What would make you buy from Gemporia again?

As it says on the tin......

Gemporia have lost a lot of our trust and / or custom it seems. What would make you switch back to Gemporia?

These are the crucial things that would win me back:

1. Make viewing enjoyable again. I don't want to be waffled to for half an hour. I don't want to look at numerous dubious price comparisons. I don't want to be patronised. I don't want singing to. I don't want to be told I should trust a presenter via a 'Game of Trust' auction after that very same presenter had an ASA adjudication against them that showed they're not trustworthy. I don't want to be told to multi-buy everything. I don't want "educating" - especially from Lindsey Carr! I don't want to be shown how to use the app every 5 minutes. I don't want to be told "how to play" - spending £3000 on a Lorique ring is not a "game". Go back to the enjoyable, informative, but more 'relaxed' ways of selling.

2. Sell things for what they are. Don't tell me a wishy-washy Jadeite carving of an undistinguishable thingymabob in gold tone is a 'heirloom' piece. Don't price compare a dyed £20 Opal to a natural £120,000 rare natural black opal. If you're flogging a £150 1ct Tourmaline and heavily included accent diamonds 9ct gold ring, then price match it against another £150 1ct Tourmaline and heavily included accent diamonds 9ct gold ring at H Samuel - not against an 8ct Tourmaline with VSI grade Diamonds set in platinum from a designer brand.

3. Price accordingly. A dyed Agate pendant in gold tone is cheap costume jewellery. It is worth about £20 - not £99.99p. Sell it as costume jewellery. Don't patronise us by telling us its an heirloom piece. A filled Emerald in Gold is NOT worth the same as a natural or oiled Emerald in gold. A dyed Lapis pendant is not worth the same as an untreated Lapis pendant. Stop taking us for mugs!

4. Win back our trust. If your products really are as high a quality as you try to make us believe using, quotes like "it's an heirloom piece", "It can be passed down from generation to generation", "get it valued" or "I can't give you investment advice but...........", then why do you only offer the statutory minimum of 6 months warranty? If you stood by your products, you'd offer a 2 or 3 year warranty at least - particularly on more expensive items such as Lorique or Tomas Rae items. If you're going to claim something is going to last for years, then BACK IT UP WITH A REASONABLE WARRANTY!

5. Be honest and transparent. Stop the ludicrous claims. Stop 'pushing' treatments off on-screen descriptions so that they can't be seen. Stop selling GREEN Tourmaline as Indicolite! Stop selling PINK sapphires as Padparadscha Sapphires.

I did buy a few things at Christmas. Chosen carefully and bought on a credit card and nothing very expensive. Those days are gone. I would like to see Gemporia have a more even pricing policy. No more an item being auctioned for 399 one day and 299 a few days later - with no chance of a price pledge because there are constant "sales". Or web prices being cheaper than auction. I do not like these massively fluctuating prices. Set a price and stick to it. Put it in a sale every now and then. Be more like QVC with your pricing. What you are doing now just means people feel ripped off.
Presenters please stop shouting at me and lying by omission. Or talking to me like I am a child or playing these pathetic "games of trust" or clock after clock after clock. Less Jade and Chinese nonsense please too. Too many hours on that stuff. Too much of Dave Troth looking dour. What's entertaining about that? He never smiles.
When Gems held on to my money on returns and ripped me off via a price pledge refusal. I lost faith. I don't trust them any more. I stopped buying for about a year. I don't need them any more. I don't think I can trust them anymore and I have realised that I have enough jewellery. So it will be Christmas or maybe a birthday treat for myself from now on. Nothing more. Too much water under the bridge. Steve's promises of making Gems fun again turned to dust before they left his mouth.

My main one is no more Jade Troth. I cannot take anymore of him. He's been on every time I've switched on today, standing there with his hand in his pocket, preaching, droning and boring me to death. I'm done, I don't want to see him ever again. I know it won't happen, but God, I wish it would.

Anna said:

My main one is no more Jade Troth. I cannot take anymore of him. He's been on every time I've switched on today, standing there with his hand in his pocket, preaching, droning and boring me to death. I'm done, I don't want to see him ever again. I know it won't happen, but God, I wish it would.

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100%. It genuinely baffles me as to how Gemporia think that this is entertaining viewing and will make people want to part with their cash.

SnowMoon said:

Or web prices being cheaper than auction.

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If this happens again, please report it to Trading Standards. This should definately not be happening for two reasons:

1. Gemporia had an ASA adjudication against them earlier this year for this exact thing.
2. A Company cannot deliberately sell an item for more than its advertised price. The web price is their 'advertised price' - so the so-called auctions should, at worst, match that price.

I don't think anything would make me buy from them again.

I still buy from Gemporia but not as often as I did in the past. They have less and less nice products, especially in sterling silver. Many of the items in their current offering are beaded bracelets, beaded necklaces etc. Such products are easily available in Poland without high shipping costs and bank margins (I pay in PLN and then my money is converted to EUR).

