Brent called Cash4Gold and immediately and asked for his stuff back. They made a new offer on the phone: $178!

Can you imagine? They covered their smell a little by suggesting that they could manipulate the numbers on their end so that it would look as though he sent in more than he had....suggesting that they were doing HIM a favor by upping his offer to this new, more attractive number.

The two things to remember if you send in your gold to Cash4Gold:

1. Get your gold appraised first so you know what's fair, and reject any unreasonably low offer over the phone so that they have the option of making a counter offer;
2. Do not use their "FAST CASH" option, which offers a direct deposit into your bank account, but forces you to accept their first offer. You will almost certainly be paid a fraction of what your gold is worth.

"Cash4Gold Will Offer One-Third of the Actual Value for your Gold " [Cockeyed.com] (Thanks to Michael!)

Long-time reader, first-time writer. Here we go:

Hello. I'm writing to let you and others know about my experience with the jewelry company Zales. I bought both mine and my wife's wedding rings at the store located inside Town Center Mall in Kennesaw, GA. I purchased them from an old acquaintance of mine from middle school; let's call her Jen. Jen and I had not seen each other for at least ten years and it was great having her help us pick out rings that we wanted. She was extremely helpful in the account setup process, enrolling us in the credit program with no interest for twelve months. The total for our rings was $978.36, and allowing us to pay it over a year was very helpful. I could either pay online, or just drop by the store in the mall that I both live close to and frequent, so it was no problem. The only gripe I have is, you cannot pay by debit card in the store, with is my preferred method of payment since I rarely carry much cash on my person; you can only pay in-store by cash or personal checks. I had made three cash payments in the store without any problems.

I went to the mall on June 18th because I was close by to make my payment. I stopped by the Bank of America ATM that you have to pass on the way to Zales to withdraw the cash. I tried to withdraw $150.00 from the ATM and it gave me a message saying that I needed to enter in an amount in multiples of $20.00, so I entered $160.00 and withdrew my money in the form of eight $20 bills, declining a receipt because I am always keeping track of my bank accounts online and I always end up just throwing away the receipts anyway. I walked about twenty steps to the Zales store and paid a woman behind the counter the cash that I had never seen before. I counted the money on the counter and then set it in a pile on her side of the counter while she was pulling up my account information (I didn't have my bill on me). She verified the information and then took the money and placed it in the register and gave me my receipt for $160. Everything seemed fine at the time…

"Jen," my middle school peer, called my house the next day, on June 19th. I was at work at the time, so my mother called me to let me know that she called and gave me the number to call her back on. I got in touch with Jen about an hour after she called and she asked me how much I had paid on the previous day. I pulled out and checked my receipt, just to be sure, and told her $160.00. I asked her why she was wondering because I thought maybe it didn't get put into my account because I didn't have my bill on me. She said that there was just a monetary discrepancy in the store and that everything would be fine. Ok…

I just received a call on June 20th from the store manager, Jari (real name). She said that her and the "loss prevention people" had been reviewing the tape and that I had only paid the cashier $60. WHAT!? I told her how I had just gone to the ATM to withdraw the money, and I was 100% sure that I had paid $160 towards my ring payment. She said that while viewing the tape, the cashier only counted three bills and placed them in the same place in the register. She said that she went through all of the scenarios and that if I had paid her with a $100 bill in the mix, it would have gotten put in a different place than the $20 bills, but that the three bills still didn't add up. I told her that I would check my Bank of America account online, just to make sure that I had withdrawn the correct amount and call her back.

I checked my account online, and of course, there was the $160 withdrawal that I had made. I also checked my Zales account online, and the $160 had been subtracted from my balance, like it should have. Infuriated, but completely under control, I headed up to the Zales to talk to her personally and take care of this, showing her my receipt for the $160 payment I had made just a few days ago. I walked her over to the place I was standing when I made the payment, showed her exactly how I had fanned the cash out on the counter, counted it, put it all together, and set it on the far side of the counter closer to the cashier, for her to take after she was finished pulling up my account.

