- Joined
- Mar 19, 2018
- Messages
- 47
And for buyback policies too as well as upgrade ones.
I have been wondering whether lifetime upgrade policies are as good as the lifetime of the company, and where there seems to be one person broadly in charge who is approaching retirement age, whether that is something worth considering. I may be way off the mark but I have been wondering about it.
A lot of people coming to these boards for help are often directed to one of the above companies, and members when suggesting stones will note with their suggestion that one strong deciding factor over similar stones at other retailers will be the upgrade policy (and occasionally the buyback policy is mentioned). Especially that upgrades need only be I think it is a dollar more whereas with the big retailers it’s often double.
Often buyers are in their 30s (not all of course!) and I suppose would anticipate upgrades within anywhere from one, probably two, possibly three decades.
I may be misunderstanding company structure but it seems for example Wink is central to CBI, and Brian central to Whiteflash. Jon is leaving or has left (not sure whether he retains any ownership) Good Old Gold and on another thread the upgrade policy changes are being discussed and there is some dissatisfaction that mightn’t have been there prior to Jon’s departure due to what I can see as a change in inventory choices for the post-Jon ownership or management of Good Old Gold - this would be just one of many unknown changes if a company changes hands, or it may be wound up altogether if the driving personality behind it chooses to, say, retire and liquidate their stock. With Good Old Gold I was under the impression Jon’s daughter Sarah had taken over (I could be completely and utterly incorrect please forgive me if so - just what I had gleaned from the videos over the years) so there might be some continuity of policy in fact, I am sure they will clear that up on the other thread.
I just wondered what will happen as if they don’t mind me saying from the UK, Brian and Wink would be near retirement age if over here. I know there are no guarantees with any retailer - even the ‘big’ ones could go under overnight - but when the upgrade policy is almost always mentioned as being heavily worth a new poster’s consideration as a deciding factor on say a Whiteflash stone compared to ‘rival’ stones which require say a doubled spend to upgrade, it seems worth spending some time to ponder on. With Whiteflash, CBI and others including maybe Brian Gavin, and Good Old Gold before, they seem to be smaller operations with one personality sort of seeming central to them, I thought it might be worth wondering what might happen in this general case.
For a large corporate their success seems more dependent on perhaps buying power, volume and structure rather than, as we saw in the Good Old Gold thread, strong trust and a strong relationship with one personality in that company. This maybe leads to a better buying experience in the latter but perhaps ultimately a more robust, if unsatisfactory, upgrade policy in the former.
I wanted to add that lack of imagination has made me think of only the three or four retailers mentioned, perhaps others can suggest more in which this query might potentially arise.
I have been wondering whether lifetime upgrade policies are as good as the lifetime of the company, and where there seems to be one person broadly in charge who is approaching retirement age, whether that is something worth considering. I may be way off the mark but I have been wondering about it.
A lot of people coming to these boards for help are often directed to one of the above companies, and members when suggesting stones will note with their suggestion that one strong deciding factor over similar stones at other retailers will be the upgrade policy (and occasionally the buyback policy is mentioned). Especially that upgrades need only be I think it is a dollar more whereas with the big retailers it’s often double.
Often buyers are in their 30s (not all of course!) and I suppose would anticipate upgrades within anywhere from one, probably two, possibly three decades.
I may be misunderstanding company structure but it seems for example Wink is central to CBI, and Brian central to Whiteflash. Jon is leaving or has left (not sure whether he retains any ownership) Good Old Gold and on another thread the upgrade policy changes are being discussed and there is some dissatisfaction that mightn’t have been there prior to Jon’s departure due to what I can see as a change in inventory choices for the post-Jon ownership or management of Good Old Gold - this would be just one of many unknown changes if a company changes hands, or it may be wound up altogether if the driving personality behind it chooses to, say, retire and liquidate their stock. With Good Old Gold I was under the impression Jon’s daughter Sarah had taken over (I could be completely and utterly incorrect please forgive me if so - just what I had gleaned from the videos over the years) so there might be some continuity of policy in fact, I am sure they will clear that up on the other thread.
I just wondered what will happen as if they don’t mind me saying from the UK, Brian and Wink would be near retirement age if over here. I know there are no guarantees with any retailer - even the ‘big’ ones could go under overnight - but when the upgrade policy is almost always mentioned as being heavily worth a new poster’s consideration as a deciding factor on say a Whiteflash stone compared to ‘rival’ stones which require say a doubled spend to upgrade, it seems worth spending some time to ponder on. With Whiteflash, CBI and others including maybe Brian Gavin, and Good Old Gold before, they seem to be smaller operations with one personality sort of seeming central to them, I thought it might be worth wondering what might happen in this general case.
For a large corporate their success seems more dependent on perhaps buying power, volume and structure rather than, as we saw in the Good Old Gold thread, strong trust and a strong relationship with one personality in that company. This maybe leads to a better buying experience in the latter but perhaps ultimately a more robust, if unsatisfactory, upgrade policy in the former.
I wanted to add that lack of imagination has made me think of only the three or four retailers mentioned, perhaps others can suggest more in which this query might potentially arise.