Gemporia - struggling financially?

[Deleted member 27898]

You'll have to excuse me on somethings because my information comes secondhand as I don't work there anymore and I may or may not respond to any questions because I don't come on here a lot so I might miss them.

Unless something major happens the company is going to be around until April next year minimum. However they are currently in a bad spot right now. I won't say figures but they need a make a certain amount of money before April 2024 or they will close down. If they do make enough money Santander (Who they took out the stupid loan with) will look at renegotiating said loan because Colin was a moron and based the repayment amount off what the company was making during covid (which was a lot)

What happened is it was decided by someone or some people (No idea who) that we would beome an employee partnership and buy 75% of the company from Steve. This was all fine and we were steadily paying back Steve. Then for whatever reason Steve decided he wanted the rest of the money he was owed straight away. So to cover this they took out a loan with Santander, Steve got paid off and went on his merry way not looking back or caring about what happened to Gemporia even though he still owned 75%. Then after the world started going back to normal things started to get difficult. It was harder to get stock in (which is why you keep seeing the same stuff over and over again. We were sick of it too) and prices shot up. As well as that the pound crashed and they buy everyting in US dollars so the exchange rates meant everything was more expensive to bring in.

Communication in the company was appalling. Colin would never respond to anyone so unless you were actually in front of him the likelihood of ever getting any answers were slim. Even then when you did speak to him it always seemed like he didn't know what he was doing. Gemporia was falling on hard times and needed a leader but he certainly wasn't it. He was at the top looking after his do no wrong merchandise team who were some of the rudest and most unhelpful people I ever had the unfortunate pleasure of working with. Honestly trying to schedule a good show was next to impossible with those lot around. Not even mentioning the sales managers who were beyond useless. That position eventually got removed and was overseen solely by Colin who couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag.

By the way the working on tiny margins thing a complete load of bull. You see those pieces of Jade on screen pretty much every day? It's because they're the only things currently in stock that actually makes any money. This is because they cost something like £2 to make and then they mark it up to £100+ pounds. It's daylight robbery especially when you look at the actual quality. Oh and don't even get me started on what they actually say regarding treatments. Just one example was a really expensive parabia they sold a month or so back. Jake was on screen saying it was natural. HE'D CHANGED THE RECORDS TO MAKE IT SAY NATURAL. Whether this was orginally a mistake or he's lying I can't say because I genuinely don't know but you guys can be the judges of that.

As for Jake now being made the new MD I think that's a horrendous decision. He was always a very demanding guest for our directors but in the new plan when the redundancies were announced he and Colin thought it was a good idea to have directors doing 8 hours on air each to cover the 16 hours of live tv each day. He was happy to work them into the ground. I don't know if they've adjusted them now but the prerecorded shows are just taken as a 4 hour block. If a presenter runs over you'll just see them get cut off mid sentence which is honestly hilarious to see. Professionalism doesn't exist for the prerecords. Probably because no one in production ever thought they were a good idea.

Any coming to my last bit of info. Colin was withholding information and the bank decided they couldn't work with him anymore and approached Steve which is why he's back in some regard now. The company was actually going to go into administration this month before the bank intervened. That's how badly Colin messed up the company. How much influence Steve'll have over what happens going forward I don't know but I honestly don't think he wanted to come back in the first place.

Anyway take what you will from this

 

[harrytumkins]

You'll have to excuse me on somethings because my information comes secondhand as I don't work there anymore and I may or may not respond to any questions because I don't come on here a lot so I might miss them.

Unless something major happens the company is going to be around until April next year minimum. However they are currently in a bad spot right now. I won't say figures but they need a make a certain amount of money before April 2024 or they will close down. If they do make enough money Santander (Who they took out the stupid loan with) will look at renegotiating said loan because Colin was a moron and based the repayment amount off what the company was making during covid (which was a lot)

What happened is it was decided by someone or some people (No idea who) that we would beome an employee partnership and buy 75% of the company from Steve. This was all fine and we were steadily paying back Steve. Then for whatever reason Steve decided he wanted the rest of the money he was owed straight away. So to cover this they took out a loan with Santander, Steve got paid off and went on his merry way not looking back or caring about what happened to Gemporia even though he still owned 75%. Then after the world started going back to normal things started to get difficult. It was harder to get stock in (which is why you keep seeing the same stuff over and over again. We were sick of it too) and prices shot up. As well as that the pound crashed and they buy everyting in US dollars so the exchange rates meant everything was more expensive to bring in.

