Buying Nightmare - Need Advice - Please Help!

[diadlr]

The conversion story smells.As a Canadian wholesaler,the price is out of line,and if going from US$ to CDN$, the add on taxes would also increase. The man was juising his profit margin to 100%+ and then pulled back to 75%, and that's a bit rich.

 

[hoorray]

The whole process reminds me of some of the car buying experiences that I have had. I'm a firm beliver that if a car dealer starts to play games with the agreed upon price that it's time to get up and go somewhere else. They are not the only ones to offer that product.

 

[Hest88]

Hm. If you're willing to settle for the light return of the Lucida, perhaps you can re-contemplate calling Jonathan about a Flanders or Lucere?

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

No - he has the Regent and Queen of Hearts - these blow all other modified squares out of the water

 

[Hest88]

----------------
No - he has the Regent and Queen of Hearts - these blow all other modified squares out of the water
----------------

I thought about suggesting the Regent, but it really isn't as square. She may not care, though, but its appeal to me is how cushion-like it looks! Not sure if the Q of Hearts comes is available in the size he's looking for, but couldn't hurt to check.

 

[diane5006]

Hi sorry to hear of your problems...

If you are interested in squarish stones

Good Old Gold is a great place to look

They have the

Regent (my favorite)
Lucere
Flanders
Queen Of Hearts

and Jonathan is working on soemthing the Isee2 square

I know the Dreams are beautiful...

But the light Return on the Regent is awesome...as well as some ot the others

Best of Luck in your search

 

[ice_is_nice]

Thanks everyone for your input and advice. I went to see the jeweller today to see exactly what went wrong and he was unable to provide me with a satisfactory explanation. Even he admitted that an exchange rate oversight could not account for the discrepancy. I examined the diamond more thoroughly and I must admit that I liked what I saw.

What was odd about the meeting was that his demeanour changed. He was detached and I felt a little uncomfortable being there. It was almost as though he no longer wanted to deal with me anymore. In fact before leaving I asked if there was any way I could get closer to the $11,500 by going down in colour since there were some I VS1 available in the . He said that the price difference would be minimal. This despite the fact that on the previous day I went in to see him he told me about how he had done a spreadsheet analysis and found that each colour grade resulted in approximately a 10% price difference and each clarity grade resulted in a 5% price difference. He was not even willing to check the price and told me I should go check with another Heart-on-Fire distributor and they would be able to help. He said that it was unfortunate he could not do business with me in this case but perhaps he would be able to earn my business some time in the future.

As I left the store I started to wonder whether he had found another buyer for that stone that was willing to pay more money for it. Perhaps I am overeacting and coming up with sinister motives where none may exist.

One thing that this experience has taught me though is that you I will always get everything in writing. Whenever I am contemplating a business transaction, I will no longer settle for anybody's word no matter how reputable they may be.

What really frustrates me about this experience is that I had walked away from this jeweller in the beginning because of price. He's the one that called me back and asked to see if there was any way he could earn my business. I told him what my budget was and he is the one that provided me with the figure. At no time did I twist his arm asking him to keep on lowering his price. I was really excited and thought my search was over but now it seems like I need to start all over again.

It's back to the books I guess...

 

[ice_is_nice]

All right now that I'm back in the hunt I thank you all for your suggestions.

Although the Regent is undeniably a superior quality stone, I personally do not like the rounded look. For others, however, I am sure that they find this to be part of the Regent's beauty.

I prefer the Lucere to the Flanders but I am a little concerned about the light return. I have seen some of Jonathan's Luceres and I can't say that I was blown away. I guess it is a matter of taking the time to find the right one but I was really hoping to be done by the end of September.

The Queen of Hearts is somthing that perhaps I should investigate a little further. Looking at the specs on Good Old Gold, however, these stones tend to have small crowns and the table is much larger than the total depth. I always thought that the table was supposed to be samller than the depth. Please correct me if I'm wrong though.

Now the Isee2 square is intriguing but I really do not know much about it other than the fact that it will be a cut-cornered square with H&A. Does anybody have any pics or any information as to the date when they are expected to be available? Better yet, has anybody seen these stones in person? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[candide]

I am not a diamond man but have a fair amount of experience (fortunately?) in buying luxury items....

To me this situation seems like a good old bait and switch trick. That trick is nearly as old as sales itself.

It seems that clear to me, nothing more, nothing less.

 

[ice_is_nice]

I called Hearts on Fire to see if they could help me out. I epected them to ignore my call but they actully took the time to listen to my complaint and called the jeweller to see if they could nudge him towards honouring the initial quote. Unfortunately their hands were tied and there was not much that they could do. Nonetheless, I did appreciate the effort.

 

[shurikt]

----------------
On 9/3/2003 7:13:30 PM ice_is_nice wrote:
He's the one that called me back and asked to see if there was any way he could earn my business. I told him what my budget was and he is the one that provided me with the figure. At no time did I twist his arm asking him to keep on lowering his price. I was really excited and thought my search was over but now it seems like I need to start all over again.
----------------

These are very old sales tactics. The guy is betting on you being so in love with the stone that you say, "Oh the heck with my budget!" and pay whatever extra he sticks on it...It's such a great stone, totally unlike all the others, I'm tired of looking, and this guy has been so nice to me, etc., etc.. It's a sleazy trick that works on 90% of the population. Why was he cold to you the second time around? Because you called his bluff.

The only way to combat that kind of trick is to have somebody with you that can tell you that you're about to get screwed. Glad that could be us...

 

[NewYorker]

Can't help with your latest questions (maybe you could start a new thread) but I just wanted to say that your g/f should be very appreciative that you are doing so much research for her diamond. I think you are a dying breed as so many men just buy the first thing that looks 'nice'.