B&M shopping experience - is this normal?

[buellergirl]

This will be a somewhat long post - please bear with me

So my fiance and I went shopping for a stone and a ring, not knowing where to start but having a general idea that malls were a no-no. Our first experience was at a Jared''s in the Chicago-land area. The salesman was nice, not pushy, and he showed us a number of stones, ending with a Leo diamond that was very pretty. Not having educated myself at that point, all I saw was that it was pretty. However, my fiance (I''ll just call him T after this) and I had agreed we were not going to buy that day, so we walked out after thanking the man.

When we got out, T asked if I saw how the culet had been chipped right off the Leo diamond. I was shocked - I hadn''t thought about looking for that stuff (shows how much I didn''t know). So question #1 is - how often can consumers expect this type of thing? The online vendors only show top and bottom pictures (some of them), but you can''t really see if a diamond is chipped or scratched! I just wonder how much more likely is that to happen when you''re not face-to-face when it happened with us sitting in front of this guy?

After that, I did a bunch of online searches - looking for mentions of reputable Chicago jewelers (which I couldn''t find many of) - and stumbled onto this site. Needless to say, I did a lot of reading up and price checking and started to get a feel for what we could expect in terms of pricing for what we were looking for. This weekend we went to the jewelry mall in Chicago''s downtown Jewelers row to try our luck. Imagine our surprise when we walked into 2 or 3 stores and asked for .35-.4 carat stones that were certified, and were told that stones under .5 carat usually weren''t. One store owner told us that it wasn''t worth paying the extra 300 dollars for a certified stone at that size - we should go for a larger stone instead. Question #2 then is: Is that true?

I guess that''s all I can think of to ask at the moment - we''re seriously thinking of buying online instead, but really want to see the stones before we get them - especially after that chipped stone fiasco. Anyone have any thoughts?

Much appreciated

 

[Todd07]

A couple of thoughts to share.

If you buy from a reputable online dealer, you should be in good hands. All the PS vendors seem to be reputable and you can search for feedback in posts. If the stone is not in-house and a drop ship, you will need it to pass through your vendor for inspection before sending to you.

Regardless of where you buy, I recommend you pay for an appraisal from an independent appraiser within the return window. It may cost you $100 but you''ll have confirmation that it is undamaged and matches the spec. You will also have the paper for your insurance.

There are some good posts in the FAQ on appraisals.

Yes, it is common for smaller diamonds not to be certified.

 

[buellergirl]

Yes, dropping it could explain it, although I''m surprised that dropping such a small stone in a carpeted store could cause a chip. But then, I''m new to this and I don''t know a lot about how easy it is to chip a diamond. Is it really that easy to chip a stone?

We were allowed to examine the stone using a loupe and under a microscope. I didn''t know what to look out for but my fiance did.

The salesman also cleaned the stone for us using some solution - it smelled like rubbing alcohol. When we looked with the loupe and scope there were little dots on it that he attributed to drops of the solution that had not dried yet. Is that likely?

Can anyone tell me if the other jeweler was being honest when she said that a certified stone could bring its price up an extra 300?

 

[Brian Knox]

Hi buellergirl,

I am not a big fan or defender of chainstore jewelers, but I have to say that it is unlikely that you were shown a loose diamond with a chipped culet.

More likely, when looking thru the top or side of the diamond, your fiance may of seen a feather which is an internal crack or fracture.

On another question of yours;

It is somewhat unusual to see .35 to .40 carat diamonds with lab reports, we don''t stock them ourselves.

A report for a smaller diamond may cost a jeweler $100.00 to $150.00 including shipping depending on which lab and what priority class of shipping.

Then the jeweler would add a markup to that cost for overhead, etc.

 

[buellergirl]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the clarification on certs for small stones. I hadn''t been sure what to believe as I''d seen many stones that size on line - all with certs! Thanks!

And the search continues...