Unscrupulous?! Scandalous?! Status Quo?!

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 3/3/2010 10:32:49 AM
Author: whitby_2773

Date: 3/3/2010 10:27:11 AM

Author: VapidLapid

Whitby, it is indeed a lady with a big pair of earrings!

Isn''t it odd though that she has two left ears and no right ear?

not at all! i''m sure rorschach and picasso were the best of friends!

(or should that be van gogh?)

(or ear gogh?)

BWAHAHA!

Oh, NSC, every time I read something new about you on here it''s bad. Time for new management.

 

[Gailey]

You know, before I say anything else, I just want to say "Kudos" to VapidLapid for spotting this and bringing it to our attention.

As someone else mentioned, it would not be unexpected from an un-scrupulous e-bay dealer, but the "Natural" Sapphire Company??? Nothing very "Natural" about these stones. Do you think that's why they don't have videos of their pairs?

So I took quite a good look last night (as you might imagine I would!). Here's a pair of perfectly matched half moons. I think this image might have been prepared on a friday afternoon, because they didn't even bother to mirror the image. But they clearly have some clever at work on some of the images. Watch this space .......

 

[gingersnap]

I agree, good on you for catching that and bringing it to the attention of the boards

This is frankly, amazing. I had been giving their photos the benifit of the doubt just because they were a "known" vendor. I never even thought to look at them too hard, mostly because there aren''t any stones I like in my price range (which, coincedently, is $0 right now ) I don''t know that I would have picked up on the rotation if I were going in to buy a pair. I would like to think I would have, but I don''t know that I would.

But, wow. You have to be so careful!

 

[Arkteia]

One of them appears closer than the other one. It is an interesting effect, I don''t know if it was done on purpose to make one look "larger" or happened accidentanlty when they were photoshopping.

 

[Arkteia]

Date: 3/3/2010 10:24:52 AM
Author: Deia
Yea...just wow. I already thought their prices were quite high... now this? I don''t think I will EVER buy from them...they don''t make me feel ''safe'' about purchasing from them at all.. I wonder if all the pictures have been enhanced in some way as well... They are destroying their reputation, whatever is left of it anyway...how sad.

For their prices, they should make customer safe and offer full disclosure.

 

[Gailey]

A pair with the reference number PR1025-B (shown below) are particularly interesting, especially when you blow up the image. The centre part of each stones appears to be the same, but the outer part of the stones look to me to be different. Almost as if a new centre had been superimposed. I''m not a photoshop expert, so I can''t tell if the centre actually belongs to one of the stones or not. So if this were the case, why do you suppose they would do that? To hide a window maybe, or an inclusion?

Sneaky huh?

 

[E B]

Check out the FIRST listing in the pink pairs section (are we allowed to link to it?)- the trillions. The first image is clearly mirrored, but the second two photos seem to be of two different stones. And the listed measurements are different.

 

[RockHugger]

The center of the stones are EXACTLY the same. The reflections are EXACTLY the same. That wouldnt happen if they were completely different 2 stones. The center was photoshopped out of the left one, and placed in the right one. That is outragious!!!

Like you said, prolly to hide a window or inclusion...

 

[RockHugger]

Here is a copy/paste/rotate of the center from the left stone. Copied center pasted below....done with microsoft paint. There is no doubt they did it (to make it look better then MS paint can) with photoshop.

If you look at the other pictures of the stones they are usually the 'real' pair, and dont match like the 1st photoshopped picture. One I saw, was one of the 'cloned' stones...and then the side angle showed the real pair and the colors were and sizes were not matched well at all.

 

[TravelingGal]

This is too funny.

I''ve never been a fan of them since a woman came on here telling her side of the story and I felt NSC didn''t exactly handle it well.

