Gemstone jewelry not as represented

[Ragarone3]

I bought an emerald & diamond 14k ring from a New York based jeweler in one of its retail boutiques in the Dominican Republic. The ring was sold to me as being a 1.54 carat emerald. I had it appraised immediately upon returning Stateside by a GIA certified gemologist. The emerald is described in the appraisal as only .96 carat. This is a significant difference (especially with emeralds, as stones above 1 carat are significantly more valuable per point than stones under one carat). The sales contract states that there are no returns, but I believe that would not be enforceable due to the material difference in what they stated they sold to me (in writing) versus what I actually received. I would like to return this to the seller for a full refund. Thoughts or advice?

 

[zddoodah]

Thoughts or advice?

Have you inquired with the seller about the issue? If not, why not? If so, what was the response?

If you are unable to resolve the issue, your recourse is to sue. Depending on how much money is at issue, you may be able to do it in small claims court. And I generally agree with your reasoning that this isn't the sort of situation in which a "no returns" policy would apply.

 

[Ragarone3]

Have you inquired with the seller about the issue? If not, why not? If so, what was the response?

If you are unable to resolve the issue, your recourse is to sue. Depending on how much money is at issue, you may be able to do it in small claims court. And I generally agree with your reasoning that this isn't the sort of situation in which a "no returns" policy would apply.

I haven't contacted them yet. I wanted to formulate what to say and how I'm going to approach them with the issue.

 

[Ragarone3]

I haven't contacted them yet. I wanted to formulate what to say and how I'm going to approach them with the issue.

Should I get a second appraisal before contacting them, or is just this one sufficient? After I bought the ring, I looked at the jewelers BBB rating, which is an F. I'm just anxious about the whole situation.

 

[adjusterjack]

I bought an emerald & diamond 14k ring from a New York based jeweler in one of its retail boutiques in the Dominican Republic.

How much did you pay for it?

You're going to have to determine whether the Dominican Republic retail boutique is actually owned by the NY based jeweler It may be a separate company or a franchise which means you will have to consider the cost of suing in the Dominican Republic.

I haven't contacted them yet. I wanted to formulate what to say and how I'm going to approach them with the issue.

This is all you need to say:

The ring was sold to me as being a 1.54 carat emerald. I had it appraised immediately upon returning Stateside by a GIA certified gemologist. The emerald is described in the appraisal as only .96 carat.

Followed by something like "What do you propose to do about it?"

Should I get a second appraisal before contacting them, or is just this one sufficient?

I'd wait and get a response to the first one before spending money on the second one.

After I bought the ring, I looked at the jewelers BBB rating, which is an F.

For a purchase like that it would have made more sense to check them out before buying.

 

[Ragarone3]

How much did you pay for it?

You're going to have to determine whether the Dominican Republic retail boutique is actually owned by the NY based jeweler It may be a separate company or a franchise which means you will have to consider the cost of suing in the Dominican Republic.

Written on the receipt/sales contract is a directive that all customer service issues must be resolved at the NYC location. From what I've read, the DR boutique is owned by the retailer.

If the response I get from the company is not satisfactory, should I dispute this purchase with AMEX before taking action in court? I'm thinking that couldn't hurt.

I will be contacting the retailer later today.

To answer your question as to the purchase price, it was not a life altering amount, but still significant. It does fall under New York's small claims threshold.

As far as the BBB thing, yeah, I know I f'd up there.

 

[adjusterjack]

Written on the receipt/sales contract is a directive that all customer service issues must be resolved at the NYC location. From what I've read, the DR boutique is owned by the retailer.

OK, that works for you if you are also located in NYC. The small claims limit in NYC is $10,000.

If the response I get from the company is not satisfactory, should I dispute this purchase with AMEX before taking action in court? I'm thinking that couldn't hurt.

If you get the charge reversed by AMEX, you might have some leverage in getting the price adjusted.

Did you pay by credit card?

What do you think "dispute the payment with AMEX" means?

 

[STEPHAN]

What do you think "dispute the payment with AMEX" means?

He added AMEX why I was trying my question.

 

[Ragarone3]

He added AMEX why I was trying my question.

For the sake of accuracy, "she".

 

[zddoodah]

Should I get a second appraisal before contacting them, or is just this one sufficient?

Sufficient for what? Whether two will be more persuasive to the seller than one is anyone's guess. If you sue and have two, it will make your case stronger.

If the response I get from the company is not satisfactory, should I dispute this purchase with AMEX before taking action in court? I'm thinking that couldn't hurt.

I agree.

 

[Ragarone3]

Update: The company stands by their description & has offered to pay for evaluation by an independent gemological laboratory. I'm currently awaiting that report.

 

[adjusterjack]

Are you sure it's an "independent" lab and not one that the store uses regularly to challenge claims?

 

[Ragarone3]

No, but I will look into it after the report comes back. Thanks for the response, I hadn't thought of that.