Is this a warning sign? RE: Appraiser

[kfds]

Hi! I''ve been lurking for some time and recently bought a ring from GOG thanks to all of the information here and at Jonathan''s site. (Will post my praise for GOG in another thread.)

Back to my point... For insurance purposes, I was looking into an independent appraisal.

I emailed an appraiser the following:
"Hi - Just wanted to understand your pricing model for an appraisal of a mounted diamond ring and what hours and days appointments can be made for."

To which they replied:
"Our fee is based on the amount of time to appraise. We cannot estimate the time from the carat weight of the stone. We have appointments available in XX and XX Monday thru Friday 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. Glad to help."
(I bolded for emphasis.)

This seemed far too open-ended, especially when compared with the wealth of information I was given by GOG. It amounts to: "Come in, let us look at your diamond, and then we''ll let you know what we''ll charge you." So, I naturally asked:
"What do you charge per time increment/hour? What is a typical amount of time spent appraising a diamond ring?"

To which they replied:
"We charge $XXX.00 an hour, the fees for diamonds start at $XXX.00. If you have the carat weight of your stone I can give you an estimate."
(Bolded again by me for emphasis)

I''m kind of put-off by the exchange. In back-to-back emails they contradict themselves.

Is this healthy suspicion or am I being to critical?
Was I spoiled by GOG''s open and straight-forward way of dealing with the customer?
Why not tell me their rate right off the bat?
Why not tell me what factors affect their time spent with the diamond (and therefore my costs)?
Don''t they do this everyday and couldn''t they easily give a ballpark figure (even with qualifiers - if X then price Y)?

I just feel like I was given as little information as possible vs. getting as much information as I could handle at GOG.

 

[ame]

Id call someone else. That's kind of ridiculous.

Hell if you can have it sent to one of the pricescope appraisers Id do that.

 

[oldminer]

Appraisers face a difficult dilemma. For a considerable amount of years it was typical and acceptable to charge a percentage fee based on the insurance value. It was rather easy to tell someone what an appraisal might cost and they sort of knew because they had an idea of what the retail was. It didn't scare folks away. However, every appraisal organization deems it improper to charge percentage fees. Percentage fees appear to create a bias toward over appraising in order to get a higher fee. I agree this is a problem, more of appearance than substance, but nevertheless, a problem.




The cure for this was to encourage hourly rates, or flat fees per item. With the public we charge flat fees on the first few items and then switch to hourly rates. We can then quote how much a single item will cost to appraise and while occasionally a complex item commands a greater fee, generally we can utilize a flat fee for most estimates. This makes it simple to make estimates for the public and there is not appearance of bias. It seems a good way to operate.




I encourage my staff, who are often asked for a quote without seeing the item, to say there is a flat minimum fee per item or an hourly rate. We charge the lesser of the two if there is more than 2 items involved. What I see are people with highly complex items try to get us to commit to a low base fee and then try to surprise us with an item that should be 2 or 3 or 5 times more costly to appraise. You can't win sometimes even when you want to play fair. It takes two to make a deal a fair one and the abuse is constant.




That's why an appraiser, good or bad, may seem a bit hesitant to commit. We are constantly asked for a price by people who intend to give us a workout for a fair fee. Just like consumers, appraisers have become suspicious of giving estimates that later come back to haunt them. You may have called a bad operator, or someone who has just not figured out how to make you feel comfortable with their willingness to charge you fairly. Words are so difficult to master and using the phone well is very difficult for so many people.




There are good appraisers who charge from $40 to more then $125 for the first item. In New York City and other major metro areas, there may be several who charge far more because of overhead and rental costs. Hourly rates run from $60 to over $200 per hour. This is adjusted also by rural or metroploitan location, expertise and most of all by how fast the appraiser is. Who can say how fast they are? Hourly rates really leave a consumer dangling eventhough they are considered a fair way to charge...... That's why we use both flat fees and hourly rates and charge the lesser of the two.




Hope this helps you figure out how to get the fees figured out better.

 

[denverappraiser]

Kfds,

I certainly agree that this was a poorly designed email exchange. In any case, if you are uncomfortable with them you should choose someone else. There is a directory of independent appraisers on the front page of pricescope.

GOG is in the business of selling jewelry and gives away information for free in order to support this. The appraiser is hoping that you will hire them to perform a service that they can then charge you directly for their work. To use your phrase, it’s a very different pricing model. I think you would find that GOG to be much less cooperative if you asked them to research and give you information about merchandise that you purchased elsewhere, although I have no doubt that they would do a lovely job.

Neil Beaty, GG ISA
Independent Appraisals in Denver

 

[kfds]

See, that's just it. This is one of the appraisers listed on pricescope. So, maybe my expectations were skewed as a result.

I didn't get the feeling that this was someone who was working for my business.

Regarding GOG, I have little doubt that given your scenario, his model wouldn't change as it's the reason for his success.

I was hoping for the same mentality from an appraiser listed here. Take me inside the process, gain my trust, let me know exactly what I'm spending my money on. Show me the worth. (I wasn't expecting this all in one email, but at least the beginnings.)

 

[denverappraiser]

On the GOG site they rather specifically endorsed Dave Atlas, Rich Sherwood, and Cindy Konney. All of these are regulars on this forum and all of them have reputations for giving excellent service to their clients.

Neil Beaty, GG ISA
Independent Appraisals in Denver