Ladies a few points for you to consider:-
1. In the UK we do not have firm rules regarding disclosure.
2. GemsTV ARE disclosing by having treatments listed on a treatments page HOWEVER, I don't believe this goes far enough see my complaint to the ASA below.
3. Tanzanian Rubies are, I am almost positive, BE diffused - so although they may not be filled, they are also aggressively treated. It may be that when they first were sold by GemsTV these weren't treated in any way (and Steve Ashton confirmed to me that they had been heated but not treated) BUT I have never really felt comfortable about them. There's something wrong. BE produces blood red, excellent clarity gemstones and that's what Tanzanian Rubies are.
4. Yes that is the same Richard Hughes which is why I cannot ever believe that he has joined GemsTV.
I am sharing with you all a complaint I sent to the ASA about coated diamonds last night. I feel incredibly strongly about this subject and the ASA has acted on a similar complaint against TJC in the past so:
Coated diamonds are relatively new to the industry. They are diamonds that are coated with an unstable substance to give them the appearance of a fancy coloured diamond (i.e. blue, green, pink, red etc). It has not been proven that this coating is permanent and a great deal of care has to be taken with coated diamonds to ensure the coating does not scratch off. Thus, coated diamonds cannot be compared to any other diamonds on the market (especially coloured diamonds).
Irradiated diamonds or those coloured using the HPHT process are accepted in the industry so long as they are sold with full disclosure. The treatment is permanent and no additional care is required. GemsTV have sold many of these in the past. Coated diamonds are still, thankfully, very rare in the UK.
During October and November 2009 GemsTV started to sell coated diamonds without disclosure during their TV auctions. Therefore the buyer, especially if familiar with their products, will have (and have) bought under the premise that these are irradiated or HPHT colour treated diamonds.
At some point, GemsTV added a section on their enhancement page that discloses coated diamonds but says that it's use is "rare" thus reinforcing the message that the enhancement page is for information only and does not necessarily apply to GemsTV products.
I believe that by GemsTV not declaring that these diamonds are coated is grossly misleading. GemsTV rely on an enhancements page on their website to give information to buyers BUT this does not give information at the point of sale or identify what, if any, treatments have been applied to specific pieces. There is no clarity. The enhancement page itself says "We do our best to describe our gems in a clear, consistent and honest fashion. Our approach is to give our customers the same information we would like if we were purchasing the piece. Our mantra is to be true both to our customers and to the precious stones with which we are privileged to work." Quite clearly they are NOT describing their gemstones in a clear or honest manner.
Furthermore, they state "GemsTV takes enhancement disclosure seriously and, to the best of our ability, provides our clients with complete information on any and all enhancements to which a gem has been subjected. The descriptions we provide below are based upon those of the American Gem Trade Association guidelines (the most stringent in the industry). While many enhancements are currently undetectable, GemsTV does its best to ensure that clients have full access to information for an informed buying decision." Again I would dispute that they provide complete information or accurate information at the point of sale. The onus is firmly on the customer to speak to customer services for clarification. At that point (as evidenced below) they may or may not be given accurate information.
If a customer only has access to a telephone and TV and buys jewellery from GemsTV in that manner, they will not have the opportunity of reading the enhancements page. Even if they have, the information is less than clear.
On 18th November at approximately 8pm I spoke with Ben one of the Customer Service Team Leaders who categorically told me that the diamond earrings I was going to purchase were DEFINITELY not coated and that GemsTV did not sell coated diamonds. He explained that the enhancements page was "generic" and not specific.
On 25th November, another customer received an email from John Butler of GemsTV in response to the same query to say that the diamonds WERE coated. On 26th November another customer was emailed with the same information.
Several years ago, the ASA investigated a complaint by a buyer of Coated Pink Topaz from The Jewellery Channel as they had not declared the coating. The ASA ruled in favour of the buyer and The Jewellery Channel have since amended all their TV auctions to clearly state where coatings have been applied.
As this is a specialised area, may I ask that you make your own investigations to determine whether the industry believes this treatment be disclosed? I think you will find that without exception the information you will find will say that this treatment MUST be disclosed prior to sale. May I respectfully ask that you contact Safeguard who are the valuation arm of the Birmingham Assay Office (or approach the Birmingham Assay Office direct) for their views as they are independent?
To assist with your research into this complaint I am attaching links to several articles that you may also find helpful:
http://accreditedgemologists.org/art...r-diamonds.pdf
http://www.eglcanada.ca/media/Summar...D_DIAMONDS.pdf
To conclude, it is my belief that GemsTV are grossly misleading their customers by not declaring a gemstone treatment that has a detrimental effect to the price and longevity of these pieces of jewellery.
I have to tell you that I have never ever felt the need to report GemsTV before. I have always bought from them and even when others had moved away, I still bought from them. This however, for me, is a step too far.
You will appreciate that by sharing GemsTV will have prior knowledge of the complaint but I have taken screen dumps of the enhancement page in case they change it. At the end of the day, it is ethical, in my view, that treatments should be disclosed for each individual piece and this applies to GemsTV, Rocks and Co and RocksTV (who don't even have an enhancements page at the current time).
Oh, and if GemsTV really cared as per the note posted on here via Graham, why have they not replied? This is a no brainer. They know what they sell and if they're happy to sell that rubbish then they should be happy to say "yes, we are selling coated diamonds and it applies to product numbers between X and Y. All other coloured diamonds in our range are [insert name of treatment]". If they wanted to go a step further they could even say "and in the spirit of disclosure we will ensure that all future TV auctions will have the word "coated" inserted in the title as appropriate". Job done.
