Hello!
This will be my first time posting here, but I would like to start off by saying the information I found here on pricescope has helped me tremendously in my quest for the best diamond that I could afford, so thank you to all the knowledgeable contributors! I've been browsing (aka lurking lol) the forums for information on every aspect to do with a diamond and especially anything to do with online retailers (Blue Nile, James Allen, etc.) so that I could make a well informed decision, and I'm happy to say I was able to find the perfect diamond on James Allen and couldn't be happier with the experience. Thus, I'd like to share my experience for anyone else hoping to make a purchase, not just through James Allen, but just ordering online in general.
Just some background information about myself, I'm from Calgary, Alberta, so if there's anyone who is from Canada and looking to purchase from James Allen, I hope this review will help you make your decision easier!
I began shopping for an engagement ring a few months back, and after seeing a couple of my closest friends purchase their engagement rings online from Blue Nile and having good experiences, I started my search there. (I compared pricing from numerous local shops too, but nothing was able to match or beat online prices.) After browsing for a little while on BN, I came to the realization that I just wasn't comfortable blindly buying a diamond that I was going to pay thousands of dollars for. Albeit, the BN diamonds came with the GIA/AGSL certificates, it just wasn't giving me the confidence I needed to make the purchase. That's when I turned to James Allen and never looked back. The "virtual loupe" that James Allen has is phenomenal, nothing beats being able to see (even if it's virtual) the diamond and being able to spot inclusions. This is the one thing that puts James Allen heads and shoulders above Blue Nile, in my opinion.
Ordering experience & Customer service
After browsing a while, I though I had found the perfect one within my price range (for whoever is wondering, I ended up going with: http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/1.00-carat-g-color-vs2-clarity-sku-230294), but I wanted to be sure, so I wanted to have James Allen go through another inspection from their own gemologists (this is another excellent service they provide, for free no less, and I would recommend that everyone should at least get a 2nd opinion this way).
The people I dealt with (Marie Campbell and Garrett Jenkins) were absolutely fantastic. Marie was one of the nicest representatives I've ever dealt with from any company and Garret provided some of the best communication and service I've had. I contacted JA back in early July (I think July 2nd), and spoke with Marie over online chat at that time. I told her I was looking at the diamond mentioned above, and wanted to have a second inspection done, and she informed me that while she was confident the diamond I chose would come back very favorable, it may be a good idea to have at least a 2nd diamond, or even 2 diamonds to compare just in the event the one I was looking at didn't turn out the way I hoped. Luckily, I already had a couple others I was deciding between so I gave Marie the item numbers and she put all 3 diamonds on hold for me and put through the request for inspection.
For those wondering, the regular hold period for any diamond is only 24 hours, however, if you do this inspection your diamonds are essentially put on hold under your name until the inspections are complete, giving you an extra few days to weigh your decisions just in case
At this point, this was when Garret stepped in to take over the rest of my order and help me along the way. After a few days he was able to provide me the gemologists report. The "report" came back favorable for the diamond I had originally looked at, but I wasn't exactly given a report, rather Garrett simply relayed what the gemologist supposedly stated. This is probably the one thing that I would think that James Allen could improve on actually, because it's not that I don't trust what Garrett, or any other consultant from James Allen would say, but I was expecting something more "finalized" I suppose and would've preferred seeing something written and possibly signed/time stamped to show that there was indeed someone who physically looked at these diamonds and compared them.
I had several questions for Garrett, of which I won't get into details here, but he answered each and every one of them as best as he could and there was hardly any delays in email response times. After several email exchanges, I finally called in to purchase the diamond on July 12th. I was able to speak with Marie again luckily, and she helped me through the entire purchase process. I was able to split payments on 2 different cards without any problem, although there was an initial hiccup from their system as it charged the full amount to one card rather than split the payments, but that was quickly resolved.
Marie asked if I wanted an engraving (also a free service!), but I told her I wanted a couple days to think of a meaningful phrase as I didn't think of one at that point, she said it would be no problem to add later and indeed I was able to add an engraving a few days after I had made the initial payment without a problem.
Shipping
Originally the estimated shipping date was July 23rd, but on the 23rd I received an email from JA customer service noting that there would be a slight delay in the shipping date as the ring still had to go through final quality control inspection (I had actually asked Marie to note a more thorough QC inspection as I was a little concerned that there may be potential for there to be a problem with the setting, so I wasn't too worried about the delay). The finished product actually shipped the very next day and I was able to pick it up from the depot on Thursday evening. Super fast shipping!
