Originally Posted by brian

I purchased a necklace and a pair of earings from PermiumPearl for my sister. I have to say that, while I'm no pearl expert, I was very impressed with the quality. All the pearls were lustrous with no visible defects.

The earings were perfectly matched and my sister really enjoys wearing them regularly. The strand of pearls on the necklace were perfectly matched for color and size (at least to my eyes) and look great.

Shipping was prompt and the prices very competitive.

Given my experience, I'm quite surprised by some of the less favorable reports from others on this thread.

Everybody has their bad days... I'm glad your experience was a good one. I have had several experiences with orders overseas, where the first order is great, then subsequent orders degrade in quality. As long as there is a good return policy, you should be okay. Besides, people were not getting bad pearls, just a lower grade than other vendors. Differences can be subtle and people here tend to become obessesed with pearls.

[Kevin Canning]

Ever notice when you go to a site and read the testimonials and you can tell the company wrote them. You know the ones where they cover all the main points that a customer would be concerned about. Maybe off topic, but you can always tell when something isn't right

Originally Posted by Kevin Canning

..... You know the ones where they cover all the main points that a customer would be concerned about....

You mean like the prompt service and competitive prices?

Slraep

[Kevin Canning]

oh I'm not talking about anyone in particular slraep - just a random thought

Although something tells me Yan... oops I mean "Brian" only planned on making one post.

Wow. It's too bad there isn't a way of vetting people as they sign up on the forum. At least I have Jeremy to vouch for me.

[Caitlin]

I find it funny that someone signed up to make their first post a defense of a company that has nothing to do with this site. That is highly unusual! In my reckless opinion, it is weird. If someone says they had less than a perfect experience, that is their personal opinion and not the official stance of anyone in charge here.

I am sure that abovenamed company has some happy buyers. In fact, even eBay schlock has lots of happy buyers. Happy buyers do not necessarily mean that all the policies of a given company are good. I think some valid issues have been raised about certain policies of abovenamed company, especially their tendency to borrow another company's advertising copy and slogans.

This is not a pearl quality issue, or a service issue, or a delivery issue, it is a business quality issue.

Check out this thread. Personally I am tired of them getting attention over here, even if it is not positive. Let them explain what they are doing on their own site- don't make us do it!

[brian]

Originally Posted by Kevin Canning

oh I'm not talking about anyone in particular slraep - just a random thought

Although something tells me Yan... oops I mean "Brian" only planned on making one post.

___________________

I'm really shocked that a supposedly unbiased moderator would question my identity simply because I posted a positive comment about my experience with a vendor.

I was surprised when checking out this site that it contained largely negative comments about Premium Pearl, especially as they are Top Rated by Yahoo Shopping with 5 stars, meaning at least 95% of customers gave positive ratings.

So, I felt that some counterbalance was needed, and simply recounted my experience. To mention quality of product and service is not at all unusual in customer review of vendors, and hardly warrants suspcion about a poster's identity.

Brian

Washington, DC

[jshepherd]

As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, no vendor could have 100% negative feedback. If that were the case, the vendor would quickly cease to exist. I am sure some customers are happy with the product and service from Premium Pearl. But it is also apparent that people who have shopped PremiumPearl.com and PurePearls.com have had very different experiences. One not always bad, but one always better.

Now you mention you are "shocked" that an unbiased moderator would question your identity. I think you are likely the only one who is shocked. There are so many reason, but I will only list a few:

· You have never posted before. You just became a member here and found this "random" thread to post to.

· Your post (in fact both) appear to be shills for a company, not really describing any real experience. It looked fake to all the moderators and typically we do not all agree.

· You talk about Premium Pearl's Yahoo five stars as if this is supposed to give credibility. If you check Premium Pearl's merchant information HERE you will see that Premium Pearl has only received 17 ratings, and all but one were in 2004. Out of the 8 that still show, 2 of them report elements of bad experiences. That is not 95%, but what is 95% of 17 reviews??? It sounds a little misleading and dishonest to me for Premium Pearl to be touting their "5 star Yahoo rating".