After listening to me, she said matter-of-factly, "What happened was this. The code to tell our system that you are paying in cash is [1]. You paid her $60 and then she made a mistake by pressing the [1] button twice, which made your total $160." When I brought up again how I had counted the money out on the counter, she said that she never saw me do it in the videos. I was with my wife at the time and she remembers me counting the money on the counter. Jari kept bringing up the fact that her cashier had only counted three bills and I showed her how I could easily count "three" bills by counting out two and then taking the rest of the stack as the last "bill." She said that this wasn't the case. I asked to see the video myself and she said that her loss prevention people had to be present to let me view the tape. I asked her what the next step was. She said "Well, either you will pay us the $100 or we will just add it to your account balance." I told her that nether one of those was going to happen and demanded that I see the tape with my wife. She said that she would call me "later" to set up an appointment.

I called Jari on June 24th, to see the status of the meeting we were supposed to have, and she said, "I have contacted loss prevention, but they didn't give me a response yet. I will call you when I hear from them."

I am so confused by the whole situation! I'm guessing that the cashier could have pocketed the money either after closing the store or sometime during her shift. I am 100% sure that I gave her the correct amount of money because I keep a strict budget for myself and everything adds up. I had no other money in my wallet at the time of the ATM withdrawal, nor did I buy anything with "extra cash" I had in my wallet in the few days in between, and I still have no cash in my wallet. Now, the question is, WHAT CAN I DO!?

A store can't just issue you a receipt and then days later say, "Woops! Do-over!" Hang on to that receipt, it is irrefutable evidence that you paid $160 no matter what the manager's mysterious video may reveal. It is time to escalate this matter over the head of Jari since she doesn't seem to realize the purpose and importance of receipts. If that doesn't work, the next steps would be filing complaints with your state's Attorney General's office and the Better Business Bureau. If all else fails, take it small-claims court, we can't see how Zales would have a legal leg on which to stand.

(Photo: Getty)

My mother in law, recently went to Target to get a battery installed for her watch. The watch was a common Timex model and the associate told her that she would have to buy the battery first. So she purchased that battery, and the associate attempted to install it in the watch. The battery did not fit the watch, so the associate said "sorry, we don't have the right battery" and then refused to take the battery back and refund her money. She was told they don't take back opened battery packages.

Was she taken advantage of as she is 80 years old, or is this store policy? This occurred at the Target Superstore in Miramar, Florida two weeks ago.

We asked David if he tried following up with Target on his mother-in-law's behalf.

Yes, I called and spoke to store an asst mgr, who stated that store policy is no returns on opened/used batteries. I said she never left the store, had remained at the counter, and it was your person that opened the package to remove the battery to install in her watch. I said I DONT FIND THIS ACCEPTABLE....................is this the way you treat the elderly who came to your store for assistance, and then has to buy something she cant use !!!!

After pushing the issue, she said its "its only a small amount, I probably would have taken the battery back if I was aware of this" and, "come back to the store and we will discuss this further"

So, it will cost me more in gas $$$ than the battery is worth to drive back to that store and meet with her to get a refund.

From this, I must assume it is Target policy to screw the watch battery customer...........

I know its a small $$$ amount, but for the elderly, on social security, every penny matters.

Little things like watch batteries may not cost much stores much, but blind adherence to obstinately obtuse policies can cost stores customers. The Assistant Manager at least had the common sense to realize that this is a problem with an easy solution.

Of course, the easiest solution is to treat Target as a low-end big box store, and not a repair shop. Our local jeweler resurrects dead watches for $5, which may be a bit steep compared to Target, but he's never cited 'store policy,' and he always gets our watches ticking again.

(Photo: Getty)

My grandfather ordered an engraved Tiffany silver bracelet as a surprise Christmas gift for my grandmother. He had custom engraving put on the bracelet, and had arranged for the bracelet to be delivered to my house about 2 weeks before Christmas. Two weeks after the order (when we should've received the bracelet), there was no bracelet. We gave it another week, and the my grandfather emailed Tiffany customer support. He received an automated response stating that because of the overwhelming Christmas rush, he needed to contact customer support via their 800 number. Of course, the 800 number was impossible to get through to also.

My grandfather, being the laid back man that he is, wasn't really angry, but he wanted to know what was going on with the bracelet. Tiffany customer service ended up calling him on the Friday before Christmas. As luck would have it, he was out fishing, and my grandmother talked to them, thus ruining the surprise. When he returned home, he was able to actually get through to the rep who called him earlier. She informed him that because of a Christmas rush they were not expecting, the bracelet would not be arriving before Christmas. To make up for the fact that they had ruined the surprise and would not be getting the bracelet to my grandfather before Christmas, they would be giving him the order FREE. He asked to clarify, asking if they just meant the shipping or the engraving free, but no, the ENTIRE COST of the order was FREE. Of course, he was blown away (after all, this is a $255 bracelet, plus the cost of engraving and shipping).

