i really do try to love

[wireless]

I try, I really do try to love Gems TV.

I will honest and say they are very watch able and the presenters are good. Some of the old timer women presenters spout utter patronising rubbish but I just ignore it. I find the male presenters on Gems TV amusing and interesting . Some of the new girls are fresh and trying to do their best.

So I flick between here and Rocks and Co. There is no doubt prices on Gems TV are far more competitive but each time I am tempted and buy some pieces, I am always very disappointed with the diamond quality , the poor gold weight and very cheap poorly finished setting and the gem stones are just not the same quality/clarity of their more expensive shopping channel competitor .

So the Gems order always goes back, costing me time and postage and whereas I always love the Jewellery and Gemstone quality of Rocks and Co, their gold can be cheese wire thin but the setting doesn't look so cheap and their diamonds maybe tiny chips but they are bright and white so I always keep the Rocks stuff and return the Gems .

Such a shame because I do actually enjoy watching Gems.

Is the moral..........you get what you pay for?

 

[Oops-a-daisy!]

Hi wireless.:hi: Hope you don't mind me putting my two pennies worth in.

I too have a soft spot for GemsTV, having many happy memories of this forum and also being lucky enough to own some lovely pieces of theirs, a few of which would be impossible to find now. After not buying anything from them for well over a year – maybe two, I finally dipped my toe back in the water over Christmas. Ok, I’ve sent the majority back (and am probably on the soon to be banned list – oops), but I’ve been pleased with the few bits I’ve kept – pretty well cut gemstones too. There were two rings I returned (in the garden range I think, or something like that), where the settings were nicely done. Nothing wrong with the gold weight or the prices, I just wasn’t keen on the colour/tone of the gems themselves, but that was just personal taste.

The best purchase so far, that I’m totally in love with, is an Ethiopian opal necklace. It really comes alive with colour and is very clean. I also bought a couple of those gem art boxes, which are really nicely done.

So, it’s not all bad. You just have to see a lot of frogs before you catch a prince! Funnily enough, when I have low expectations of a piece, this is the one that usually surprises me. But ... as you say wireless, the postage costs can really mount up. However, my eager anticipation in waiting for the delivery man to walk up my drive with my parcel makes up for it a bit!

I think R&Co have some unusual and interesting designs. My experience has been a bit hit and miss with them too, though I haven't been tempted by anything lately. I do enjoy watching John though.

More well made settings, GemsTV please, with SI graded diamonds, hefty gold bands and untreated gemstones and I’d be a very happy bunny! On second thoughts, maybe not, as I’d end up spending way too much!

 

[wireless]

I agree with Ooops a daisy, that smile of excitement with the DPD delivery man. The ripping of plastic ( no time to be sensible here and cut the parcel carefully open). Maybe I have been unlucky, but my first reaction to my Gems goodies are" WOW that looks good" and then after the euphoria of getting my goodies, I look more closely at the diamonds ,the setting and think ...."Really???" and back it goes.
In a dream world I would like to watch a channel that has John Scott with Gems Prices and TJC Rhapsody quality.............suppose I am asking too much????

No there isn't really a banned list? Is there?

 

[Pinkpussycat]

I bought loads of jewellery from GEMSTV in the early days (when Steve Ashton was there), mainly from the website which I used to spend hours trawling and trying to judge when the next upload would be so I could pounce! The quality was still a bit hit and miss even then but I did buy some lovely pieces but try as I do now I cannot find anything that gives me that MUST HAVE feeling and the website doesn't inspire me either. I don't watch much at all because I find the presentations fake and very contrived but the times I do briefly switch on the jewellery looks very lightweight and quite tacky to me. In My Opinion.

 

[Sacha]

I bought loads of jewellery from GEMSTV in the early days (when Steve Ashton was there), mainly from the website which I used to spend hours trawling and trying to judge when the next upload would be so I could pounce! The quality was still a bit hit and miss even then but I did buy some lovely pieces but try as I do now I cannot find anything that gives me that MUST HAVE feeling and the website doesn't inspire me either. I don't watch much at all because I find the presentations fake and very contrived but the times I do briefly switch on the jewellery looks very lightweight and quite tacky to me. In My Opinion.

