Adina's claims

[jacqualina]

I agree with the overall sentiment on this thread - the gold price comparisons are incredibly annoying and make me turn over to another channel. As they seem to be on constantly, I'm going to need new batteries in my remote soon!
I'm not sure what's happening in jewellery shopping telly land, but are the channels deliberately targeting different audiences? Rocks&Co seem to have gone for the upper end as most of their pieces are very expensive and they appear to have attracted a (gullible?) audience for this. As Meesh and others have stated, the gold weight on many Rockstv/Gems pieces is now neglible and as for the accent diamonds, well I've already posted about them recently on another thread, frankly they're a bit of an insult. So I'm presuming from this that Rocks/Gems are going for the lower end with the occasional foray into Lorique, which is expensive compared to TJC.
Speaking of TJC, although I know people have started to feel they are doing too many 'under' days, they do seem to cater for all markets and as far as I'm concerned have got the best balance by far of all the channels and in my humble opinion, they also have the best team of presenters by a very long way. :clapping:

 

[glitterbug]

My criticism of Adina's selling technique is the continued use of such statements as "one of our collecters bought a paraiba from us and had it valued at £a vast sum over 100,000. She actually uses the ladies name as well. I believe that the buyer in question did give permission for this but it was several years ago when paraiba was first sold at gemstv.
At that time paraiba was virtually unobtainable but I think it is time for that one to go in the presenting dustbin - along with "please send us in your valuations". As this is commonly used for relatively low cost items that wouldn't need to be insured separately it will only lead people to incur unnecessary cost. I know that there have been discussions on this topic before.

On the subject of gold weights, I buy more substantial pieces but I have no problem with low gold weight rings being sold although not to me. Equally I don't object to the high street comparison on selling prices - I only object to hearing it used so much by the presenters.

 

[Meeshoo]

My criticism of Adina's selling technique is the continued use of such statements as "one of our collecters bought a paraiba from us and had it valued at £a vast sum over 100,000. She actually uses the ladies name as well. I believe that the buyer in question did give permission for this but it was several years ago when paraiba was first sold at gemstv.At that time paraiba was virtually unobtainable but I think it is time for that one to go in the presenting dustbin - along with "please send us in your valuations". As this is commonly used for relatively low cost items that wouldn't need to be insured separately it will only lead people to incur unnecessary cost. I know that there have been discussions on this topic before.

On the subject of gold weights, I buy more substantial pieces but I have no problem with low gold weight rings being sold although not to me. Equally I don't object to the high street comparison on selling prices - I only object to hearing it used so much by the presenters.

To discuss pieces sold years ago is also misleading because (a) the colour of the Paraiba items sold years ago were much more consistent with what might be termed Paraiba - nowadays the rubbish that's being sold (i.e. pale, washed out, non-neon etc) and the prices they sell at are just not comparable (b) the prices several years ago were VERY different from the prices now. Thankfully I, and a good number of posters on here, grabbed the opportunity and were lucky enough to secure deals that nowadays would be impossible.

In terms of valuations? Well, once upon a time, GemsTV pieces were exceptionally good value for money when compared to the High Street/online Vendors etc. I sent GemsTV lots of valuations because quite frankly many many many of my pieces were consistently valued (for replacement) at 5 or 6 times more than the buying price. A couple of pieces over 20 times! If those valuations are still being used then .......... again, misleading.

I really don't mean to sound so negative by saying "in the good old days GemsTV was ...." but that really IS the case.

So, I'm hoping Steve reads this and turns GemsTV around back to it's heady golden days. I'm not interested in another RocksTV clone - both have markets (as Jacqualina has said) and to have sell to the same is a huge mistake IMVHO.

 

[Happygolucky]

I almost bought a patina based upon a valuation from Adonai. She said a woman had paid 8k but it was worth 22k... Wow... Amazing right? I didn't think they could be so misleading as to read out valuations that are years old... Very VERY naughty. I feel mislead and am glad I didn't buy. Does anyone else think that reading out these valuations is wrong?

 

[Rocchic]

As a relative novice in the gold market I have bought a few pieces ex gems on rocks for very good prices and made sure nothing was under 3 or 4 gram gold weight with higher end stones. I dont like thin gold weight with a higher end stone or heavier gold weight with a lower end stone or to me the latter is preferable. However I was lucky to get gram weight and higher end stone. What confuses me is this and I would like to know: The comparison of gold prices is retail on the high street which means that overheads are taken into consideration as Argy sid plus packaging and so forth. Scrap weight is never really taken into account or does not seem to be. If 9k is £12 even per gram surely that is what it should be measured by - or am I wrong. Also with a valuation is the valuation based on retail cost - if so how given variables or scrap weight or something else - looking fwd to your knowledge based answers !!