Tiffany ended up shipping the bracelet on Saturday, overnighting it to my house where I received it on Monday. There was no invoice or such in the box, so we were still wondering IF the bracelet was actually going to be free (with the final call coming from the credit card bill). Sure enough, when the credit card bill came that would've contained the charge, there was absolutely no charges from Tiffany.

So, it's nice to know that there are indeed some companies who want to keep their reputation that treat their customers well.

Since [his store] Cred started marketing ethical gold and platinum jewellery, its sales have grown fast, with online orders flowing in from around the world, notably the United States, Valerio said.

Cred's wedding or engagement rings typically cost about 10 percent more than average prices but are about 15 percent below the top luxury brands such as Tiffany.

A bespoke Cred 18-carat gold wedding ring might cost from 195 to 800 pounds ($390 to $1,600) depending on its size and design — the cheapest engagement ring one could expect to buy in a standard British store would cost about 80 pounds ($160).

RELATED
Cred Jewellery
Corporación Oro Verde / Green Gold Corporation

Odds are, your cruise ship will help you repair or replace the item, but even then you should document the transfer of your ring to their staff with more photos and a written receipt, says Al Anolik, a travel attorney and author.

A couple in California had this problem with their ring, and then had the bad luck to never receive a repair or refund from the cruise ship once they got home. Luckily for them, a local ABC affiliate got involved and they managed to get a refund, but if your complaint doesn't make the newsworthy-cut for your local news' consumer segment, you'll be glad you've got lots of visual proof to back up your claim.

"Consumer Rights When Shopping Overseas" [abc7news.com]

If you're already shopping for a ring, you probably already know about the "Four C's"—cut, color, clarity, and carat weight. But to get the most bang for your buck, remember that it's the cut of the stone, not the clarity, that determines how much it sparkles. Also, if you want a small stone to look larger, go for cuts other than round. If the stone has a yellowish tint and you want to make it look whiter, set it in yellow gold.

Read the full article for more information, including how to shop for platinum and gold, and how to find the best place to shop.

"Experts Reveal Jewelry Shopping Secrets" [NBC11]
(Photo: Getty)

So, doesn't Disney test products that use its name?

Well, no.

But they're going to start, according to the New York Times:

Executives at Disney made the decision to institute the testing on Thursday and intend to inform Mattel and other toy manufacturers today.

"It sends the message that we are looking over their shoulders," said Andy Mooney, the chairman of Disney's consumer products division.

Disney's plan represents a significant shift in the toy business. Traditionally, these companies have licensed their characters to toy companies, deposited their royalty checks and left quality control up to the manufacturers. Indeed, the toymakers are usually held liable legally for harm caused by the toys they make.

"In the past, the industry may have accepted a pattern of recalling products as a way of making sure products are safe," said Gerald L. Storch, the chief executive of Toys "R" Us. "That's clearly not acceptable anymore."

This renewed interest in quality by retailers and companies like Disney, Sesame Workshop, and Nickelodeon is good news for consumers and even better news for the CPSC's one full-time toy tester.

Disney says that children's toys and jewelry will be tested off the shelf at major retailers such as Walmart, Target, KB Toys, etc.

Disney to Test Character Toys for Lead Paint [New York Times]
(Photo:CPSC)

Which Stores?

Most big-box stores have already had lead-related recall this year. Walmart exclusive earrings were recalled, as were Target exclusive Anima Bamboo play-sets. Kmart jewelry was recalled as well.

Is This Just A "China" Problem?

No.

Although most of the recalled products came from China, there were two recalls of jewelry made in India and two from Hong Kong. (Hong Kong is a "special administrative region" of China but is considered separate from China by the CPSC.) Ultimately, the responsibility for the recalled products is on the US company that imported them.

What Types Of Products Are Most Often Contaminated?

The lead contaminated products are a diverse bunch—from lead snaps on children's clothing to lead-based paint on toys, as well as jewelry with lead contaminated clasps and chains.

In addition to the well-known recalls of Thomas & Friends and Fisher-Price toys, lesser talked about recalls of souvenir gift shop jewelry and trinkets from vending machines were common. Some recalled jewelry featured popular Disney characters and movies and was sold at outlets like Limited, Too.

What Should Parents Do?

