1 year ago, my husband found an unusual rock in North Carolina, in a town called Hiddenite. He brought it home, and took it to work, where he is a tooling engineer. He found his diamond wheel would not touch this stone... His words. "the stone slipped off the wheel, it was so hard". The color was a dark, pigeon blood wine red color. It contained no fractures.
He then took it to Geiss and Sons, in Spartanburg, SC. Carlos Geiss was there that day. Carlos and his gemologist both looked at the stone, and said that had definite interest in it. They said they would take it, and send it off to contacts in the field, to get a confirmed identification of the stone and it's quality and weight. There was also an agreement made between Carlos and my husband, to split the profits from the sale of the stone, should it turn out to be a Corrundum, (Ruby) which we all thought it was. Carlos agreed that if the stone had value, he would pay for cutting it, which would cost $250.000
My husband asked Carlos at that time, what paperwork was there for him to sign, and for Geiss and Sons to sign, to protect the stone. My husband was told, "you have to trust someone, sometime". Carlos consistently reassured my husband over the next 4 months, that the stone was fine.
In September of my husband called Carlos to find out what was happening with the stone. Carlos read a letter from AF Greenwood, the company that currently had the stone. After a joint meeting with the staff, AF Greenwood Co stated that the stone was in fact an 11.09 carat ruby, and was indeed worth cutting. They were going to apply a small amount of heat treatment if it was necessary after the cut.
We were thrilled... Of course!
You got it... One week later, Carlos calls my husband to explain that he had LOST the ruby. Somehow, he had just swiped the whole thing, ruby and letter, off his desk into his mailbox.
Yeah, right.
Carlos promised compensation... Shows up at our house with paperwork, saying that he had lost our ruby, and was compensating us $4000.00 for the stone. But guess what, this paperwork states that if we speak negatively about Carlos, this experience, or any of the many stores they have, we will have to pay the $4000.00 back. And... Did he even come with a check? NO... He sat there in my home, with a picture of my dead daughter on our wall, and says to me, a childess mother..."this hurts me more than it hurts you"... Little did he know, that money from the ruby was going to help us adopt a child. Can you imagine what kind of swine would do that? I expained to Mr. Carlos Geiss that he had no idea what he was saying, and that he was wrong. I even pointed him to look at my daugther's picture, and said, don't tell me this hurts you more than me. Besides, we were aware that he did NOT come with a check. At this point, we both said, we're going to let our own attorney look over this paperwork. He got very angry, and left. This was a Friday evening. Saturday morning, the next day, he called and asked us to come into his office, that he had a better offer that would make us "both" happy. Against my desires, we went. That bumb sat there and tried to tell us how his ex-wife had ripped off all his money, and how one of his sons, from his ex-wife, was just like her, always taking money from him, blablabla. You see his direction on this. Finally, he offers a diamond ring in addition to the $4K for the ruby. I already have a diamond ring! From the man who loves me. I did/do not want a replacement from some thief. I walked out... We then contacted our attorney... in November. He said we had the burden of proof, which all we had was Carlos's own admission that he had "lost" our ruby, and what he was willing to pay for it.
Carlos then got his buddies at AF Greenwood, to say that the value of the stone was only $200.00... The only problem with this, is that you would't spend $250.00 to cut a stone that is only worth $200.00. Hello...? He also is lying again, stating that he never offered us more than the original $4000.00. So be it...
We may never see a dime from this idiot. But he is very conernced about the reputation of his company.in fact, we were at a very large social gathering in Spartanburg last night, and had quite a lenghty conversation about Carlos Geiss with several past and current customers. Some were shocked at the news, but surprisingly, most were not. We heard of several people that have takend very valuable stones in there for service, and went back in to pick it up, only to find that there stone, had been replaced with something else.
My family lived in this town for 50 years. My father before his death was Chief of Surgery for 2 hospitals, started our local blood bank, and did many other things in the medical community. I can remember his disdain for Geiss and Sons, but never knew why. He refused to do business with them, and advised his friends likewise. This was years ago, and my father had been dead since 1980. I did not even think too much about this, when my husband went to Carlos last summer. Carlos seemed so nice, that my husband immediately like him. Typical behavior of a sneaky scammer.
We know our mistakes in this. Trust no one. That's the bottom line. And when they tell you, "you have to trust someone", then you know for sure, to RUN.
If you live in Spartanburg, Hilton Head, Charleston, or Greenville, beAWARE of this, and do not take your jewelrey to Geiss and Sons... You may never see it again.
Carlos took something that was giving us hope again... And totally stomped it. They guy is probably laughing all the way to the bank, with the profit from OUR 11 carat ruby.
Something Carlos doesn't realize... What goes around, comes around. We are already seeing the results of what he did to us, by seeing his current customers outraged at his behavior, and agreeing to never do business with him again.
Thank you consumer complaints... I have spread the news about this website... It's a wonderful service for us folks and others. You have already helped us, and this service encourages us in our stand against scammers.
So be warned: Carlos Geiss, and Geiss and Sons, is a scamming rip off jewelry store... Your valued items will not be safe in their possession. Thanks for your time.
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