Posted on 01/22/2008 5:29:24 AM PST by SuzanneWeeks
Buy a diamond? Get a refund You may be owed a cut of a $295 million class-action settlement for gems purchased as long ago as 1994. Here's how figure out whether you're eligible and how to make a claim.
advertisement Article Tools E-mail to a friendTools IndexPrint-friendly versionSite MapDiscuss in a Message BoardArticle IndexBy Marilyn Lewis How would you like a little refund on that diamond nose stud you bought in your wilder days? Or the diamond engagement ring you purchased for your sweetie when you settled down?
If you bought a piece of diamond jewelry -- or jewelry with a diamond in it -- between Jan. 1, 1994, and March 31, 2006, you may be eligible for a refund as part of a recent settlement of a class-action lawsuit alleging that De Beers, the big South African diamond company, had cornered the market for diamonds for decades, keeping prices artificially high.
In settling, De Beers is shelling out $295 million to put the trouble behind it -- $135 million of which is earmarked for consumers rather than wholesalers.
"While we don't accept the allegations, we do believe that settling this suit is in the best interests of our clients, our shareholders and consumers," De Beers says in a statement on its Web site.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.moneycentral.msn.com ...
Suz
Of course they kept the market artificially high. The entire jewelry market in the US is artificially high.
It's a market in which, in many cases, the price is the value, for the purchaser and/or recipient.
"That's kind of pathetic," he says. "That's just the way our legal system works. Consumers aren't going to get a lot."
That said, nobody forced these people to buy diamonds. A jewelry diamond is not even close to a necessity and DeBeers doesn't shoot mind control rays through the TV.
Why are they bailing schmucks out that 'overpaid' for diamonds by their own free will?
Funny that, when you’re buying a diamond, the sales critters stress how long lasting and permanent it is.
Try taking it back later (after the 30 day return period) and they won’t even give you half the value.
Jewelry is a scam. Makes used car dealers seem ethical.
I've heard it said that in the jewelry business, if a product is not selling, you *raise* the price.
In that kind of marketing environment, it probably works at least part of the time!
It's a legal system created by lawyers for lawyers, and ruled on by former lawyers.
Millions of dollars to LAWYERS, simply by artificial creation of victims, like Big Tobacco, Big Oil, Big Investment, Big Auto, etc., etc.
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