One thing to note, as soon as the item was shipped, James allen will provide you a tracking number, and for anyone living in Canada we will only have to pay the GST/HST. Any duties/custom fee outside of the GST/HST should be covered by NAFTA, but FedEx was aware of this, so there shouldn't be any extra charges. In any event, as soon as I got the tracking number and as soon as the package arrived in Canada (the morning of the 25th), I contacted FedEx and told them that I wanted to pay for the tax right away so there wouldn't be a delay clearing customs. I strongly suggest you pay the tax as soon as you can, because there is the potential of your package sitting at FedEx customs for several days before it will clear, and if you're like me, I would much rather have the package in my possession ASAP than sitting in some sorting facility.
Final product and overall result
As soon as I tore away the shipping package I was very impressed. The quality of the James Allen box was very impressive and you can tell that this is a company that wants to provide the best quality for their customers. Inside the box came the AGS certificate along with a duplicate, as well as a letter of appraisal and another personal letter highlighting your purchase. There was a James Allen 10x loupe provided (I actually didn't know this!) and the box with the ring was a very nicely polished wooden case. The ring itself blew me away! I was very, very pleased with what I laid my eyes on, the diamond was absolutely brilliant! It sparkled as much as I had hoped and it looked phenomenally white (I'll post pictures later!)
The one thing I wanted to confirm was that according to the AGS certificate there was a laser inscription on the girdle, so I wanted to find the number and match it to the certificate, just to put my mind at ease that everything was exactly as advertised. I ended up finding the laser inscription after lots of squinting and tilting with my 30x loupe and indeed the number matched what was on the certificate and everything was right as rain.
I couldn't be happier with the purchase, and everything has lived up to expectations! The only thing left to do is for her to say "Yes", but that's something out of JA's control lol.
Overall, purchasing from JA was a fantastic experience and it didn't let me down! I hope my experience will help anyone else who's considering James Allen, but if anyone has any questions or concerns, just send me a message and I'll be sure to answer as best I can!
mylam
This will be my first time posting here, but I would like to start off by saying the information I found here on pricescope has helped me tremendously in my quest for the best diamond that I could afford, so thank you to all the knowledgeable contributors! I've been browsing (aka lurking lol) the forums for information on every aspect to do with a diamond and especially anything to do with online retailers (Blue Nile, James Allen, etc.) so that I could make a well informed decision, and I'm happy to say I was able to find the perfect diamond on James Allen and couldn't be happier with the experience. Thus, I'd like to share my experience for anyone else hoping to make a purchase, not just through James Allen, but just ordering online in general.
Just some background information about myself, I'm from Calgary, Alberta, so if there's anyone who is from Canada and looking to purchase from James Allen, I hope this review will help you make your decision easier!
I began shopping for an engagement ring a few months back, and after seeing a couple of my closest friends purchase their engagement rings online from Blue Nile and having good experiences, I started my search there. (I compared pricing from numerous local shops too, but nothing was able to match or beat online prices.) After browsing for a little while on BN, I came to the realization that I just wasn't comfortable blindly buying a diamond that I was going to pay thousands of dollars for. Albeit, the BN diamonds came with the GIA/AGSL certificates, it just wasn't giving me the confidence I needed to make the purchase. That's when I turned to James Allen and never looked back. The "virtual loupe" that James Allen has is phenomenal, nothing beats being able to see (even if it's virtual) the diamond and being able to spot inclusions. This is the one thing that puts James Allen heads and shoulders above Blue Nile, in my opinion.
Ordering experience & Customer service
After browsing a while, I though I had found the perfect one within my price range (for whoever is wondering, I ended up going with: http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/1.00-carat-g-color-vs2-clarity-sku-230294), but I wanted to be sure, so I wanted to have James Allen go through another inspection from their own gemologists (this is another excellent service they provide, for free no less, and I would recommend that everyone should at least get a 2nd opinion this way).
