Articles and News

Ontario, Canada--Marketplace journalists went undercover to investigate some of Canada's leading jewelers and discovered that they were peddling diamond rings with false claims and inconsistent grading reports.

[Photo by Leah Kelley]

According to a report, the sales pitches captured on hidden cameras could lead consumers to doubt the authenticity of the diamonds they purchased. The journalists visited three locations for each of the top three value retail jewelry chains in Ontario and Alberta: Peoples Jewellers, Ben Moss Jewellers, and Michael Hill.

The report mentioned that each store sold diamond rings with grading reports specifying the four Cs — cut, color, clarity, and carat — and employees often claimed that the reports were foolproof and rarely had any discrepancies. 

The report noted that a sales representative at a Michael Hill location stated that a diamond's color might be slightly off in only one out of every 100 cases. However, experts in the industry have disputed this claim and highlighted that discrepancies can be found between grading reports issued by different labs. These inconsistencies could substantially impact the independent appraisal value of the diamond.

Steve Knight, an appraiser based in Hamilton, Ontario, with more than two decades of experience in gem valuation, explained in the report that any of the four Cs could make a difference of 20 to 40 percent in a diamond's value.

Learn more about this investigation in the entire report.