Ah, those were the days! The website in its earlier incarnations was so full of nice and new pieces at the same price as the live auctions, not hiked up like they are now! It was enjoyable to browse and I also did most of my shopping there, when you had time to consider and think and there were proper links to each piece's details. Not forgetting Sazza and SCW who very kindly loaded up all the forthcoming items for us to preview. :clapping:

I'm trying to love GTV again but am so put off by some of the presenters - can't take to the new ladies at all who
(over excitedly and with a lot of arm waving etc) just state the obvious and over concentrate on the price, perhaps due to their lack of product knowledge! And don't get me started on the zoomed in camera work ie close up head and shoulders shots of the presenters and then rapid (queasy) zoom-in to just part of the be-ringed finger. It's hard to see a piece in context in these close ups, I take the clarity of a gem as given but need to see how it looks on a person. I tend to only view when something new or a bit different is being aired.....by favourite presenters (the fellas!)

I like your idea of a dream world wireless. I've never heard of a banned list.....though after this post I might find myself on it! :mysmilie_465:

 

[Maxdiamond]

I have bought from Gems, Rocks and TJC and I can honestly say that the Rocks stuff blows the others out of the water on everything but price. I have a policy of not spending more than £100 and then only rarely as I don't earn much and have to save hard to afford my jewel 'hit'. I'm so glad that Rocks andCo are doing silver shows twice a month now as I feel I can rely on the quality and get more for my hard earned cash now.

 

[Saffy]

I've just about given up trying to like GemsTv. & it's nothing to do with the quality of the jewellery because I do believe that you get what you pay for. My problem is, and always has been with the standard of presenting. The over exaggerated claims are quite frankly misleading & at times outrageous. A few days ago Ray Carpenter was waxing lyrical about a tanzanite ring claiming tanzanite can be worn every day because it is a "durable gemstone!" The meaning of durable as being hard wearing & resistant to damage should never be applied to tanzanite!

 

[wireless]

I watched the Sphene show on Gems today.
Although I want some Sphene pieces , I looked closely at the heavily included gemstones and thought better of it.
Better to pay that bit extra on the t'other R&C channel and get exceptional quality inclusion free gemstones.
Perhaps the shopping channel shows have been their own worst enemy by giving us so much information on Gemstones that we have become mini experts????
I watched the Sphene earring studs that Scott was trying to flog and saw dark specs and clouds in the gemstones and thought ....Not on my nelly will I buy those , I'd rather pay a bit extra and get inclusion free gemstones. Trying to love you Gems but I am slipping away.
I don't get the Tanzanite thing, rare yet everything seems to be Tanzanite, Tanzanite. Wasn't the attraction the magical deep purple blues not the wishy washy AAA and the very pale AA?

 

[Saffy]

Perhaps the shopping channel shows have been their own worst enemy by giving us so much information on Gemstones that we have become mini experts????
I may be wrong Wireless, but I think that the shopping channels don't give us enough information, or perhaps they are just selective in what they tell us. Those of us who read these forums are lucky in that we have experts on hand to guide us, and I have learnt a lot just from reading this forum. My worry though is for the people who just watch & get sucked into the hype & genuinely believe that the gemstones on display are "amazing", "awesome" or "the best ever seen".

 

[jacqualina]

I too so try to love Gems, but because of the presenting style have only watched on my PC with mute and mostly buy from the missed auctions. Is it my imagination or have prices risen quite sharply since the start of the year? I agree that R&C's stones are often far superior, but I also think they are having a laugh with some of their prices. I really can't understand why people snap everything up straightaway, because they nearly always drop their prices quite substantially if nobody comes in. Give Gems their due, they always drop to their pre-planned price even if the item has already sold, whilst R&C are quite happy to sell at their very high initial drop.

 

[Beading Belle]

I am well and truly cured of my bling addiction thanks to all the non watchable channels. Need I say any more :wonder:

 

[Frazzled]

That's how I feel BB, I do dip in and out when I'm bored but can't stand it for more 10-15 minutes or so. I haven't bought a "must have" for a couple of years now, not a bad thing though.