Have you noticed that their silver settings become thinner as time goes by? Three years ago silver rings containing 3.50-5.50 grams of metal weight were normal. Nowadays you hardly ever see more than 3 grams. For a few weeks now Gemporia offers rings weighing less than 2 grams of silver. It's scandalous. I'm not interested in buying flimsy junk.

Look at this ring. Only 1.17 grams of metal weight.

Rose de France said:

I still buy from Gemporia but not as often as I did in the past. They have less and less nice products, especially in sterling silver. Many of the items in their current offering are beaded bracelets, beaded necklaces etc. Such products are easily available in Poland without high shipping costs and bank margins (I pay in PLN and then my money is converted to EUR).

Have you noticed that their silver settings become thinner as time goes by? Three years ago silver rings containing 3.50-5.50 grams of metal weight were normal. Nowadays you hardly ever see more than 3 grams. For a few weeks now Gemporia offers rings weighing less than 2 grams of silver. It's scandalous. I'm not interested in buying flimsy junk.

Look at this ring. Only 1.17 grams of metal weight.

Alessia 0.35ct Amethyst Ring

Alessia 0.35ct Amethyst Ring

www.gemporia.com

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What happened to their Aryonna silver settings? Good quality, creatively set stones and a good gram weight. Silver is more lustrous than gold and quite a lot of people actually prefer it.

I can't imagine giving them my money ever again. They're excruciating to watch, and rely far too much on waffle, misdirection, dodgy practices and outright lies to get sales.

But if they did the following, I might look again:

1. Be properly informative. Tell the viewers exactly what's on sale. No more exaggerated superlatives, or talking about how expensive perfect examples of the stones they're flogging are. Tell me what treatments they've had. Tell me how thick any plating is. Let me know exactly what I can expect for my money. Don't just shove stuff in the graphics and never refer to it on screen. We know that the on screen graphics aren't always right.

2. I don't need presenters and guests whose only purpose is to wind the viewers up. If I am going to consider buying, then I want to do so calmly. So no endless lectures, screeches to buy or to "fill my boots", and no clocks. If they can't do that, then my cash stays with me.

3. No more pre orders: if I wouldn't buy a car or a house sight unseen, and with no idea if it's within my budget, why would I do so for jewellery? Give everyone the opportunity to make informed purchases, rather than being hyped and wound up to buy stuff with zero real information.

4. Stop with the "reverse auction" stuff. It was tacky 20 years ago, and it's tacky now. It's also not a reverse auction anyway, since it's obvious that Gemporia knows full well where pieces will be selling for, and "auctions" always end when prices get there. Buying jewellery, or anything, should be carefully considered. It's not a game.

5. If the presenters are GIA trained, then get them explaining the jewellery, and get the buyers off air. Or if the presenters can't explain what they're selling, then get shot of them and recruit salespeople who can sell responsibly.

But none of this is ever going to happen, so my money is safe.

Marietta said:

What happened to their Aryonna silver settings? Good quality, creatively set stones and a good gram weight. Silver is more lustrous than gold and quite a lot of people actually prefer it.

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The Aryonna range became a rarity. Recently they had jewellery with blue opal and chrysocolla malachite. Unfortunetely, these stones are very fragile and shouldn't be set in rings.

Three years ago there was a magnificent collection with aquamarine (7.5 to 8.00 on the Mohs scale of hardness).

Marietta said:

What happened to their Aryonna silver settings? Good quality, creatively set stones and a good gram weight. Silver is more lustrous than gold and quite a lot of people actually prefer it.

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They have had some lowish priced stuff that might have been decent if it had been plain silver and not that garish cheap looking gold tone

VapidStoat said:

5. If the presenters are GIA trained, then get them explaining the jewellery

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It baffles me how they get their GIA accreditations.

Cheralene Lavery only ever talked about the "light is dancing out of this" and "Tanzanite is 10,000 times rarer than a Diamond" - that was as far as her 'knowledge' stretched.

Jess Foley, on Saturday, was selling a very cloudy, cabochon cut, translucent Aquamarine with a slight Cats Eye effect, which she described as "top quality, irridescent grade". Well, there are so many things wrong with that sentence. First of all, if it was 'top quality', it would not have been translucent, it would not display a cats eye, and it would not be cabochon cut. A stone needs to be VERY heavily included to achieve a cats eye effect. Inclusions and 'top grade' are totally incompatible. Secondly, iridescence is a rainbow-effect coming from the stone. Aquamarine does not show iridescence. What she actually meant was adularescence. Thirdly, there is no such thing as 'irridescent grade'. Iridescence (and adularescence) are phenomena / effects. Grading is assessed on clarity and colour.

If they don't know what they're talking about, they'd be best not saying anything at all - or do as Lynn Jinks does, and repeat 'this is completely natural' and 'you only pay one P&P in any one day' repeatedly for every single item just to pass the time.

There are so many presenters that are just WAY out of their depth on Gems TV - long gone are the days of the knowledgeable presenters such as Scott Worsfold, Rae Carpenter, Lara De-Leuw, Matt Macnamara, etc.

