From: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#1]
15 Feb 2006
To: ALL
A fellow engraver and I went to the NY Gift show and were so wowed by some new offerings from Godinger Silver that we promptly ordered approximately 6000.00 worth of silver plated picture frames and albums. We also asked for a sample of a trinket box that we could test engrave. The saleman tried to get us to buy another trinket box but we felt the engraving area was too small. 3 days before Valentine's Day 896 pounds of picture frames arrive at my store in the mall. I had to haul all of them to an off site storage room where today we met to open the boxes and rejoice in our find. NOT!!!!! The samples at the show were gorgeous. The product we received was so thinly plated that by running our finger tips over it we were able to put very visible scratches in it. One of the albums had what appeared to be pieces of lumpy sand under the finish. I called the company and after a small run around spoke to a guy who asked me what I was expecting for a wholesale price of 15.00! He went on to say that this product was manufactured in Hong Kong and was 1/2 a micron of silver plated over steel. Why silver plate manufactured in Hong Kong is different from what I buy that is manufactured in mainland China is something I don't understand. Mike from Kamark was in today and he assured me that his product is plated over brass and then nickel. He had heard of this other process but had not seen it. Well it is all being returned. So much for our great find. BTW the sample of the trinket box we received was the one we told the saleman we did not want. A word to the side is sufficient.
From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#2]
15 Feb 2006
To: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#1] 16 Feb 2006
Dee,
Sounds like a "Plate and switch scheme."