanite mine.

It is also obvious that some of their jewellery is no longer produced by Gemporia themselves - it is bought in from elsewhere.

In addition to that, they can hardly talk about 'cutting out the middleman' to save costs, when they employ Dave Sloth to stand waffling for 40 minutes alongside a presenter that could tell us all of that. If you work out all the hours he's been on-air over the past few years, boring us rigid with his presentations, that a lot of wages paid out to just stand there and talk. Those wages have to be paid for - and ultimately, that has to be absorbed into the price of jewellery.

Its hardly a selling point claiming that they're saving money by cutting out a middleman, when they have an unnecessary employee paid to waffle to us for 40 minutes before a sale.

The 'friend in your living room' adverts need to stop too. If they wanted to be a "friend", they'd stop misleading people, give people refunds in a timely manner, and stop trying to block price promise credit by sticking the word "sale" on the screen, despite prices going for the same (or higher in some cases), than "non-sale" hours.

 

[TheManWithNoName]

They also need to stop claiming that after 6 months, they're not liable for an item if it develops a fault. That's totally incorrect - and I've called them out on it before and got a refund AFTER 6 months.

Gemporia (and all UK retailers) is still responsible for an item for up to 6 years after selling it should it develop a fault. The only difference is, the burden of proof moves to the customer to prove that the item was likely to have been faulty or had a design fault. This has to be done by providing an independent report.

Many times I've seen Gemporia tell people, via their Facebook page, that as 6 months have passed, there is "nothing they can do" if a stone falls out of a ring, etc. NOT TRUE!!

If a customer provides proof, from an independent jeweller, that, for example, the ring had prongs that were not sufficient enough to hold the stone, or the stone was slightly too big for the setting originally, or the gemstone was too soft and not suitable for the item it was set in (ie, Fluorite in an expensive bracelet), then Gemporia are 100% responsible for refunding that customer, in addition to refunding the price of the customers independent report, for up to 6 years after sale.

They get away with it simply because either:

a) People don't know their rights

or

b) People can't be bothered to 'fight it out'.

To suggest they can simply wash their hands of an item once six months have passed is nothing short of disgraceful.

 

[rubia]

They also need to stop claiming that after 6 months, they're not liable for an item if it develops a fault. That's totally incorrect - and I've called them out on it before and got a refund AFTER 6 months.

Gemporia (and all UK retailers) is still responsible for an item for up to 6 years after selling it should it develop a fault. The only difference is, the burden of proof moves to the customer to prove that the item was likely to have been faulty or had a design fault. This has to be done by providing an independent report.

Many times I've seen Gemporia tell people, via their Facebook page, that as 6 months have passed, there is "nothing they can do" if a stone falls out of a ring, etc. NOT TRUE!!

If a customer provides proof, from an independent jeweller, that, for example, the ring had prongs that were not sufficient enough to hold the stone, or the stone was slightly too big for the setting originally, or the gemstone was too soft and not suitable for the item it was set in (ie, Fluorite in an expensive bracelet), then Gemporia are 100% responsible for refunding that customer, in addition to refunding the price of the customers independent report, for up to 6 years after sale.

They get away with it simply because either:

a) People don't know their rights

or

b) People can't be bothered to 'fight it out'.

To suggest they can simply wash their hands of an item once six months have passed is nothing short of disgraceful.

Wow that is interesting thank you

 

[SnowMoon]

Just odd. A full brand new 22K gold sovereign is roughly £62 a gram. Even VF antique ones are less than £126 a gram (roughly), even from retailers with a famous name such as Eric Knowles. Perhaps £126 is the factored cost of producing a standard "cast & plonk gemstone in basket" ring but for a 9K ring? It also utterly ignores the fact that a ring with a total metal weight of less than 2g, where most of the weight is in the basket, is both unwearable and has a real risk of the band just snapping in reasonably short order.

