Are the majority of SAs employed at Graff, HW, Cartier, Tiffany, etc., actually knowledgeable about

[Gleam]

Just curious.

 

[tonyc2387]

depends on what you define ''knowledgeable''... and it probably goes on a person by person basis. all depends on what they want to sell, but keep in mind, their job is "salesperson" not "gemologist"... so they''ll know exactly how much they have to to make the sale. nothing more, nothing less.

that being said, my experience at tiffany''s was miles ahead of any other mall store, but i''m not sure how''d they stack up against the other mentioned vendors. even then, the ''sales professional'' didn''t have a clue what half the numbers (percentages, angles, etc) meant on the tiffany grading report, and admitted to it.

 

[clgwli]

Funny you asked this today. I just went to a Tiffany store today to look at a certain diamond cut (Legacy). When talking about diamonds, I was mentioning what about round brilliants that I do not care for. The pattern of the arrows bothers me in well cut round diamonds. She proceeded to tell me they do not sell diamonds like that and what they sell is far superior to the mall store diamonds. I was a bit taken aback by her and her rudeness towards me. She did give me her card and it stated that she was a GIA certified gemologist. So by that token she should be knowledgeable, but her lack of understanding was huge IMO.

This was someone who was brought to the engagement & wedding ring counter for me though. The other ladies I have talked to there I couldn''t begin to guess if they were of the same level or not. Fortunately they were much nicer too

I had gone to a local jeweler that I hadn''t visted in a while and at least when I told him what I didn''t care for in rounds (and also what I don''t like of princesses) he understood and discussed it a little more with me about different cuts. Not sure what his qualifications were (just listed store director) but I found him to be great and he directed me to a cut I am in love with now.

 

[miraclesrule]

I can''t speak from a personal perspective. But, I sure felt sorry for the Salesman''s at Tiffany''s when I went in there with a small group of PS''ers. Poor guy didn''t stand a chance against them.

Lucky for him, I was there, so he wasn''t the most completely diamond dumb.

 

[outatouch0]

there are one or two long threads about this subject. They are quite entertaining. I think one was titled somthing like: Craziest thing you''ve heard said by a maul/BM salesperson.

 

[GoSharks]

I found the Tiffany's SP to be knowledgeable in what they are supposed to know.

They know little of evaluating cuts, but they arn't supposed to know that, because Tiffany's brand selling point for diamonds is they only pick the best, therefore dissecting their "superior" stones isn't necessary, and so they do not do so.

I doubt Tiffany's would even want their SP going off about steep-deeps, or other cut issues, not just because it might crop up in some of their stones, but because that's not part of what they are trying to accomplish.

So yes the top end sales people are very knowledgeable about what they need to know to do their job effectively, selling product and maintain the brand, but in-depth knowledge of cut design to evaluate their individual stones is not one of them.

Which obviously draws a contrast between their knowledge and what you find on PS, but its not necessarily a bad thing. I "get it", even if I would never actually buy something there now.

Regular mall clerks on the other hand are SO bad at doing what they do, from my person experience, that I started day dreaming about getting into the business myself, just so I could blow them and their crap products out of the water. Some of them are literally identical to the "used car salesman" character stereotype we all know of from stories and movies and jokes.