I just received the my GIA graded 1.25 Ct round diamond, G, SI1, Ex polish, Ex Symmetry, .6 HCA, from Mark Turnowski at EngagementRingsDirect.com and it is really the most beautiful diamond I have ever seen. My just recently engaged fiancé can’t take her eyes off of it, even when driving her own car she stares at the rock on her finger more than she does the road (These H&A diamonds can be a very dangerous thing). I wanted to share my buying experience with all of you because without Mark at EngagementRingsDirect I would have spent way too much money (over $3500 more) for a way lesser ring.
First off I have to say that I am definitely not an internet junkie (no offense to those who are). The only things I have every bought on the internet have been 5 random items on ebay so if you would have asked me if I would ever thought I would have bought my engagement ring over the internet I would have laughed in your face. When I first began to look for diamonds I bought 2 books (to start my learning experience). Then I found a good tutorial website to help me understand what I was going to be looking at. Then I set off to look for the perfect stone and the perfect price. I knew that I would be able to save some money if I bought my diamond online but at that point I was certain there was no way I was going to buy something this costly with so many different variables and something this important over the internet. I obviously hadn’t found both pricescope and Mark at EngagementRingsDirect.
So my laborious search began, I started in the malls, looking at as many diamonds as I could just to get a feel for the different types of clarity grades and color classifications. (I had read enough to know not to buy a diamond at a mall). Then I went to Costco to see what types of diamonds they had there. Then I put together a list of local jewelers out of the phonebook that posted their gemologist credentials. I called a bunch of them up and narrowed it down to about 10 different ones that I would go to and seriously start looking for the one perfect diamond. At this point I had no idea about pricescope and no idea that all I really had to do instead of do all this research and running around was find Mark at EngagementRingsDirect earlier in my search.
I had been running around the bay area like crazy going from jeweler to jeweler to look at different stones when I did a search for a specific designer ring on google and I came across Pricescope. After looking over the site and reading up on the HCA I decided that I would add an HCA score below 2 to my criteria when continuing to look for diamonds at B&M’s. At two different times I thought I had found the diamond I was going to purchase but I just didn’t want to spend that kind of money on a diamond that didn’t fit in the “excellent” cut grade and then still have to buy the designer ring that would cost me even more money. I wanted the top of the line cut, H&A, brilliance scope to be awesome and the diamond to just radiate with contrasting light.
After a few different postings on PS the people encouraged me to give the E-vendors a chance. Not thinking I would really make the purchase on the net I thought it can’t hurt to give some vendors a call. So I did research (of course) on all the major vendors associated with PS and I started making both calls and emails to the vendors such as USA certed diamonds, goodoldgold, whiteflash, niceice, abazias, dirtcheapdiamonds and Engagementringsdirect.com. Of all the sites I contacted Mark was the only vendor that gave me the feeling that he would go above and beyond what was the norm to make me feel comfortable buying this diamond over the net. Having experience working at the GIA made me feel like I was working with someone who was an expert in the field (a big relief after making the rounds to the B&M’s).
Mark made me feel like he could handle whatever request I was asking for. He first calmed my nerves by giving me time to say my piece and voice my concerns with buying over the net and he said to me the only way that he could stay in business was to get skeptics like me to become believers in what he is doing and the only way he could do that was by earning my trust. I told him that my biggest concern was that I had seen hundreds of stones and prided myself on being able to identify the best cut and most brilliant diamonds out of a whole lot. That I would have to rely solely on him to be my eyes and find me the most brilliant diamond he could find. He convinced me that it was just as important to him that I found the nicest stone possible as it was to me.
Because my girlfriend wanted this designer ring I had only been able to go to certain B&M’s in my area that carried it. And even the other online vendors on PS couldn’t get me the designer ring I needed. But Mark at EngagementRingsDirect was willing to go out and use his connections to try and find me the designer ring my girlfriend wanted. Every other vendor just said, “Sorry if it’s not on the website we can’t get it.”
I had still been working with and narrowed it down to 2 local B&M’s when all this was going on. To be honest I thought that if this Mark guy, whom I had never met was willing to go out and try and get me the designer ring I wanted and try and find me a diamond that matched my specs why not let him see what he could find. He came back 2 days later with 2 diamonds that fit my criteria. I talked with him over the phone and quizzed him on the different stones, asking him to judge them as if he was still working at the GIA. He came to the conclusion that my 1.24, G, SI1 was the better of the two stones and it was the cheaper of the two. He ensured me that it was a top-notch diamond but I wasn’t sold yet.
