NO.....GoodOldGold are way better than a mere ''good.''
after a long time looking and waiting my gf and i have now got our stone and its incredible.
it seems that lots of people here at PS give a little ''report'' on their diamond buying experience. indeed, it was the thousands of customers accounts of their experience that gave me confidence to keep looking on the net for an engagment diamond. so hopefully i will be able to help throw more business to GOG, or indeed any of the others who have helped me.
my first ''look'' into the diamond world was to learn the basics of the 4Cs on the net. i had contacted a few B&M jewlers, had some friends of friends who trade diamonds in Hatton Garden etc. All were highly reputable and helpful. but they didnt have stones that made you want to swear outloud when you saw them...if you know what i mean
in the mean time i was reading more and more about diamonds on the net, came across this site and just read more. almost reading posts at random really...just getting a feel for it. after all, i was contemplating spending a large chunk of my hard earned money, buying a diamond ive never seen, on the internet, from a guy in another country, whos known as Rhino!!!! and when you say it like that it sound crazy! but i wanted to learn more anyway and the more i learnt, the more i realised that the compass was pointing firmly towards the internet route. and according to all the information i could get, there was only a few people to chose from. so i started emailing them. i very quickly struck up a relationship/connection with Jonathan at GOG who was an absolute pleasere to work with.
My gf and i ended up going over to NY to the GOG shop. each time we saw a different jewler/merchant we were more impressed with them and their diamonds than we were the last lot we saw. and the visit to GOG was no different. Jonathan was excited about his product, and he wanted you to be excited too....as you should be there were gadgets all over the place for showing off the stones and we were shown a few of them (unfortunatly we were late and only had 15 mins before the ups guy took the stone away). If only we had longer. i say that because if the confidence Jonathan had in his stones that he wanted to SHOW you the difference in as many possible ways as there can be!! and it WAS a pleasure to see. (i also noticed he was the only diamond guy i have dealt with who didnt start down the route of explaining colour, clarity etc...like the basics are assumed if your there!) but thats not the thing really, it means with the majority of other dealers, that is what the customer education is...but GOG go so far beyond that. I even found some merchants in Hatton Gardens getting slightly annoyed with me talking about hearts and arrows...they were telling me that even they could not tell the diff between a GIA ex ex ex and a vg g g or similar. well i can assure anyone that even i can tell the difference from about 5 feet or more easy!!!!
i have read that some people found that emails from Christen didnt get answered etc. i must admit i found the same. but i will say this...i think she is the type of worker who doesnt like explaining things along the way...she just gets the job done and tell you when it is. i had a tight time frame in NY and was (unknown to me) asking for something that was NOT easily done. but she managed to do it, and was VERY thorough with checking addresses, contact numbers etc. shes a star
i can waffle on for ages about anything, so id better tie this up now.
Id say that the bottom line is this...if you want to buy a diamond, research the internet till you are confortable buying. its easy to say that B&M is more confortable...imo just about everyone will feel comfortable (probably more than they did initially with the B&M!) using the net if they read enough. then contact GOG. you may not like them the most, or they may not have what your looking for or whatever....but you are doing yourself over if you dont atleast email them.
now for a setting....can anyone reccommend a platinum ring maker in uk...i have heard of Daniel Prince...has anyone else? any others?
thank you all
minicat
ps. i found that the laser inscription from GIA was "comfort wise" hard to place a value on. this is because it give the buyer a level of confidence even before they have any contact with the seller....and it stays all the way through the buyng process...always giving that confirmation that the buyer can rely on. and can continue to rely on forever ie setting, cleaning etc. i love the idea of laser inscription and see it like a ''belt and braces'' style of buying/selling. i cant honestly say 100% that i would have had the confidence to decide that i was going to buy from the internet, thus i MAY have never got as far as speaking to GOG or any others if it wasnt for the existence is laser inscribing. But having been to see them and gone throught the internet buying process, i CAN say 100% that i would buy diamonds from these people without the inscription...though it is handy for after you have bought it from them like i said earlier about cleaning etc.
