crossposting-caveat emptor?

[mrs taylor]

I posted this elsewhere but am asking here as well. I have a question for you knowledgeable people. If this is not the right section please let me know.

I have an estate jeweler by me that I love. I've bought many things from him over the course of a decade, and he's a nice guy. Everything I've gotten has appraised exactly as it was sold. I feel that he is an honest and trustworthy person.

IN the beginning of the year I bought a bracelet from him. It's an 18k yellow gold estate piece. I loved it, asked how much if I paid cash and said I had to think on it. Dh offered to do it for my birthday so I called him, asked him to hold it and told him I'd be in the following day with cash. Which I was. Walked in, handed him the money, he put it on me and I left.

Well, this past weekend I had reason to find out it's not 18k gold. In fact, it's not gold at ALL. I had him triple check for me before I bought it. He checked via a loupe and pointed out the hallmark, though I couldn't see it. There is SOMETHING there, but it's not 18k. So here I am, many months later after paying cash for something that is not what it was sold as.

My plan is to go see him today. It's possible that he'll want to make it right and correct the mistake. I don't know. My question is, where do I stand? I don't have receipt (he didn't give me one and I didn't ask) it's been a long while, but I paid many hundreds of dollars for something that is essentially costume. Is this on me? Is it MY fault for not having a second appraisal immediately to confirm it was real? My fault because I couldn't identify the hallmark myself even with a loupe? My fault for trusting him and now the time has passed where I could do anything about it? Or do I have a leg to stand on to push for a refund?

I'm asking because the information will help me when I go to see him. If I know he owes me nothing then I'll be approaching him differently than if I am entitled a refund. I'm going to be reasonable regardless but if push comes to shove I just need to know where I stand.

Thanks for your thoughts, and I hope this is okay to ask here.

 

[tyty333]

How did you find out its not 18k gold? You'll want to be able to give him your proof. I would approach him with the attitude that
he would definitly be willing to give you a refund. He definitly wasnt trying to pull one over on you so he should be willing to make
it right. Since you have bought many things from him over the last decade he knows that if he wants to keep your business that
he needs to do the right thing. Let us know how it goes.

 

[mrs taylor]

thank you. it was acid tested by a jeweler and shown to not be gold.

 

[JewelFreak]

Mrs. Taylor, what a bummer! I'm so sorry you had such a sad experience. How did you find out the bracelet isn't gold? Are you certain of that?

You do have your canceled check, though that isn't as good as a receipt. But if he's ethical & especially since you've been a regular customer, in your place I'd expect a refund or at the very least, credit toward another piece. He should want to make it right -- it's in his interest to make you satisfied & to maintain his rep. He may first want to confirm whatever testing you had done. Of course he'd remember the sale of a several-hundred-dollar bracelet to a customer well known to him. He may be as dismayed as you are.

If he refuses to do anything, I'm not sure where you stand -- don't know what I'd do myself. I'd at least visit the BBB website & tell him I'm making a report on him. I don't imagine you want to take him to small claims court & not being a lawyer, I don't know what sort of proof you'd need there.

Please follow up here with a report on his reaction. I'm really interested & wish you the best with this.

--- Laurie

 

[marymm]

I am curious how you now know it is not 18kt gold? Is your proof in writing and opined by someone considered an objective expert?

But, speaking as a layperson, I think without a receipt and due to the passage of 10+ months since the purchase, the vendor has no obligation to you with respect to this transaction at this point in time. Without a receipt, it is a matter of "he said, she said," and with the passage of time, not only are you outside any conventional return period, memories can become confused.

However, since you say you are a long-time customer, it is possible the owner will step up to make things right - if indeed your memory of him saying it was 18kt matches his memory, and if your new proof that it is not 18kt is irrefutable and offered by an objective professional.

Honestly, if it were me, I'd go in with the bracelet and talk with him - ask if he remembers selling it to you in Jan for cash and without a receipt? Let him know you had purchased it based on his representation to you that it was 18kt, and that you were just advised by (whoever it was) that it is not 18kt at all. Show him the appraisal you received with the new information. Let him know you wouldn't have purchased it had you known it wasn't 18kt, and that you now wish to return it for refund or store credit. Be courteous and reasonable with the vendor - it is possible he made a mistake at the time he identified it as 18kt and would wish to rectify the error. But if all you have is the verbal opinion of another jeweler (rather than an independent professional appraiser) stating it is not 18kt, he may well decide to stand by his initial assessment of the item.

[eta - saw your post saying it was acid-tested by another jeweler... I don't know if this is a foolproof method or something your vendor can contradict, or maybe it is a test your vendor would be able to replicate at his store? if nothing is in writing though, really you would have to rely on the vendor's goodwill to you as a longtime customer.]

 

[mrs taylor]

Happy to report a good ending. He was wonderful, remembered me and the sale, scoffed at the idea that it wasn't gold and offered to buy it back.

I was dodgy on the details until I got this hashed out. Basically I sold the bracelet with the information I had been given when I bought it. The buyer contacted me upon receipt of the item and let me know a jeweler told her it wasn't gold, and that she wanted to return it. I refunded her immediately and she then took it to another person who acid tested it and stated it wasn't gold at all.

So of course I'm all upset, get it back and trot down to the jeweler who tells me it absolutely IS 18k gold, and that if I was looking to part with it he was happy to buy it back. It was a piece he had really raved over when he got it in, remembered all the details of the sale etc. and said he had missed that particular piece.

So he bought it back, I'm a happy camper and feeling much much better. But yes, in the future there will be receipts for all the things.

 

[luv2sparkle]

That must be a huge relief for you Mrs. Taylor! I am so glad it all worked out so well in the end!