Bad pitch of the day
Say it with me, everyone. "WE DON’T PITCH ON REFERENCES TO 9/11." Say it again until you get it. Doesn’t matter what’s below - you blew it in the first 5 words. Had you gotten rid of those first few words, this would have been A GOOD PITCH! A bit long, but a good pitch! Why would you throw 9/11 into it? Nothing good can come from that.
Hi! While September 11th is a day representing tragedy, it also marks a special day this year… Grandparents Day! I have a wonderful family business story that shows the legacy of a very well known man is continuing with his grand daughters. Remember Victor Kiam, the man who liked the Remington Shaver so much he bought the company and appeared in their commercials world-wide, in his bath robe?
Now, giving testament that business sense really does run in the family…
the young grand daughters of Victor Kiam, Lia and Sophia - just 5 and 8 years old - are ‘in business.’
The company created by their grandfather in 1986 is now continuing with this third generation of his family.
The girls have just announced their namesake jewelry pieces into the newly introduced "Kiam Family Collection" of Lia Sophia, a fashion jewelry party company that bears their names. The company, formerly known as Lady Remington, has re-introduced itself and its more modern jewelry designs.
More below!
IT’S ALL IN THE NAME OF FAMILY
~The Women Are the Jewels of the Well-Known Kiam Family~
Chicago, IL - Jewelry represents heirlooms in families and one well-known family has announced they’re putting their name on their jewels and their future.
Once known as running a company for men world-wide, the Kiam family is announcing that they have put the Remington Shaver company behind them and are focusing their family’s future in the women behind the successful family. They have just released a "Kiam Family Collection" of jewels in the Lia Sophia Catalog, a jewelry company owned by the family.
The new "Kiam Family Collection" of the Lia Sophia catalog includes 25 designs named by women of the family: Victor’s wife Ellen, daughter- in-law Elena, daughter Robin, and grand daughters Lia, Sophia, Jenny, Caleigh, and Nikki. The regular Lia Sophia catalog features 500 pieces of fashion jewelry that start at prices as low as $18.
Pieces of the "Kiam Family Collection" include the Lia, an adorable giant
flower pendant that is outlined in cut crystal cubic zirconias. The
free-form blossom with light blue sapphire crystals is surrounded by petals
of pave set in brilliant clear crystals. The Sophia features a three piece
set of pale baby blue, pink and yellow star jewels. A burst of crystal and CZ stars in watercolor hues of pale blue, pink, canary, and champagne includes a "Y" necklace, bracelet, and dangle earrings.
A Jackie Kennedy-esque pearl bracelet, CZ rings, and sparkling crystal sets complete the collection named after all the Kiam women. Prices for the "Kiam Family Collection" start at $38 to $268.
The story began when Ellen Kiam bought her husband Victor a Remington Shaver for Christmas in 1976 and he liked it so much that he bought the company. In
1986 he purchased a jewelry company named Act II, that later became known as Lady Remington to closely associate itself with the family owned shaver company.
After Victor’s death in 2001, the company started a major revitalization by receiving a fresh, new name and image to attract the women of today. The distinctive name, Lia Sophia, was introduced last year and inspired by the two daughters of the company’s president Tory Kiam (Victor Kiam III), who represent and celebrate a third generation of the family.
16 Responses to “Bad pitch of the day”
A follow-up to this article needs to be written. Topic: how horrible the customer service is at Lia Sophia. They are supposedly trying to fill orders and ship them out before the holidays. They obviously do not think Hannukah constitutes as a holiday. Customers and consultants both cannot get through via telephone or e-mail. There is no information available to the orders placed.
Try to make a phone call to the company.
Try to check on an order status.
Try to get a kind customer service rep.
THIS is the true Lia Sophia.
About 4 months ago,I sent back a bunch of broken jewelry and outdated jewelry to LiaSophia with a check for 85dollars and have not received anything yet. I have left about 10 messages to no avail-noone calls me back despite leaaving my cellphone and home number. I think Victor Kiam would be very upset about this kind of customer services- i would like to write or email Tory himeself if anyone knows where he can be reached. I think I will have to make a complaint tieh either the DSA or Better Business Bureau- too bad, because I’m a very good customer and do like their jewelry.
I too recently sent back 4 pieces of jewlery to Lia Sophia. I used their return label, and was told by the hostess that’s all I needed to do. It’s been 2 months and Lia Sophia says they never received it and they don’t have to do anything about it! I would also like to speak to Mr. Kiam…. my post office told me (unoffically) this is far from the first time this has happened!