Communication in the company was appalling. Colin would never respond to anyone so unless you were actually in front of him the likelihood of ever getting any answers were slim. Even then when you did speak to him it always seemed like he didn't know what he was doing. Gemporia was falling on hard times and needed a leader but he certainly wasn't it. He was at the top looking after his do no wrong merchandise team who were some of the rudest and most unhelpful people I ever had the unfortunate pleasure of working with. Honestly trying to schedule a good show was next to impossible with those lot around. Not even mentioning the sales managers who were beyond useless. That position eventually got removed and was overseen solely by Colin who couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag.

By the way the working on tiny margins thing a complete load of bull. You see those pieces of Jade on screen pretty much every day? It's because they're the only things currently in stock that actually makes any money. This is because they cost something like £2 to make and then they mark it up to £100+ pounds. It's daylight robbery especially when you look at the actual quality. Oh and don't even get me started on what they actually say regarding treatments. Just one example was a really expensive parabia they sold a month or so back. Jake was on screen saying it was natural. HE'D CHANGED THE RECORDS TO MAKE IT SAY NATURAL. Whether this was orginally a mistake or he's lying I can't say because I genuinely don't know but you guys can be the judges of that.

As for Jake now being made the new MD I think that's a horrendous decision. He was always a very demanding guest for our directors but in the new plan when the redundancies were announced he and Colin thought it was a good idea to have directors doing 8 hours on air each to cover the 16 hours of live tv each day. He was happy to work them into the ground. I don't know if they've adjusted them now but the prerecorded shows are just taken as a 4 hour block. If a presenter runs over you'll just see them get cut off mid sentence which is honestly hilarious to see. Professionalism doesn't exist for the prerecords. Probably because no one in production ever thought they were a good idea.

Any coming to my last bit of info. Colin was withholding information and the bank decided they couldn't work with him anymore and approached Steve which is why he's back in some regard now. The company was actually going to go into administration this month before the bank intervened. That's how badly Colin messed up the company. How much influence Steve'll have over what happens going forward I don't know but I honestly don't think he wanted to come back in the first place.

Anyway take what you will from this

Very interesting post and thanks for sharing that

 

[TheManWithNoName]

I've no reason to doubt any of that. I've bought Jadeite on Gem Collector in the past and paid about £4 for it. If they can flog it so cheaply on Gem Collector, then it's obviously way overpriced in the jewellery.

Colin has always struck me as a complete plonker - even before Gemporia, when he was at TJC, he came across as a bit thick.

Jake reminds me of Arthur Daly.... i suspect hes only got to where he is because he's married into family. If it wasn't for that, I could imagine him working in McDonalds.

I can totally believe that about the Paraiba too. I bought a stone from them that was listed as not enhanced - but the GIA certificate that it came with clearly stated it was heat treated. Gemporia insisted I was wrong and they were correct - until I showed them the GIA certificate, then they eventually backed down and accepted I was right.

As for a presenter being cut off in the middle of a sentence on the re-runs overnight, it's already happened. I think it was Wednesday night.

I think Gemporia are really going to struggle to turn this around. It's not just one or two problems they have - but loads. Prices. Awful presenters. Jake, Dave and Toby boring us to tears. Jade galore. Too much plated tat. Lack of variety of gemstones. Broken trust over painfully slow refunds and dubious claims made on air. Lack of professionalism. Confused business model. There's just so many things to turn around, all together, in a short space of time.

As for the redundancies - were any of them offered voluntary redundancy? Alex McKay always seemed very happy on Gem Collector - so the announcement of him leaving, seemingly of his own accord, was a huge surprise.

What was the criteria for selection of the compulsory redundancies? I find it baffling that long term staff seem to have gone - whilst newer staff have been retained. The longer they've worked there, the more redundancy pay they're entitled too - so it seems bizarre that they've made the most expensive to pay off, redundant.

I'm absolutely baffled that someone thought it was a good idea to keep awful presenters like Cheralene, Jess Foley and Hattie over good presenters like Ruth, Rosie, Derek, Amelia, etc. The mind boggles.

