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The Natural Sapphire Company - BEWARE

mrs-b

mrs-b

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Aug 18, 2013
Messages
12,017
So - misleading? Blatant rip off? Make your own decision.

@elle_chris started a thread a few days ago, asking for opinions about 2 small sapphires. In the end, she decided to go with neither of them and, since I liked the look of the small heart, I decided I'd buy it.

So my husband - great guy that he is - gets online and purchases it. Gets the receipt, order number, confirmation, etc etc.

But the stone doesn't come off their website. So I send them an email asking if it's still available. Today, I get an email telling me that it is.

So I call them and ask again - "Is this sapphire still available?" - Answer - yes, it is.

So I say - "That's concerning, given that my husband bought it on Friday."

They then respond with - oh - no - wait - it sold this morning. So I ask why it's still on their website, and she tells me....

"Because we have two of them and they're identical."

I say - identical? To the extent that they have the SAME STOCK NUMBER?

She says - yes - if they're identical, we will put them up there with the same stock number.

I then ask the obvious question: are these from the same rough?

Her answer? "I don't know."

So there you have it - selling different stones under the same stock number, using the same photo which may or may not be of the stone you actually end up getting.

Obviously, I cancelled the sale and let her know I'd be posting here. Draw your own conclusions. Proceed with this company at your own risk. As for me?

NEVER AGAIN.
 
mrs-b said:
So - misleading? Blatant rip off? Make your own decision.

@elle_chris started a thread a few days ago, asking for opinions about 2 small sapphires. In the end, she decided to go with neither of them and, since I liked the look of the small heart, I decided I'd buy it.

So my husband - great guy that he is - gets online and purchases it. Gets the receipt, order number, confirmation, etc etc.

But the stone doesn't come off their website. So I send them an email asking if it's still available. Today, I get an email telling me that it is.

So I call them and ask again - "Is this sapphire still available?" - Answer - yes, it is.

So I say - "That's concerning, given that my husband bought it on Friday."

They then respond with - oh - no - wait - it sold this morning. So I ask why it's still on their website, and she tells me....

"Because we have two of them and they're identical."

I say - identical? To the extent that they have the SAME STOCK NUMBER?

She says - yes - if they're identical, we will put them up there with the same stock number.

I then ask the obvious question: are these from the same rough?

Her answer? "I don't know."

So there you have it - selling different stones under the same stock number, using the same photo which may or may not be of the stone you actually end up getting.

Obviously, I cancelled the sale and let her know I'd be posting here. Draw your own conclusions. Proceed with this company at your own risk. As for me?

NEVER AGAIN.
Click to expand...

wow.. that's crazy.. doesn't even make sense, unless they were a pair? I dunno, but definitely weird response.

I did purchase the pear, but also wondered why mine showed as still available.
However, once it shipped it showed that it was placed on hold.

Just checked again and now there's a special note that says "This item is currently on hold for another customer.
If you'd like to be placed on a wait-list, continue your purchase today. We will contact you within 24 - 48 hours should the item become released from hold."
That is a very shady practice. I mean I guess they do it in case an item gets returned, but still- how can they let someone else buy it??!! Very wrong.

As far as the sapphire though, I received it today and I'm happy with it. Their pics and videos were spot on. Was actually impressed with how accurate the color is.

Here's a pic I took a little while ago: The stone is eye clean, those are my fingerprints all over it.
resized.jpg
 
Well now I am very curious, especially since your stone showed on hold and sold and the heart not. I love that pear though! The color is beautiful!
 
Mreader said:
Well now I am very curious, especially since your stone showed on hold and sold and the heart not. I love that pear though! The color is beautiful!
Click to expand...

The color is fab. I can't complain. I think it would even look good bezeled, but I think I may set it east-west in prongs.

@mrs-b I just checked and it's not the same stone. The one they have up now is .46ct
The first heart was .61ct I believe or about that. The price was also closer to 300 I think? This one is $240 so definitely not the same stone.

But they're using the same video and pics which I consider fraud. Disgusting.
 
...... even if they were cut from the same rough, there is no way they can be identical. Similar? possibly. Identical? No way. THAT in itself throws huge red flags. Same stock number?? Even if they had 2 of the "same" stones, they should have different stock numbers in order for them to track their inventory appropriately.

This sounds SO shady. Sorry Mrs B :(
 
NSC has a long and colourful history of disrepute. Much of it is documented on PS.
Very glad to hear that @elle_chris received the stone that she'd purchased without any troubles, and that it was fairly represented!!

Natural Sapphire Co CEO charged w/forging ct orders re PS & others

Michael Arnstein, the president of the Natural Sapphire Company in NYC, was arrested by the Feds last week for having created phony court orders, complete with forged judicial signatures. In an effort to improve NSC's online reputation, he is alleged to have served the forged orders upon Google...
www.pricescope.com

Question for The Natural Sapphire Company

I am a previous customer of yours and I'm also not a new poster. I have no axe to grind. I asked a polite question in another thread and I would appreciate a reply and have done as you asked and opened a new thread so that your ex-employee does not get more air time: 1. Do you photoshop your...
www.pricescope.com

Unscrupulous?! Scandalous?! Status Quo?!