Remember when they took on Peter Simon and he only lasted a month because the silly old fool was way out of his depth on Gems TV? He'd fit right in on the current Gems TV! He'd actually look competent alongside Lyndsey Carr and Jess! Not only with the gold tone...... Not only with the Jadeite........ Not only with the dyed Agate.......... not only with the filled Rubies...............

VapidStoat said:

They have had some lowish priced stuff that might have been decent if it had been plain silver and not that garish cheap looking gold tone

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Is it just me that thinks that gold tone actually looks 'yellow' and cheap?

It looks appalling!

TheManWithNoName said:

Is it just me that thinks that gold tone actually looks 'yellow' and cheap?

It looks appalling!

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Nope, you're definitely not alone. Gemporia has some low(ish) priced pieces that might look quite nice if it was set in plain silver.

I have seen more attractive and convincing play jewellery for kids in pound shops.

Gold tone just screams "cheap" and "nasty"

VapidStoat said:

Nope, you're definitely not alone. Gemporia has some low(ish) priced pieces that might look quite nice if it was set in plain silver.

I have seen more attractive and convincing play jewellery for kids in pound shops.

Gold tone just screams "cheap" and "nasty"

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They've actually had some pieces that would have looked nice in Silver - but they totally ruined them with the cheap yellow looking gold tone finish instead.

TheManWithNoName said:

They've actually had some pieces that would have looked nice in Silver - but they totally ruined them with the cheap yellow looking gold tone finish instead.

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Plus, as you have pointed out a few times, you have to choose whether to commit to replating at your own expense, or stop wearing pieces as the gold wears away and the pieces turn tatty.

So you either have more expense to keep wearing these pieces, or have items that may be cheap at the initial purchase price, but have a high cost per wear

Had a look at my purchase history, at 2023 only.

- Gems TV: A Gemporia Umba Valley red zircon pendant, Tara Coomber Britannia silver pieces, Elizabeth Hunt Argentium pendants, a Samuel B ring and some large polished pendants (e.g. rose quartz, banded agate) for key fobs.

- Gem Auras: Coffee cup candle (gift)
- Kimbie: Agate/marble coasters (gift)

- Gem Collector: large American fire opal, raw Dominican amber, large fancy cut quartzes, large properly blue/green Aquaprase and Australian chrysoprase.

Some GC mistakes too (little punts that didn't work out - not in the list above).

I can see, looking at the order history dispassionately, how I've almost subconsciously slowed and become very selective. Most purchases were before or shortly after Alex left, the new GC studio with their odd selections of ranges launched and TGGC lost Charlie, Jainey B, Russell Twyford etc, etc; there seems to be a definite tide mark. I'm not saying that the events are linked but something altered. Perhaps it was the continued complete collapse of metal weights, the onslaught of "meh" Jade, gold tone, Chinese freshwater pearls, crystal healing and noticeably higher prices/more heavily treated stock.

I still do buy the odd thing but I am even more hesitant or selective than, perhaps, I used to be. I still watch but more in hope than expectation, sadly, and it does keep your eye in and a little bit of occasional amusement.

The noticeable downward/more selective trend last year, looking at my account, is a good thing - for my wallet - but it leaves me being quite sad. I am unsure what could change so dramatically at TGGC to bring back the level of my custom from previous years. I'm not sure a few tweaks here and there are going to do it. Perhaps I'm the idiot here, not being one of the happy "averagely affluent" crowd, who knows.

VapidStoat said:

Plus, as you have pointed out a few times, you have to choose whether to commit to replating at your own expense, or stop wearing pieces as the gold wears away and the pieces turn tatty.

So you either have more expense to keep wearing these pieces, or have items that may be cheap at the initial purchase price, but have a high cost per wear

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You can ask your local jeweller to remove the plating from the piece.

Rose de France said:

You can ask your local jeweller to remove the plating from the piece.

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Which pushes the price of the piece up. I'd rather pass and look elsewhere. Which is what I do now anyway.

I now prefer the online window shopping anyway. There's a lot less guilt involved

TheManWithNoName said:

As it says on the tin......

Gemporia have lost a lot of our trust and / or custom it seems. What would make you switch back to Gemporia?. I don't want to be t If you stood by your products, you'd offer a 2 or 3 year warranty at least

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Funny story that happened to me just before Christmas made me lose faith in Gemporia.

I bought a beautiful pendant with a large Umballite garnet and chain at full price on the auction.

Adina stated that it’s RODIUM plated, so did Mr Winston? He added that “it would never tarnish”!!

I put it away as a Christmas present for my daughter… when I got it out, all in that plastic bag with the black little
square of anitarnish to wrap up for her… it was so strange… a part of the chain was badly tarnished.

It was super strange… appears that they Rodium plated only a Part of the chain????

I couldn’t give this partially manky necklace as a present obviously, sent it back and Gemporia kindly offered “to clean it for me for a charge”??? Or have a credit?.

To clean a RODIUM plated piece that shoud not tarnish ?

This was my last straw for me .

I have Diamonique Rodium plated from QVC from 10 years ago….nothing is tarnished, despite swimming in the sea and pools?

I don’t think I can shop with Gemporia again