I reside at London and bought a blue sapphire at price $ 4, 000 of about 2.15 carat weight (Yes I know it was too much of a risk I took with such a big stone) from The Natural sapphire Company www.thenaturalsapphirecompany.co.uk
I wanted to mount it on a solitaire setting
The stone was shipped by The Natural Sapphire Company sometime in first week of Jan 2011; it was a frenzy time for sapphire dealers due to Kate Middleton Engagement sapphire ring replica were in vogue.
The stone was suppose to reach the destination in about 10 working days. The Stone never arrived.
On repeated inquiries with The Natural Sapphire Company ( BTW they don’t even respond to e-mails) they informed me over the phone that the stone is already shipped and reached the destination. This was shocking
And then in about 1 week I received a letter from HM Customs that the merchandise is in their custody and primal facial they have reasons to believe that It was grossly under valued.
On further probing I realized that The Natural sapphire Company had declared it as “Corundum sample” and its stated transaction value at USD10; I was in utter shock and disgust
On contacting The Natural Sapphire Company they mentioned that they have to do it “that way” to escape hefty custom duties (In effect they meant ditch the Government).
I followed it further with HM Customs who deputed their evaluator to appraise the stone and Guess what : he appraised it at about $200 . HM Customs further told me to take custody of the merchandise after paying $ 1400 which includes penalty + VAT and interest on Penalty
However till date I have not taken the delivery of the stone .Because if I do I will land up paying more then USD6500 for a USD200 stone
I wrote many letters to The Natural sapphire Company ; There solution is I should pay the duty and take possession on the stone and then return it. But why should I? The Natural sapphire Company should manage it with HM Customs and payback my USD4000
Just today I received a letter from HM Customs that If I don’t Take the delivery of the stone in next 30 days they will auction it.
I am repenting as to why I did any business with The Natural sapphire Company
Any suggestions?
For personal reasons I will not be able to disclose the parcel number or scan the customs letter and put it up here
Elizabeth
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Hey Elizabeth for a Brit your English is piss poor.
I fail to understand why people recklessly purchase through net without enquiring about the vendor. The Natural Sapphire Company is a known scammer. There are hundreds of posts from aggrieved buyers. It also operates an online escort company www.evanwasheremodels.com Its so called CIO Evan Guttman manages this site whereas Its CEO is facing serious criminal charges.
There are hundreds of other well reputed e-retailers for natural blue sapphires and sapphire rings
LOL Enquiring... love it when people just can not fix their English even to screw someone over...
http://www.thenaturalsapphirecompany.com/Blog/postings-recently-on-s-c-a-m-complaint-sites
One of the way out is apply to credit card company for refund. However I do agree with Alice ; The Natural Sapphire Company is NOT a reputed company to shop from
I had a look at this detailed case/complaint against The Natural sapphire Company
http://www.naturalsapphirecompany.net/natural-sapphire-company-complaint/
Looks like The natural sapphire Company and its owner Michael Arnstein is into criminal activities