Romancing the Stone, Inc. AKA RTS Inc.

[jsg2020]

Not sure if anyone is left who followed this thread:

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/e-bay-nightmare-any-advice.13242/

But David Catz aka RTS, Inc AKA Romancing the Stone pulled the EXACT same scam on my Wife and I in October 2004. It is so close as to be eerie.

He sent the wrong ring (appraised thousands less than he said it was worth). My wife brought it to 3 different jewelers (as per his instructions included with the ring) and they all agreed it was not even close to what he promised. When we complained, he said "No problem, send it in for a 'No questions asked' Refund."

Once he had the ring, same story as DublinGirl. "This could NOT be the ring I sent you! We didn't even have the size ring you sent back in stock at the time!" "Someone must have switched the stone!" (Despite the fact that no jeweler ever handled the ring out of my wife's eyesight and also admitted to never seeing the ring before it left his Office.) He also "forgot" to send the Certifications with the ring as promised.

He then refused to refund the money until he completed an "investigation." He also said we were not allowed to call him unless we talked to his Attorney at $250/hr which we would have to pay.

That was months ago, back in January 2005 when he said he would be done with the investigation. I have contacted the BBB (he doesn't call them back), the Attorney General (same thing). I have also contacted the State Police.

This man is apparently, in my opinion, a CRIMINAL. He has $6500 of our money and the ring and won't return our money despite his "Money back guarantee." His sales are fraudulent and I can't believe he has gotten away with this before. He won't call anyone back and hangs up on us when we call. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[alexah]

I''m really sorry to hear your story, jsg!

I would contact the Jewelers Vigilance Committee - I contacted them once & they were very friendly & helpful.... JVC link

I''m sure some industry folks will have other good suggestions for you....

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

It seems you have done your Dollars.

I am very sad for you, but hope that this can be a lesson to others that E-bay and many other internet venues are very attractive means of establishing businesses for people deliberately intent on defrauding the unsuspecting.

We would hope that those who read this understand that businesses who trade on the Internet in places like this get hundreds of comments from consumers. Sometimes there are complaints about service related issues, more often there are compliments.

If a Pricescope vendor behaved unethically he would loose a lot of business through referrals from this source.

 

[jsg2020]

Thanks for your advice...Anyone else have similar experiences with them?

 

[Sicksadandsorry]

I am in the midst of what looks like it''s going to be a similar battle with these sellers. Contact me privately and I can tell you more. As of now, we don''t have the money or the ring and we are terrified we''ll never get our money back. Right now we are just weighing the options and the best possible action we can take next.

They seem to operate under 3 monikers:
Perfect Jewel Seller, Inc.
Direct Jewelers Source
Romancing the Stone

I know they''ve gone through a few other names as well.

I hope everyone stays away from these guys and never buys a diamond anything sight unseen.

 

[Garysax]

Brutal. Hope they weren't a PS vendor.

Edit: didn't see this was such an old topic. Whoops.