 

[argeybargey]

A valuation is based on market replacement value, but does not mean that is what you'll get should you make a claim. The insurance company will be looking for the cheapest available match so if you're insured for, say, £2,000 and they find one for £200, then that is all you'll get. Valuations are virtually meaningless for any other purpose than insurance. In my opinion the constant pushing for folk to get valuations done (they even do it on silver pieces) is immoral as customers will simply be wasting their money at £20-£30 per valuation of items that are not worth insuring.

Scrap value is irrelevant really (unless you're buying to scrap which is rarely feasible). It shouldn't be taken into account when making a purchase any more than you would any other purchase. Having said that, I do take an interest, as my daughter's taste is really different to mine (she is sweet and delicate I'm big lumps of stuff). Being somewhat decrepit but having a massive desire for jewellery, I like to buy something with some scrap value so that if she can't use or sell, there will at least be some residual value.

Having waffled all that, it is only my opinion.

 

[Meeshoo]

A valuation is based on market replacement value, but does not mean that is what you'll get should you make a claim. The insurance company will be looking for the cheapest available match so if you're insured for, say, £2,000 and they find one for £200, then that is all you'll get. Valuations are virtually meaningless for any other purpose than insurance. In my opinion the constant pushing for folk to get valuations done (they even do it on silver pieces) is immoral as customers will simply be wasting their money at £20-£30 per valuation of items that are not worth insuring.

Scrap value is irrelevant really (unless you're buying to scrap which is rarely feasible). It shouldn't be taken into account when making a purchase any more than you would any other purchase. Having said that, I do take an interest, as my daughter's taste is really different to mine (she is sweet and delicate I'm big lumps of stuff). Being somewhat decrepit but having a massive desire for jewellery, I like to buy something with some scrap value so that if she can't use or sell, there will at least be some residual value.

Having waffled all that, it is only my opinion.

I am seriously shocked that a company would push valuations on silver items. I'm truly astounded. What on earth would be the point? Not only is it cost-prohibitive it's a nonsence!

 

[jacqualina]

Most of the presenters urge us to get items of low value valued, though I don't think I've ever seen them do it on a silver piece.
I do realize that they have a business to run and that times are difficult and profits must be hard to come by, but all the repetitive waffle and screeching just puts me off and I turn over, so no sale to me at that point. Of course, maybe it works on lots of other people and it helps their sales figures, but I really hope a lot of re-training is going on behind the scenes. I appreciate it must all be uncomfortable reading for the Bennetts as many of the presenters are personal friends and criticism is hard to take.
I must admit to a bit of a soft spot for Adina and I feel a bit sorry for her as I feel that she has been singled out in this thread whereas the comments could apply to many of the presenters. I'm still watching too much, aren't I?

 

[argeybargey]

I am seriously shocked that a company would push valuations on silver items. I'm truly astounded. What on earth would be the point? Not only is it cost-prohibitive it's a nonsence!

My mate Scott also has a favourite along the lines of "take your piece to a jeweller and say you are interested in having an exact copy made, and you'll be so surprised at the massive quote you get". So, if you can't sting the customer directly, get them to lie to a jeweller and deliberately waste his time. Delightful! xxxxxxxxx

 

[Happygolucky]

On the subject of valuations I remember seeing Angeline showing the printed out details from another companies website and comparing a piece she was selling with the price of a similar piece they had on their website. I thought at the time it was misleading as how could she prove both pieces were the Same? Theycould have been different quality, sizes etc.

Also I am really shocked that the valuations are so old, surely they should state the date the valuation was done?

 

[iclaudipuss]

Hadn't seen this thread, so thanks to Argey for pointing me in its direction. Needless to say, I agree with all the points about the meaningless gold price comparison, and the fact that it is inaccurate and insulting to keep bombarding us with statements about the "average gold price on the high street", when it is quite clearly the average gold price of just 3 jewellers, and omits to take into account all the other facts which go to make up the price of an item.
Like Jacqualina, I feel it's unfair to single out Adina, since she is by no means the main culprit in giving out misleading statements, and I'd much rather watch her presentations than Angeline's, Carol's, Lynn's, Fi's (who keeps stating that "We have 20 of these to give away...er, pardon me, but I thought we had to pay...), and Ali's. Adina is sweet in her glamorous, yet bumbling, way, and she was very funny when she did a late night stint on Rocks recently - she seemed to be much more 'herself', and she was miles away from the hard sell of most of the other presenters. However, when it comes to sheer professionalism and great presenting skills, no one is in the same league as Alan, and he's also got a fab sense of humour, and is great to banter with, particularly in the midnight to 2am spot. What other presenter would get a fit of the giggles when called the Jason King of shopping telly? I don't think I've mentioned this before, but he is my favourite by a million parasangs.

 

[jacqualina]

Hadn't seen this thread, so thanks to Argey for pointing me in its direction.

See what happens Puss when you leave us for so long?