Complaint Review: Allurez / Allurez.com - Raphi Magerefeteh CEO

CEO, Raphi Magerefeteh, Allurez repeatedly engaged in the same behavior as described below.

A. Diamond Switching - Allurez often does not ship certified diamonds ordered on their website. These diamonds are ordered either as loose stones or to be set as the center stones for engagement rings. The company, under direction of CEO Raphi Mahgerefeteh, instead works to find similar, cheaper diamonds with lower clarity, cut, color and carat ratings then originally advertised and certified.

Finally, in order to conceal the activity from the customer, the purchase is shipped with a false Appraisal Certificate issued by Allurez. The activity is so frequent that Allurez has an automated system to create fake Appraisal Certificates where diamond details from the original purchase are automatically placed into appropriate fields and 'appraised' at an inflated price. The completed certificate is then simply printed by the manager at Allurez, signed with a fake name, and shipped with the order. Allurez does not employ any certified diamond specialists or gemologists, nor does the CEO hold any credentials/certifications in diamond appraisal or certification.

B. False advertisement of diamond grades/false advertisement of gemstone characteristics -

The specific qualities of the jewelry sold on Allurez.com are regularly misrepresented as higher in quality than sold. Allurez offers over 20,000 products, most of which are never seen by Allurez as they are shipped directly from a partner to the customer (drop-shipped).

In order to list these products online, jewelry manufacturers provide Allurez with the characteristics of the jewelry sold including diamond color, clarity and carat weight. For gemstones, the gemstone grade and treatment methods are disclosed to Allurez.

Despite this information, Allurez lists ALL diamond jewelry as SI quality or higher and G-H in color of higher. For gemstones, all gemstones are AAA in quality and as untreated and natural. Allurez copywriters are instructed to click and drag  down on the sections for diamond/gemstone quality, regardless of the actual information supplied. This is very efficient for the company as it does improve the company's rank for search engines while adding more products, but is a fundamentally dishonest practice.

Allurez has been challenged by several of their partners over this practice.

A jewelry supplier to Allurez and one of the most reputable diamond suppliers in the world, NIRU Ltd. found that Allurez was fraudulently misrepresenting NIRU jewelry on allurez.com. This was found when an Allurez customer contacted NIRU to inquire about the diamond quality sold. As a result, NIRU contacted Allurez, emailing each employee in the company with a demand to remove all NIRU products on Allurez.com. Raphi Mahgerefeteh replied by asking NIRU how the customer found out, and then proceeded to leave all the products listed on the website.

Allurez was also permanently banned from selling fine jewelry products on Amazon.com. Amazon had several of the jewelry products tested by their independent lab and found that the diamond and gemstone quality was misrepresented. Diamonds were listed as higher in quality than what was sold and gemstones were listed as untreated when they were tested and proven to have been treated using various methods

C. Non-shipment of orders while still collecting payment

Allurez charges all credit card orders before processing. If an item is unavailable from a vendor, Allurez contacts the customer with suggestions for an alternative. Then, if the customer is non-responsive, Allurez does not ship any product nor does the company refund the customer.

D. Non-issuance of refunds for items that have been returned to Allurez-

Similar to the above practice, if Raphi does not think he can return an item to a vendor for a full credit, he will not refund the customer, regardless of the policy or agreements with the customer. If a parcel is returned, even with authorization, the package rests in Raphi Mahgerefeteh's office until the customer complains or a chargeback is opened.

I have personally seen customer service agents negotiate with a customer on the phone while Raphi changed the refund policy and website images to dupe the customer in real time.

E. Creation and shipment of fraudulent ' appraisal certificates' -

Allurez has an automated system to create fraudulent appraisals for engagement ring orders and other orders where customers request an independent appraisal.

Instead of having jewelry appraised by a certified professionals or gemologists, Allurez appraisals are automatically created on the Allurez order management server based on the details of the listing of the item purchased. The values shown on these appraisals are calculated by adding a pre-determined percentage on top of the sale price. The appraisals are then signed by Raphi Mahgerefeteh with a false name and sent to the customer.

The appraisals are then used by customers to insure the item or as proof of value. Eventually some customers do catch on to the practice and ask valid questions like how an item can be appraised without being seen or customers will take the item to certified professionals only to find out that they were lied to. Allurez' reply to these allegations are that "those jewelers are lying to you because they want you to purchase the item from them."

A number of these orders resulted in service chargebacks from American Express, Visa and MasterCard. In these orders, customers provided documentation from certified professionals and received their money back, but this is only a small percentage of the total amount of people defrauded.

F. Misclassification of international shipments -

Every international shipment that Allurez makes is intentionally classified as imitation jewelry or toys and marked with a substantially reduced price. These items are shipped globally, including to France, India, and Qatar, countries that expressly forbid the importation of gold and diamonds. Under another name, this is gold and diamond smuggling. Although this has resulted in many lost packages and service chargebacks for Allurez, the company will recoup those costs by participating in other types of fraud, mainly mail/parcel fraud.