In the section of NSC''s website where matched pairs of stones are listed I have noticed in the yellows alone that the pictures of the pairs show the same stone, as it were, next to itself. In many of these the pictures the stones is flipped mirror image. In others the picture is rotated, but is...
www.pricescope.com

The Natural Sapphire Company www.thenaturalspphirecompany.co

About a week back a mail mysteriously appeared in my mail box from someone claiming to be NSC ex-employee from its media department. The mailer thanked me for bring to light the dodgy tactics used by NSC through the blog post...
www.pricescope.com
 
Oh there’s a lot of (horrifically negative) reviews about the Natural Sapphire Company on Pricescope.

Their President was sentenced to prison time a few years ago for faking court orders: https://www.pricescope.com/communit...rged-w-forging-ct-orders-re-ps-others.230719/

Here is a much older thread about the NSC and their photoshop practices - hilariously, it’s about the same concern you have/a very similar topic - they photoshopped ‘matched pairs’ by simply by dropping in mirror images of a single stone. Seems like they truly believe two stones can be identical, and therefore it’s not worth the time to take photos of the actual stone you’ll receive - the problem though is that this isn’t made clear to the customer, and they rep their photos as if it’s the actual gem you’ll receive and not a stock image. https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/unscrupulous-scandalous-status-quo.137658/

Another weird and bizarre thread about photoshop involving one of their ex employees https://www.pricescope.com/communit...mpany-www-thenaturalspphirecompany-co.159281/
 
Yikes. Not cool, NSC!! I'm glad you were able to back out @mrs-b, thanks for the heads up!
 
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yssie said:
NSC has a long and colourful history of disrepute. Much of it is documented on PS.
Very glad to hear that @elle_chris received the stone that she'd purchased without any troubles, and that it was fairly represented!!

Natural Sapphire Co CEO charged w/forging ct orders re PS & others

Michael Arnstein, the president of the Natural Sapphire Company in NYC, was arrested by the Feds last week for having created phony court orders, complete with forged judicial signatures. In an effort to improve NSC's online reputation, he is alleged to have served the forged orders upon Google...
www.pricescope.com

Question for The Natural Sapphire Company

I am a previous customer of yours and I'm also not a new poster. I have no axe to grind. I asked a polite question in another thread and I would appreciate a reply and have done as you asked and opened a new thread so that your ex-employee does not get more air time: 1. Do you photoshop your...
www.pricescope.com

Unscrupulous?! Scandalous?! Status Quo?!

In the section of NSC''s website where matched pairs of stones are listed I have noticed in the yellows alone that the pictures of the pairs show the same stone, as it were, next to itself. In many of these the pictures the stones is flipped mirror image. In others the picture is rotated, but is...
www.pricescope.com

The Natural Sapphire Company www.thenaturalspphirecompany.co

About a week back a mail mysteriously appeared in my mail box from someone claiming to be NSC ex-employee from its media department. The mailer thanked me for bring to light the dodgy tactics used by NSC through the blog post...
www.pricescope.com
Click to expand...

@yssie, that's why I love this forum - so much information to be had (sometimes its a lot to wade through but I'd rather a lot instead of too little) especially with gem posts like yours! Thank you. @mrs-b I'm sorry for your experience, but am so glad you caught the multiple problems due to your knowledge and diligence. Now we all have to look for a sapphire heart for you ;)2
 
@Indylady , I so wish we had an eye roll emoji. Those are crazy stories. Who does this kind of thing? (that was rhetorical :) )
 
mrs-b said:
So - misleading? Blatant rip off? Make your own decision.

@elle_chris started a thread a few days ago, asking for opinions about 2 small sapphires. In the end, she decided to go with neither of them and, since I liked the look of the small heart, I decided I'd buy it.

So my husband - great guy that he is - gets online and purchases it. Gets the receipt, order number, confirmation, etc etc.

But the stone doesn't come off their website. So I send them an email asking if it's still available. Today, I get an email telling me that it is.

So I call them and ask again - "Is this sapphire still available?" - Answer - yes, it is.

So I say - "That's concerning, given that my husband bought it on Friday."

They then respond with - oh - no - wait - it sold this morning. So I ask why it's still on their website, and she tells me....

"Because we have two of them and they're identical."

I say - identical? To the extent that they have the SAME STOCK NUMBER?

She says - yes - if they're identical, we will put them up there with the same stock number.

I then ask the obvious question: are these from the same rough?

Her answer? "I don't know."

So there you have it - selling different stones under the same stock number, using the same photo which may or may not be of the stone you actually end up getting.

