tell her exactly what she has. Besides that risk, by not properly
educating her, you leave her open to making more purchases of fake
and shoddy material. Do you really want your friend to waste more
money on the junk in the future? In our business honesty in all
things is always the best policy.
I do as Daniel does. I believe educating the customer is important.
As important as making or selling jewelry. I am always honest about
defects in craftsmanship, about mistakes in how gems were set, or the
truth about gems purchased.
When I am finished with my evaluation I tell the customer that I am
educating them so they can hold me to the standards I have educated
them as to how things should be. I am very nice in how I explain,
but I am brutally honest. I have
been known to use the word crappy in relationship to gold work and/or
how the gems were set.
I have never had a customer react badly to my evaluation. Quite to
the contrary I believe my customers appreciate my attention to
detail. I also say "I don’t know about you, but some of my customers
work hard for their money and I want to make sure you get the best
value for your money."
I just had a customer who had a ring that needed sizing.
About a week or two later he comes back in, one of the baguettes
fell out. The company he purchased it from on the internet would not
do anything as it had been sized. I explained that I stand behind the
work I do, that the diamond was not set properly and the sizing had
nothing to do with why the diamond fell out. I told him if he had
bought the ring from me I would stand behind what I sold and I would
do the repair for free. I sent him to an appraiser and told him I
will fix it if the appraiser thinks the diamond fell out from the
sizing. I also told him that people buy poorly made jewelry on the
internet, take it to the local jeweler to have something done, as a
result of poor quality craftsmanship a problem develops and they want
to jeweler to take responsibility. He comes back with a written
evaluation of why the diamond fell out, expecting me to fix it.
Apparently he did not read the evaluation. I point to the statement
where the appraiser stated that the stone did not fall out from
having been sized. Then I told him how backed up I was with work and
I could not take in any more repairs now and sent him to the person
who does wholesale repairs for me when I have to sub contract work
out. I did call the repair person and warned him about what had
happened so far.
If the jewelry is from someone local I act as an advocate and advise
the person on what to say and how to stand up for themselves to
request a resolution without having to spend money to correct what
should have been done right to begin with.
I get a lot of referrals. Referrals are pre-sold for repair and
custom work.
Richard Hart G.G.
Jewelers Gallery
Denver, Co