My younger sister just happened to move to New York 3 weeks earlier and so I asked Mark if she could go over and meet him and see the two different diamonds. He made was more than accommodating and we arranged her meeting. The way Mark treated my little sister made me feel even more comfortable with the sale. I sent my youngest sister (only 1
over to meet a man that I had never known and he treated her with the utmost respect. After their encounter Mark and I talked once more and I had told him that I was going to go with his service. He had sold me on his merit, his dependability, his expertise, his promptness on returning my calls, on answering any question I had, on his patience, and his price. Because of Mark’s Turnowski I had made the decision to purchase the most expensive thing I had ever bought in my entire life over the internet without having ever met the salesman.
I had decided to buy from EngagementRingsDirect but I still wanted to be able to see both diamonds so Mark agreed to allow me to purchase both stones so I could see them for myself and then decide which one I wanted. He even agreed to pay for the shipping both ways. He overnighted me the two diamonds and I immediately took them to a local jeweler who had been in the business 27 years. The first thing he said when looking at MY diamond was “WOW, this is really nice. You must have spent a ton of money on this diamond.” When those words were spoken I knew that Mark was FOR REAL. This local jeweler pulled up his database and couldn’t find one with that good of a cut for even close to the price that Mark had sold them to me for (either of them). The jeweler agreed with Mark that MY diamond was the better of two and I was on my way.
For the sake of all of you who are still with me I will wrap it up. I told my fiancé the ring story on our drive home from Lake Tahoe and at the end of the story I told her “I would tell anyone looking to buy a diamond that Mark at EngagementRingsDirect.com is “MY GUY””. That I would refer any of my friends and family to him telling them that this guy will hook you up PHAT. And my fiancé then said to me looking at her ring ”because he got me THIS diamond Mark is MY GUY TOO.”
We’ve only been engaged for 5 days, but both of our families were there and I tell you what, Mark made me look like the Hero. This diamond sparkles like none other. They all couldn’t stop asking her to see it all weekend long. And everyone else that sees it says to her OOOHHH, that diamond is amazing.
The look on my fiancé’s face every time she looks at her diamond makes me feel like all my time and effort were well worth it, then I remember that really all I did was find Mark at EngagementRingsDirect.com and he did the rest.
Thanks Mark the diamond is absolutely beautiful.
Gus Papanikolas
First off I have to say that I am definitely not an internet junkie (no offense to those who are). The only things I have every bought on the internet have been 5 random items on ebay so if you would have asked me if I would ever thought I would have bought my engagement ring over the internet I would have laughed in your face. When I first began to look for diamonds I bought 2 books (to start my learning experience). Then I found a good tutorial website to help me understand what I was going to be looking at. Then I set off to look for the perfect stone and the perfect price. I knew that I would be able to save some money if I bought my diamond online but at that point I was certain there was no way I was going to buy something this costly with so many different variables and something this important over the internet. I obviously hadn’t found both pricescope and Mark at EngagementRingsDirect.
So my laborious search began, I started in the malls, looking at as many diamonds as I could just to get a feel for the different types of clarity grades and color classifications. (I had read enough to know not to buy a diamond at a mall). Then I went to Costco to see what types of diamonds they had there. Then I put together a list of local jewelers out of the phonebook that posted their gemologist credentials. I called a bunch of them up and narrowed it down to about 10 different ones that I would go to and seriously start looking for the one perfect diamond. At this point I had no idea about pricescope and no idea that all I really had to do instead of do all this research and running around was find Mark at EngagementRingsDirect earlier in my search.
I had been running around the bay area like crazy going from jeweler to jeweler to look at different stones when I did a search for a specific designer ring on google and I came across Pricescope. After looking over the site and reading up on the HCA I decided that I would add an HCA score below 2 to my criteria when continuing to look for diamonds at B&M’s. At two different times I thought I had found the diamond I was going to purchase but I just didn’t want to spend that kind of money on a diamond that didn’t fit in the “excellent” cut grade and then still have to buy the designer ring that would cost me even more money. I wanted the top of the line cut, H&A, brilliance scope to be awesome and the diamond to just radiate with contrasting light.