The people I dealt with (Marie Campbell and Garrett Jenkins) were absolutely fantastic. Marie was one of the nicest representatives I've ever dealt with from any company and Garret provided some of the best communication and service I've had. I contacted JA back in early July (I think July 2nd), and spoke with Marie over online chat at that time. I told her I was looking at the diamond mentioned above, and wanted to have a second inspection done, and she informed me that while she was confident the diamond I chose would come back very favorable, it may be a good idea to have at least a 2nd diamond, or even 2 diamonds to compare just in the event the one I was looking at didn't turn out the way I hoped. Luckily, I already had a couple others I was deciding between so I gave Marie the item numbers and she put all 3 diamonds on hold for me and put through the request for inspection.
For those wondering, the regular hold period for any diamond is only 24 hours, however, if you do this inspection your diamonds are essentially put on hold under your name until the inspections are complete, giving you an extra few days to weigh your decisions just in case
At this point, this was when Garret stepped in to take over the rest of my order and help me along the way. After a few days he was able to provide me the gemologists report. The "report" came back favorable for the diamond I had originally looked at, but I wasn't exactly given a report, rather Garrett simply relayed what the gemologist supposedly stated. This is probably the one thing that I would think that James Allen could improve on actually, because it's not that I don't trust what Garrett, or any other consultant from James Allen would say, but I was expecting something more "finalized" I suppose and would've preferred seeing something written and possibly signed/time stamped to show that there was indeed someone who physically looked at these diamonds and compared them.
I had several questions for Garrett, of which I won't get into details here, but he answered each and every one of them as best as he could and there was hardly any delays in email response times. After several email exchanges, I finally called in to purchase the diamond on July 12th. I was able to speak with Marie again luckily, and she helped me through the entire purchase process. I was able to split payments on 2 different cards without any problem, although there was an initial hiccup from their system as it charged the full amount to one card rather than split the payments, but that was quickly resolved.
Marie asked if I wanted an engraving (also a free service!), but I told her I wanted a couple days to think of a meaningful phrase as I didn't think of one at that point, she said it would be no problem to add later and indeed I was able to add an engraving a few days after I had made the initial payment without a problem.
Shipping
Originally the estimated shipping date was July 23rd, but on the 23rd I received an email from JA customer service noting that there would be a slight delay in the shipping date as the ring still had to go through final quality control inspection (I had actually asked Marie to note a more thorough QC inspection as I was a little concerned that there may be potential for there to be a problem with the setting, so I wasn't too worried about the delay). The finished product actually shipped the very next day and I was able to pick it up from the depot on Thursday evening. Super fast shipping!
One thing to note, as soon as the item was shipped, James allen will provide you a tracking number, and for anyone living in Canada we will only have to pay the GST/HST. Any duties/custom fee outside of the GST/HST should be covered by NAFTA, but FedEx was aware of this, so there shouldn't be any extra charges. In any event, as soon as I got the tracking number and as soon as the package arrived in Canada (the morning of the 25th), I contacted FedEx and told them that I wanted to pay for the tax right away so there wouldn't be a delay clearing customs. I strongly suggest you pay the tax as soon as you can, because there is the potential of your package sitting at FedEx customs for several days before it will clear, and if you're like me, I would much rather have the package in my possession ASAP than sitting in some sorting facility.
Final product and overall result
As soon as I tore away the shipping package I was very impressed. The quality of the James Allen box was very impressive and you can tell that this is a company that wants to provide the best quality for their customers. Inside the box came the AGS certificate along with a duplicate, as well as a letter of appraisal and another personal letter highlighting your purchase. There was a James Allen 10x loupe provided (I actually didn't know this!) and the box with the ring was a very nicely polished wooden case. The ring itself blew me away! I was very, very pleased with what I laid my eyes on, the diamond was absolutely brilliant! It sparkled as much as I had hoped and it looked phenomenally white
(I'll post pictures later!)The one thing I wanted to confirm was that according to the AGS certificate there was a laser inscription on the girdle, so I wanted to find the number and match it to the certificate, just to put my mind at ease that everything was exactly as advertised. I ended up finding the laser inscription after lots of squinting and tilting with my 30x loupe and indeed the number matched what was on the certificate and everything was right as rain.
I couldn't be happier with the purchase, and everything has lived up to expectations! The only thing left to do is for her to say "Yes", but that's something out of JA's control lol.
Overall, purchasing from JA was a fantastic experience and it didn't let me down! I hope my experience will help anyone else who's considering James Allen, but if anyone has any questions or concerns, just send me a message and I'll be sure to answer as best I can!
mylam
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