Karatometer- cheating people. Review on Tanishq, Mumbai

Few months ago there was an offer at Tanishq saying bring in your old gold, we will give you equivalent of 22 carat even if your gold is 21 carat.  I broght in 4 gold bangles, at the Malad branch.

The salesman weighed my gold placed it on the Karatometer which said 21 carat, then went on to say how much I will get for my gold bangles.  The amount came upto around 40, 000.  I was very pleased.  I went out and chose some diamong earrings around 73, 000 and thought I will pay the difference in cash.

After I selected and was ready to pay, he said now we want to check the purity of your gold bangles, sometimes there will be a difference of about 2-3 carat.  Since the machine predicted 21 carat, I went ahead with the melting.  I thought no gold in bombay will be really pure as they claim.

So I offered one out of 4 bangles to check for purity since it was from the same lot.  But the salesman told me he needs all the 4 bangles.  I quite unwillingly gave it to him after signing some paper. I did not read the small print.

Imagine my shock when after melting the gold and checking the purity he said that my bangles are only 10 carat!! I was dumbfolded.  What was the use of the first machine which read 21 carat, to which the salesman said that it reads to 8mm or so of depth? I was not told about thisbefore. Can a machine read 11 carat difference in gold.

To add insult to injury I was told that since it is below 14 carat they wont accept this gold anymore.  I looked at the mangled lump of gold was so shocked, it could not be taken to the original jeweller since they had melted all 4 of my bangles.  Why did the machine give wrong reading in the first place had it read even18 carat I would not have melted the bangles. After lot of talking they finally paid me for 10 carat which was 20, 000 less.  I had no option but to accept this offer and exchange it for the diamong earrrings.

NOW WHO IS THE FRAUD HERE THE JEWELLER OR TANISHQ FOR GIVING ME A INFLATED PICTURE.  Plus they say they never got any gold this low carat after melting.  We are ordinary people taken for a ride by these jewellers. Had no choice but to trust their bloody machine, for the mangled lump would not have fetched me anything, for the local jeweller would have said maybe 5 carat purity. In the end I was cheated twice first time I purchased the gold paying for 22 carat from local jeweller and losing money over the lost 11 carat while selling this gold at the showroom.  God knows how many more innocent people are cheated day in and out!