Over on the About.com Jewelry making boards, the subject of Thaigems has come up again. Some people seemed to love Thaigems, although they had screen names that are unfamiliar to me. I suspect that these opinions may be from plants, although it's only a suspicion with no proof. After having been sucked in once, I won't use them again. Here's the opinion I posted to that board in response to a posting that thinks $30 shipping is a fair amount:
I bought from them - once. I was okay with the expensive shipping charges, because the website touted that I would get my beads in 72 hours. (I assumed this meant 3 business days) It turned out to be a lot closer to two weeks, which angered me, because I feel that the shipping charges should be much lower if the customer is going to get slow boat shipment. I tried to cancel the order after 5 days, but was told it had been shipped out days before. The shipping papers stated otherwise.
I ordered moderately priced strands of blue topaz, citrine and amethyst beads. Not their cheapest, and not their most expensive stuff - things that looked good online and seemed to be a good value. I was astonished when I opened the package, because the beads were among the worst I've ever seen. A good 50% were unusable, due to cracks, really bad chips, black inclusions and misaligned holes. Most of the color in the stones was from the colored thread running through them, and dye came off in my hands. Needless to say, they looked not one thing like the photos on the site.
Returning the package to Thailand seemed stupid, because the shipping charges weren't refundable, and I was skeptical about receiving a refund at all. I considered my Thaigem experience to be a costly lesson, and have no intention of ever using them again. I've gotten a lot fussier about what semi-precious stones I buy, and only use vendors I trust implicitly. (Jewelweaver and South Pacific, mostly.)
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
My opinion only, YMMV,
Kathy N-V