I just want to let everyone know that I’m a PS (pricescope.com) addict after my extensive search for my fiancée’s e-ring and this is my first post. Beware office lurker this is a long post but here a quickie. I brought a beautiful 1.32 round solitaire engagement ring from Mark Turnowski @ EngagementRingsDirect.com.
Size: 1.32 Round
Color: E
Clarity: VS2
Polish/Symmetry: Ex/Ex
Table: 55.9%
Depth: 60.6%
Crown Angle: 34.4
Pavilion Angle: 40.8
HCA: 1.1 (Ex/Ex/Ex/VG)
I have to give Mark two thumbs up and highly recommend him for you newbies out there. He is well known in PS for his service, price and backed up by many happy customers. Just search under Mark Turnowski or EngagementRingsDirect.com to read his past postings. That’s how I found him. Thanks to PS, he is now my man for diamonds and hopefully be your too. The pictures and AGA certification are posted after the long version.
Enjoy and thanks for reading.
William
THE LONGER VERSION
My journey for the perfect ring began about 10 months ago. Of course living in New York City and working near the diamond district I had to check it out. At this point I really didn’t know exactly what I want except for the subtle hints that I received from my girlfriend which was a simple round solitaire on a platinum setting. I decided to visit all the vendors and letting them know about my budget and the ring I wanted. I went there during my lunch hour and was bombarded with information. At first the vendors were helpful since I was clueless about the basic 4’Cs. I did this for a month until I was fed up. Why you asked? Well, the vendors kept pushing their inventories onto me when they don’t have what I want. On top of that the price varies every time I go back to the same vendor. I had to create a spreadsheet to quote all the specs and prices to keep track of all the diamonds I looked at and let the vendors know the price they quoted me. I really thought this process was easy since this is a timeless classic ring. Boy was I wrong. Since the diamond district was a bust I decided that I need to learn more about diamonds and started my search online. Of course Blue Nile was one of the first sites that popped up and I almost settle on buying from Blue Nile until I found my savior Pricescope.com. I had learned more about diamond in one hour on the diamond knowledge section of the forum than I did at the diamond district for a month. After lurking on PS from several months I was armed with new diamond knowledge and was ready to face the diamond district again. Only this time I am visiting the highly praised PS internet vendor Mark Turnowski @ Engagementringsdirect.com.
On my first visit with Mark I knew he was the right man for the job. We chatted away like we were old friends and when we finally got around to the diamond, I mention to him what I wanted and he said he’ll find for it for me. He made the process so simple and easy. Several days later he found a diamond within all my specification. When I visited him to check out the diamond, I must have spend 45 minutes looking at the diamond under the loupe while Mark gave me mini lessons on using the loupe and diamond knowledge. Although the ring was nearly perfect, I had to reject it for its tiny black inclusion on the table which could only be seen under the loupe. Of course, Mark was willing to search for my elusive diamond again. Days later I was back in his office again with the loupe for another hour. This time the diamond is perfect but I was still hesitating to commit on the diamond due to its feathers near the girdle. Mark assures me that the feathers will not affect the durability of the diamond and even gave me almost a week to consider about it. I also have to mention that at no time during the whole process did Mark pressure me to buy anything from him although by now he probably had already spent countless hours on me. This is what I called great service. As we all know the diamond needs to be certified and appraised before I make the purchase and who else is better to do the job than the Atlas team at AGA. I have to give Christian DiCamillo at AGA a high recommendation for his speed and service with the diamond. He answered my countless number of questions and had the diamond back to Mark within a couple of days. After the certification I decided to purchase the diamond and had Mark set it in a replica 6 prongs Tiffany knife edge setting. The setting took 3 weeks and Mark calls me during the 3 weeks to keep me informed about the process. This is another great example of Mark’s service to his customers. On the day that I picked up the ring, Mark had a very tight schedule but he managed to see me late at night. I was thrilled to see the ring but was delayed by traffic on a rainy night. I was very late for my appointment with Mark but couldn’t believe he waited for me and sacrifice his agenda for me. The ring was perfect and I left Mark’s office as a very very satisfied customer. On the way home I had to take another peek at the ring. This time I notice something odd on the lower portion of the pavilion. This is very strange to me because I’ve looked at the diamond more than I’ve seen my girlfriend/fiancée and have the image burn into my head. The more I looked at it the more panicky I got. To me the diamond was obviously cracked. I was already predicting that it probably happened during the setting stage with combination of the pressure and feathers that was on the stone. Several hours had passed since I left Mark’s office but I had no choice but to contact him. It is very late at night but Mark knows me well enough that I probably couldn’t sleep for the rest night and I was back at his office within the hour. Mark examined the ring had explained what I’ve seen. The cur pit was the reflection of the girdle. I felt like a buffoon after he explained it to me. I had already considered myself somewhat of a diamond whiz until this situation arose. Again here we see how great Mark is. He is above and beyond the calls of duty. But of course, I am just reconfirming what all who had the pleasure of working with a man who is more passionate about his diamond and satisfying his customer than closing a sale.
By the way, I’ve propose to my girlfriend just before Christmas and she said “YES”.
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