 

[Sazza]

You'll have to excuse me on somethings because my information comes secondhand as I don't work there anymore and I may or may not respond to any questions because I don't come on here a lot so I might miss them.

Unless something major happens the company is going to be around until April next year minimum. However they are currently in a bad spot right now. I won't say figures but they need a make a certain amount of money before April 2024 or they will close down. If they do make enough money Santander (Who they took out the stupid loan with) will look at renegotiating said loan because Colin was a moron and based the repayment amount off what the company was making during covid (which was a lot)

What happened is it was decided by someone or some people (No idea who) that we would beome an employee partnership and buy 75% of the company from Steve. This was all fine and we were steadily paying back Steve. Then for whatever reason Steve decided he wanted the rest of the money he was owed straight away. So to cover this they took out a loan with Santander, Steve got paid off and went on his merry way not looking back or caring about what happened to Gemporia even though he still owned 75%. Then after the world started going back to normal things started to get difficult. It was harder to get stock in (which is why you keep seeing the same stuff over and over again. We were sick of it too) and prices shot up. As well as that the pound crashed and they buy everyting in US dollars so the exchange rates meant everything was more expensive to bring in.

Communication in the company was appalling. Colin would never respond to anyone so unless you were actually in front of him the likelihood of ever getting any answers were slim. Even then when you did speak to him it always seemed like he didn't know what he was doing. Gemporia was falling on hard times and needed a leader but he certainly wasn't it. He was at the top looking after his do no wrong merchandise team who were some of the rudest and most unhelpful people I ever had the unfortunate pleasure of working with. Honestly trying to schedule a good show was next to impossible with those lot around. Not even mentioning the sales managers who were beyond useless. That position eventually got removed and was overseen solely by Colin who couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag.

By the way the working on tiny margins thing a complete load of bull. You see those pieces of Jade on screen pretty much every day? It's because they're the only things currently in stock that actually makes any money. This is because they cost something like £2 to make and then they mark it up to £100+ pounds. It's daylight robbery especially when you look at the actual quality. Oh and don't even get me started on what they actually say regarding treatments. Just one example was a really expensive parabia they sold a month or so back. Jake was on screen saying it was natural. HE'D CHANGED THE RECORDS TO MAKE IT SAY NATURAL. Whether this was orginally a mistake or he's lying I can't say because I genuinely don't know but you guys can be the judges of that.

As for Jake now being made the new MD I think that's a horrendous decision. He was always a very demanding guest for our directors but in the new plan when the redundancies were announced he and Colin thought it was a good idea to have directors doing 8 hours on air each to cover the 16 hours of live tv each day. He was happy to work them into the ground. I don't know if they've adjusted them now but the prerecorded shows are just taken as a 4 hour block. If a presenter runs over you'll just see them get cut off mid sentence which is honestly hilarious to see. Professionalism doesn't exist for the prerecords. Probably because no one in production ever thought they were a good idea.

Any coming to my last bit of info. Colin was withholding information and the bank decided they couldn't work with him anymore and approached Steve which is why he's back in some regard now. The company was actually going to go into administration this month before the bank intervened. That's how badly Colin messed up the company. How much influence Steve'll have over what happens going forward I don't know but I honestly don't think he wanted to come back in the first place.

Anyway take what you will from this

But he didn't own 75% after he was paid off.

 

[SnowMoon]

You'll have to excuse me on somethings because my information comes secondhand as I don't work there anymore and I may or may not respond to any questions because I don't come on here a lot so I might miss them.

Unless something major happens the company is going to be around until April next year minimum. However they are currently in a bad spot right now. I won't say figures but they need a make a certain amount of money before April 2024 or they will close down. If they do make enough money Santander (Who they took out the stupid loan with) will look at renegotiating said loan because Colin was a moron and based the repayment amount off what the company was making during covid (which was a lot)

What happened is it was decided by someone or some people (No idea who) that we would beome an employee partnership and buy 75% of the company from Steve. This was all fine and we were steadily paying back Steve. Then for whatever reason Steve decided he wanted the rest of the money he was owed straight away. So to cover this they took out a loan with Santander, Steve got paid off and went on his merry way not looking back or caring about what happened to Gemporia even though he still owned 75%. Then after the world started going back to normal things started to get difficult. It was harder to get stock in (which is why you keep seeing the same stuff over and over again. We were sick of it too) and prices shot up. As well as that the pound crashed and they buy everyting in US dollars so the exchange rates meant everything was more expensive to bring in.

