Rob Bates

The Hardest "Blood Diamond" Question You'll Ever Have to Answer -- Really!
November 21, 2006

Peggy Jo Donahue of Jewelers of America writes in with a very good point about the Amnesty/Global Witness brochure ...

The fourth question AI advises consumers to ask retailers actually drives jewelers nuts - especially those who have bent over backwards to comply with the Kimberley Process and System of Warranties. It is this one:

4. Can you show me a written guarantee from your diamond suppliers stating that your diamonds are conflict free?

For large retailers - invoices are only kept at company headquarters, so local branches wouldn't even have the warranties from their suppliers on hand.

 

For smaller retailers - they don't want to show their invoices - because of the wholesale prices on them!

I've advised our members to cut and paste the "Sample Policy Statement for Consumers," that JA has at its website, onto their letterheads and give this to customers who ask for a written guarantee. Though it isn't a guarantee, it does feature the warranty statement and advises consumers that the jeweler abides by the SoW rules. Jewelers who use such a statement say it usually works to reassure concerned consumers.

 As evidence of this, I saw an article back in July (from our hometown newspaper no less!)  [Ed note: It's my hometown paper too] that a Kay Jewelers received especially warm praise from a reporter for handing out its written "policy" statement. The reporter, who apparently went into stores asking for a conflict-free "guarantee," was handed Kay's conflict diamonds policy statement and felt satisfied. Here's the reporter's statement:

"At Woodbridge Center, the sales associates of Kay Jewelers and Helzberg Jewelers were very prompt in showing the conflict-free guarantee, but those at Zales and Whitehall and Co. were aware of the term conflict diamond but did not have the documentation."("Make Sure no Blood on Your Hands when Decked Out in Diamonds," Home News Tribune, Woodbridge, NJ, Online 07/21/06).

This is actually a good time to raise the question: How many retailers are getting conflict diamond questions -- and are you generally able to handle them?

Posted by Rob Bates on November 21, 2006 | Comments (0)