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/bad-experience-with-natural-sapphire-company-long.110611/

 

[FrekeChild]

Wowza. I went and looked at those trillions, and I''m just incredulous. Why would a company shoot themselves in the foot like that? Might as well go poke at the stuff on ebay instead of paying NSC''s outrageous prices. The blue round pair with the photoshopped (the more I look at it, the more obvious it becomes) center is especially obnoxious, because it was clearly photoshopped to hide something in that second stone that they don''t want you to see. At least the mirror images could potentially be the result of someone being flat out lazy...

 

[Maisie]

I would never have noticed that when looking at their website! I also think its very uncool.

 

[TravelingGal]

So I took a look at the pairs section....

Man, pads are hard to find, but identical pads even harder.

I am beginning to wonder what drugs these people are on. Maybe there was a change in management? Or were the pairs always like this?

 

[E B]

Date: 3/3/2010 12:44:48 PM
Author: FrekeChild

The blue round pair with the photoshopped (the more I look at it, the more obvious it becomes) center is especially obnoxious, because it was clearly photoshopped to hide something in that second stone that they don't want you to see. At least the mirror images could potentially be the result of someone being flat out lazy...

They've manipulated these photos in a few different ways. On a pair of pink princess cuts, it's a mirror image with one stone's corner tilted back a bit. And in the pad section, there's a "pair" of ovals, only it looks like one was flipped upside down, and then they added some windowing to the center to make it look like a different stone. The edges of both stones have identical markings, however.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 3/3/2010 1:04:10 PM
Author: E B

Date: 3/3/2010 12:44:48 PM
Author: FrekeChild

The blue round pair with the photoshopped (the more I look at it, the more obvious it becomes) center is especially obnoxious, because it was clearly photoshopped to hide something in that second stone that they don''t want you to see. At least the mirror images could potentially be the result of someone being flat out lazy...

They''ve manipulated these photos in a few different ways. On a pair of pink princess cuts, it''s a mirror image with one stone''s corner tilted back a bit. And in the pad section, there''s a ''pair'' of ovals, only it looks like one was flipped upside down, and then they added some windowing to the center to make it look like a different stone. The edges of both stones have identical markings, however.

Really makes you wonder...WHAT are NSC''s customers really getting when they buy from them? And if this are this unscrupulous on their website photos (where it''s actually obvious), what about their NSC "certified" stones. Are you getting a BE stone when they are claiming low heat?

What next NSC? Do you need more bullets so you can continue shooting yourself in the foot? If I was a customer who has bought from NSC in the past, I''d be a bit worried about my purchase at this point.

 

[E B]

The pads I''m talking about. Am I crazy, or is this the same stone with an altered center? Look at the shadowing/variances in the different areas and notice they''re the same in the other stone, just "upside down."

 

[chrono]

Date: 3/3/2010 12:58:38 PM
Author: TravelingGal
So I took a look at the pairs section....

Man, pads are hard to find, but identical pads even harder.

I am beginning to wonder what drugs these people are on. Maybe there was a change in management? Or were the pairs always like this?

I looked at NSC’s pairs many years ago and do not recall seeing identical/mirrored stones like this.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 3/3/2010 1:09:38 PM
Author: E B
The pads I''m talking about. Am I crazy, or is this the same stone with an altered center? Look at the shadowing/variances in the different areas and notice they''re the same in the other stone, just ''upside down.''

Those were the two exact (no pun intended) ones that I was looking at.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 3/3/2010 1:10:57 PM
Author: Chrono

Date: 3/3/2010 12:58:38 PM
Author: TravelingGal
So I took a look at the pairs section....

Man, pads are hard to find, but identical pads even harder.

I am beginning to wonder what drugs these people are on. Maybe there was a change in management? Or were the pairs always like this?

I looked at NSC’s pairs many years ago and do not recall seeing identical/mirrored stones like this.

Then I''m hoping this is a change in management. That would be relief for people who bought from them in the past.

 

[VapidLapid]

yeah the interior at the 7 and 8 o''clock positions is unchanged while the rest of the image is rotated 180 degrees!

