Wonderful experience at The Natural Sapphire Company

[centrc]

Hi Everyone. This is my first post here, but I have been an active reader over the past few years. I always consult this forum before making any important jewelery purchases and thought it was time to give back. Long story short is that I bought my wife a beautiful "right hand ring" on our honeymoon... unfortunately she had a nickle allergy and whenever she wore the ring her skin became irritated. For XMAS, I decided that I would buy her a new ring.

I looked at many different places, including Richard Wise''s store, Africa Gems & Wild Fish. Everyone at these places were extremely helpful, but I could just not find what I was looking for. I am also the kind of person that needs to see things before I make my decision. When I came to The Natural Sapphire Company''s (TNSC) website, I noticed that their showroom was in NYC --- only a few blocks away from my work, so I decided to make an appointment. I also invited my wife along (Since it was HER ring).

I have to say that I have never had a more pleasing jewelery shopping experience. My wife''s engagement ring is from Tiffany and I have been through the "Tiffany Experience", which is great but does not compare to the way I was treated at TNSC.

My appointment was for 3pm, and when we got there my wife and I were greeted by Su Su who offered us coffee while we waited. A few minutes later, Livia (Executive Sales Director) came out with some ring boxes of items with stones I had requested to see. She went through every box with us patiently while my wife looked through the rings and chose the ones she liked.

After about a half hr, we were admitted to the beautiful showroom. Livia did an excellent job in showing us their collection of gemstones and we picked a number of them to see. She had someone get the loose gemstones for us and again patiently went through each one with us. It was a good thing she did because seeing the stones on the internet and again in person is completely different! We ended up with a BEAUTIFUL Celyon blue cushion after looking at a good 15 stones. We were there for a good 2 hrs.

Here are the things that amazed me the most:
1. They do not try to SELL you something
2. Even though we were only spending ~1.5 - 2k, they still payed just as much attention to us as they would someone else spending more
3. Livia was very experienced and I felt she made recommendations when appropriate, not just when she felt like it
4. Livia was very patient with us (we are both people who have trouble making decisions) and gave us the time we needed to come to our decision
5. Livia was very good at not creating a high pressure situation. My wife does not like people that pressure you into buying things and she very much did not!

Thank you Pricescope for directing me to such a great place and thank you TNSC for making the experience wonderful! I would definitely buy from them again.

Chuck

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Congratulations on such a positive experience!

We would love to see photos of the ring when it is done! I agree, Livia is a really nice person to meet with, and she creates a very low pressure and educational environment.

Their show room and selection is really something isn''t it? I loved playing in their trays of sapphire rings!

 

[klewis]

I''m glad you''ve had this good experience. I''ve read great and not so great posts about the company here on PS but never having had any dealings with them myself, I''m not biased either way. To be honest with you, I''m now feeling a bit sceptical and it''s because of this. You are the third new poster who has given detailed rave reviews of that company in a very short time and it just all seems to me to be too coincidental. I''m not doubting your experience Chuck, just saying this is how it makes me feel and I would probably be more cautious of using that company now.

 

[morecarats]

klewis, I think you speak for many in this forum. When people come to PS and discuss their needs and get advice on the options, everyone is eager to hear the reviews once someone makes his or her decision. But when people come out of the woodwork, as it were, with a strong review of a vendor (rave or not) one has to wonder about the veracity of the review and the motivation. When these sudden reviewers disappear from the forum after a couple of posts, one can only conclude that they were here for one reason only. Vendors who play this game will ultimately damage their own reputations.

 

[Porridge]

Date: 12/19/2009 12:10:51 AM
Author: klewis
I''m glad you''ve had this good experience. I''ve read great and not so great posts about the company here on PS but never having had any dealings with them myself, I''m not biased either way. To be honest with you, I''m now feeling a bit sceptical and it''s because of this. You are the third new poster who has given detailed rave reviews of that company in a very short time and it just all seems to me to be too coincidental. I''m not doubting your experience Chuck, just saying this is how it makes me feel and I would probably be more cautious of using that company now.

Yeah. I was on the fence about NSC before, but my impressions of recent happenings have turned me off them.

 

[AustenNut]

Thanks, Chuck for posting.

Though there have been a number of positive TNSC threads lately, I''m not quite sure I''d slam the company yet. I suspect that TNSC has seen that it''s had a mixed record here on PS but has maybe also found out how powerful PS is in terms of directing buyers to one vendor or another. I would guess that they''ve asked customers to post here if they feel that they''ve had a positive experience, and these customers have decided to do so. It''s sort of like when you go to a department store now and the sales associate says, "If you''ve been happy with my service please go to .... and let them know" be that a website or a phone number to call.

Chuck, did this happen with you? (Or any of the other TNSC customers recently?)

 

[Circe]

Date: 12/19/2009 6:33:31 AM
Author: morecarats
klewis, I think you speak for many in this forum. When people come to PS and discuss their needs and get advice on the options, everyone is eager to hear the reviews once someone makes his or her decision. But when people come out of the woodwork, as it were, with a strong review of a vendor (rave or not) one has to wonder about the veracity of the review and the motivation. When these sudden reviewers disappear from the forum after a couple of posts, one can only conclude that they were here for one reason only. Vendors who play this game will ultimately damage their own reputations.

