Jewelry Television
Jewelry Television Sued for Selling Treated Gems
Marliese Weed has filed a $5 million class-action lawsuit accusing Jewelry Television of false advertising. The lawsuit also claims that the company allegedly sold treated gemstones without full disclosure.
In the class-action lawsuit, the complainant stated that her aim is to recover the money that she and thousands of other consumers spent on “gemstones fraudulently advertised and misrepresented by Jewelry Television as being a highly-coveted, extremely rare, all natural expensive gem that looks like Oregon sunstone, a rare feldspar with a vivid reddish-orange hue.”
According to the plaintiff’s claims, while Jewelry Television described a rare, red labradorite in its sales pitch, the customers actually received “low-cost yellow or colorless labradorite that has been given a chemical ‘facelift’ to make it appear like the rare Oregon sunstone.”
The suit was filed on behalf of plaintiff Marliese Weed and other individuals who bought green or red andesine-labradorite from Jewelry Television from Jan. 1, 2003 to date. Weed paid over $ 4,000 for andesine-labradorite at that time.
Weed claims that Jewelry Television obtained what it passed for andesine-labradorite for mere pennies per carat and then sold it for huge profits.
According to the lawsuit, this is in violation of U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations, according to which it is “deceptive and unfair to fail to disclose treatment of a gemstone when it has a significant effect on the stone’s value.”
The suit also quoted FTC guidelines which state that calling a gemstone genuine, natural, precious or real when it is not is deceptive.
In an interview with Jewelry Television co-founder Jerry Sisk, he admitted that the gemstones are “heated,” and stated that the network didn’t realize that the stones were heated.
However Sisk claimed that the process did not affect the stone’s value: He is quoted as saying: “What you’re buying is the color. And color rules when it comes to gemstones.”
Jewelry Television maintains that when one of its gemstone sources reported heat-treating its material, the company immediately reported the fact to its customers.
.Jewelry Television reported more than $400 million in revenues last year.
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