I have sent back 2 items, two different times and have had the new peices sent back within a month or two. I love the jewelry and they do honor the guarantee.
I notice the only postings are of lia sophia complaints. I wrote a long reply to these and have not seen it posted here…is there a reason for this unfairness?
catherine
I sell lia sophia , and have had no help from home office I even sent an email 4 days in a roll and no reply, I just had questions on why they have china make the products, I have had my customers ask me, so I thought I would try and find out, but I guess we will never know….
I, too am a part of the company, but honestly, when you’re dealing with the growing pains of an organization like lia sophia, there are bound to be problems. The entire company shut down in December to gear up for a new distribution system to better support their advisors. This pushed back returns and exchanges processing by almost a month. But I digress, this is a forum for PR, not customer service issues. From a PR standpoint, I agree, capitalizing on 9/11 is a horrendous thing to do. You see it all over the place, which leads me to wonder if it’s really lucrative or not. I would think if it wasn’t lucrative, people would stop doing it. Here it is 2007, and people are still taking advantage of it. Greed is a big motivator. Make no mistake.
I attended a party in March, 2007. One item was backordered, then permanently out of stock. I have tried via the refund directions to get my money for that item refunded. Today, July 11, I still have nothing. I have repeatedly(at least 5 calls) talked to Customer Service people plus the party advisor to resolve this. NOBODY IS DOING ANYTHING AT LIA SOPHIA TO MAKE THIS RIGHT. And I am NOT happy.
Have you tried emailing the company so that you have a record of your communication? Try emailing customer service at cs@liasophia.com
Lia Sophia sucks!
I have been ordering from lia sophia for 2 years.I have only had items from 2 different parties back ordered and filled within a couple weeks of the notice.When lia updated and moved there business to a bigger automated warehouse last year I received a fifty dollar certificate to pick out the free jewelry of choice because they wanted to keep their customers happy with the move and setup process into the new warehouse causing delays.I am very happy with the service I have received and the very great consultants I have had parties with.
I bought 3 pairs of earrings from Lia Sophia which made me break into hives as soon as I put them on. When I had asked the consultant about the metal in their products, she had given me a very vague answer and assured me that they were hypoallergenic. Just the opposite.
I sent them back immediately for a refund, and they sent me a credit for the amount instead. I do not want a credit, since I will break out from any of their jewelry.
I emailed my request for a refund and talked to someone on the phone, and weeks later, have yet to get a response.
I thought the earrings looked very cheap as well!
I would warn anyone NOT TO PURCHASE FROM LIA SOPHIA!
i can’t figure out why people have reactions to the earrings, i have nickel allergies and don’t have a problem, a friend of mine did though.
Products represented in catalog have no relation to what you receive, all of the items I ordered were represented as “cut crystal”, what I received had no crystal at all - instead the beads were acrylic/plastic as well as the pendant on the “Baja Cut Crystal Pendant”, per the consultant it is a deep blue, per the image it is just blue - what I received is “BLACK”, which looks really stupid with the floating blue plastic beads, the consultant actually responded “It is a deep dark blue” without even seeing it, offered to exchange, No thanks - I hold no hope that what I receive in exchange will be anything more than what I have now, $140.00+ of merchandise all being made of plastic and non-precious, non-hypoallergenic metals. My daughter will have some expensive cheap dress up jewelry this christmas - it’s not worth wearing anywhere out of the house - I’d be embarressed.
I am very deeply disappointed in Lia Sophia,s customer service…I have hosted a party, been to 3 and I had to send 2 things back for refund and exchange…they tried to tell me they did not receive them and when I sent the conf. number where they sighed for the package,,they got mad and hateful to me….they said they have sent me a necklace and they did not, it has been 3 weeks…wish we could talk direct to someone higher up about the customer service.SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE..PEOPLE ARE BEING CHEATED
Wow, I am totally surprised at all of your bad experiences. I have been a lia sophia hostess, hosting one or two shows annually, for over five years. I received tons of free and discounted jewelry over the years that is absolutely gorgeous. Many pieces were thought to be fine jewelry and folks were shocked to find it was fashion jewelry at an affordable price. I have returned multiple pieces, some just because I just got tired of them and marked “didn’t like” on the return form. For the $5.00 processing fee, I received new pieces of equal value within within a reasonable time frame. I recently signed on as an advisor because, much like Victor himself, “I liked the product so much, I bought (into) the company”. It has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.