I'm sure that I've seen someone post on here that a Customer Service response has been "For our customers, it's all about the gemstone" (or something similar). OK but the Elsanta variety of strawberries that used to be the supermarket standard were red, looked like a strawberry but were utterly tasteless. I stopped buying them (especially after Michel Roux Jnr did a review for the BBC years ago and explained why and said that you would be wasting your money). You buy a 9K gold ring to wear a lot, don't you?

Well, if it is "all about the gemstone" why not just cast it in a decent amount of (non-plated) silver. I, for one, would be a very happy bunny as I love silver.

 

[TheManWithNoName]

Well, if it is "all about the gemstone" why not just cast it in a decent amount of (non-plated) silver. I, for one, would be a very happy bunny as I love silver.

If it's "all about the gemstone", people would be buying loose gemstones from Gem Collector - not buying jewellery.

They talk utter nonsense.

 

[VapidStoat]

If it's "all about the gemstone", then you're still beggared by the huge number of filled, dyed, coloured, coated, and lord knows what else stones Gemporia seems to be using these days. Not that they go out of their way to fully explain this to viewers.

Their gems appear to have had so many treatments that the company may as well just go ahead and flog synthetics and man-made varieties.

 

[rubia]

Is there such a thing as blue amber? I saw a clip of this stone being sold on Gems just recently but I never thought there was such a thing.

 

[TheManWithNoName]

Is there such a thing as blue amber? I saw a clip of this stone being sold on Gems just recently but I never thought there was such a thing.

Yes - from Indonesia and the Dominican Republic. It's much rarer than the other Amber's.

It fluoresces a milky blue under UV light. It's usually fairly cloudy and not as clear as the Baltic or Burmese Amber.

Gemporia have sold 'Blue Amber' cabochons on Jewellery Maker in the past though - and that was coated Baltic Amber - not 'proper' Blue Amber.

 

[Tuska1]

Angelina was talking about Charlie Baron today referring to the high cost of pearls now. Because I can't watch her I didn't get the full story. Anybody else watched ?

The reason Charlie not coming back is he has no more pearls. The Chinese are outbidding him plus buying the pearl farms , even in Tahiti. He made a mint selling so called family hierlooms on Gemporia. These poor people have bought pearl strands ay a higher price than they are worth. He should not be giving investment advise on gemporia. He should be live in Oct, but not pearls.

The amount of gold tone jewellery is beyond unbelievable. But then, according to Lindsey the other day, around 1.98g of 9K gold in a ring is a "luxury" amount.

We obviously have different definitions of "luxury. And possibly "luxurious", too. Though Gemporia presenters don't seem to have heard of the second word

Gemporia has become like the French and Saunders skit of QVC from the 90s, where the jewellery made your skin go green, and the gold weight was so low their chains were invisible

 

[AndyW]

I think the last post here is correct. I don't think that Charlie Barron is trading at all, let alone through Gemporia. His website is inactive ("website coming soon") - it used to be functional - and 47 Maddox Street is recently refurbished and up for rent. I'm not a social media user but there aren't any recent posts that I can find.

Explains the complete derth of South Sea or Tahitian pearls and why Gemporia is now the same as any other retailer, selling mass-produced, heavily cultured Chinese pearls. The spiel about climate change, disease etc may be correct (it's Gemporia we're talking about) but I don't believe it's the whole story or even the main reason at all.

It just means TGGC go back to what they were pre-Charlie. This "End of Days" BS being pumped out every damn time a "natural" pearl is flogged is just standard Gemporia hype.

Might be totally wrong.

 

[Rose de France]

It just means TGGC go back to what they were pre-Charlie.

How long did Gemporia work with Charlie? He's very young (born in April 1995).

 

[AndyW]

How long did Gemporia work with Charlie? He's very young (born in April 1995).

Not exactly sure. 4 or maybe 5 years?

 

[TheManWithNoName]

Charlie Barron somehow looks both 29 and 59 at the same time.

He's the Jacob Rees-Mogg of the Gem world.