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Better service - WhiteFlash or James Allen?

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skypie

Brilliant_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jan 2, 2018
Messages
503
Upgrade policy: WhiteFlash 100% on any new purchase; JA 100% if buying jewelry worth at least 2X
Maintenance: WF free for 1 year; JA lifetime cleaning, plating, re-tightening, etc

WF provides free digital photos of your purchase which is nice.
Wire discount: WF 3%, JA 1.5%
JA provides insurance appraisal with purchases over $1000.

What else am I missing here?
 
Based on numerous posters on here, both have good service, although WF is known for stellar service.

But I don't think this is an apples to apples comparison here of who has better service, as this is related to their business model, target market and pricing.

WF positions themselves as a premium vendor, with top-notch service, premium products and lots of analysis on the diamonds they bring in for you. However, all of this obviously comes at a price.

JA is more a perfected model of an online inventory model, with good service, pictures and additional info on request for up to 3 stones. It's more basic than WF but also cheaper for good reason.

Also, regarding upgrades:
Upgrade policy for Whiteflash applies only to their premium line of round cut diamonds (if I remember correctly).
Upgrade policy for JA applies to any shape.
 
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When you deal with JA that person can't get the stone in hand to inspect if. They will only go over the video and image with you, whereas WF can get their hands on the stones and give you their feedback.
 
So far I think I prefer WF, although the 1 year cleaning/service vs lifetime with James Allen bothers me. Am I making too big of a deal about cleaning/service beyond 1 year?
 
To be honest, you will be better served to find a really good and reputable local jeweler to take care of maintenance like cleaning, prong tightening and checks, etc. Not many want to pay the overnight shipping cost to send in their ring for these services and pay to have it overnighted back when it's done. Also, it's very common for a local jeweler (reputable!) to do these things for free while you are browsing. You can also keep your pieces clean with regular cleaning on your own. There are lots of threads on ultrasonic cleaners, best ways to clean, etc.
 
skypie said:
So far I think I prefer WF, although the 1 year cleaning/service vs lifetime with James Allen bothers me. Am I making too big of a deal about cleaning/service beyond 1 year?
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Yes. You are making too much of it. You can clean your own ring with a good ultrasonic and toothbrush with mild cleaner. You can inspect the diamond yourself (and really the prongs) with a good 10x loupe. The lifetime service is the same as both are for manufacturing defects -- not wear and tear which is about much much more likely to cause the service need. Manufacturing defects are really not all that common.

We recommend both JA and WF here on PS, but WF has shown themselves to be truly customer service focused many many times. They are quick to resolve problems and treat customers with real respect. The same could be said of HighPerformanceDiamonds and several other sellers.
 
I've bought from WF and JA. Both companies are great in terms of customer service (in my experience). I prefer WF due to their upgrade policy and having no-brainer ACA/AGS000 diamonds that didn't require me doing much work to find ;)
 
The cleaning/service part is useless unless the vendor offers free insured shipping of the ring to and back. That costs WAY more than the service itself, which you can get done at a local reputable jeweler. The only case I can really think of where you need to send the ring back is if you have a setting that contains melees that have fallen out, and I'm not sure if that's actually covered by "lifetime service". I have never sent a ring back for cleaning/servicing, but have upgraded several times, so to me the upgrade policy is way more important;)2
 
I could never say enough about the customer service from Whiteflash - before, during and after. While I value their service, I truly value the caliber of their product even more. I would not hesitate to do business with them!
 
Have purchased from both, hands down, WF.
 
When I was upgrading I looked at stones from both these places and hands down WF had the better customer service ~ they also provided so much more information and answered any and all questions with well informed information. My experience with JA was that they didn't have the stone on hand so they couldn't tell me what they were seeing in person and instead provided misguided info. They also weren't as eager or willing to help as WF.
I didn't end up getting my stone from either place but I would not hesitate to purchase from WF in the future.
 
Having only recently purchased from WF (no experience with JA) I can vouch for their exceptional customer service.
 
I bought my wedding band from JA and an engagement ring and wedding band from WF. Based on this experience, both were extremely easy to deal with, but I like the personalized service at WF better.
 
to echo what a prior poster said, unless you are located in the same city as one of the vendors the insured shipping back and forth for normal cleaning and maintenance costs much more than having it done locally. And if you have, or build, a relationship with a local jeweler, the checking and cleaning will be done for free. Not sure what maintenance actually covers. This is actually the last thing that would sway me to one vendor over another.
 
Haven't done business with JA, but have had purchased from WF in past and IMO they are top-notch..:clap:
 
I've purchased several times from both WF and JA, and can wholeheartedly recommend both vendors. If you are intent on a super-ideal round diamond, I'd say go with Wf for sure. If you want a well-cut round brilliant, then check both WF and JA for stones that fit your parameters and choose the best available stone. But if you have any interest in fancy shape stones, I'd consider JA the better choice.
 
I haven’t personally dealt with JA. But the service I received from WF was outstanding. Especially considering I was only purchasing a 7 stone band.

And I agree that I would just find a good local jeweler for cleaning, maintenance. I wouldn’t want to send my ring back and forth once a year.
 
When I was looking around for my MRB, I reached out to BGD, WF AND JA. If WF had what I was looking for in stock, I would have purchased from them. I ended up finding what I wanted from JA. They were able to ship the stone to their location, inspect it and provide an asset scope image of the diamond. I was beyond thrilled with JA's service.
 
