luvmysparklies
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2003
- Messages
- 703
I have been reading the posts both in the recent "our GOG experience" and in the "vendors please list your upgrade policies" and noted two opinions of posters who seem a little "cutting" in their responses with regard to "selling local jewelers short" or complaints about consumers asking about sarin reports. I have noticed other posts similar to the above and wanted talk about my reasons for internet purchasing.
I have bought six stones (diamonds) via the internet and have been very pleased with the service I have received. Prior to learning and researching on this board and another diamond board, I knew nothing of diamonds and tried going to my "local jewelers" to learn and actually purchase. I got tired of being ignored, dismissed or being treated in a curt manner because of preconceived notions about how much money I have to spend based on how I look or am dressed. On numerous occasions I was steered toward cheaper and/or ugly looking stones and not offered the better products that were available. I realized after reading up on the boards that stones could be "memo-ed." No one offered to "memo" stones if they didn''t have the quality that I later learned to ask for. I just got sick of this treatment.
Searching for my engagement ring was an exasperating experience between "mall goods" (where, ironically the salespeople were more personable, yet the products weren''t all that good) and the "higher end jewelers who had better quality, yet their attitudes were a turn off.
I am sure that I am not the only one to have experience like this. So yes, I wound up on the internet where something happened that should have happened in person before-I was treated well and not like my sale didn''t matter - without regard to how much money I was spending. So it is not always about the bottom dollar and B&Ms losing more and more business because of it. It involves the up-front good treatment of people and the follow-through after the sale that Uncle Marty referenced in one of his posts. I believe as many do, that I DO deserve better and, ironically, me purchasing on the internet has cost me LESS to get better treatment. Sometimes (to me) it sounds like people who sell through B&Ms get a little too defensive about internet purchases and I just want to say, it isn''t always the case that the consumer has educated themselves enough to de-mystify (at least some) of what goes on behind the scenes and now has some sort of "chip" on their shoulder. I know I certainly cannot stand toe-to-toe with the knowledge of an experienced professional jeweler. But, I don''t have to deal with poor treatment and offerings either.
I am inherently lazy, and I would have loved to just sit back relax and let my local jewelers get to work on finding what I wanted. Unfortunately, that was not the situation in my case.
For any B&Ms that don''t necessarily have an internet presence what do you suggest (for individuals who are repeatedly treated poorly by their local jewelers) as an alternative to the internet? Sorry this was long, but there have been smatterings of anti-internet talk that was a little bothersome to me. This post is just my experience and opinion.
I have bought six stones (diamonds) via the internet and have been very pleased with the service I have received. Prior to learning and researching on this board and another diamond board, I knew nothing of diamonds and tried going to my "local jewelers" to learn and actually purchase. I got tired of being ignored, dismissed or being treated in a curt manner because of preconceived notions about how much money I have to spend based on how I look or am dressed. On numerous occasions I was steered toward cheaper and/or ugly looking stones and not offered the better products that were available. I realized after reading up on the boards that stones could be "memo-ed." No one offered to "memo" stones if they didn''t have the quality that I later learned to ask for. I just got sick of this treatment.
Searching for my engagement ring was an exasperating experience between "mall goods" (where, ironically the salespeople were more personable, yet the products weren''t all that good) and the "higher end jewelers who had better quality, yet their attitudes were a turn off.
I am sure that I am not the only one to have experience like this. So yes, I wound up on the internet where something happened that should have happened in person before-I was treated well and not like my sale didn''t matter - without regard to how much money I was spending. So it is not always about the bottom dollar and B&Ms losing more and more business because of it. It involves the up-front good treatment of people and the follow-through after the sale that Uncle Marty referenced in one of his posts. I believe as many do, that I DO deserve better and, ironically, me purchasing on the internet has cost me LESS to get better treatment. Sometimes (to me) it sounds like people who sell through B&Ms get a little too defensive about internet purchases and I just want to say, it isn''t always the case that the consumer has educated themselves enough to de-mystify (at least some) of what goes on behind the scenes and now has some sort of "chip" on their shoulder. I know I certainly cannot stand toe-to-toe with the knowledge of an experienced professional jeweler. But, I don''t have to deal with poor treatment and offerings either.
I am inherently lazy, and I would have loved to just sit back relax and let my local jewelers get to work on finding what I wanted. Unfortunately, that was not the situation in my case.
For any B&Ms that don''t necessarily have an internet presence what do you suggest (for individuals who are repeatedly treated poorly by their local jewelers) as an alternative to the internet? Sorry this was long, but there have been smatterings of anti-internet talk that was a little bothersome to me. This post is just my experience and opinion.
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