E. Mail Fraud/Parcel Fraud -

Allurez over-values each shipment to their insurance provider, Parcel Pro, for parcels shipped by UPS and FedEx. Packages shipped to USPS are also over-valued by a substantial amount. The values are already inflated as they do not reflect the actual products being shipped, and then on top of that, Allurez will claim the items are even worth more.

Allurez / Allurez.com - Raphi Magerefeteh CEO CEO, Raphi Magerefeteh, Allurez repeatedly engaged in the same behavior as described below. A. Diamond Switching - Allurez often does not ship certified diamonds ordered on their website. These diamonds are ordered either as loose stones or to be set as the center stones for engagement rings. The company, under direction of CEO Raphi Mahgerefeteh, instead works to find similar, cheaper diamonds with lower clarity, cut, color and carat ratings then originally advertised and certified. Finally, in order to conceal the activity from the customer, the purchase is shipped with a false Appraisal Certificate issued by Allurez. The activity is so frequent that Allurez has an automated system to create fake Appraisal Certificates where diamond details from the original purchase are automatically placed into appropriate fields and 'appraised' at an inflated price.

The completed certificate is then simply printed by the manager at Allurez, signed with a fake name, and shipped with the order. Allurez does not employ any certified diamond specialists or gemologists, nor does the CEO hold any credentials/certifications in diamond appraisal or certification. B. False advertisement of diamond grades/false advertisement of gemstone characteristics - The specific qualities of the jewelry sold on Allurez.com are regularly misrepresented as higher in quality than sold. Allurez offers over 20,000 products, most of which are never seen by Allurez as they are shipped directly from a partner to the customer (drop-shipped).

In order to list these products online, jewelry manufacturers provide Allurez with the characteristics of the jewelry sold including diamond color, clarity and carat weight. For gemstones, the gemstone grade and treatment methods are disclosed to Allurez. Despite this information, Allurez lists ALL diamond jewelry as SI quality or higher and G-H in color of higher. For gemstones, all gemstones are AAA in quality and as untreated and natural. Allurez copywriters are instructed to click and drag down on the sections for diamond/gemstone quality, regardless of the actual information supplied. This is very efficient for the company as it does improve the company's rank for search engines while adding more products, but is a fundamentally dishonest practice.

Allurez has been challenged by several of their partners over this practice. A jewelry supplier to Allurez and one of the most reputable diamond suppliers in the world, NIRU Ltd. found that Allurez was fraudulently misrepresenting NIRU jewelry on allurez.com. This was found when an Allurez customer contacted NIRU to inquire about the diamond quality sold. As a result, NIRU contacted Allurez, emailing each employee in the company with a demand to remove all NIRU products on Allurez.com. Raphi Mahgerefeteh replied by asking NIRU how the customer found out, and then proceeded to leave all the products listed on the website.

 Allurez was also permanently banned from selling fine jewelry products on Amazon.com. Amazon had several of the jewelry products tested by their independent lab and found that the diamond and gemstone quality was misrepresented. Diamonds were listed as higher in quality than what was sold and gemstones were listed as untreated when they were tested and proven to have been treated using various methods C. Non-shipment of orders while still collecting payment Allurez charges all credit card orders before processing. If an item is unavailable from a vendor, Allurez contacts the customer with suggestions for an alternative. Then, if the customer is non-responsive, Allurez does not ship any product nor does the company refund the customer. D. Non-issuance of refunds for items that have been returned to Allurez- Similar to the above practice, if Raphi does not think he can return an item to a vendor for a full credit, he will not refund the customer, regardless of the policy or agreements with the customer. If a parcel is returned, even with authorization, the package rests in Raphi Mahgerefeteh's office until the customer complains or a chargeback is opened.

 I have personally seen customer service agents negotiate with a customer on the phone while Raphi changed the refund policy and website images to dupe the customer in real time. E. Creation and shipment of fraudulent ' appraisal certificates' - Allurez has an automated system to create fraudulent appraisals for engagement ring orders and other orders where customers request an independent appraisal. Instead of having jewelry appraised by a certified professionals or gemologists, Allurez appraisals are automatically created on the Allurez order management server based on the details of the listing of the item purchased.

The values shown on these appraisals are calculated by adding a pre-determined percentage on top of the sale price. The appraisals are then signed by Raphi Mahgerefeteh with a false name and sent to the customer. The appraisals are then used by customers to insure the item or as proof of value. Eventually some customers do catch on to the practice and ask valid questions like how an item can be appraised without being seen or customers will take the item to certified professionals only to find out that they were lied to. Allurez' reply to these allegations are that Did not ship package Great Neck New York