Of late we’ve had a number of customers bring in their jewellery items to us for inspection. Nothing out of the ordinary here, though slightly unusual in that they were items bought from us and have been repaired elsewhere under insurance claims. The customers all wanted us to check the repair had been performed properly and to a “Jacobs” standard. They were anxious that their insurance company had done right by them. In both the recent cases, we demonstrated that the jobs were not finished to the standard we would want, nor were the supplied gemstones equivalent quality. This disappointed both us and more importantly, the customers.
It appears that insurance companies are funneling some work into their own workshops, giving the impression to their customers that this is the only route open to them.
In our opinion it is essential that you check your insurance policy’s small print carefully. It is very unlikely that you are obliged to use your insurance company’s own in-house workshop, and you may find that you have a choice.
You may have to insist on a trusted external workshop such as Jacobs – or indeed another – of your choice – to carry out your work.
It may be of interest for you to know that many insurers use a third party specialist company to look after claims called The Loss Management Group or LMG. The Goldsmiths Retail group owns LMG, so I’m sure it would be no surprise to realise that its in their interest for LMG repairs to be referred to their in-house workshops or their own stores. We are not suggesting that this should not be an option, however we strongly believe retail customers should be given a real choice and not managed down one corporate route.
Please do check your policy’s conditions relating to jewellery and watches.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.