Montica store and HOF brand does not honor guarantee

  Prestigious HEARTS ON FIRE: does not honor guarantee, Montica.com non reputable retailer 

I want to tell as many people I can before they purchase a diamond from Hearts on Fire about my terrible experience. I want them to know that they are paying $ 10,000.00 US more than an actual diamond price elsewhere because of retailer s profit and marketting of the company.

Yes, HOF are WOW if you don t know anything about diamonds, but let me tell you what happened to me.....and THEY DO NOT HONOR THEIR 30 day GUARANTEE !!!!!

Last year ( july 2005) on a trip to Miami with my family we went to Montica store (family we knew from El Salvador) and my husband got impulsive and bought me a 2.47 radiant H SI1 diamond. (over $ 15,000.00)

After the purchase of the radiant I sent the GIA report by e-mail to a jeweler friend and he told me I had paid too much for this diamond.

At that time Montica was not a HOF retailer, but several months afterwards the owner let me know she was selling the most beautiful diamonds. She knew I was searching for the ultimate top of the line and I had been learning a little about diamonds, because I did not know anything before the purchase of the radiant. She told me about HOF and I decided for an upgrade. If she was offering upgrade with HOF I must assume that guarantee, etc applied.
I wanted to upgrade especially to recuperate what I knew now I had overpaid for my radiant. I had read in the HOF site about beeing a tremendous diamond etc.

So after a couple of weeks trying to find the appropiate size, color and clarity that suited my budget I wire her more than $20,000.00 on february 17th,2006 for a HOF 2.20 ct set on HOF setting. The suggested retail price for this diamond by HOF was $45,000.00 !!!!

Due to families issues, before the 30 day guarantee expired I ask Montica to apply the 30 day guarantee and refund me my money. To my amazement she told me she could not, because it had been a special order, her guarantee only applied on her stock items and anyways her bussiness was to sell diamonds, not reimburse them !!!???? I told her that it could not be a special order,that as a retailer she did not have large diamonds from HOF in her store, that HOF had an inventory list where customer choose what suit them and of course she as a HOF retailer had to order them to HOF .

Seeing no results with Montica, I called VP Peter Smith at HOF and send him an e-mail. In my conversation with him he told me that the guarantee had to be asked to the retailer. I told him I had but  with no results and commented everything that was said to me. He told me if I had a problem flying AA airlines I could not go to Boieng for a claim !!!! OK but then he told me that the HOF guarantee only applied on loose stone !!!!???

To which I told him ironically: Then what, if a man wants to get engage, he has to give his fiancé a loose diamond and hope the marriage take place (before 30 days) so he does not have to apply the HOF guarantee or if he has to apply for guarantee it must be the loose stone ???? How is his fiancé suppose to wear her engagement ring ??

By the way, the loose diamond I purchased at Montica was set on a HOF setting called TIMELESS BRIDAL and set by HOF !!!!!

One week later I called back and spoke to the owner Susan R. She told me someone was going to call me back because she was in a meeting.
This person called G. Strauss did call back and call Montica too.

Do you what to know what HOF , well Mr. Strauss offered me for a HOF listed at a $ 45,000.00 retail price. He offered me to send the diamond back to HOF and they would pay me $ 28,800.00 !!!!! I told him I finally understood that the stone was worth $ 28,800.00 and the extra (more than $ 10,000.00) a customer was paying for the retailer and of course MARKETTING of their BRAND. !!!!!!

He asked to think about it, because no jeweler would give me even half of what he was offering and it was a super deal they were offering. He told me to call him back if I agreed, that I had his number !!!.

I told him, don t worry I will never call you back, I will not consider that option but I would write to Better Bureau, Consumer protection and of course I would post in the Pricescope forum for people to know what a NON prestigious company HOF and Montica.com was. (losing more than$ 10,000.00 is a very small amount related in my story of what they are offering for a settlement to my situation with Montica compare to the profits HOF generates annually)
Terrible, isn´t it ???
I would like to know if anyone has experience an experience like this and what do you suggest more I can do? I do not live in the USA neither.
Everything I will do has to be done from a distance.

Thank you,


Caracol

Caracol

Caracol

........... Karl has joined the diamond trade and is now posting as Karl_K