DirtCheap or Not That is the Question

[crhodes]

I thought I knew diamonds by listening to numerous diamond stores in the mall? Boy was I wrong..I found a particular diamond on the Web and I was referred to DirtCheap from a friend who recently had an experience with them. Let me tell you, it was the best experience I have had thus far. I set an appointment with the owner, Jim and he basically walked me through everything I needed to know about diamonds. My friend told me the same, but he did everything on the web no face to face. So, initially I was a little nervous. As a witness to the calibre of service I received at Dirtcheap it is no question who anyone should goto to purchase their diamond. They have great prices and are very professional...Thanks Jim and I will definitely recommend Dirtcheap...

 

[phinest27]

I considered buying a diamond from dirtcheapdiamonds.com last week. If you are like i am, you searched the internet to get a feel for prices. After looking at a couple stores in the mall and elsewhere, dirtcheap was by far the cheapest. I found dirtcheapdiamonds to be extremly helpful because they have a nice search engine to compare multiple stones. I went through the process of calling their number and had two stones sent to their independent dealer/lab in dallas, tx.

Here comes the problems!!

One of the things that dirtcheap doesn't tell you on the website, is that they will not let stones be shipped over weekends because the possible what if's, thus it is virtually impossible to view stones on Mondays and Fridays. This lady in dallas (i won't say her name) was limited in her scheduling also, she first didn't have any times for viewing a stone for 3 weeks, so i waited. I set a tenative date and time for the one day she only shows dirtcheapdiamonds stones. In this lady's situation, she had other business to attend to on wednesdays and thursdays making tuesdays the only possible day to see a dirtcheapdiamond stone.

How many people can take off work on a tuesday morning? I called dirtcheap about this..they gave me a number to call a contact in houston, tx.(a 5 hour drive from fort worth) I left a message on this guy's number and to this day, 4 weeks later, i still haven't recieved a returned phone call.

The day my diamonds arrived in dallas, i recieved a phone call from my boss, saying that he needed me to go out of town ASAP for an important contract we were working on. I promptly called dirtcheap to see if the stones would be available for when i return back into town in a couple of days. The response was..."These diamonds belongs to a vendor and we will have to have them resent out". Well, thats just great, i am back to where i started.(i.e. scheduling and searching if the two i pick aren't available) Who is www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com ? exactly, a smart person would say its a search engine, with a poor business structure. I found them to be the hardest company to work with, and these practices lost my business. Dirtcheapdiamonds.com is nothing more the a internet company recieving a listing fee from vendors to move more diamonds. Why wait weeks when you can work with locals. I made it clear from that point on, with local vendors that i am comparing prices on the internet. I saw prices fall.

Before you buy from dirtcheapdiamonds.com know that scheduling is a factor and that you can only view diamonds on weekdays, (tues, wed, thurs). I am starting to find small jewerly stores who work with dealers in my area that have comparable prices for the same quality listed on this site. Plus, i would rather help out a small guy. Another advantage is..i have a jeweler for life, a real person to talk with face to face and if something goes bad in a deal, i can complain face to face, but hope this never happens....i wish the same for you and your search.

good luck
I now know why they are so many jewerly stores in my area.

 

[hoorray]

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On 4/14/2004 9:38:09 PM phinest27 wrote:

One of the things that dirtcheap doesn't tell you on the website, is that they will not let stones be shipped over weekends because the possible what if's, thus it is virtually impossible to view stones on Mondays and Fridays. ----------------

Hi phinest27,

It's too bd you had such a problem with your DCD experience. I just bought loose stones for earrings with them and was very satisfied. I just wanted to mention that I think the not shipping over the weekend is not unique to DCD, but is something driven by insurance or the shippers. They don't want high value items sitting around over the weekend, and it applies to all diamond shipments as far as I've seen.
Also, another alternative would have been to ship the stones to a local appraiser for viewing, and assistance in an evalutaion. Most people get an independant evaluation of high $$ purchases, so that kills 2 birds with one stones, and should open up more viewing sources to buyers.

Anyway...glad you found a good solution with a local jeweler! I too believe in support local, and especially small, merchants as long they are competitive in quality, service and general pricing! It's great to have someone local who you trust!