MY 'FMG' Story.

Q: When I first became a member of the jewelry community on 'AOL', I was told not to buy from 'Fire Mountain Gems', because they had ripped off the product of a person and sold it as their own. The jewelry professionals at AOL were incensed, and I believed them when they told me this.

A: Just to let you know, although I rarely post in the news group, I have been having a really hard time staying out of this issue, so I will simply add that I do know PERSONALLY all of the folks who we discussed at dinner last week, and since this has been something of a topic on both the 'Bead-List' and 'PolymerArts', where my rule is no mention of 'FMG', I would like to also support you here. 'FMG' has ripped off at least five people I know personally. All of these are within the last five years, and one as recent as the past six months, and yet a sixth & seventh almost got sucked in within the past few months, so we are talking about a long term pattern of behavior. I will never consider it "just business". Getting a deal is always nice, but never at the cost of another artist's livelihood. I am really upset by this news of 'FMG'. I had only been buying from them for a few months. I fell in love with their 'Dyna-mites' seed beads. The quality is great. I have very few which I can't use. Does anyone know where I can get these besides 'FMG'? After hearing about this, I'm not sure I would want to do business with them again, if I can get the same someplace else.

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