ACA vs Hearts on Fire side by side comparison
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Our adventure looking for the perfect diamond was very special for both of us and in writing about it we hope that other consumer's will read it, and use our input as part of the equation in their decision making about diamonds.
We were married in Nov. 1988 because we shared that special bond that only 2 people could share. We were poor and not able to afford a wedding ring of much value but our love for each other made this moot. We made a promise to each other deep down in our hearts with a $10 ring that after the 3 kids were grown and gone we would buy us a nice diamond or two to celebrate our marriage. In 1999 at Valentines Day I purchased the channel band because of its beauty and the size of those stones; boy was she shocked and so pleased. It wasn’t until later that I started doing my homework on diamonds learning what I could wherever I could. In Sept. 2005 we started the final search for a perfect Solitaire diamond that would compliment the channel set ring. She always wanted to buy that 2 caret + but I knew if I could find a stone cut with the right numbers on paper that I was looking for she would love it. We looked at hundreds of loose stones. This adventure took many turns and twists; which included a trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico were they enticed us with their prices and large stones but we felt the quality was not there. We came back from Cabo more determined than ever to find the perfect diamond and we started our hunt at jewelry stores at malls, the Internet and independent jewelers all over our region. After looking at all of these places we came across a Hearts On Fire® - The World's Most Perfectly Cut Diamond®2 days before Christmas at a local jeweler. This was the most beautiful stone that we had come across in our search and it certainly caught our eye. It was a 1.6c SI 1 I color. We both agreed that this was the stone for us. The sales person that showed it to us also showed us 2.06c. But the 1.6 was the one for us as it looked perfect to our eyes and hearts and went so well with the band. The saleslady was very nice to us and offered to bring in other stones for us to compare. We explained to her that we wouldn't need her to do that and asked for a price. She told us a price and I made her a counter offer (who after all has ever paid full list for a piece of jewelry?) She said Hearts On Fire® does not allow discounts and that she could lose her franchise for doing so. We told her that we needed to think about the price. No diamond for Christmas as the price was more than we wanted to pay at that time. Being scared to buy in Mexico and afraid of the web because we had no way to find out about the people we were dealing with we did more research on the internet. It was here that we learned about a dealer with a company named whiteflash.com. On Dec. 27 2005 I contacted Jamie at whiteflash.com. I asked if the following diamond was available and she said it was and by the end of the day I put a hold on it. Here is the link to the diamond www.whiteflash.com/diamonds/diamond_details.aspx?idno=2167487 Would this diamond be as nice as the Hearts On Fire® or would I have to pay the price for all those slick ads? My wife wouldn’t accept it if you know what I mean if it isn't up to the standards of what she had seen in person or seen on TV. I asked for additional information that was not on the website at Whiteflash and it was sent to me in a few hours. I later talked to Brian Gavin (co-owner) who had this diamond in his hand when he called me. I explained to him the trouble I was in with my wife trying to decide on something she had seen versus something she only had seen a picture of. I told him if it wouldn't face up side by side with the Hearts On Fire® don't send it. I asked for his honest opinion about the diamond. He stated it was very beautiful. I also asked for a full hearts photo of this diamond. It showed up 2 hour later via email. I could tell by talking to this man on the phone that his word was as good as gold and that he and his people were watching out for us poor consumers. I explained the information I requested was for me and only me to use to make a decision about which diamond I wanted and his information was sent to me quickly. At this point Brian Gavin’s actions made me very comfortable in making a large purchase over the Internet. I waited for funds to clear for what seemed like forever before his diamond would be shipped. In the mean time I contacted The Diamond Wizard® at Hearts On Fire® and requested information on 2 different diamonds they had. I also went back to the local dealer and asked her to contact the Diamond Wizard® for this same information. Needless to say I was told that this same information I received from Brian Gavin was not available to the public from their company. This left me no other choice but to ask the Hearts On Fire® dealer to allow a face up showdown with her stone and the ACA I had received earlier in the day. She said she would love to as she had all the confidence in the world in her product. We set the review for the following day…… this is half of the story I will post the rest tommorrow thanks dhog
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OK......NOT FAIR......you must have watched that DeBeers commercial during the holidays about the man trying to get home to give his wife the past present future three diamond pendant in time for Christmas and you had to follow the trail from the closed airport in Minneapolis to his triumphant homecoming in Chicago!!