· Premium Pearl has not received favorable reviews here - true. What would their natural reaction be? A shill...

· Your email address is a first name followed by a bunch of numbers on a free sign-up account. Maybe there is a reason, but most of the time that means it is a made-up account. This is very typical for people who come here to shill or spam.

Now for the big one! The reason why I am completely convinced you are a shill as well.

· The day before your post the forum received a letter from an attorney hired by PremiumPearl.com. The letter demanded that Admin remove the post by IowaCamper who was recounting a message from American Pearl about Premium Pearl. You know... the one about Premium Pearl stealing their idea... the first time I openly agreed with American Pearl. The letter stated that we may be open to libel and other things.

Our response... American Pearl did coin "Collection Quality". They also use the phrase "The World's Finest Pearls" as their tag line. Now, within a couple of weeks time, after American Pearl has been using both of these for more than 10 years, Premium Pearl starts using "collection quality" on their Web site and the phrase "The Finest Pearls in the World" (or something close to that) on their google adwords. And as a kicker, they use the copyright symbol after that phrase. Can they thumb their nose at American Pearl any more than that?

While I am not a close friend of American Pearl I have always disliked dealers who in my view have shady business practices. To me, what Premium Pearl is doing, is shady. That is why I agree with American Pearl.

Oh, one more thing. Premium Pearl, you should have your attorney read the Communications Decency Act of 1996. I am sure he knows what it says, and that is why IowaCamper's post stays.

Thanks, Jeremy, for taking a stand for honesty. You Rock!

[Caitlin]

Hi brian
Like I said, this is not a pearl quality issue, or a service issue, or a delivery issue, it is a business quality issue.

To be more precise, it is a business ethics issue. For a company to piggyback on another's tradmark is --kinda slimey....shall we say?

So instead of hopping over here to lecture us in your very first post, take a look around and you will see that ethical businesses do well here, but any funny business will be rooted out and turned over for public display.

Prepearl- i refuse to write their full name needs to rethink the big picture. Yeah sure, their stuff may be as good as the next person's, but appropriating others' tradmarks does not bode well for confidence in their product or longevity. This thread will stay up forever- and if preperl does not rethink its ethical presentation to the public, many more threads like it will join this one.

So, if you are just a casual customer of theirs, you shoulda thought twice about jumping to their defense- it just may be that the truth is being told over here.

[Caitlin]

I'm really shocked that a supposedly unbiased moderator.....

I just had to add another comment on this....

Who says he was biased? You? Oh, I suppose you are unbiased and posted with an open mind?

Why do you have an expectation that moderators "should be" unbiased?

Why do you have the expectation that we will give favorable reviews to all pearl companies? Or at least keep our mouths shut when there is an ethical breech?

Why do you have the expectations that anyone over here will change their mind based on your post?

I am so sorry we disappointed all your expections so thoroughly, but when all is said and done, maybe you need to review them and throw out the ones that aren't serving you..........

Brian,

You must be one of those awesome brothers everyone wants that are worth their weight in pearls! I could be wearing THE WHOLE ROMANOV PEARL COLLECTION and my brother wouldn't care one bit, let alone write to a pearl forum about it. The chance of me finding a red diamond in my attic have better odds. But then, maybe my brother isn't a good example. I could probably be wearing a whole Romanov around my neck and he still wouldn't notice.

He bought me a book on astronomy once.

Slraep

[Ingykiz]

I love it when the gloves come off! Keep up the good work you "great pearl detectives"! I have been ripped off before finding this forum. Now I feel that someone is watching out for me....

[val]

I loved the service that they provided, I got my present in record time...plus I was really concerned about buying pearls because I thought that it would look really grandma but the pendant looks amazing, so chic and in one word, elegant!!!
I could not be happier and I recommend this site to anyone and everyone that wants to get a present for themselves or for anyone special!!!!

Originally Posted by val

I loved the service that they provided, I got my present in record time..

You mean PurePearls, no doubt.

Slraep