A Georgia jeweler misrepresented a pair of moissanite earrings as diamonds, said an Aug. 19 report on local channel WSB-TV. 

The show says local consumer Felex Knox contacted its news team after buying earrings at Lucky Diamonds & Co. at the Gallery at South DeKalb in Decatur, Ga., in March.

The store allegedly sold him what it described as a pair of 1.5 ct. diamond earrings for just under $800. Knox was so surprised at the price, he bought two pairs.

“I told them specifically, I said ‘I don’t want no cubic zirconia,'” Knox said on the show. “I want the real stuff, I want real diamonds.”

“I said, ‘You sure they are real?’ ” Knox added. “He said they were real. I said, ‘Okay.’ “

But when he had them appraised, he learned the earrings were synthetic moissanite, the show says. Knox demanded a refund, but the store wouldn’t give him one, it adds.

On camera, a store salesman told reporter Amy Napier Viteri that “moissanite is a diamond.”

“If I gonna put it under a diamond tester, it will prove it’s a diamond,” he said.

When Viteri pressed him, he said, “It’s a moissanite, it’s a man-made diamond.… It’s not like a real, real official.”

The salesman ended up blaming the issue on a new employee who didn’t know the difference, the report says, and following the exchange, it refunded Knox’s nearly $1,500 purchase.

“If something appears too good to be true, unfortunately, that’s often the case,” Viteri concluded.

No one at the store returned a message for comment at press time.

The news show did make one goof: After the story, the anchor said that there is no such thing as a man-made diamond. There is, but moissanite is not considered one.

 

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