We are anxious to hear the end of what appears to be a happy story! |
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[$$)] On Jan 12 2006 I showed up at the Hearts On Fire® dealer with the diamond in hand along with a claw pick up tool. I put the diamond on the tool and handed it to the sales lady, as always she was very professional and her comment was it was a very pretty stone. She put it under one of the H&A viewers and again stated it was a very pretty stone. She then put the Hearts On Fire® 1.61c under the viewer and confirmed her hearts and arrows on her stone looked like my stone.
I took both diamonds one in each hand and began twirling them slowly, moving them towards her and back, moving them from side to side, moving them in and out from under different lights. I put them both under the countertop to remove as much direct light as possible. What a feeling looking at these two creations side by side knowing I had to pick one of them and at this point they looked liked twins. To be fair I asked her for a price on a stone equal to the one I had. Her stone was a 1.61c SI 1 I color vs 1.688 VS1 I color. We looked it up on the Hearts On Fire® website for dealers, she showed me the price and again confirmed no deals available from Hearts On Fire® on pricing. I told her thank you and I needed time to think about it. Our decision was based on a multitude of reasons as follows: 1. All of the information I requested was sent to us very quickly by Brian Gavin this indicates he has nothing to hide from consumers. 2. After speaking to Brian Gavin on the phone, his politeness and sense of consumer concern gives me the feeling of a man with impeccable integrity. Thank you Brian. 3. I asked Brian Gavin to send me this diamond only if it would face up with a Hearts On Fire® diamond, he knew it was coming back if it didn’t. He lived up to his end of the deal. 4. Hearts On Fire® - The World's Most Perfectly Cut Diamond® one could assume that this broad statement could be backed up with information on paper and visually to help the consumer make a educated determination on their own. To this day it has not been proven at least to my liking on paper. 5. The Diamond Wizard® unwillingness to provide me with the information I requested limited my ability to make a determination intelligently; rather it only left me with the face up stone to stone viewing which is based on personal preference. 6 Jamie at www.whiteflash.com was so easy to work with. This is all about customer service. I worked for a Satellite Installation company with over 7,000 installs in peoples homes with zero complaints so yes I am qualified to make this call. Thank you Jamie. 7 The big C that matters most THE COST. Earlier I talked about being in Cabo and it was so beautiful. After returning we decided we wanted a timeshare down there but could not afford both a diamond solitaire and the timeshare at the same time. That was until we did our homework and explored all avenues available to us. We purchased a 15-year timeshare at the same gold crown resort for 1 week a year that we had just stayed at. The money we saved between these 2 stones paid for the time share; 15 years of maintenance fees and round trip tickets for 2 for 5 years. Who says you can’t have 2 beautiful things for the price of 1. To us this journey started in 1988 when we said I DO to each other. It was a long road now that we look back on it with a special and a very bright future looking forward. There is nothing better than Chateau-Briand for two under candlelight on the beach in Cabo San Lucas with the moonlight twinkling off the diamond. Brian Gavin has a famous saying “IT’S ALL IN THE HEARTS” since this stone has already been mounted we can no longer see the perfect hearts that show us how well this stone has been cut, but we can see it with our hearts. But we both know that we did the right thing coming to this decision. Each time we look into this stone we will see Brian Gavin’s signature on his quest for perfection. Our meaning to each other is our definition of “IT’S ALL IN THE HEARTS” and after all that is where it really means the most, in the hearts of the consumer and what that stone represents. If The Diamond Wizard® would like to comment on our personal emails feel free to do so at any time. Do we have the most brilliantly cut diamond in the world? No, we might not but we do have A Cut Above® which is evidenced by the photo’s. THANK YOU Brian Gavin and all those who work at www.whiteflash.com
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Wow, so you got a larger stone, a higher clarity AND had money left to buy a timeshare?! Good shopping there!
And ya know, "the world''s most brilliantly cut diamond in the world" is just their opinion. Their stones are that much more expensive because they have to add in the cost to drill that slogan into your head. |
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Thanks for completing the story and it was indeed a happy story! Your experience demonstrates that a well cut diamond doesn''t have to a branded HOF, or 88, or Cento, or Leo, to be absolutely fantastic.
Congratulations on the beautiful purchases, both on your wifes finger and the one you''ll enjoy for the next 15 years. There are lot''s of us forum friends who would be happy to join you and praise both purchases in person during that week! LOL |
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As most of you know it is hard to take great photo''s - we had to take a lot of to get the following 7 photo''s. Hope you enjoy them Ms. Dhog
P.S. The Diamond Wizard is the Hearts on Fire in house diamond guru who we thought was the right person to go to for the Techie Stuff.
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