The following letter was sent to the Tourism Authority of Thailand by a tourist who discovered she had been fleeced by a Thai gem dealer.

            On February 22, trip to Thailand, my fiancé and I purchased two sets of cut sapphires from H Thai Gems Center in Bangkok, totaling 13.38 carats, for the price of B97,800 (US$3,900), or roughly $295 per carat. The circumstances leading to the purchase of the sapphires were as follows:

            We were told by the woman in charge of selling cut gems that H Thai Gems was having a “government-sponsored sale,” and that this was a part of a government promotion to make Thai sapphires available to tourists at exceptionally low prices, as the gems were on sale and would have no duty added when shipped to the United States. She also said that the promotion had been available only one week, and that Friday, February 22 was the last day of the sale. We were shown several packets of sapphires, and told that they were of excellent quality, and were expertly-cut Thai sapphires. We questioned her repeatedly as to the resale value of the gems in the US, and she assured us that we could sell them between two to five times what we would pay for them at H Thai Gems because of the duty-free, discounted price. This was stated numerous times in our discussion. We were also shown documents from sales of sapphires to other tourists who had been there during the week-long promotion. We were led to believe that purchasing the sapphires in Thailand and re-selling them in the US was an opportunity to double our money, and pay for the cost of the trip overseas. Upon repeated inquiry, we were told that this was “a great deal,” and we would certainly be guaranteed to at least make our money back. After an hour of discussion with the saleswoman, we chose and purchased two sets of sapphires.

            The sapphires were shipped to our home in Boston as we continued our trip in Southeast Asia. Upon our return in May, we discovered that we had been charged on our American Express bill a full month earlier than promised by H Thai Gems, and that no receipt had been enclosed with the sapphires. We took the sapphires in Boston and after their examinations were told that the sapphires were of African or Australia origin, cut and heat treated in Thailand, and were worth $50-$125 per carat in the current US wholesale market, not the $295 per carat that we paid. In the current US market, it will be very difficult to regain the money we spent, even with great time and effort expended on our part.

            We contacted the Commercial Consulate of Thailand in Washington DC with this information and they suggested that we write them a letter about the matter, which we did, and contact H Thai Gems directly, which we also did. We spoke to Sam at H Thai Gems and requested that we return the sapphires for a full refund, which he refused to do. He said he would exchange our gems for others of higher quality, at his discretion, but this is unacceptable to us, as H Thai Gems did not provide with sapphires of proper quality in the first place.

            Unfortunately, we now feel that we are the victims of a scheme to deceive tourists by H Thai Gems Center, which used the name of the Thai government for greater creditability. Trough this scheme, they are misrepresenting the government and the export industry of Thailand. We are certain that you will not wish this misrepresentation to continue, and would greatly appreciate your help in returning the gems for a full refund of the amount paid, B97,800. We will be happy to ship the sapphires insured back to H Thai Gems Center, after the money has been refunded.