Sarah B kindly emailed me twice re the New Website!

[Mirabelle]

Sarah Bennett January 2 at 1:44pm Report
Hi Mary

I noticed your post on shopping telly and thought i should repsond to you...

Live help and chat will be returning as soon as possible it is just that to get the new website up and running was the main priority. Whilst we are perceived to be a big company in terms of emplyees Steve and I do not have a big management team so we have to get all these things done on our own whilst trying to have a break with our family.

As I said all the normal features will return just unfortunately not straight away.

Best Wishes for 2011

Sarah


and again with this email..thank you Sarah for your responses..

Sarah Bennett January 2 at 2:28pm Report
Hi Mary,

For some reason people seem to think that we have given up on Rocks when in actual fact it made no sense for us to have 2 auction channels with different names. The two channels were competing against each other and that is very silly. It really was confusing many people who didn't even realise the two channels were the same company!

Gems Extra is still Rocks just with a different name so nothing will change. Product the same, pricing the same, service the same. It just means we can have one set of packaging and make things a lot easier for our warehouse.

As always we have teething problems and we will take a small step backwards for a week or two but we are doing all these things now so that we can focus this next year on fine tuning everything so that all our processes work smoothly. It has been one heck of a rollercoaster six months for us! There are indeed desicions we have to make which many people will not understand but at times we have to make decisions which are right for us and the business.


Best Wishes

Sarah

Thanks for the input Sarah!.

Mirabelle:flower:

 

[yazrose]

Nice of her to send you a message.

However, I am sure if they had contacted Graham and asked if they could do a thread explaining their decisions, sticky it, then close it so no-one can reply, he would have granted them there wish.

To leave people with no explanation is unprofessional, like she said it has been 6 months.

 

[Beading Belle]

I agree Yaz. An e-mail to Graham would have been much better. At least we now know that they still read ST.

Time will tell regarding the changes :smile:

 

[Meeshoo]

Totally unprofessional emailing you and saying "some people seem to think ......"

I hate this underhand way of trying to avoid posting on here and taking questions. If the decision is not to post then fine (and actually I don't blame them) but they shouldn't use customers to do their work for them.

Sorry but I really abhor this.


Edit: Also, if Sarah takes the time to email one person then why couldn't she just have done one message on here? Why keep one poster in the loop and nobody else? Unprofessional.

 

[PJ.]

Maybe Sarah will now be kind enough to let us know what they meant by Clearance (in case it comes back again) and Sale. I am going to contact trading standards but I am sure you have to put what the price used to be and when it was that price too (hence why some shops put their prices up in certain shops for a short amount of time to claim it was 50% off). What if the auction finishes quickly, and they are not down to a sale price yet. I just don't understand how a genuine (as we are always told) reverse auction can be called a Sale.

Also maybe she will be kind enough to confirm the lowest price guarantee still exists and is it just me or does it not say Auction Activated and more? Are they quietly dropping that so they can close half sold auctions?


PJ

 

[Mrs James]

erm these emails seem to have changed since i first read them?

 

[Mirabelle]

yes i edited it

erm these emails seem to have changed since i first read them?

Hi Mrs James,
Yes it was I that edited them, I posted so people could read what was said about the website, hoping they were of help. Don't shoot the messenger i was only helping you all out

Mirabelle

 

[Sarah Bennett]

Hi All,

I am currently on holiday at the moment but i thought that i should post as there are obviously some areas of concern.

Lately Steve and myself have refrained from posting on the forum as there are clearly topics where no matter what we say it will not please people so we thought it best not to say anything at all.

However to answer the questions by PJ as to whether we are in a sale at the moment the answer is catagorically yes. I have checked our figures this morning and since the sale began on Monday the 20th December our prices on average are 19.8% lower than before.

I would also like to clarify that yes, all price pledges still exsist. Regarding Auction activated we are just waiting for this feature to be written in the new software.

I do hope this explains.

Kind Regards

Sarah Bennett

 

[Mirabelle]

I have refrained from posting for a very long time, and my first posting since returning was to wish all forum members A Happy New Year in another thread.

I'm just pleased that Sarah took the time and trouble to let us know of things one way or the other.

