Honesty in Advertising

[megus]

I thought I would start a discussion about honesty in advertising.

How many of you have seen the flashy Television ads for diamonds that show almost totally flawless and ideal cut diamonds at an unbelievable price and then when you go to the store to buy one you find that the diamonds for sale have huge flaws and are badly cut so that they do not have any sparkle to them?

It almost seems that to make money now days you have to lie to a customer. At least that seems to be the perception of the large jewelry chains. I have yet to see one of their ads that was not misleading and unaccurate. I personally think this hurts not only the honest jeweler, but the public as well.

What can we do as independants to change this image?

What can we do for those of you in the public to help you get the real value you are looking for?

I wish I had an ideal answer, but I don't.

All the time I come up with the problem of the customer being told that a diamond is one thing only to find out it is quite different.

What can we do to make sure fair is fair?

MEgus

[Kelly]

These always seem to pop up around holiday time. In teeny weeny print it will state "limited quantities available"

[kristin]

I think if the public would turn right around and walk out of their store when presented with these bait and switch promo items they might stop advertising that way. Sadly the majority of the customers who come in end up buying something anyway, I have worked for some of these corporations and its amazing how much sells from these methods.
Thats why I left the corporate retail world :)

[Jeff A.]

I also got very disgusted, as a former District Manager, with the corporate world and dropped out.
The most important product that my managers were required to push was the "credit app." Daily quotas of credit apps. And selling extended service policies were huge. That's where the big chains make their money..
Kristin...don't get me started ...

Jeff A.

[Jeff A.]

Hello Consumers...

The trade wants to hear from you!
What do YOU think about your jewelry shopping experiences?


Jeff A.

[kristin]

Oh I know all about the "credit app" the worst part is they even end up using the aproach that you should just fill out the credit app and once you get the card in the mail you can cancel it which defeats the whole purpose.
I even had a certain manager and a jewelry chain that will remain nameless that used to rerun denied credit apps (with out the customer present) when ever she couldnt get the numbers of apps for that day.

[Jeff A.]

Kristin:
Just so you don't think that the "new account" hype applies only to
the jewelry industry.. (and I know you don't) . It's everywhere retail is..including all the banks.
Bankers (tellers) have daily quotas for opening up new accounts.
It stresses out the employees AND the customers.

Now get out there and BUY SOMETHING!!!!

Jeff A.