Diamond Cutters International???? Where to buy a diamond?!?!

[Artimasgordon]

Does anyone out there have any experience with Diamond Cutters International. I have to admit I was very impressed with their diamond information, their "Ask the diamond guy" board and I even went as far as to buy Fred''s book "How to Buy a Diamond". Then I used what they call "My Gemologist" which is suppose to help me find a diamond/bonded jeweler in my area. Well the gemologist came back to me with "their" diamond he was trying to sell me and some alarms went off. Is this all just a big sales pitch to get me to buy their diamonds or are they legit? They already got my money for the book. That brings up another point, the book says I should find a "bonded jeweler", which means a life time breakage warranty(how often does a diamond really break), a life time buy back/trade in warranty(I don''t plan on ever returning the diamond) and I am just really not sure if this is important at all or just another sales pitch to get me to buy from them since I can''t seem to find any "bonded" jewelers in my area.

A few friends and some family have gone to a jeweler in our area(been in business since 1984 and never had a complaint with the BBB) since the late 80s and have always been happy. But when I called them and grilled them with the "questionaire" from the book they didn''t score so well. Their diamonds are certified(GIA or AGSL) and they say they will get them appraised if I request it. They don''t have any type of color meter in house, nor do they have a GIA certified gemologist on staff(another book recommendation) which by the book is instant disqualification. I just am at a loss, the book has made me paranoid about buying from any jeweler and I really dont know what to do. Buy online?(BlueNile.com) Buy from DCI? Buy from the dealer friends have dealt with?? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I want to get this thing bought before my 10 year anniversary.

By the way DCI wants to sell me a .94 carat Ideal cut round VS2 I color for $5300, seems steep to me, what do you all think???

 

[Rank Amateur]

Run away! Run away!

Do a search on Fred here and you'll find nary a good comment.

You are most perceptive about Fred and his motives. You came to the right place. There are many vendors here who contribute regularly and will treat you right. They can't hawk their wares directly through this forum, but a little reading will give you an indication of who deserves your business. And hardly any of their diamonds are warped.

 

[DiehardSearcher]

Sorry to hear you wasted your money. I posted specs about a stone I was looking at, and to Fred's benefit, he responded by telling me it was an excellent stone and to not be afraid of it. I say you wasted your money because he is in the habit of sending a free copy of his book (even autographed) to anyone who posts to his site.

I would not deal with him due to hist past, but he did not try to sway me away from the stone I was looking at.

 

[Mara]

Yes definitely use the forum and search tools here on Pscope. Also..I would take Fred's book with a grain of salt. A big big grain. It's a great read but everyone's 'take' on jewelry and stones will be different as you will find out. I also got the free copy of his book as a 'gift' after I posted a Q to his site. Hee Hee. It doesn't mean that the book does not have good info, it does...but use your own smarts to determine who you want to work with in your stone purchase.

Anyway--yes that price he quoted sounds steep. You can get an excellent cut .90-1c G/SI stone or similar for around $5000 most likely using the Pscope search engine and vendors. Pscope does not endorse any of the vendors listed, it just posts the stones for you to search on. Some deals are great, some stones are beautiful.

Read up on the posts and be sure to post any additional Q's you have...people are more than helpful on the forum. We have both consumers who have bought stones and become addicted to learning more (me), independent gemologists who always have great advice, and also vendors who are very willing to answer questions even if the stone is not their own.

Also and interesting and funny note on Fred C...I was just reading my US Weekly (trash gossip rag--I love it) and it noted that Billy Bob Thornton was planning to get engaged to his new girlfriend (he's not even divorced yet!) and had tasked Fred C with finding him a $1.2 million blue asscher cut stone for his new fiance. It was funny because Fred C's name was in bold like they do with 'celebrities' in the magazine so that you can easily scan articles to find things you want to read. His tactics and comments may be questionable in some people's eyes, but he sure does get his name around. Must be that great PR team!

 

[niceice]

Was it New York Diamonds Magazine that did the piece on Fred a few years back pertaining to the charges he was facing for multi-million $$$ embezzlement and fraud? We have a copy of it around the office somewhere... What ever came of that? It amazes us that somebody with such a disreputable past can still fool the public so completely just because he published a rag...

 

[flowerpower]

I bought his book too! Although, I must say, that it made a fairly interesting read. Should have just posted a question to his website!

Anyway, here's an interesting link about FC:

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/1998/06/08/story3.html

and a more recent article is reproduced below from houstonpress.com (at http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/2003-03-20/hostage.html/1/index.html). Happy reading!

*****
Convictions Are Forever

The Chronicle had an item on the front of the Metro section March 10 about how a local jeweler was steamed at the Baltimore Ravens for stealing his design for their Super Bowl championship rings. It was an odd little piece.

It was odd because it was somewhat old -- the Ravens won the Super Bowl two years ago, obviously; but news of local jeweler Fred Cuellar's lawsuit against the team had made the Baltimore papers and the Associated Press wire six months ago.

So the Chron was a little late. Also a little skimpy with the information. Cuellar, a darling of Houston society and someone who appears in front of whatever television camera is available, is no stranger to the courthouse. He was convicted of felony theft in 1998 for a million-dollar investment scheme involving a large diamond. Harry Lawrence, the Harris County prosecutor who handled the case, says Cuellar unsuccessfully appealed his conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and is still serving a ten-year probation. (He also got 30 days in jail and was ordered to make restitution, Lawrence says.)

Dan Parsons, president of the local Better Business Bureau, says Cuellar is listed as "satisfactory" on the BBB's Reliability List but has been the subject of complaints before and was, for a time, listed as "unsatisfactory."

"You talk to any jeweler and they'll give you a mouthful about him," Parsons says. "Everything that he's saying now has been said about him."

Cuellar did not return a call for comment, but upon his conviction he told the Houston Business Journal he'd committed no crime, and the case stemmed from a business dispute.



houstonpress.com / originally published: March 20, 2003
*****

 

[dimonbob]

His free book has some good information in it but has a lot of misinformation and bad information also.
This is the guy that applies the word "warped" to his competitors diamonds.
You will find much safer places to buy a diamond with vendors here on pricescope.