ok enough!!!
after a long time looking and waiting my gf and i have now got our stone and its incredible.
it seems that lots of people here at PS give a little ''report'' on their diamond buying experience. indeed, it was the thousands of customers accounts of their experience that gave me confidence to keep looking on the net for an engagment diamond. so hopefully i will be able to help throw more business to GOG, or indeed any of the others who have helped me.
my first ''look'' into the diamond world was to learn the basics of the 4Cs on the net. i had contacted a few B&M jewlers, had some friends of friends who trade diamonds in Hatton Garden etc. All were highly reputable and helpful. but they didnt have stones that made you want to swear outloud when you saw them...if you know what i mean
in the mean time i was reading more and more about diamonds on the net, came across this site and just read more. almost reading posts at random really...just getting a feel for it. after all, i was contemplating spending a large chunk of my hard earned money, buying a diamond ive never seen, on the internet, from a guy in another country, whos known as Rhino!!!! and when you say it like that it sound crazy! but i wanted to learn more anyway and the more i learnt, the more i realised that the compass was pointing firmly towards the internet route. and according to all the information i could get, there was only a few people to chose from. so i started emailing them. i very quickly struck up a relationship/connection with Jonathan at GOG who was an absolute pleasere to work with.My gf and i ended up going over to NY to the GOG shop. each time we saw a different jewler/merchant we were more impressed with them and their diamonds than we were the last lot we saw. and the visit to GOG was no different. Jonathan was excited about his product, and he wanted you to be excited too....as you should be
there were gadgets all over the place for showing off the stones and we were shown a few of them (unfortunatly we were late and only had 15 mins before the ups guy took the stone away). If only we had longer. i say that because if the confidence Jonathan had in his stones that he wanted to SHOW you the difference in as many possible ways as there can be!! and it WAS a pleasure to see. (i also noticed he was the only diamond guy i have dealt with who didnt start down the route of explaining colour, clarity etc...like the basics are assumed if your there!) but thats not the thing really, it means with the majority of other dealers, that is what the customer education is...but GOG go so far beyond that. I even found some merchants in Hatton Gardens getting slightly annoyed with me talking about hearts and arrows...they were telling me that even they could not tell the diff between a GIA ex ex ex and a vg g g or similar. well i can assure anyone that even i can tell the difference from about 5 feet or more easy!!!!i have read that some people found that emails from Christen didnt get answered etc. i must admit i found the same. but i will say this...i think she is the type of worker who doesnt like explaining things along the way...she just gets the job done and tell you when it is. i had a tight time frame in NY and was (unknown to me) asking for something that was NOT easily done. but she managed to do it, and was VERY thorough with checking addresses, contact numbers etc. shes a star
i can waffle on for ages about anything, so id better tie this up now.
Id say that the bottom line is this...if you want to buy a diamond, research the internet till you are confortable buying. its easy to say that B&M is more confortable...imo just about everyone will feel comfortable (probably more than they did initially with the B&M!) using the net if they read enough. then contact GOG. you may not like them the most, or they may not have what your looking for or whatever....but you are doing yourself over if you dont atleast email them.
now for a setting....can anyone reccommend a platinum ring maker in uk...i have heard of Daniel Prince...has anyone else? any others?
thank you all
minicat
ps. i found that the laser inscription from GIA was "comfort wise" hard to place a value on. this is because it give the buyer a level of confidence even before they have any contact with the seller....and it stays all the way through the buyng process...always giving that confirmation that the buyer can rely on. and can continue to rely on forever ie setting, cleaning etc. i love the idea of laser inscription and see it like a ''belt and braces'' style of buying/selling. i cant honestly say 100% that i would have had the confidence to decide that i was going to buy from the internet, thus i MAY have never got as far as speaking to GOG or any others if it wasnt for the existence is laser inscribing. But having been to see them and gone throught the internet buying process, i CAN say 100% that i would buy diamonds from these people without the inscription...though it is handy for after you have bought it from them like i said earlier about cleaning etc.
ok enough!!!
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