Hi,

Firstly, certainly not a long post and hopefully someone will be able to help. In the main we have found Turkish jewellers very good indeed and given their prices it is hard to beat them back home. Two years ago however friends of ours purchased a ring but like you were disappointed when it was valued back home. To cut a long story short it transpired that the jeweller in this country (having asked them where they bought it) deliberately gave them a false price, lower than what it was actually worth. To an extent you can understand the frustration of many British jewellers knowing that we get can great bargains in Turkey. Possible this is what has happened in your case. Might be worth a second opinion in this country.

Wilson

Hi Dangerpowers

Sorry you were disappointed with your ring how unlucky.

I've had a few rings made in Turkey and they have always had a good valuation here, not that that helps you.

I've returned jewellery before without any problems just because I did'nt like it once I got it home, as you have already phoned and been told you will get a refund I think you should be okay.

I have even taken jewellery home and paid for it on my next visit.

Hi there,
On the whole, we have found that most turkish jewellers are of good repute. Having said that there may and probably are those that are less honest, I would suggest, as placed in a previous post about getting re valued and then get the paperwork to confirm it's value, at least that way you have something in writing that supprorts your claim that it is not worth what you paid for it in the first place.
Also, when you get back there, have it valued again in Turkey at a different jewellers, that may also help your claim. If it works out that indeed it is not worth what you paid go back to where you bought it with receipt in hand and see what happens, if you get no joy then try the chamber of commerce.
I hope you get it sorted, good luck.....
Kev

we were gutted when we got the evaluation, the jeweller we sent it to is a personal friend and she got her goldsmith to value it for us, so I know there was nothing dodgey going on there in that respect...

Good idea about getting a receipt - hadn't thought of that, will look into it immediately..

The jeweller is now claiming that he didn't know that the stone wasn't what he said it was (yeah right) because it wasn't his stone it was belong to another jewellers... to be honest i don't care where he got the stone he still sold us to us under false pretenses..and what type of jeweller doesn't know a bad diamond from a good one (vs1 versus p3) like I'm going to swallow that one!

We were also buying an apartment off a friend of this jeweller after getting the ring valuation at home we called off the whole thing, we couldn't trust him or his 'mate'!

We were gutted because it was supposed to be our engagement ring, if it hadn't been such a special ring I wouldn't have been as hurt

and you know the worst of it, I think I knew deep deep down before I even left turkey that we got done, but it was one of the few times in my life i let my heart rule my head...and as soon as I saw my friend the jewellers face when she saw the ring, I defintely knew then!

anyway here's hoping I can get my money back... I'll let ye know how I get on!

thanks for replying!

Hi again danger,
I have just been in touch with my friend who is a reputable jeweller in Turkey and he said, " the first thing you should do is take it back to the shop " and exchange it. If you get no joy then go to the minister for tourism and they will be in big trouble. So as I said before get valuations with written documentation as proof and also you should have a receipt and gaurantee for the original purchase that mentions the carat of diamond, the ring etc. etc.
However saying all this, be pleasant but firm about this situation, you are far more likely to get a better result if you are not shouting and screaming the shop down
Kev

Thanks so much for the information kev (and everyone!) I really really appreciate it..

I'll have the addresses of the Chamber of Commerce and the Minister of Tourism to hand so that should we draw a blank with the shop we can tell them we're heading straight around there....

I'll let ye know how I get on when I come back!

thanks again

(and you wouldn't mind but the little fecker was saying to us 'you shouldn't trust anyone in turkey')

I swear I'd wring his neck now if he was in front of me...

anyway *deep breaths* hopefully it'll all work out for the best

What a terrible story. Frankly, I'm astonished that this could happen as the jewellers in Turkey tend to rely on repeat custom and word of mouth recommendations.

Kevin hit the nail on the head when he said to be polite but firm. When dealing with any retailer in this situation it is important to stay in control. The advantage you have is that there's time to get all the facts documented before you go.

I don't know if it would help, but perhaps some evidence of what a positive report in HT could do for them wouldn't go amiss. There are a number of jewellers in Turkey who enjoy a lot of trade based on member's recommendations.

Best of luck and let us know if you get a result

Willie G

well this particular jewellers rely's a lot on Irish business, we told him that if we get no satisfaction that we'll take an ad out in the Evening Herald when we get home letting everyone know what a rip-off his shop is..

he wasn't long changing his tune to "we'll see what we can do for you when you get here"

not sure we'd actually do it, but the threat of it seemed enough for him...

We're off on sunday so hopefully we'll have some luck..

