Steve's announcement - In brief

[TheManWithNoName]

From what I've heard and understand so far, the following issues have been raised and answered by Steve:

1. Refund delays: Steve acknowledged that these were too long. He's put some of his own money into the company to bring this down. They're now only 4 days behind on refunds.

2. Jewellery 'Aftercare': Steve acknowledged that this is an important service - so the resizing and repairs service is in the process of being reinstated.

3. Made in China: Steve mentioned that the gem cutting (and presumably jewellery setting) had been moved from Jaipur to China (it sounded like it had been done without his knowledge and he wasn't happy about it). He said he's flying out to Jaipur next week to sort this out - amongst other things.

4. More Platinum jewellery: Someone messaged in asking if Gemporia could do more Platinum jewellery. Steve said he'd also like to do more Platinum jewellery. Watch this space.

5. Non-jewellery stuff: Destello, Visage and Primal are going nowhere - however, some lifestyle stuff is going / has gone. He mentioned a toilet cleaner is "not for them" (not sure what that is?) - that's gone / going, along with some waist shaping trousers / pants?

6. Split pay graphics: Someone mentioned that the recent changes to 'rotating' split pay graphics are poor and take too long to show the actual split pay amounts - and that they were better as they were before. Angeline also agreed that the new graphic was poor. Steve made a phone call on-air to get this rectified immediately.

7. The Gemporia 'crest / coat of arms' logo is probably returning: Steve didn't seem impressed that it had been replaced.


A few little digs presumably aimed at Colin without actually naming him in person.

 

[TheManWithNoName]

Waist shaping trousers / pants = part of the 'Authentic Beauty' range, which is going (the whole collection)

A couple of other things I've just remembered too:

8. The leather authenticity card holders: Steve wasn't aware that they had stopped selling these. Looks like they will be re-introduced.

9. Some old collections returning. Some recent collections going: This was confirmed by Steve last week.

 

[VapidStoat]

Very good news about the refunds. Though it does confirm how little money the company has had to play with if the Bennetts have been forced to put cash in.

It also begs the question: why it has taken so long for Steve to act? Both Steve's son and son-in-law work at Gemporia, and Steve has appeared now and again to push Primal Living, and most of these complaints and issues have been going on for ages. And must have been even more noticeable to those behind the scenes than it has been to regular viewers. Yet Steve leaves it to the last minute to intervene?

 

[Anna]

I saw Steve on at midday. Was glad to hear that the refunds are speeding up, and the return of the re-sizing for rings too. It was good to watch him actually, he acknowledged that they had got things wrong and had lost their way.

 

[TheManWithNoName]

Very good news about the refunds. Though it does confirm how little money the company has had to play with if the Bennetts have been forced to put cash in.

It also begs the question: why it has taken so long for Steve to act? Both Steve's son and son-in-law work at Gemporia, and Steve has appeared now and again to push Primal Living, and most of these complaints and issues have been going on for ages. And must have been even more noticeable to those behind the scenes than it has been to regular viewers. Yet Steve leaves it to the last minute to intervene?

Reading between the lines of what Steve was saying, it would seem that some of the things that have happened, he was not aware of. I guess it's difficult when you have a Managing Director in place because you run the risk of undermining them and appearing not to trust them if you interfere too much or question what they're doing.

Plus he's only 20% shareholder now rather than owner, so presumably, he doesn't have free reign to intervene, without permission from other shareholders first?

Regardless of the circumstances, it's good to see that he's made some instant changes - and he's identified some issues that will take a bit longer to sort out (getting jewellery made in Jaipur again, sourcing a wider variety of gemstones, etc).

However, it was also concerning that some questions were ignored on air. I've seen quite a few people in various Facebook groups saying that they messaged the studio to ask Steve about cutting the amount of Jade and Gold Tone jewellery - but they wasn't answered. I hope it was simply a case of the production crew choosing not to put those messages on air rather than the Company choosing to ignore them because they have no plans to change that side of things.

 

[VapidStoat]

Reading between the lines of what Steve was saying, it would seem that some of the things that have happened, he was not aware of. I guess it's difficult when you have a Managing Director in place because you run the risk of undermining them and appearing not to trust them if you interfere too much or question what they're doing.

Plus he's only 20% shareholder now rather than owner, so presumably, he doesn't have free reign to intervene, without permission from other shareholders first?

Regardless of the circumstances, it's good to see that he's made some instant changes - and he's identified some issues that will take a bit longer to sort out (getting jewellery made in Jaipur again, sourcing a wider variety of gemstones, etc).

However, it was also concerning that some questions were ignored on air. I've seen quite a few people in various Facebook groups saying that they messaged the studio to ask Steve about cutting the amount of Jade and Gold Tone jewellery - but they wasn't answered. I hope it was simply a case of the production crew choosing not to put those messages on air rather than the Company choosing to ignore them because they have no plans to change that side of things.

Exactly. I suspect they're two of the reasons why cashflow has been drying up over the last few months.

And if viewers who were previously regular buyers of Gemporia's wares feel that Steve and company aren't considering all the issues they have encountered which have put them off buying recently, how will they be convinced to start buying again?

It's fine to sort out problems like the painfully slow refunds. Gemporia would be on very shaky ground legally if they hadn't But if your old regular buyers are still avoiding you, you're still screwed.

I do find it difficult to believe that Gemporia staff hadn't been making the Bennetts aware of how bad things were. Especially since (nearly) everyone working there had a vested interest in the company succeeding.

I still wish I could have been a fly on the wall of that meeting earlier this week though

 

[harrytumkins]

It wasn't convincing for me Steve seemed like he was there because he had to be again rather than wanting to be.

As he said on air his heart is in "saving the NHS" now, will be hard to get the same results anyway with the way the world and Gemporia is situated now but when he doesn't quite have the same passion increase the difficulty tenfold.

 

[Snowstorm]

Positive update. I emailed them yesterday about my broken bracelet and a ring where sadly a stone had come out. Previously they asked me to send the items back. They have emailed to say they will refund. Positive response for once.