TravelingGal
Super_Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2004
- Messages
- 17,193
Hi I''ve lurked for some time now...the whole science of diamonds is interesting to me. So I wanted to thank you for the knowledge, because it helped me the other day at a higher end B&M store.
I had initially walked into the store to see if I could get my watch size adjusted. A couple of years ago I lost some weight and the watch became loose enough to spin around on my wrists. I went up to the watch area and asked a lady nicely if there was anyone who could adjust my watch today. (I was willing to pay for it).
She just looked at me and didn''t answer yes or no. The first thing she said was "What kind of watch is that?" I showed her it was a Baume & Mercier. The brand name was printed on their awnings outside the store which was why I came in. I realize it wasn''t a Rolex, but I didn''t think it should matter. She looked at me and said it was Saturday, it was busy, and if I could come back another time, someone could help me. The watch technician wasn''t in that day, she said.
I totally understand that Satudays are busiest, but I looked around the store. The sales reps were just sitting around, and there were maybe only 3 customers in the store (versus at least 10 sales people). She was twiddling her thumbs when I approached her. But I wasn''t going to argue...maybe the sales people were busy with projects. Who knew.
Then I went to the display with the diamonds. One by one, the sales people walked by me. No one even acknowledged my presence. They didn''t even look my way! I just had a couple of simple questions on what they could do if I were interested in buying a loose diamond from their store. I sat there for 10 minutes and NOTHING. I would have said something, but I was actually curious to see how long it would take for anyone to say hello. I was nicely dressed, didn''t look like riff-raff, so I thought at least a hello was in order even if all the sales reps were busy with projects (although they seemed to be busy chatting amongst themselves!) Finally a young man who had walked by two times prior walked by the counter again and bent down to do something. I caught his eye so he looked up and asked "Have you been helped?"
I firmly told him, no, I was not being helped. In fact, I had been standing at that counter for 10 minutes while at least 7 sales reps walked by, totally ignoring me. I told him that for a store of this caliber, I found that unacceptable. He was nice, apologized and asked what I was looking for. I was honest and told him I wasn''t going to buy today, but was doing a bit of research (I remember reading on Pricescope that jewelers appreciate that bit of honesty), and didn''t want to take too much of his time. I told him what I was looking for.
He showed me a radiant that and said it was the most brilliant square fancy on the market. I said "Really? I have heard that many are known for leaking light?" We got into a discussion about diamonds, and based on the knowledge here, it became apparent that I knew what I was talking about. In fact, when I asked questions, he had no idea what the answers were. He did say "you seem to know your stuff" and wanted to show me more diamonds. Even though I don''t think I know all that much, I guess what I gleaned from PS was enough to give me some credibility.
I thanked him and said I would take up no more of his time today, since they were busy (and I use that word loosely!). I mentioned that I had initially just come in to get my watched sized but was told no one could help me today. He looked surprised and said, "Oh, I can do that for you. That''s easy...no problem." He couldn''t help me fast enough...my watched was sized in less than 2 minutes, for free. Mind you this gentlemen was not from the watch section and HE knew how to do it. You''d think someone in the watch section could have been able to do this too.
So sorry about the long post. Just wanted to thank you here for all the good info you post. It helped me get a little bit of service, and my watch adjusted. I think normally I would have just walked out, but I *knew* that I had done some homework, and there was no reason why I should not be able to get a couple of questions answered.
BTW, I think I''d go Internet vendor. At least they can''t judge me by my age or something!