Mirabelle

 

[yazrose]

Totally unprofessional emailing you and saying "some people seem to think ......"

I hate this underhand way of trying to avoid posting on here and taking questions. If the decision is not to post then fine (and actually I don't blame them) but they shouldn't use customers to do their work for them.

Sorry but I really abhor this.


Edit: Also, if Sarah takes the time to email one person then why couldn't she just have done one message on here? Why keep one poster in the loop and nobody else? Unprofessional.

I don't blame them either.

However, history has proved with other shopping channels, that you don't post on here and have that much contact with the customers, it always turns bad, thats the nature of it.

In business, you have to take the good reviews with the bad, you cannot just have the good and they choose to have that much contact with the customers on here.

Being in the business they are they should have known that you don't have that much contact with your customers cause in the end, it turns and it turned for them.

I always thought it was a bad idea for them to be posting on here the way they did.
Not that I didn't ask for help myself from them.

They should have had the business sense, if they wanted their responses on here to complaints or anything else that cropped up, to contact Graham, do a thoughtful response that covers everything (or as much as is possible) then sticky it and close it each time they felt it required a response.


Now, they show again how unprofessional they look, by not doing a mass email to all customers, from Rocks and Gems, to explain this, 6 months is a long time, someone could have done a rough draft surely.
Or to contact Graham on here and do a thread explaining, sticky it and close it.

From here it doesn't look like they have been in business as long as they have. It looks like they are new business altogether!

It just looks and comes across as being very unprofessional. Sorry but it does.

 

[Meeshoo]

I agree with you Yaz and don't disagree with any of your points but if I may I'd like to put a slightly different angle to the debate (not with you Yaz but in general).

I have never (and would never) expect a response on here to a query. If I have a query, I will contact GemsTV or one of their representatives. If I feel the answer may help others I may well share what I've been told - but it's always generic IYKWIM.

I don't think it's right to demand (might be too strong a word) that GemsTV or Rocks do anything - either to keep their viewers informed or otherwise. Clearly they make business decisions and you can bet your life that whatever they do, there will always be some who won't like it! We may think their actions are short-sighted, wrong or completely understandable but at the end of the day, it's their choice.

However, what I don't understand is why the Bennett's have never said before that they are not going to participate in the forum anymore because it can prove contraversial. Sarah's note above is, I believe, the first time that this has been said outright. Rather than going silent for months however, it would have been polite and prudent to simply ask Graham to post (or post themselves) to say they were withdrawing from posting on the forum. It would also have stopped the numerous threads saying "please can the Bennett's answer ........".

In terms of their participation? TJC have never participated on this site and they've (in the past) had their fair share of problems. Sometimes the less said the better! The problem for the Bennetts is that they introduced chat, encouraged people to participate and discuss on the forum and then ............. silence.

All of the shopping channels read this forum and I'm absolutely certain make note of what they feel is important/changes to consider. So our participation and discussions are extremely useful I would think. I guess we just have to do it without direct input from now on.

 

[yazrose]

I agree with you Yaz and don't disagree with any of your points but if I may I'd like to put a slightly different angle to the debate (not with you Yaz but in general).

I have never (and would never) expect a response on here to a query. If I have a query, I will contact GemsTV or one of their representatives. If I feel the answer may help others I may well share what I've been told - but it's always generic IYKWIM.

I don't think it's right to demand (might be too strong a word) that GemsTV or Rocks do anything - either to keep their viewers informed or otherwise. Clearly they make business decisions and you can bet your life that whatever they do, there will always be some who won't like it! We may think their actions are short-sighted, wrong or completely understandable but at the end of the day, it's their choice.

However, what I don't understand is why the Bennett's have never said before that they are not going to participate in the forum anymore because it can prove contraversial. Sarah's note above is, I believe, the first time that this has been said outright. Rather than going silent for months however, it would have been polite and prudent to simply ask Graham to post (or post themselves) to say they were withdrawing from posting on the forum. It would also have stopped the numerous threads saying "please can the Bennett's answer ........".

In terms of their participation? TJC have never participated on this site and they've (in the past) had their fair share of problems. Sometimes the less said the better! The problem for the Bennetts is that they introduced chat, encouraged people to participate and discuss on the forum and then ............. silence.

