I haven't bought from Gems TV in a long while, having been lured away by Rocks TV and Rocks & Co, so I decided to give them another chance.
I saw something on screen that I was tempted to buy, but when I clicked the "buy" button a message came up saying that it was a special TV game, and I had to phone. This has happened TWICE now, and in both cases there were at least 10 in the game.
I know they always used to limit it to phone buyers when there were only 1 or 2 in the game, and I can understand that in order to give the 'phone buyers a fair chance. But what's going on now? If Gems really don't want my custom, I'm happy to oblige by not giving it to them!
The other thing I find infuriating, is the nonsense of having items in stock but refusing to sell them to you. I saw a ring I liked in the online shop (which is really not a shop at all unless you are prepared to pay twice the amount the item will ultimately sell for - I can't believe that anyone actually buys anything from there). I therefore e-mailed the Personal Shopper, only to be told that they were not allowed to sell the item as it had not yet been on air.
I know this is not a new problem, but it is still ridiculous. If they have the item and are planning on selling it at a certain price, and I'm willing to buy it at that price, then where's the logic in not selling it to me? What am I supposed to do - pay 100% over the odds in the online shop? Or watch TV 18 hours a day for a fortnight in the hope that it comes up? Or, perhaps, take my custom elsewhere?
Now I will admit that Rocks & Co are almost (though not quite) as bad with the overpriced online shop, and they don't even have a personal shopper, but the jewellery is nice and some of the prices are outstanding, and I'm willing to cut them some slack as they're still quite new. And at least ALL their auctions are open to web bidders.
Rocks TV win hands down with their request system, so that if you see something you like you at least stand a decent chance of seeing it on air while you're watching, and getting it for a better price than on the Coloured Rocks website. If Gems TV were to introduce a similar system, and also stop making life difficult for us web buyers, I think they might stand a chance of enticing back some of their disillusioned former customers.
