Terms of service

Who you are dealing with

These terms cover work carried out by Colin Weldon, GIA Graduate Gemologist, trading from Dublin, Ireland. You can reach me at hello@colinweldon.com.

By booking an appointment or instructing me to carry out work, you are agreeing to what is set out here.

What I do

Gemstone identification, diamond grading, written valuations for insurance, probate and family division, estate and collection appraisal, cataloguing, and consultancy and photography for the trade.

I will tell you before I start if a piece is outside what I can properly assess, and if it needs a laboratory rather than me, I will say so.

Fees and payment

Current fees are set out on the valuations page. The fee for a piece of work is agreed before it starts.

A booking fee is taken when you book an appointment. It is credited in full against the invoice for the work. If I cancel, or if I decide after seeing the piece that no valuation is needed, the booking fee is refunded.

Invoices are payable within fourteen days. Reports and certificates are released once the invoice is paid.

Prices are in euro. I am not registered for VAT, so no VAT is added and the price you are quoted is the price you pay. If I register in future I will say so here and on any invoice affected. Work outside Ireland may be subject to the tax rules of the country it is carried out in, and I will tell you before we start if that affects the figure.

Cancelling and rescheduling

You can reschedule or cancel an appointment up to 48 hours beforehand and the booking fee carries over or is refunded in full.

Inside 48 hours, or if nobody is there when I arrive, the booking fee is retained to cover the time held.

If you are a consumer booking at a distance you have a legal right to cancel within fourteen days. Where you ask me to start the work inside that period, and I do, that right ends once the work is complete.

What a valuation is, and what it is not

A valuation is my professional opinion of value, for a stated purpose, on a stated date. It is not a guarantee, and it is not an offer to buy.

Values move. A valuation reflects the market as I judge it on the day it is written, and that is exactly why insurance valuations need revisiting.

A valuation written for one purpose should not be used for another. An insurance replacement figure is not a probate figure and must not be submitted as one.

I do not guarantee that any piece will sell for the figure I give, and nothing in a report should be read as advice to buy, sell or hold anything as an investment.

Where a stone is mounted, some tests cannot be carried out without unsetting it. In that case my findings are based on what can be observed in the setting, and the report will say so.

What I need from you

That you own the items, or have the authority of whoever does. That anything you tell me about a piece, including previous reports, certificates and provenance, is accurate as far as you know.

I do not knowingly handle stolen property and I will report anything that appears to be.

Your jewellery while it is with me

Wherever possible I examine pieces in front of you and nothing changes hands at all. Where that is not practical and items are left with me, I keep them secure and return them to you, or to a person you name in writing.

I do not insure your property. You need to insure it yourself. Please check with your insurer before you hand anything over, because many household policies limit or exclude cover once an item leaves your home, and some require you to tell them in advance. If your insurer needs anything from me in writing, ask and I will provide it.

We will both sign a short receipt listing what I have taken and the date it is due back. That receipt is the record of what was handed over.

None of this reduces my own responsibility to take reasonable care of your property while it is with me. It means the risk of loss or damage that is nobody's fault, and anything beyond my reasonable control, sits with your policy rather than with me.

Liability

I carry out work with the reasonable care and skill expected of a qualified gemologist.

Except where the law does not allow it to be limited, my liability for any one piece of work is limited to the fee paid for that work. I am not liable for indirect losses, for the outcome of a sale, or for decisions made by you, your insurer or anyone else on the strength of a report.

Nothing here limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded, and nothing here affects your statutory rights as a consumer.

Things outside my control

If I cannot do the work because of something genuinely outside my control, including illness, travel being cancelled, or a laboratory I depend on being unable to deliver, I will tell you as soon as I know and we will find another date. Anything you have paid for work not done is refunded. I am not liable beyond that.

Reports and photographs

Copyright in my reports and photographs stays with me. You may use a valuation report for the purpose it was written for, including giving it to your insurer, your solicitor or the Revenue Commissioners.

Reports may not be published, reproduced in part, or used in advertising without my written agreement. A report is issued to you and I take no responsibility to anyone else who relies on it.

Confidentiality

What you own is your business. I do not discuss clients or their property, and I will not share your details or your valuation with anyone unless you ask me to, or unless the law requires it.

If something goes wrong

Tell me. Email hello@colinweldon.com and I will come back to you within five working days. Most things are a misunderstanding and are sorted out in a phone call.

Which terms apply

These terms apply from the moment you instruct me. Where a signed quotation, a rate card or the terms printed in a valuation report say something different about a particular job, the document for that job comes first and these terms cover everything it does not.

Law

These terms are governed by the law of Ireland, and the Irish courts have jurisdiction.

If you are a consumer living outside Ireland, this does not take away the protection of any law that applies where you live and that cannot be set aside by agreement, and it does not stop you bringing a claim in your own courts where the law allows it.

Where I work for a business rather than a consumer, Irish law and the Irish courts apply, and the consumer provisions in these terms do not.