"We Can't LEGALLY CALL THIS . . ."

[FarmMom]

So haven't has the SLC on much lately (been bouncing around), but had it on the other night with Matt and one of the female hosts (Hannaah?), don't recall which, but they repeated said "We cannot legally call this AA, AA A or AAAA . . ." regarding tanzanite rings on the show.

In the past, they'd always comment on how a tanzanite wasn't labeled as a AA, AAA or AAAA but definitely was or should have been called that, or it wasn't properly graded and the listing showed a lower grade than it was. They'd show you the grading scale with color and insist it was such and such grade.

Anyone else catch the change? With the emphasis on "legally" I'm guessing they must have gotten in major trouble over this, and had to change how they presented. Now, they still show the regarding scale, and insist they cannot "legally" call it XY or Z, but say "you look at the scale and YOU be the judge of what color grading it looks like", with emphasis of course toward the dark end of the scale.

We all know how they adjust the color on TV, sometimes so much it shows in the band . . . my husband was looking at a Turkizite ring the other day, and was like "Wait . . . how is the band changing colors? Is it green?" I smirked and replied, "nope. That's their "color change" Turkizite . . . they flip the lights to better allude to a color change effect!" And we watched the band turn from a green to a pink/red color. You couldn't even tell what type of metal it was set in.

But anyway, I found it interesting that how they present is beginning to catch up with them . . .

[Bella]

FarmMom, I have noticed that on their presentations of Tanzanite they’re grading of it. I don’t believe any other tv retailers do. I don’t know I’m not that knowledgeable on Tanzanite, I don’t care for it myself, and I cannot justify the cost.Also when it’s on I tend not to watch, I’m sick of it! It does make you wonder if they got into trouble with the grading of it though. Anybody have any expertise on this?

[FarmMom]

I'm not sure what laws apply on TV presentations, but online sites I do sometimes see them listed as AAA (again, quad A is not a thing, GIA scale only goes up to AAA). Most people online know what they are looking for however, and anyone can say a stone is whatever, unless it has a grading report it's all heresay.

[MayFlowers]

Yeah I definitely think they are being careful with their wording. For their beauty devices, they always state "individual results may vary" and they don't make any medical claims which would definitely be illegal for them to do. I believe anytime a salesperson makes a verbal statement, it can be referred to as "fluffing" which is legal. So, when Tony claims a stone "looks Santa Maria" but the item states Espirito Santo, the fluffing would be what he said and they could be legally evaluated based on the actual product description. Same goes for if a salesperson claims the chain is included in the necklace but the item description says "pendant" then when you only get a pendant the courts would say the salesperson was just fluffing and since the description was accurate, the case is not actionable.