Obviously, I cancelled the sale and let her know I'd be posting here. Draw your own conclusions. Proceed with this company at your own risk. As for me?

NEVER AGAIN.
Click to expand...

That's akin to buying down the mall
Not good Mrs-B
 
I think this is the umpteenth thread titled, "Beware of the Natural Sapphire Company" that we have, LOL!

I don't plan on shopping there any time soon. All natural gemstones are unique, like fingerprints, and pricey stones should never be sold like they're duplicates.
 
Not too long ago they posted on PS in an old thread, bashing some members and stirring the pot, in all caps. The irony was off the charts! I reported it, and maybe some others did, too. It was removed.

I found it super ballsy and unprofessional.
 
Thanks @mrs-b for the heads up. It’s obvious that they were trying to feed you a load of …..
So shady and unprofessional
 
Well, despite there apparently being many threads about this company, I'd never seen any of them, so I was coming at it blind.

So now I'm out one little Valentine's Day gift! Bummer. :(2
 
There are Companies that specialize in making small gemstone melee in calibrated sizes and shapes that include hearts and pears. This is likely the source of The Natural Sapphire Company's "identical" stones.

Africa Gems is one such Company that sells sapphire melee LINK
 
@prs - thank you so much!
 
I am not going to comment on The Natural Sapphire Company's trust worthiness. They've been around for a long time.

I will say it is not an uncommon practice when it comes to small stones (under a carat) and melee stones to use one picture that represents them all, because they are the same color and cut. I think some don’t understand here how time consuming it would be to take a new picture on what is basically identical stones. No one has the time for that.

If you do not like a stone, send it back, but don't demonize a practice that is done by too many reputable gemstone dealers to count.

There are more important matters out there than duplicate production stones.
 
fredflintstone said:
I am not going to comment on The Natural Sapphire Company's trust worthiness. They've been around for a long time.

I will say it is not an uncommon practice when it comes to small stones (under a carat) and melee stones to use one picture that represents them all, because they are the same color and cut. I think some don’t understand here how time consuming it would be to take a new picture on what is basically identical stones. No one has the time for that.

If you do not like a stone, send it back, but don't demonize a practice that is done by too many reputable gemstone dealers to count.

There are more important matters out there than duplicate production stones.
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with optimizing time and effort, but disclosure is important. They claim, on each of their stone, that you get exactly what is shown on photo and video. That’s what the problem is, in my opinion.
 
VividRed said:
Nothing wrong with optimizing time and effort, but disclosure is important. They claim, on each of their stone, that you get exactly what is shown on photo and video. That’s what the problem is, in my opinion.
Click to expand...

And I'm sure you do. It is a commom practice on common stones. Sapphire is readly available in under one carat sizes of the same color and cut.
 
fredflintstone said:
And I'm sure you do. It is a commom practice on common stones. Sapphire is readly available in under one carat sizes of the same color and cut.
Click to expand...

Is it indeed? Well, this is, of course, very interesting to know. And if they say that openly and publicly, that would allow the consumer to make an informed decision.

As for 'demonizing a practice' - I'm going to report my own experience when I feel it's relevant to people on a consumer's website.

As for it being too time consuming to individually document stones they're portraying as being individually documented - bummer for them.

As for the 'some who don't understand' - that may well be true. So I'm here to spread the information on this practice, which may or may not be employed by any specific company, for those, like me, to whom this actually matters.
 
mrs-b said:
Is it indeed? Well, this is, of course, very interesting to know. And if they say that openly and publicly, that would allow the consumer to make an informed decision.

As for 'demonizing a practice' - I'm going to report my own experience when I feel it's relevant to people on a consumer's website.

As for it being too time consuming to individually document stones they're portraying as being individually documented - bummer for them.

As for the 'some who don't understand' - that may well be true. So I'm here to spread the information on this practice, which may or may not be employed by any specific company, for those, like me, to whom this actually matters.
Click to expand...

LOL!

Don't kill the messenger for telling the truth.

Much ado about nothing. Common practice.
 
VividRed said:
I do no work in this sector but I most certainly have better working ethics than you seem to imply I do ;-)
Click to expand...

LOL! I was not implying anything about your ethics. Why would I? I'm just telling the forum here what is a common practice. That is all.

I meant, I'm sure you would receive a stone identical when I wrote, "And I'm sure you do," as a reply to your sentence " that you get exactly what is shown on photo and video." Nothing to do with your ethics. I’m sure you are an ethical person.
:)
 
fredflintstone said:
LOL!

Don't kill the messenger for telling the truth.

Much ado about nothing. Common practice.
Click to expand...

I don’t think you understand the point, just because something is common doesn’t make it right.

The problem is they state the exact picture is of the same stone they will send - that’s just lying. It’s not hard to put in writing next to the picture this is a stock image and what we send out will be “identical”. If it’s so normal, why not openly state it?

It doesn’t make it not lying just because everyone does it. Why does it feel like I’m talking to my pre teen right here.
 
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