There's not a whole lot you can do, unfortunately. We'd recommend paying close attention to recalls and to avoid giving cheap metal jewelry to young children.

Jewelry is perhaps the most dangerous place for lead because children can swallow an entire ring or pendant, causing acute poisoning, which can cause respiratory failure, seizures and even death, whereas neurological damage and learning deficiencies are often associated with exposure to lead paint. Many children also tend to suck on jewelry or put it in their mouths, allowing lead to be absorbed into their bloodstream.

To put this in perspective, tainted jewelry made up three-quarters of all lead-related children's product recalls in the past three years. The CPSC (no doubt power-mad from being given a full six months of authority last week) is now considering a full ban on any amount of lead in children's jewelry, instead of the current 0.06% enforcement.

The Sierra Club, one of the leading proponents of a full ban, provides a great list of tips on how to keep your child safe from lead jewelry, including the following:

• Avoid purchasing toys from vending machines. In 2004, 150 million pieces of children's jewelry were recalled from vending machines nationwide. To be safe, parents should avoid these products.
• Avoid glossy, fake painted pearls which may be painted with lead-paint.
• Test suspect jewelry. LeadCheck swabs are available at most local hardware stores and can be used to test for lead in products you may purchase for your child. Swabs turn pink when lead is detected. You can also order test kits online at www.leadcheck.com.

Among the tainted pieces discovered in the past couple of years were nearly 750,000 lead-contaminated charms packaged in Shirley Temple movie sets, in what was surely an accidental illustration of the star's toxic cuteness.

Resources:
Sierra Club's Lead Safety Page
www.leadcheck.com

Bid to Root Out lead Trinkets Falters in U.S. [New York Times]

(Photo: Getty)

Tiffany said that according to the judgment issued by a federal court in New York, Starglam Inc., and its principal, John Shamir, should not engage in any further counterfeiting of Tiffany-branded items or infringing on its trademark.

Starglam and Shamir were also required to pay Tiffany $956,793.15, the company said.

Starglam had been distributing counterfeit Tiffany items in Asia and New York and also on Internet sites like eBay Inc.

Tiffany wins injunction in counterfeit lawsuit [Reuters]
(Photo:Maulliegh)

Big Lots! is recalling 115,000 "Claudia Jublot" rings for containing high levels of lead.

"The recalled rings are silver in color with red paint and a simulated diamond cluster on the top. The ring's packaging is a yellow card with "Claudia Jublot" printed on the front and UPC # "1524100121266045" on the back."

Kmart is recalling 6,000 "Kidsite" Necklace and Earring Sets," also for containing lead.

"The children's necklace and earring sets have birthstones made of plastic gemstones in various colors. The pendants on the necklaces are shaped like flowers on a silver-colored chain. The matching pierced earrings have round birthstones. The month of the birthstone and "Kidsite" are printed on the front of the products' packaging. Kmart is printed on the back."

Who out there keeps thinking lead plus children equals anything but a CPSC recall? — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

Children's Jewelry Sold Exclusively at Kmart Recalled by Crimzon Rose Accessories Due to Lead Poisoning Hazard [CPSC]
Children's Rings Sold at Big Lots! Stores Recalled By Lari Jewelry Company Due to Lead Poisoning Hazard [CPSC]

According to the Home News Tribune (of Central New Jersey):

"Giannotta went into the store about 8 p.m. Sunday, shoplifted tools for the burglary, a duffle bag and a full set of clothing to change into.He then went to the furniture department and hid in the box, waiting for the store to close. Sometime around midnight,Giannotta changed into the shoplifted clothes, emerged from the box and went to the jewelry section.

With employees still working in the store, Giannotta pried open the jewelry cases and loaded his duffle bag with gold and assorted jewelry.

An employee yelled for the manager to call 911, and Giannotta fled."

Nearby police saw Giannotta running through the Kmart parking lot, where he was apprehended. Our question: So how much does $80,000 worth of Kmart jewelry weigh? 150lbs? 300lbs? No wonder the poor bastard got caught. He'd have been better off stealing 50lb bags of kitty litter. —MEGHANN MARCO

Man hides in box, robs Kmart of $80,000 in goods [Home News Tribune]

20th Century Fox launched a recall of charm bracelets included with Shirley Temple DVDs after the studio discovered they contained high levels of lead, reports the LA Times.

This marks the sixth recall of lead children's jewelry in the past three months.

