tiredThe jewelry however was awful. You want to talk about how cheap crap gets sold, Lizzie-liz, you would be disgusted.
http://www.liasophia.com/sites/sfrechette/catalog-intro
Here are some warning signs:
When the consultant waxes rhapsodic about the return policy because she's returned "lots" of things (in the year or two that she's been doing this.) That's not a good return rate. I don't care how good the return policy is, ideally, I never have to return anything because it's well made enough to not break. In the unlikely event that my necklace is caught in a thresher, okay, that's a reasonable break, but how many times does that happen in a year?
Two of the women in the room with us who had bought from them before had returned things and had "good experiences" with the return. Are you kidding me? In a room of 8 people, 3 or 4 of whom have never bought from the company, 3 people have had returns? Not good ROI imho.
I asked about the materials used in the necklace. 18 ct. gold plate and rhodium (presumably plate, given the actual cost of rhodium). I don't much about rhodium at all, and I've never really worked with it, but at these prices, I'd kind of expect gold fill or gold. Or maybe my pricing model is off. Well, I just looked at FMG and the nearest pieces to the one that I got were about 3-6$ per dangle and that's with Swarovski crystal. Of course, as expected they didn't have anything nearly like the one I bought which is why I convinced myself I wasn't getting totally screwed (except, of course, I know I was, but you accept a certain amount of markup for things you like, although I also like to not feel like I'm getting screwed.)
Of course they don't tell you in the catalogue or on the website (or in the presentation) what the materials they're using are. You have to ask. I couldn't tell you who made the crystal, and I didn't think to ask, except that places that use Swarovski pretty much always tell you because they want you to know, even if you don't know what it means, that they're using the best.
Rhodium plated chain I saw for $1.25 a foot at one place, but they only had one style, so I don't know what to make of that.
Ultimately, it begs the point, why the hell would people buy this stuff when Liz's stuff is much prettier and better made? It's not like the jewelry is especially complicated in style or design.
Hoppie got a call last night right at the end of the Sox game, during his dinner. That sucked.