PintoBean said:
When you deal with JA that person can't get the stone in hand to inspect if. They will only go over the video and image with you, whereas WF can get their hands on the stones and give you their feedback.
Click to expand...

Is this something new? In the past, they've always either had, or been able to get the diamonds in. I've had their gemologist give me an honest opinion of diamonds that she was looking at for me in the past. But I haven't purchased from them in about 3 years so, guessing something's changed?
 
elle_chris said:
Is this something new? In the past, they've always either had, or been able to get the diamonds in. I've had their gemologist give me an honest opinion of diamonds that she was looking at for me in the past. But I haven't purchased from them in about 3 years so, guessing something's changed?
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Try it. It's more like BN now. That person you speak to will not be the one looking at the stone. It's like a call center person. One time i spotted a real cool stone and asked them if they could pull which vendor it came from Bc I would be interested in comparing more stones like that one. They didn't have that info. It drives me crazy that they'll go over the plot diagram and the pics of the diamond. I can do That myself.

Compare with IDJ for example. I'll tell them I spottwd a few cool puffy crowned chunky cushions on JA's site. With a few key strokes they tell me all those cushions are from the same vendor and that vendor is in NYC etc.
 
Loreal said:
When I was looking around for my MRB, I reached out to BGD, WF AND JA. If WF had what I was looking for in stock, I would have purchased from them. I ended up finding what I wanted from JA. They were able to ship the stone to their location, inspect it and provide an asset scope image of the diamond. I was beyond thrilled with JA's service.
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I meant idealscope, not asset scope!
 
Service at WF is stellar ...

Although the online chat has been a bit hit/miss of late with long wait times. Email and phone correspondence has been top notch from prior experience. A repeat customer including having a custom setting made.
 
PintoBean said:
Try it. It's more like BN now. That person you speak to will not be the one looking at the stone. It's like a call center person. One time i spotted a real cool stone and asked them if they could pull which vendor it came from Bc I would be interested in comparing more stones like that one. They didn't have that info. It drives me crazy that they'll go over the plot diagram and the pics of the diamond. I can do That myself.

Compare with IDJ for example. I'll tell them I spottwd a few cool puffy crowned chunky cushions on JA's site. With a few key strokes they tell me all those cushions are from the same vendor and that vendor is in NYC etc.
Click to expand...

JA also have an office in NY. That was one of the reasons I loved purchasing from them- you could make an appointment to go in and see the stones in the past. They're very close to me so it was a great option to have.
But again, this was all in the past, could be they moved most of their operations to MD.
 
elle_chris said:
Is this something new? In the past, they've always either had, or been able to get the diamonds in. I've had their gemologist give me an honest opinion of diamonds that she was looking at for me in the past. But I haven't purchased from them in about 3 years so, guessing something's changed?
Click to expand...

They were able to inspect and provide an ideal scope when I purchased my MRB in March 2017.
 
The upgrade policy is the only thing you listed that is important. As others have said, rings rarely need "maintenance", and if they do, such as resizing, you'd do that locally unless it is some special, custom made, engraved ring, for example.

But those two companies are totally different. Whiteflash specializes in top cut diamonds which they own and sell from their store. James Allen is owned in part by a diamond supplier, so many stones are virtual and in other countries. They have all kinds of diamonds and do not specialize in top cut quality diamonds, although many people are happy with purchases from them. I've bought from WF multiple times because I love their diamonds and get great customer service, too!

So it all depends on exactly what kind of diamond you are looking for. WF is generally going to give better service as their sales consultants can actually hold the stones and have pictures taken to compare two or three stones. Whereas most of the JA sales people are at a desk with a computer and never see the actual diamonds. Two very different sales models.
 
WF hands down!

I will post my experience with JA as soon as my issues with them are resolved.

Plus ALL JA sales reps I chatted with or wrote to, gave me a lot of contradictory information about the stones I was looking at.

I lost all my trust in JA.

WF in the meantime has never stopped to amazed me with their exceptional customer service!

And I’m French, so I’m a huge f*cking pain in the a** :lol:, especially when a Taxan company playes in the high league of Luxury. Really impressed by their achievement. There is a lot to learn from them!!! :geek2:
 
Definitely WF...you will get a more personalized experience with very knowledgeable sales consultants.

Nothing wrong with JA. I feel like you experience can vary depending on who you get and I sometimes question the stones the consultants recommend
with respect to fancy cuts.
 
You can upgrade in house ACA or expert selection princess cuts as well.

I’ve interacted with both and WF wins. They’re just in another league IMO.
 
My buying experience with JA was great. I just lost a pave stone in my ring today and called and they will be covering it under warranty. So customer service (pre repair) was great too. I’ll come back and comment further once my ring is repaired and returned.
 
I'm graphic designer and I'm looking trough my perspective. I like that JA website has good quality videos taken under normal white light. I also like the more competitive prices of JA.
I dislike the black background of WF website. I dislike the WF videos taken at dark place under artificial spotlight. Such videos can show diamond's sparkle, but absolutely cover the color tint of the diamond and don't show the real quality of the diamond crystal (inclusions).
WF has one simple advantage for me: the trade-up policy, which does NOT require to buy 2x more expensive diamond!
 
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