Most of the pitfalls of jewelry stores have been exposed for a long time and have no effect other than spending extra money on the store’s budget to promote these tricks.
Therefore, unscrupulous jewelry stores and manufacturers of jewelry made of precious metals are resorting to newer and more sophisticated ways to attract gullible customers.
The most insidious and relevant traps that most buyers fall for today will be discussed in this article.
Choosing a gold ring with a diamond, which I wrote about in one of the previous articles, I ran into one very tempting and very attractive offer from a local store. Which almost made me make this purchase.
We are talking about a lifetime guarantee for a gold ring with a large diamond, which seemed to me a very profitable solution that allows you to insure against the loss of an expensive stone. But it was not there!
After reviewing the conditions, I realized that it was cheaper for me to just buy a new ring with a more expensive diamond than to pay a guarantee on the old one.
The “contract” states that in order to receive a guarantee for a piece of jewelry, it is necessary to undergo an inspection and cleaning of a gold accessory by a jeweler every six months. Naturally not free. The ring must not be worn if, for example, you wash dishes with an alkaline detergent. The ring cannot be “rolled out” to change the size, and most importantly, if, if the precious insert is lost, traces of mechanical stress (for example, deep scratches or chips) are visible on the jewelry, then you lose the guarantee, because this is not a factory defect, and no one will compensate you for the damage .
Therefore, if you take an expensive ring with a lifetime guarantee, do not hesitate to find out the terms of the contract. After reading them, I came to the conclusion that it is much more profitable to take jewelry with a standard, free warranty of 6 months.
The next catch is simpler, but less noticeable.
Exchange of old gold for new. This is a very profitable innovation, but not if you rent relatively new accessories or gold with diamonds. Precious stones often do not affect the price of an exchange copy, and the delivery of a new item that has not yet become obsolete can be of little profit, since you sell it as scrap gold, but bought scrap and shop wrap for the price.
Therefore, before you exchange a gold ring, see if you could sell your jewelry for more than what the store offers.
The most insidious trap.
More insidious methods of fooling, unfortunately, are used by those whom buyers trust the most, namely jewelers.
Their trap is as follows. You bring the product for remelting or repair. The jeweler finds out when you bought it and issues his verdict that the gold in the jewelry is of a very low standard.
If the ring was bought a long time ago, you will not go to the store to return your money. And the jeweler takes advantage of this, offering you the only sure option to hand over this gold to him at a lower price tag or exchange it for a ready-made piece of jewelry with an unknown content of the precious metal.