Communication in the company was appalling. Colin would never respond to anyone so unless you were actually in front of him the likelihood of ever getting any answers were slim. Even then when you did speak to him it always seemed like he didn't know what he was doing. Gemporia was falling on hard times and needed a leader but he certainly wasn't it. He was at the top looking after his do no wrong merchandise team who were some of the rudest and most unhelpful people I ever had the unfortunate pleasure of working with. Honestly trying to schedule a good show was next to impossible with those lot around. Not even mentioning the sales managers who were beyond useless. That position eventually got removed and was overseen solely by Colin who couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag.

By the way the working on tiny margins thing a complete load of bull. You see those pieces of Jade on screen pretty much every day? It's because they're the only things currently in stock that actually makes any money. This is because they cost something like £2 to make and then they mark it up to £100+ pounds. It's daylight robbery especially when you look at the actual quality. Oh and don't even get me started on what they actually say regarding treatments. Just one example was a really expensive parabia they sold a month or so back. Jake was on screen saying it was natural. HE'D CHANGED THE RECORDS TO MAKE IT SAY NATURAL. Whether this was orginally a mistake or he's lying I can't say because I genuinely don't know but you guys can be the judges of that.

As for Jake now being made the new MD I think that's a horrendous decision. He was always a very demanding guest for our directors but in the new plan when the redundancies were announced he and Colin thought it was a good idea to have directors doing 8 hours on air each to cover the 16 hours of live tv each day. He was happy to work them into the ground. I don't know if they've adjusted them now but the prerecorded shows are just taken as a 4 hour block. If a presenter runs over you'll just see them get cut off mid sentence which is honestly hilarious to see. Professionalism doesn't exist for the prerecords. Probably because no one in production ever thought they were a good idea.

Any coming to my last bit of info. Colin was withholding information and the bank decided they couldn't work with him anymore and approached Steve which is why he's back in some regard now. The company was actually going to go into administration this month before the bank intervened. That's how badly Colin messed up the company. How much influence Steve'll have over what happens going forward I don't know but I honestly don't think he wanted to come back in the first place.

Anyway take what you will from this

Thank you very much for your courage in posting this. I know you would have thought long and hard about it and it is appreciated. x

 

[Dazzles]

You'll have to excuse me on somethings because my information comes secondhand as I don't work there anymore and I may or may not respond to any questions because I don't come on here a lot so I might miss them.

Unless something major happens the company is going to be around until April next year minimum. However they are currently in a bad spot right now. I won't say figures but they need a make a certain amount of money before April 2024 or they will close down. If they do make enough money Santander (Who they took out the stupid loan with) will look at renegotiating said loan because Colin was a moron and based the repayment amount off what the company was making during covid (which was a lot)

What happened is it was decided by someone or some people (No idea who) that we would beome an employee partnership and buy 75% of the company from Steve. This was all fine and we were steadily paying back Steve. Then for whatever reason Steve decided he wanted the rest of the money he was owed straight away. So to cover this they took out a loan with Santander, Steve got paid off and went on his merry way not looking back or caring about what happened to Gemporia even though he still owned 75%. Then after the world started going back to normal things started to get difficult. It was harder to get stock in (which is why you keep seeing the same stuff over and over again. We were sick of it too) and prices shot up. As well as that the pound crashed and they buy everyting in US dollars so the exchange rates meant everything was more expensive to bring in.

Communication in the company was appalling. Colin would never respond to anyone so unless you were actually in front of him the likelihood of ever getting any answers were slim. Even then when you did speak to him it always seemed like he didn't know what he was doing. Gemporia was falling on hard times and needed a leader but he certainly wasn't it. He was at the top looking after his do no wrong merchandise team who were some of the rudest and most unhelpful people I ever had the unfortunate pleasure of working with. Honestly trying to schedule a good show was next to impossible with those lot around. Not even mentioning the sales managers who were beyond useless. That position eventually got removed and was overseen solely by Colin who couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag.

