Rosenberg & Cooper – not as black as I painted them, perhaps...

Some time ago now, I was less than entirely complimentary about a cold call I received from Rosenberg & Cooper. It was, in truth, written because the person who called me was far more persistent than I was happy to deal with, and because the concept of being cold-called with an offer of coloured diamonds seemed, how can I put this, rather unlikely.

Subsequently, I received a telephone call from them, seeking some feedback, which I was happy to give. They were also a little unhappy with the comments that I had made in my blog post, so I offered them an opportunity to guest post a response, which never happened, for reasons only they can supply. Needless to say, I assumed that the matter was at a close.

And then, one day, I got a telephone call from a very polite, possibly youngish man, noting that my blog post was impacting negatively on their business – it is just about the first thing you encounter if you Google their name. Apparently, my comments put people off, which is understandable, I guess. And I did rather suggest that I might write something to mitigate my earlier comments.

But you know how it is, you get distracted, stuff doesn't get done and, to cut a long story short, I didn't do anything about it.

And I do feel vaguely guilty. They did tell me that they had taken action to rectify some of the failings that I had perceived, not necessarily the action of a company with something to hide, and the gentleman did seem genuinely keen to make amends. Also, as a reputable blogger, one should occasionally remind oneself that cynicism is not always based on fact, and that people can be perfectly credible and have the right to trade as they see fit.

So, if you've read my earlier piece on the unfortunate exchange between me and a member of their staff whom, I am told, no longer does customer contact, I have some advice. If you have been called by them, and you are minded to consider them seriously, do some research about the investment, satisfy yourself that it is right for you, and if you are content that Rosenberg & Cooper offer a reputable service that is in your interest, then go ahead and invest. This is, admittedly, the advice that I would give to any friend thinking of making an investment of a type that you wouldn't find on the high street, but there is no reason why coloured diamonds might not work for you.

A quick Google does not uncover any obvious dissatisfaction with their public dealings, which in this era of instant outrage augurs well, so my initial suspicions are assuaged, although not so much that I'm tempted to invest myself – I'm a rather conservative investor normally.

And accordingly, if they are the sort of business my caller claims that they are, I wish them the very best.

Rosenberg and Cooper respond to my criticism

A month ago, I was fairly scathing about an approach made by a firm who cold-called me about investing in coloured diamonds. And, having heard no more from them since, I assumed that the person who had called me had taken the very strong hint that I wasn't particularly interested.

Until today, when I noted that I had received a voice mail (I'm not terribly good at checking my voice mail, for the record). Rather than check it, I returned the missed call, only to find myself talking to a rather polite, but slightly unhappy, gentleman at Rosenberg and Cooper (sorry, I didn't catch his name).

Apparently, my posting represents bad publicity, and they'd really rather that it didn't damage the prospects for their enterprise. And, if they are a legitimate enterprise, I'd rather that they not be damaged, although if they accept my comments as constructive criticism, it may be to their advantage.

So, in the spirit of fair play, I have offered them the right of response which will receive equal prominence on this website once I receive it.

I would make one recommendation to them in the meantime. They do need to work on the website, which tells you a lot about diamonds, but nothing about the principal staff or the global partners. If I were to be in the market for diamond investments, I would want to be able to carry out something resembling due diligence, especially as this is the sort of investment unlikely to be recommended by an independent financial advisor (IFA), albeit through a lack of awareness.

Any investment that comes from a relatively obscure broker comes with a very different potential degree of risk, and having discovered what Lloyds TSB's idea of high risk is - they weren't willing to countenance enabling me to invest a relatively modest sum in a Latin American investment fund managed by a reputable British financial institution - it is hard to envisage many IFAs who would even mention diamonds as a possibility.

So, establishing personal credibility with potential investors is the key. Rosenberg and Cooper got off to a bad start with this relatively informed investor, and whilst diamonds aren't for me in truth, I'll be interested to see how they respond.

Rosenberg and Cooper - avoid like the plague? (UPDATED)

Recently, I received an e-mail from a company called Rosenberg and Cooper, inviting me to invest in coloured diamonds. Naturally, being a cautious soul, I've learned not to get too excited about such invitations, knowing that if someone is sending spam e-mail like that, they probably aren't likely to be reputable. So, I deleted the e-mail and thought nothing more of it.

At least, I hadn't, until my BlackBerry rang on Friday evening. I picked it up and found that not only do they send spam e-mail, but they do cold calling too. And high quality cold calling it is, with the usual exciting claims of high yields, impending scarcity and occasional references to market developments - the comments on the effect of a new Governor of the Bank of England on inflation were particularly entertaining.

Funnily enough, for a company talking about investments in excess of £10,000, the background noise, akin to that you might expect from a call centre, is hardly that of a bespoke enterprise offering a niche investment product, and the 'patter' is surprisingly pushy for someone attempting to persuade a well-heeled individual, and therefore probably well-educated, to part with a five-figure sum.

Of course, receiving cold calls is much more fun when you can look the caller up on the internet whilst you keep them occupied, and allows you to discover that their website is extremely amateurish, their headquarters is a rented office suite, and that whilst they may claim many decades of experience in the business, the company was only incorporated on 18 December 2012 - yes, less than two months ago.

They are very kindly sending me a brochure, to the address that they have on record for me, an address that I vacated more than three years ago, which implies that they've bought a contact list from somewhere, and were too cheap, or too incompetent, to buy one that had been filtered recently.

So, my advice to anyone who hears from Rosenberg and Cooper is, "avoid like the plague" unless you have so much money that you can afford to throw it away. And even if you do, if you're reading this, I probably have a duty of care towards you...

Reader... see update...