Among the charms recalled were pigs (pictured) and lollipops, all manufactured in China, says the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The affected DVD titles include, Curly Top, Heidi, Little Miss Broadway, Baby Take a Bow, Bright Eyes, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, The Little Colonel, The Littlest Rebel, and our personal favorite, Dimples.

Unlike that charlatan leprechaun hack, these charms really are magically delicious.

Previously: Memo to The Evil Toymakers

You know it's gotta be good when it's hawked by a pedophilic magician.

Last Christmas, my husband bought me some garnet & diamond earrings from Blue Nile. A few weeks ago, due to some wacky physical comedy involving spilled water & a grated Parmesan cheese explosion, one of the earrings was inadvertently swept up and thrown away, never to be seen again. When I deduced this, I was completely distraught, as I am a sentimental sort. The next day, I emailed Blue Nile's Customer Service department, explaining the situation involving my garnet and diamond studs, and asked if there was any way to purchase one earring. Honestly, I expected bad news, but thought that it couldn't hurt to ask. Then " Diamond and Jewelry Consultant" Terri Brown wrote me back saying:

"We can help you replace your missing earring at half the price of a new pair of pre-set diamond stud earrings, but we'll want to make special arrangements to make sure you end up with a well matched pair of earrings. What we'll have you do is mail back your remaining single earring, and then we'll send back a new pair of earrings so that we can be assured of the best match between the diamonds. I would suggest contacting us by phone to make these arrangements. You can call us at 1-800-242-2728 Monday - Friday 5 A.M. - 9 P.M. and Saturday - Sunday 6 A.M. - 7 P.M. Pacific and any consultant you reach will be able to assist you."

I was ecstatic.

Of course, if there's a jump, we all damn well know that Paige's ecstasy can't last...

I went home and told my husband the good news. It turns out that he and emailed them the same day and he, too, had been told a replacement was possible. A few days later, he called the toll-free number to set the replacement process in motion. That's where the ecstasy ends, as he was told that Terri Brown was mistaken, only diamond studs are eligible for this service and Terri Brown's mistake, it seems, was our misfortune. This matter was then turned over to me as my husband is the yelling and hanging up sort and has learned not to engage and alienate them forever.

I called Blue Nile back and explained the situation to a customer service rep on the other end of the phone. He "understood my frustration" but was "unable to authorize a replacement." I explained that this situation made it quite unlikely that I was ever going to spend any more money with Blue Nile because, while I now understood the literal policy, I was still led to believe that my earring was replaceable for 1/2 the cost of the pair. As was my husband. I was then told that a supervisor would call me within 24 hours. 24 hours passed, nothing. I called back again, nothing. 5 days later, I called back and spoke with ANOTHER representative, who gave me the same explanation. I was told that the other two representatives I had spoken to were "temporary employees." Not my problem. I was told that Terri Brown must have misinterpreted my original email (which clearly stated they were garnet & diamond studs, not just diamond studs), and that his email was a template. Again, I informed him that their misinformation should not be my problem, and what's more, I have been waiting for some sort of definitive answer to my question for almost a week. I said that I was beginning to feel as though they just wanted me to go away and give up, but made it clear that I would not, and that, frankly, this runaround was severely decreasingly the likelihood that I would ever buy anything from them again, let alone give them $150 to replace the earrings. Garth had me send him the original email response and promised me a call back within 15 minutes. Sure enough, within 15 minutes, Garth had authorization to send me a new pair of earrings at a 50% discount and I was allowed to keep the one remaining earring from the original pair - a completely acceptable resolution to the problem.

Anyone happen to remember when you could hold companies to their word? Where companies actually considered their employees to be representatives and spokesmen for the company as a whole, and if an error was made, they paid for it, not the consumer? Even though Blue Nile eventually capitulated, it is astonishing to hear stories like this, where they essentially said: "Sorry, we made a mistake. But fuck you anyway."

But here's how to make this particularly cool, we think: The website says the popularity is causing delays in shipment due to manufacturing. We wager that means you could probably get a model made out of a can of your choosing and not just one of the pre-selected variants, should you take the time to email the creator and make sure it's okay to send them a rinsed-out can. (We don't know if this is at all possible, but for $80, we feel that a little customization isn't too much to ask.)

[via the fashion gurus at Boing Boing]

Note: 'LoBo' is something we just presumptuously coined. It means 'Low-end Boutique.'