All of the shopping channels read this forum and I'm absolutely certain make note of what they feel is important/changes to consider. So our participation and discussions are extremely useful I would think. I guess we just have to do it without direct input from now on.

Exactly, I believe from other threads in the past that some presenters from QVC USED to post on here but do not anymore, I assume, thats because of negative comments, but I have never heard anyone say that the managers themselves posted on here.

Presenters posting is one thing but managers......it is not very professional.
I mean they choose to come on here and post and reply, then to suddenly stop is not very good or very polite.

I never really understood why they did that, although is was thoughtful, it was also very foolish, in a business sense.

 

[yazrose]

oh and didn't Gems have a 'Chat' function as well?

Customer participation never turns out well, in the end anyway.

 

[iclaudipuss]

They've lost my business and they won't be getting it back. And I'm completely unimpressed with their reasons for not posting on here any longer. It's incredibly patronising to state that they won't post here because there are some people they will never please no matter what they do. Perhaps they would please people if they answered the questions asked of them, instead of side-stepping with the usual mantra of "email us if you have a problem". They never popped on to a thread praising them to say, "We'd prefer it if you emailed us with these comments" did they? So in other words, they wanted all the postives of a forum with none of the negatives.

They've never explained why they encourage their presenters to shout and mislead customers, in spite of the fact that we have constantly asked them why they do this when it's so unpopular with long-standing buyers.

Where is the explanation for the constant 'clearance' that was anything but?

How can there be a price pledge in place when it now appears that things go to the exact same price or higher every time they appear?

Where is the explanation for the continued unacceptable length of time it takes to refund a customer, (up to a month) when it takes just a couple of days to take money from the customer after a purchase?

Where is the answer to customers querying the 'genuine falling auction' format? Most interesting that several people on here have given examples of pieces going to the exact same price every time they appear, most notably perhaps, the much hyped 'historic' auctions of the multi-gem necklace and bracelet, which unfailingly go to £129 and £89, no matter whether they appear in a quantity of 200 or 2.

Rocks customers have been treated appallingly, and it appears that they have now been abandoned for the headier joys of Gems and its higher prices. The management should bear in mind that it's easy to gain one-off customers by the bucket-load, but much harder to keep those same customers coming back time and time again.

I don't appreciate being patronised and having my issues glossed over and questions unanswered, so I won't be returning to the fray. Nor will I watch Gems unless Alan is on, since I won't tolerate being shouted at and treated like an imbecile by presenters more suited to CBeebies than grown-up television.

 

[yazrose]

They've lost my business and they won't be getting it back. And I'm completely unimpressed with their reasons for not posting on here any longer. It's incredibly patronising to state that they won't post here because there are some people they will never please no matter what they do. Perhaps they would please people if they answered the questions asked of them, instead of side-stepping with the usual mantra of "email us if you have a problem". They never popped on to a thread praising them to say, "We'd prefer it if you emailed us with these comments" did they? So in other words, they wanted all the postives of a forum with none of the negatives.They've never explained why they encourage their presenters to shout and mislead customers, in spite of the fact that we have constantly asked them why they do this when it's so unpopular with long-standing buyers.

Where is the explanation for the constant 'clearance' that was anything but?

How can there be a price pledge in place when it now appears that things go to the exact same price or higher every time they appear?

Where is the explanation for the continued unacceptable length of time it takes to refund a customer, (up to a month) when it takes just a couple of days to take money from the customer after a purchase?

Where is the answer to customers querying the 'genuine falling auction' format? Most interesting that several people on here have given examples of pieces going to the exact same price every time they appear, most notably perhaps, the much hyped 'historic' auctions of the multi-gem necklace and bracelet, which unfailingly go to £129 and £89, no matter whether they appear in a quantity of 200 or 2.

Rocks customers have been treated appallingly, and it appears that they have now been abandoned for the headier joys of Gems and its higher prices. The management should bear in mind that it's easy to gain one-off customers by the bucket-load, but much harder to keep those same customers coming back time and time again.

I don't appreciate being patronised and having my issues glossed over and questions unanswered, so I won't be returning to the fray. Nor will I watch Gems unless Alan is on, since I won't tolerate being shouted at and treated like an imbecile by presenters more suited to CBeebies than grown-up television.