By the way the working on tiny margins thing a complete load of bull. You see those pieces of Jade on screen pretty much every day? It's because they're the only things currently in stock that actually makes any money. This is because they cost something like £2 to make and then they mark it up to £100+ pounds. It's daylight robbery especially when you look at the actual quality. Oh and don't even get me started on what they actually say regarding treatments. Just one example was a really expensive parabia they sold a month or so back. Jake was on screen saying it was natural. HE'D CHANGED THE RECORDS TO MAKE IT SAY NATURAL. Whether this was orginally a mistake or he's lying I can't say because I genuinely don't know but you guys can be the judges of that.

As for Jake now being made the new MD I think that's a horrendous decision. He was always a very demanding guest for our directors but in the new plan when the redundancies were announced he and Colin thought it was a good idea to have directors doing 8 hours on air each to cover the 16 hours of live tv each day. He was happy to work them into the ground. I don't know if they've adjusted them now but the prerecorded shows are just taken as a 4 hour block. If a presenter runs over you'll just see them get cut off mid sentence which is honestly hilarious to see. Professionalism doesn't exist for the prerecords. Probably because no one in production ever thought they were a good idea.

Any coming to my last bit of info. Colin was withholding information and the bank decided they couldn't work with him anymore and approached Steve which is why he's back in some regard now. The company was actually going to go into administration this month before the bank intervened. That's how badly Colin messed up the company. How much influence Steve'll have over what happens going forward I don't know but I honestly don't think he wanted to come back in the first place.

Anyway take what you will from this

This is fascinating stuff and suggests that Steve is responsible for more of the decline than anyone thought.

On the Jade and the Paraiba......wow.

While this is the shopping telly equivalent of the best gossip ever, you may actually want to remove your post. The reason I say that is because if Gemporia are litigious they can tie you up with a defamation claim as what you say is very damaging to trust in the channel and in its presenters even if it is true. I've seen accusations of defamation/libel that are very costly to defend even if the accused is innocent. I think your account is very credible, but I also don't want to see you get into bother for posting on a forum and you've certainly made them sound like the type.

You've certainly opened my eyes here for sure...

 

[rubia]

You'll have to excuse me on somethings because my information comes secondhand as I don't work there anymore and I may or may not respond to any questions because I don't come on here a lot so I might miss them.

Unless something major happens the company is going to be around until April next year minimum. However they are currently in a bad spot right now. I won't say figures but they need a make a certain amount of money before April 2024 or they will close down. If they do make enough money Santander (Who they took out the stupid loan with) will look at renegotiating said loan because Colin was a moron and based the repayment amount off what the company was making during covid (which was a lot)

What happened is it was decided by someone or some people (No idea who) that we would beome an employee partnership and buy 75% of the company from Steve. This was all fine and we were steadily paying back Steve. Then for whatever reason Steve decided he wanted the rest of the money he was owed straight away. So to cover this they took out a loan with Santander, Steve got paid off and went on his merry way not looking back or caring about what happened to Gemporia even though he still owned 75%. Then after the world started going back to normal things started to get difficult. It was harder to get stock in (which is why you keep seeing the same stuff over and over again. We were sick of it too) and prices shot up. As well as that the pound crashed and they buy everyting in US dollars so the exchange rates meant everything was more expensive to bring in.

Communication in the company was appalling. Colin would never respond to anyone so unless you were actually in front of him the likelihood of ever getting any answers were slim. Even then when you did speak to him it always seemed like he didn't know what he was doing. Gemporia was falling on hard times and needed a leader but he certainly wasn't it. He was at the top looking after his do no wrong merchandise team who were some of the rudest and most unhelpful people I ever had the unfortunate pleasure of working with. Honestly trying to schedule a good show was next to impossible with those lot around. Not even mentioning the sales managers who were beyond useless. That position eventually got removed and was overseen solely by Colin who couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag.

By the way the working on tiny margins thing a complete load of bull. You see those pieces of Jade on screen pretty much every day? It's because they're the only things currently in stock that actually makes any money. This is because they cost something like £2 to make and then they mark it up to £100+ pounds. It's daylight robbery especially when you look at the actual quality. Oh and don't even get me started on what they actually say regarding treatments. Just one example was a really expensive parabia they sold a month or so back. Jake was on screen saying it was natural. HE'D CHANGED THE RECORDS TO MAKE IT SAY NATURAL. Whether this was orginally a mistake or he's lying I can't say because I genuinely don't know but you guys can be the judges of that.