After a few different postings on PS the people encouraged me to give the E-vendors a chance. Not thinking I would really make the purchase on the net I thought it can’t hurt to give some vendors a call. So I did research (of course) on all the major vendors associated with PS and I started making both calls and emails to the vendors such as USA certed diamonds, goodoldgold, whiteflash, niceice, abazias, dirtcheapdiamonds and Engagementringsdirect.com. Of all the sites I contacted Mark was the only vendor that gave me the feeling that he would go above and beyond what was the norm to make me feel comfortable buying this diamond over the net. Having experience working at the GIA made me feel like I was working with someone who was an expert in the field (a big relief after making the rounds to the B&M’s).
Mark made me feel like he could handle whatever request I was asking for. He first calmed my nerves by giving me time to say my piece and voice my concerns with buying over the net and he said to me the only way that he could stay in business was to get skeptics like me to become believers in what he is doing and the only way he could do that was by earning my trust. I told him that my biggest concern was that I had seen hundreds of stones and prided myself on being able to identify the best cut and most brilliant diamonds out of a whole lot. That I would have to rely solely on him to be my eyes and find me the most brilliant diamond he could find. He convinced me that it was just as important to him that I found the nicest stone possible as it was to me.
Because my girlfriend wanted this designer ring I had only been able to go to certain B&M’s in my area that carried it. And even the other online vendors on PS couldn’t get me the designer ring I needed. But Mark at EngagementRingsDirect was willing to go out and use his connections to try and find me the designer ring my girlfriend wanted. Every other vendor just said, “Sorry if it’s not on the website we can’t get it.”
I had still been working with and narrowed it down to 2 local B&M’s when all this was going on. To be honest I thought that if this Mark guy, whom I had never met was willing to go out and try and get me the designer ring I wanted and try and find me a diamond that matched my specs why not let him see what he could find. He came back 2 days later with 2 diamonds that fit my criteria. I talked with him over the phone and quizzed him on the different stones, asking him to judge them as if he was still working at the GIA. He came to the conclusion that my 1.24, G, SI1 was the better of the two stones and it was the cheaper of the two. He ensured me that it was a top-notch diamond but I wasn’t sold yet.
My younger sister just happened to move to New York 3 weeks earlier and so I asked Mark if she could go over and meet him and see the two different diamonds. He made was more than accommodating and we arranged her meeting. The way Mark treated my little sister made me feel even more comfortable with the sale. I sent my youngest sister (only 1
over to meet a man that I had never known and he treated her with the utmost respect. After their encounter Mark and I talked once more and I had told him that I was going to go with his service. He had sold me on his merit, his dependability, his expertise, his promptness on returning my calls, on answering any question I had, on his patience, and his price. Because of Mark’s Turnowski I had made the decision to purchase the most expensive thing I had ever bought in my entire life over the internet without having ever met the salesman. I had decided to buy from EngagementRingsDirect but I still wanted to be able to see both diamonds so Mark agreed to allow me to purchase both stones so I could see them for myself and then decide which one I wanted. He even agreed to pay for the shipping both ways. He overnighted me the two diamonds and I immediately took them to a local jeweler who had been in the business 27 years. The first thing he said when looking at MY diamond was “WOW, this is really nice. You must have spent a ton of money on this diamond.” When those words were spoken I knew that Mark was FOR REAL. This local jeweler pulled up his database and couldn’t find one with that good of a cut for even close to the price that Mark had sold them to me for (either of them). The jeweler agreed with Mark that MY diamond was the better of two and I was on my way.
For the sake of all of you who are still with me I will wrap it up. I told my fiancé the ring story on our drive home from Lake Tahoe and at the end of the story I told her “I would tell anyone looking to buy a diamond that Mark at EngagementRingsDirect.com is “MY GUY””. That I would refer any of my friends and family to him telling them that this guy will hook you up PHAT. And my fiancé then said to me looking at her ring ”because he got me THIS diamond Mark is MY GUY TOO.”
We’ve only been engaged for 5 days, but both of our families were there and I tell you what, Mark made me look like the Hero. This diamond sparkles like none other. They all couldn’t stop asking her to see it all weekend long. And everyone else that sees it says to her OOOHHH, that diamond is amazing.
The look on my fiancé’s face every time she looks at her diamond makes me feel like all my time and effort were well worth it, then I remember that really all I did was find Mark at EngagementRingsDirect.com and he did the rest.
Thanks Mark the diamond is absolutely beautiful.
Gus Papanikolas
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