This is a thoughtful perspective, but I'm afraid I disagree ... after all, how many times have we seen people do just that on SMTR? They're people who are psyched over their new purchases but not necessarily as, um, enthusiastic as the everyday PS'r: that doesn't mean they're all shills. Honestly, I lurk in CS more than I post, but having seen two or three threads devolve into accusations that enthusiastic consumers must have ulterior motives, I think I'd be nervous to! Maybe we could not assume the worst? Not so much for NSC, but 'cause it feels potentially off-putting to newcomers.

CenterC, I hope you come back and post pics (and not just so I don't feel silly

) - I do love me a blue cushion!

ETA: Hehe, looks like AustenNut and I cross-posted, and she's raising an excellent point. Simultaneous ditto!

 

[centrc]

Hi Everyone

Thanks for replying. To answer a few questions:

1. No I was not told to go make a post on Pricescope, although I did tell them at the end of my 2 hours there that I would most likely make an excellent review on here because it was one of the best experiences I have had.

2. To the person who said there have been a lot of TNSC postings lately.. Sorry I didn''t even see them. Actually I looked about a week ago on Pricescope to find where to buy colored gemstones. I hadn''t checked it in the past few days, although it IS around XMAS so that may be why there are more postings now.

3. I didn''t deal with them over the phone really except to make an appointment, remember - I went right to their show room. Maybe I got lucky because there wasn''t many people there - but they treated me like gold even though I was only spending a couple thousand rather than 15k+. I will also add that I left after 5pm on a Friday.

Chuck

 

[T L]

I''m not going to accuse NSC of planting shills here, but it is just something that people are questioning because no one hears anything about NSC in the longest time on this forum. Then all of a sudden there are three consecutive lengthy reviews, and an old thread was reopened.

These reviews may be honest, but it is something that people are questioning because of the long silence about this vendor on this forum. No accusations here, just an observation. Maybe someone other than NSC is telling people to provide lots of reviews as well.

Just speculation. Typically, NSC has been a very quiet company on this forum, and they rarely ever comment.

 

[centrc]

TL, that is an interesting. My wife had made the observation that it didn''t even look like they knew what pricescope was when I said I would make a good review for them. I agree, they might want to come visit the forum more often!

 

[T L]

I have seen representatives from NSC (or it could just have been Michael) come here and comment a few times, but it is very rare. Therefore, they do know Pricescope exists.

 

[Edward Bristol]

All high-end companies have suffered a lot this year. As a web-based company you can get through these bad times easily.

If you have offices in center NY and employees to 3D-Scan every gem, and then turnover drops by 50%, you have a problem.

 

[chrono]

Centrc,
Welcome and I hope you hang around on PS for a bit. Many would love to see pictures of this wonderful RHR from NSC.

 

[centrc]

I will

As I said earlier in my post... I have read price scope quite a bit for years Just have never posted before.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I too would love to see pictures of your ring!

 

[vinkalmann]

Nice write up!

One thing I would add about your comment "It was a good thing she did because seeing the stones on the internet and again in person is completely different!" is that these stones really look different depending on what type of light they''re in. I thought they would look the same pretty much, but my fiance''s sapphire sometimes is sleepy and then comes alive in random places like Starbucks. When I first got the stone it was a dreary day and I wasn''t really impressed. The next day it was sunny out and WOW!

Did you end up picking the setting at the same time? If you didn''t because you couldn''t find something that was just right, don''t be afraid to ask them to make changes. I think they can make their settings even more customized by request. When I got my 3D mockup online from them, I asked something to be changed and their artist came back with a new 3D mockup the next day. The ring went from something I liked to something I loved .

 

[tapio]

Dear Centrc,

My name is tapio. I am fairly new on the forum. I try to keep up -- but I also have a life. I happen to agree with you that NSC has excellent service. There are many critics out there. I didn''t believe the website myself so I flew to NYC to personally meet the employees and owner of NSC prior to making a purchase.

Critics and sceptics there will always be. There will always be some people with a bad experience. For those that are critics go to the place and find out for your self. As to some posts "all of a sudden" there is such a thing as coincidence. Be careful before you point a finger or the finger may come back to point at you. Especially in a forum like this. I have also had some positive experiences at many other places. It all depends on what you want. If you want natural untreated sapphires -- which is a niche market I would go to them.

Someone commented earlier that they have cutting facilities in other countries. If you look at their website you will see they do most of their cutting "in house". As any firm may at times, including Garrard''s, Harry Winston, etc. there is always cutting outside. in fact if you go to any auction house you''ll find all cutting is done outside and sometimes you''ll find.

I guess I am a little old fashioned and still believe, "Do unto other as you would have them do unto you."

If you are nice to people they are nice back. That is the way NSC has always been for me. I hear of a lot of people complaining about their high prices, but if you compare their prices to natural stones at "REALLY BIG" institutions they are well within reason.

I am glad you had a good experience. May everyone on this forum have a good experience where ever they choose to buy.

Cheers,

tapio

 

[tapio]

Hello AustinNut,
tapio here. I have been purchasing from them for two generations. Did you ever think that they came before the forum and maybe people are discovering the forum. And, believe it or not the world does not revolve around this forum. I entered this forum thinking it had opened minded people, but the more I see -- I see closed minded people who have their mind already set. It very saddening to read.

No one ever mentioned Pricescope to me before I came upon it. NSC never,ever mentioned it.

Too many petty in fights in this forum.

I''m glad you had a good experience Chuck.

What comes around goes around - for all those cynics out there.

Be nice and your treated nicely,

To those of you who are not jaded cynics "good on you"!

Tapio