I'm not having a row either I'm going to walk in say to him I want my money back after negotiations if he refuses I'm just going to inform him I'm heading for the Kusadasi chamber of commerce and walk out, I'm there for a holiday as well as getting my money back I'm not going to stress myself about it!

have you ever heard the saying buyer beware . i have bought thousands of ponds worth of jewelery in turkey never once have i been rippedf off, if when you bought it he gave you a signed certificate stating the weght of gold , the amount of carats in the diamond ,and the price ,and it turns out to be different then he is duty bound to return your money , if it is what he says it is then you are on to plums , as it does not matter what any jeweler anywhere says, if he has conned you then contact the turkish authorities right away and they will deal with it, they do not want anythig that can harm the tourist trade, good luck and dont let it spoil your holiday , or let it reflect your thoughts on all turkish people .

bluepeterno1

While there are many genuine jewllers in Turkey there are also others not so honest.They are all out to sell and will try anything to get you to buy.I have just come back from Marmaris and spent some time in a few jewelers shops after being asked in.I have a pair of rings I only wear on holiday because my fingers swell.One is a band with 7 zircons and the other has 7 zircons but with a 1ct size stone in the centre.I had a few of them fooled and even the jeweller in our hotel (Julian) thought it was a brilliant cut!I bought these rings at Argos for £13.99!They are on page 1262 (no12) and have gone up to £19.99.I also had a few jewelers in Side fooled and 3 of them took pictures to copy the design.One who looked at it through an eye glass said I must have paid £4,000-£4,500 for them here!Would you buy a diamond from someone who thinks a £14 ring is real?,If you are thinking of buying an expensive ring I would buy these cheap rings and if the jeweler knows they are fake ,then you can trust them.The hotel wanted £120 for a 3 stone zircon ring!

To JayTrıp - thıs ıs the jewellers from Club Julıan where you have just spent your last holıday. I would just lıke to make a few comments about your prevıous statement. Whıle we apprecıate that you lıke to wear cubıc zırconas we fınd ıt embarrassıng that you try to pass them off as dıamond. The reason my husband dıd not dısagree wıth you about your rıngs ıs that he was sımply too embarrassed to questıon you further as you were so ınsıstent that they were genuıne and the reason that he thought they looked cheap was because you had covered them ın chocolate cake. We fınd ıt hurtful and dısrespectful that you questıon the ıntegrıty and qualıty of our workmanshıp as you do not even know what prıces we charge. Also ıf I remember you seemed pretty keen to take on board hıs comments that you had been rıpped off by your jeweller ın Sıde. If you have any further comments about our busıness we would prefer that you contact us ındıvıdually rather than try to damage our reputatıon ın a cheap publıc attack. If you had bothered to ask us you would know that we have sold over 20 carats of dıamonds ın our fırst week of busıness (average amount ın most jewellers ıs 50 carats for the whole season), the reason that we are so successful (despıte beıng hıdden away ın a hotel) ıs that we charge very reasonable prıces and produce qualıty ıtems. If you do not apprecıate fıne jewellery please do not try to dıscourage those that do.

Apologıes for the spellıng errors - please change genuıany to genuıne and fıany to fıne -my turkısh keyboard makes mıstakes sometımes!!

oh ıts done ıt agaın - obvıously thats not my fault then!

Cath,the jeweller who thought my rings were real despite looking through an eye glass and saying I must have paid £4-4,500 was in Side.You quoted me £120 for the 3 stone zircon ring in the window,did you not.?The ring I tried on that was £1600 was beautiful and the reason I dont wear my any of my diamond rings is because my fingers swell on holiday.Your husband is the only person to say my husbands ring was not worth it even though I personally thought it.Other jewellers in Side kept their thoughts to themselves.We will take it back when we return and see the boss of this shop and tell them we think we have been ripped off.The only reason We came to Club Julian is because it was a good offer,as it is a popular hotel with families.so it surprises me the guests there when we were bought so much jewellery.All I was trying to say is be carefull where ever you buy.Why did your husband not tell me my ring was fake?He did tell my husband his ring was not worth what he paid.I would normally PM you to reply but as you didnt PM me I have posted this.

Good mornıng. I completely agree wıth you that people should be careful where they buy jewellery from, there are jewellers who are not so honest but the reason ı felt ıt necessary to reply on a publıc forum ıs so we are not all tarred wıth the same brush. Yes we dıd quote you 120 pound for the cubıc rıng but you are forgettıng that ıt ıs 14 carat solıd gold, average prıce for thıs sort of ıtem. There was no offence ıntended ın thıs message. We wısh you good luck wıth any jewellery purchases ın the future and we hope that the jewellers ın Sıde treats you approprıately.

Hi there

I just wanted to give ye an update on our situation...

after much, haggle, bargaining, veiled threats, open threats, harsh words (and finally nice words, lol!) we got 2000 of the 2500euros back that we had spent...

A trip to the chamber of commerce was helpful but in the end thankfully not needed to progress any further - happy days!

So all's well that ends well and thanks so much for your support and advice... it was really much appreciated..

We have decided to let the matter drop as there are people living in Kusadasi that would have to live and work with these people and we didn't want any bad feeling for that reason alone...although we know that these people are rip-off merchants (through other dealings other than our and not just in jewellery but land too!) but as I said we don't have to live there and we don't want to make things awkward for those left behind

So we came home smiling!

And aside from all that we still had the best holiday! We stayed in the Ayma hotel and it was great!!!! We loved it.

We didn't think it was possible but we enjoyed this years trip to turkey even more than last years! It had nothing to do with the outcome of the above either. We were halfway through our week and we still decided it was better and that was well before we found out our situation had been rectified

we ate in a lovely restaurant on the prom on Ladies beach called Ocean Time ! Give it a try if you are there!