Brilliant Earth joins the shady GIA-hiding practices of James Allen

[denverappraiser]

Affiliates add value. They aren’t for everyone but, unlike the advisors here, they aren’t anonymous and they’re generally fast and easy. There’s confidence in that. They are often opaque about their own business models, which is curious given that the whole point is they claim to add transparency. In any case, a trend toward making the shopping process more difficult is a gift to these people. Hiding or redacting the reports doesn’t make it impossible to find other sellers for the same stone(s) if they exist, it just makes it more difficult.

 

[Karl_K]

I just sent GIA an inquiry asking them what their policy is about hiding the report numbers on report images online.

GIA said
"GIA does not monitor or police the gem and jewelry industry, therefore we cannot answer your questions."

 

[bmfang]

GIA said
"GIA does not monitor or police the gem and jewelry industry, therefore we cannot answer your questions."

I was pretty much expecting this response from GIA. Effectively, “We’ve done our job grading. What our customers do with that information is up to them.”

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Affiliates add value. They aren’t for everyone but, unlike the advisors here, they aren’t anonymous
Consumer People here are anonymous Neil. and they’re generally fast and easy. There’s confidence in that. Not sure how fast and easy means confidence?
They are often opaque about their own business models, which is curious given that the whole point is they claim to add transparency. We agree - they do not make it easy despite the FTC, to know they are being paid a commission or how much! In any case, a trend toward making the shopping process more difficult is a gift to these people. Hiding or redacting the reports doesn’t make it impossible to find other sellers for the same stone(s) if they exist, it just makes it more difficult.
It is pretty much theft - using others investments and hard work to steal business in my view

 

[denverappraiser]

Most of the advice here comes from anonymous strangers. It’s not even possible to privately contact them. The affiliates go out of their way to present themselves as your special contact in the business. That’s where the comfort comes. It’s the same sort of comfort that comes from shopping in a physical store. It’s not for everyone but that’s it’s still the #1place people prefer to shop for diamonds, by far.

 

[kmoro]

Update: I received a couple of follow-up e-mails from Emily Huth. I finally replied that I would have appreciated honesty when it comes to ownership of their inventory, and mentioned the hiding of the certificate numbers. Emily did not deny that they don’t really own their inventory, but replied that she is working on getting me access to the certificates. I suppose I should let her know that I’m not interested in buying another diamond right now so that she can stop wasting her time. I am curious about the certificate access though, so I think I’ll wait for that reply and then will let her know. I try to remember that this is a person just doing their job. To her credit, she is very pleasant and is obviously working hard for Brilliant Earth. I would be willing to bet that she provides good customer service as well. Mentioned in the pursuit of fairness, lol.

 

[kmoro]

Emily got back to me and asked what diamond I was interested in and said that she could get me the certificate info for that diamond. So ... that wasn’t the access I was looking for. I let her know that I’m not interested in buying from Brilliant Earth so she can stop wasting her time. Again, I will mention that Emily seems to be doing a great job ... I wish she was working for a different vendor (maybe she does too, lol).