As for Jake now being made the new MD I think that's a horrendous decision. He was always a very demanding guest for our directors but in the new plan when the redundancies were announced he and Colin thought it was a good idea to have directors doing 8 hours on air each to cover the 16 hours of live tv each day. He was happy to work them into the ground. I don't know if they've adjusted them now but the prerecorded shows are just taken as a 4 hour block. If a presenter runs over you'll just see them get cut off mid sentence which is honestly hilarious to see. Professionalism doesn't exist for the prerecords. Probably because no one in production ever thought they were a good idea.

Any coming to my last bit of info. Colin was withholding information and the bank decided they couldn't work with him anymore and approached Steve which is why he's back in some regard now. The company was actually going to go into administration this month before the bank intervened. That's how badly Colin messed up the company. How much influence Steve'll have over what happens going forward I don't know but I honestly don't think he wanted to come back in the first place.

Anyway take what you will from this

Thank you for your post it answered many of the questions I had and also clarified lots of other queries. I never understood Steve hiring Colin Wagstaff he did a lot of damage at TJC don't know how he wangled the job. His is arrogance takes your breath away! I decided this week I will no longer be buying from Gems for a while I need to see a great improvement both in quality etc. But for me listening to the awful presenters which are left doesn't make me want to watch anyway. I'm not sure Steve can pull this back but I hope so I would like him to stop these long drawn out introductions they go on far too long and are repetitive. However one of the things I've taken from your post is I feel quite cheated and lied to but at least I now know why I have had to send soo many items back because of the quality......and waited a month for my refund.......no more

 

[SnowMoon]

This is fascinating stuff and suggests that Steve is responsible for more of the decline than anyone thought.

On the Jade and the Paraiba......wow.

While this is the shopping telly equivalent of the best gossip ever, you may actually want to remove your post. The reason I say that is because if Gemporia are litigious they can tie you up with a defamation claim as what you say is very damaging to trust in the channel and in its presenters even if it is true. I've seen accusations of defamation/libel that are very costly to defend even if the accused is innocent. I think your account is very credible, but I also don't want to see you get into bother for posting on a forum and you've certainly made them sound like the type.

You've certainly opened my eyes here for sure...

Please do think about this Townieland. I am not sure if you have covered your tracks or not - IT-wise - in no way am I trying to silence you. But I do not want to see you burned or persecuted in any way for simply telling the truth. Hopefully, you will have covered your tracks - just in case there were any legal moves. Mind you, a legal case about this would probably draw more media attention to them than just ignoring it would. But you know them better than I do.

 

[Honeybees rule]

I was actually going to post about what Lynn had said but you beat me to it. I am truly surprised, because I too see him as part of the problem. It makes me think that Steve and Sarah's return may not be the laying down of the path to recovery that I expected, if they thought it was a good idea to promote Jake to managing director.

Isn't Jake Steve's son in law...?

 

[Sazza]

Isn't Jake Steve's son in law...?

Yes he is

 

[TheManWithNoName]

Isn't Jake Steve's son in law...?

Hence why I imagine he's got so high up at Gemporia.

 

[Honeybees rule]

Yes he is

Maybe it's a trust issue after all the apparent difficulties and he thinks he can trust a son in law.

 

[harrytumkins]

It being anyone but Colin based on plenty of evidence anybody can now see must be a bonus

 

[TheManWithNoName]

It being anyone but Colin based on plenty of evidence anybody can now see must be a bonus

I'd say its a step sideways based on:

a) Jake having no experience of running a company.
b) Jake being part of the problem that got Gemporia to the stage it's at now.
c) Jake was reported to the ASA for making misleading claims on-air - which the ASA investigated and upheld (I know this because it was me that reported him - and the ASA told me of their decision).

Jake is part of the problem - not the cure.

 

[rubia]

I'd say its a step sideways based on:

a) Jake having no experience of running a company.
b) Jake being part of the problem that got Gemporia to the stage it's at now.
c) Jake was reported to the ASA for making misleading claims on-air - which the ASA investigated and upheld (I know this because it was me that reported him - and the ASA told me of their decision).