 

[RockHugger]

Looks like the same outside rim, but a photoshopped center...

Oh man that would suck if people have paid THOUSANDS for 'natural unheated' or just heated Pads...and they are really BE treated. I have been thinking of a pad for a while...but not from NSC now!

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 3/3/2010 1:09:38 PM
Author: E B
The pads I''m talking about. Am I crazy, or is this the same stone with an altered center? Look at the shadowing/variances in the different areas and notice they''re the same in the other stone, just ''upside down.''

And would natural light hit the stone in the way that it would reflect off the table and cause a big square of light (the one on the right) It''s a weird photoshop job, IMHO.

I''m fascinated by this. It''s really, really freaky that they would do this. I mean, some effort was taken to photoshop these...wouldn''t it be easier just to photograph the pair?

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 3/3/2010 1:17:28 PM
Author: RockHugger
Looks like the same outside rim, but a photoshopped center...

Oh man that would suck if people have paid THOUSANDS for ''natural unheated'' or just heated Pads...and they are really BE treated. I have been thinking of a pad for a while...but not from NSC now!

I was being a bit extreme...I really don''t think they''d go that far....they''d have to be crooks to do that...

 

[Maisie]

Maybe the pair don''t match so well?

 

[RockHugger]

Date: 3/3/2010 1:22:08 PM
Author: TravelingGal

Date: 3/3/2010 1:17:28 PM
Author: RockHugger
Looks like the same outside rim, but a photoshopped center...

Oh man that would suck if people have paid THOUSANDS for ''natural unheated'' or just heated Pads...and they are really BE treated. I have been thinking of a pad for a while...but not from NSC now!

I was being a bit extreme...I really don''t think they''d go that far....they''d have to be crooks to do that...

IMO, if you can tell a little lie to your customers...you can tell a big lie just as easy.

 

[RockHugger]

Date: 3/3/2010 1:22:08 PM
Author: Maisie
Maybe the pair don''t match so well?

look at the side view of the ''cloned'' sapphires...they dont match well at all.

 

[VapidLapid]

Here is one of their in-house "certs" for one of these alleged pairs, as they have it posted on their site

It''s one thing to put a fraud like this up on the web as representing inventory. Perhaps that is just to entice people to make appointments for viewings, though what they would show someone who came in looking for these amazingly well matched pairs I have no idea. But what their "certs" like this one now where they show the same stone twice and certify it as a matched pair. For me this calls into question their every claim and the veracity of any claims made on their in-house certificates. I made this discovery only because I was gearing up to buy one of their stones for a few thousand dollars and so Ive been on their website too much visiting the stone I liked and looking at absolutely everything else. Now I feel that they would have to provide me at no additional cost true independent certs (eg. GIA) for any and every thing they offer.

 

[E B]

Just looking at the four pad pairs, the first two pairs look to be the same stones. The third pair have some identical facets from the bottom center of the window down, but are different elsewhere. On second glance, it looks like the center edge of both stones (the very top center edge of the first stone, and the very bottom center edge of the second) are the same as well, just flipped.

We're not just talking a couple of pairs. There are MANY that have been mirrored/altered.

Shady, shady, shady.

 

[FrekeChild]

WHAT ARE THEY ON?! (Second stone was flipped 180 degrees)

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 3/3/2010 1:26:14 PM
Author: RockHugger

Date: 3/3/2010 1:22:08 PM
Author: TravelingGal

Date: 3/3/2010 1:17:28 PM
Author: RockHugger
Looks like the same outside rim, but a photoshopped center...

Oh man that would suck if people have paid THOUSANDS for ''natural unheated'' or just heated Pads...and they are really BE treated. I have been thinking of a pad for a while...but not from NSC now!

I was being a bit extreme...I really don''t think they''d go that far....they''d have to be crooks to do that...

IMO, if you can tell a little lie to your customers...you can tell a big lie just as easy.

Yeah, you''re probably right.