Exactly what I said hun. :sun:

 

[loobi]

Reading all the comments, there are many I agree with..... one however is still perplexing me and can I bore you all again with it.............the concept of Sale or Clearance. I would have thought, we would have expected perhaps to see prices lower than previously paid - so maybe price promise suspended for a short while.... However, 2 bracelets I bought a week before the sale started, came up for sale at 5 each in the sale - now can anyone guess what I paid???? Yep! 5.......(I know, last of the big spenders here) so close to sale starting I would have expected to see those bracelets go lower than the 5 I paid. I might have been naffed off with a suspended price promise but as Sarah infers you cant please everyone all the time. But the sight of prices equal to, or even higher than, recently paid for "sale items" is bound to confuse the consumer and maybe cause a minor diplomatic incident and howls of "not fair"!!!!!

As an aside, i agree a sticky thread with a brief explanation of wt... was going on might have been helpful ...after all we were all happily watching Rocks as internet only just a year ago - and poof! off it went, then chat...and poof! then rockstv ....poof! Just leaves a slight spinning sensation in my poor little brain

ps I note that I never thank anyone for their comments......not being rude - just dont know how to!!!!!!!

 

[PJ.]

Hi All,

I am currently on holiday at the moment but i thought that i should post as there are obviously some areas of concern.

Lately Steve and myself have refrained from posting on the forum as there are clearly topics where no matter what we say it will not please people so we thought it best not to say anything at all.

However to answer the questions by PJ as to whether we are in a sale at the moment the answer is catagorically yes. I have checked our figures this morning and since the sale began on Monday the 20th December our prices on average are 19.8% lower than before.

I would also like to clarify that yes, all price pledges still exsist. Regarding Auction activated we are just waiting for this feature to be written in the new software.

I do hope this explains.

Kind Regards

Sarah Bennett

Hi Sarah, Thank you for taking the time to reply. Can you understand why I (and I think others) are not sure about the sale because the previous price isn't mentioned. If you went to a shop and an item was just called on sale with no reference to how much the discount is or how much % off can you honestly say you would still want it? Is there anyway you could put what the previous price was?

Finally please can you confirm in Gems World, does clearance mean you are having a sale or does clearance mean just getting rid of old stock at the same price? I ask as I have seen examples of people saying some items were dearer in the clearance to previously.

PJ

 

[Sarah Bennett]

Hi PJ,

Just quickly before i go to bed, a clearance for us means that we are trying to clear as many pieces of jewellery from our vault to make room for new lines. We cannot be compared to a shop as we are an auction channel not a fixed price retailer.

Some items which have been on many times before will have several different closing prices. What we have instructed our producers to do for our Big Sale is to sell out of hundreds of different designs.In most cases so far items have been going to to the lowest ever prices.

The price however will always vary depending on the demand for a product as it is an auction.What i can catagorically state is that across the board ( and i can't state figures product by product as this will vary massively) our margin is down by a very long way.

If you would like any more in depth detail please feel free to email me.

Kind Regards

Sarah

 

[PJ.]

Sarah,


I understand what you mean about not being a fixed price shop, but surely there is nothing to stop you from putting how much the item was previously, and then whatever price it does close it, we can see right away how much we are saving in the sale.

EDIT, I forgot to say if you say you don't know how low an item will go in price as this is determined by how quickly they sell, how can you say everything is in the sale, as in theory something could sell higher, as you say prices are not fixed.

Sorry to keep asking questions, I do thank you for taking the time to read and answer.

 

[Meeshoo]

Sarah

I'm confused. A "sale" or "clearance" should not be about your profit margins that is incredibly misleading. Profit margins mean nothing to the consumer if they don't know what they are.

A genuine sale infers that the price will always be lower than on previous occasions. So for a genuine reverse auction the price has to drop to at least £.01p than the previous closing price (and of course GemsTV know what that price is and can easily drop to that price irrespective of demand).

If you are having a "clearance" then the adverts should not state "sale" as this is misleading.

Sale = disposal of goods at a lowered than normal price
Clearance = selling larger quanities of stock that may or may not be at a lowered than normal price