Jake is part of the problem - not the cure.

I did wonder about him having any experience ........this forum is quite eye an opener to the goings on at gemporia, some of the things I have read about make me feel quite foolish now. I have spent a lot of money with them especially in the early days when I thought it was a good company but now well......

 

[Imogene9500]

You'll have to excuse me on somethings because my information comes secondhand as I don't work there anymore and I may or may not respond to any questions because I don't come on here a lot so I might miss them.

Unless something major happens the company is going to be around until April next year minimum. However they are currently in a bad spot right now. I won't say figures but they need a make a certain amount of money before April 2024 or they will close down. If they do make enough money Santander (Who they took out the stupid loan with) will look at renegotiating said loan because Colin was a moron and based the repayment amount off what the company was making during covid (which was a lot)

What happened is it was decided by someone or some people (No idea who) that we would beome an employee partnership and buy 75% of the company from Steve. This was all fine and we were steadily paying back Steve. Then for whatever reason Steve decided he wanted the rest of the money he was owed straight away. So to cover this they took out a loan with Santander, Steve got paid off and went on his merry way not looking back or caring about what happened to Gemporia even though he still owned 75%. Then after the world started going back to normal things started to get difficult. It was harder to get stock in (which is why you keep seeing the same stuff over and over again. We were sick of it too) and prices shot up. As well as that the pound crashed and they buy everyting in US dollars so the exchange rates meant everything was more expensive to bring in.

Communication in the company was appalling. Colin would never respond to anyone so unless you were actually in front of him the likelihood of ever getting any answers were slim. Even then when you did speak to him it always seemed like he didn't know what he was doing. Gemporia was falling on hard times and needed a leader but he certainly wasn't it. He was at the top looking after his do no wrong merchandise team who were some of the rudest and most unhelpful people I ever had the unfortunate pleasure of working with. Honestly trying to schedule a good show was next to impossible with those lot around. Not even mentioning the sales managers who were beyond useless. That position eventually got removed and was overseen solely by Colin who couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag.

By the way the working on tiny margins thing a complete load of bull. You see those pieces of Jade on screen pretty much every day? It's because they're the only things currently in stock that actually makes any money. This is because they cost something like £2 to make and then they mark it up to £100+ pounds. It's daylight robbery especially when you look at the actual quality. Oh and don't even get me started on what they actually say regarding treatments. Just one example was a really expensive parabia they sold a month or so back. Jake was on screen saying it was natural. HE'D CHANGED THE RECORDS TO MAKE IT SAY NATURAL. Whether this was orginally a mistake or he's lying I can't say because I genuinely don't know but you guys can be the judges of that.

As for Jake now being made the new MD I think that's a horrendous decision. He was always a very demanding guest for our directors but in the new plan when the redundancies were announced he and Colin thought it was a good idea to have directors doing 8 hours on air each to cover the 16 hours of live tv each day. He was happy to work them into the ground. I don't know if they've adjusted them now but the prerecorded shows are just taken as a 4 hour block. If a presenter runs over you'll just see them get cut off mid sentence which is honestly hilarious to see. Professionalism doesn't exist for the prerecords. Probably because no one in production ever thought they were a good idea.

Any coming to my last bit of info. Colin was withholding information and the bank decided they couldn't work with him anymore and approached Steve which is why he's back in some regard now. The company was actually going to go into administration this month before the bank intervened. That's how badly Colin messed up the company. How much influence Steve'll have over what happens going forward I don't know but I honestly don't think he wanted to come back in the first place.

Anyway take what you will from this

You'll have to excuse me on somethings because my information comes secondhand as I don't work there anymore and I may or may not respond to any questions because I don't come on here a lot so I might miss them.

Unless something major happens the company is going to be around until April next year minimum. However they are currently in a bad spot right now. I won't say figures but they need a make a certain amount of money before April 2024 or they will close down. If they do make enough money Santander (Who they took out the stupid loan with) will look at renegotiating said loan because Colin was a moron and based the repayment amount off what the company was making during covid (which was a lot)

What happened is it was decided by someone or some people (No idea who) that we would beome an employee partnership and buy 75% of the company from Steve. This was all fine and we were steadily paying back Steve. Then for whatever reason Steve decided he wanted the rest of the money he was owed straight away. So to cover this they took out a loan with Santander, Steve got paid off and went on his merry way not looking back or caring about what happened to Gemporia even though he still owned 75%. Then after the world started going back to normal things started to get difficult. It was harder to get stock in (which is why you keep seeing the same stuff over and over again. We were sick of it too) and prices shot up. As well as that the pound crashed and they buy everyting in US dollars so the exchange rates meant everything was more expensive to bring in.

Communication in the company was appalling. Colin would never respond to anyone so unless you were actually in front of him the likelihood of ever getting any answers were slim. Even then when you did speak to him it always seemed like he didn't know what he was doing. Gemporia was falling on hard times and needed a leader but he certainly wasn't it. He was at the top looking after his do no wrong merchandise team who were some of the rudest and most unhelpful people I ever had the unfortunate pleasure of working with. Honestly trying to schedule a good show was next to impossible with those lot around. Not even mentioning the sales managers who were beyond useless. That position eventually got removed and was overseen solely by Colin who couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag.

By the way the working on tiny margins thing a complete load of bull. You see those pieces of Jade on screen pretty much every day? It's because they're the only things currently in stock that actually makes any money. This is because they cost something like £2 to make and then they mark it up to £100+ pounds. It's daylight robbery especially when you look at the actual quality. Oh and don't even get me started on what they actually say regarding treatments. Just one example was a really expensive parabia they sold a month or so back. Jake was on screen saying it was natural. HE'D CHANGED THE RECORDS TO MAKE IT SAY NATURAL. Whether this was orginally a mistake or he's lying I can't say because I genuinely don't know but you guys can be the judges of that.

As for Jake now being made the new MD I think that's a horrendous decision. He was always a very demanding guest for our directors but in the new plan when the redundancies were announced he and Colin thought it was a good idea to have directors doing 8 hours on air each to cover the 16 hours of live tv each day. He was happy to work them into the ground. I don't know if they've adjusted them now but the prerecorded shows are just taken as a 4 hour block. If a presenter runs over you'll just see them get cut off mid sentence which is honestly hilarious to see. Professionalism doesn't exist for the prerecords. Probably because no one in production ever thought they were a good idea.

Any coming to my last bit of info. Colin was withholding information and the bank decided they couldn't work with him anymore and approached Steve which is why he's back in some regard now. The company was actually going to go into administration this month before the bank intervened. That's how badly Colin messed up the company. How much influence Steve'll have over what happens going forward I don't know but I honestly don't think he wanted to come back in the first place.

Anyway take what you will from this

Thank you for sharing, it certainly does not present a pretty picture of Gemporia management, ethics and financial stability, yet resonates with what we have seen recently and the experience a lot of us have had over recent times with quality and customer service. Unfortunately Gemporia has turned into a company that does not listen to the people that keep it in business which is a critical error. One thing that stood out for me was when I bought one of Hattie's so called own design jumpers and it arrived with a Paul James knitwear label. I looked on their website and surprise surprise there were the rest of Hattie's designs. I raised this with Jayne Sankey in CS but she took ages to reply and when she did was dismissive and rude. I was also blocked from Hattie's Instagram and from sending messages to the studio after I asked Hattie if her designs were Paul James. I was told they did not allow messages that could cause upset to presenters....

 

[Imogene9500]

Paul James knitwear is fab by the way and head and shoulders above anything Destello has offered since IMO, so grateful for the introduction as I've bought a number of item directly from them

 

[historymystery]

No…not really. I’ve only seen two people that are leaving, you’ve mentioned a fair few, have they all said it on tv? And HANG ON ONE SECOND…you’re NOT GOING TO SEND YOUR TWO PAGE ESSAY TO COLIN?! That’s hilarious!! Yeah, write it on a forum, you’re doing well

Wasn't it you who criticised someone else for using block caps? Go take a chill pill (oh, and give Steve my best regards...)

 

[Imogene9500]

Wasn't it you who criticised someone else for using block caps? Go take a chill pill (oh, and give Steve my best regards...)

Oh dear ... she's back ....

 

[historymystery]

Because I haven’t moaned about the channel and simply asked questions, I’m arguing. If people are tired, there’s no need to keep replying. Am I really the only one that finds the original post odd?

Yes, you are the only one. Well, you did ask....