Has anyone bought the stones from Qualitydiamonds before?

[szdonnie]

I am planning to buy a 1carat perfect stone for my wife, checked the prices in:
1. De Beers
2. Hatten Gardens
3. Internet, such as BN and qualitydiamonds.co.uk.
The price quoted at qualitydiamonds came out to be the lowest, but in order to see the stone, they asked me to put a 20% deposit in advance.

Although they said the deposit will be returned immediately if I do not like the stone they shipped, and there is a 30days return policy.
I am still very worried that whether the store is trust-worthy or a fraud, because I can barely find any information/reviews about them.

Has anyone ever bought stones from them? What do you think about it?


Thanks so much!

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Date: 11/12/2009 3:57:26 PM
Author:szdonnie
I am planning to buy a 1carat perfect stone for my wife, checked the prices in:

1. De Beers

2. Hatten Gardens

3. Internet, such as BN and qualitydiamonds.co.uk.

The price quoted at qualitydiamonds came out to be the lowest, but in order to see the stone, they asked me to put a 20% deposit in advance.


Although they said the deposit will be returned immediately if I do not like the stone they shipped, and there is a 30days return policy.

I am still very worried that whether the store is trust-worthy or a fraud, because I can barely find any information/reviews about them.


Has anyone ever bought stones from them? What do you think about it?



Thanks so much!

They might be legit, I don''t know, but I personally wouldn''t trust a vendor that asked me to put a substantial amount of money just to see the stone! Even if they say the deposit would be returned immediately... Although I do have a question - do they mean a deposit to call the stone into the store so you can go in and see it, or to ship it to you? Because if it''s the latter, that''s more understandable.

 

[BobR]

Hi I''ve had no dealings whatsoever with them, but I have looked at their site/stones a few times, and my general impression is that the ''quality'' no pun intended, of their stones varies considerably. If you''re after a ''top drawer'' stone I would seek advice from experts on this site re any specific stone (especially if you''re new to diamond purchases).
A lot of their stones do not show certificate detail and their cut assignation is based on their own parameters where the grading lab is not available. You should ask for critical info beyond the table size and depth if cert is not available, crucial are crown and paviliion angles (girdle thickness will help as well) g
Proceed with caution!! ( They do advertise a 30 day no quibble return policy but obviously do your homework to reduce the likelihood of having to avail yourself of that)
Sorry can''t be of more help

 

[BobR]

I would also add that in fact I don''t think they''re cheaper than the best US online sites. As I said I think their quality varies greatly. Make sure you''re comparing like with like.

 

[szdonnie]

Thanks both!

Brown.Eyed.Girl: I think they did mean that I would have to place a deposit in order to see the stone (as the stones are shipped from overseas)

BobR: some of their stones do come with the GIA certs which are downloadable, that why they appealed.. however you are right, I really don''t have the expertise to judge..
I have also searched in the US site, just concerned that what if the stone is lost in the shipping /or/ VAT will be charged by the Custom /or/ I don''t like the stone?

 

[BobR]

I''m in a similar position to you. I''ve tried the UK vendor route without great success, so now starting to look across the pond!!
Don''t worry about stones lost in transit to you!! Thats covered by the vendors insurance.
However you will have to pay VAT and if you buy through BN UK I believe they will look after that for you.
More of an issue is if you are not happy with the stone you receive. You have to pay return shipping and insurance and probably the hassle of recovering the VAT from HMRC. However the best US sites, Im told, provide great service and some like James Allen even have real photos on their site. You can do a lot to minimise (but not eliminate) the chance of needing to return a stone.

 

[BobR]

Date: 11/12/2009 3:57:26 PM
Author:szdonnie
I am planning to buy a 1carat perfect stone for my wife, checked the prices in:
1. De Beers
2. Hatten Gardens
3. Internet, such as BN and qualitydiamonds.co.uk.
The price quoted at qualitydiamonds came out to be the lowest, but in order to see the stone, they asked me to put a 20% deposit in advance.

Although they said the deposit will be returned immediately if I do not like the stone they shipped, and there is a 30days return policy.
I am still very worried that whether the store is trust-worthy or a fraud, because I can barely find any information/reviews about them.

Has anyone ever bought stones from them? What do you think about it?


Thanks so much!

Do you have a vision for the PERFECT stone you refer to in your first post, can you set out what your concept of perfection is??

 

[FB.]

Qualitydiamonds lists stones with a variety of lab certificates.
Not all laboratories are as strict as GIA and many labs don't provide as much information as GIA.
What GIA calls G/VS2 might be awarded F/VS1 by a less stringent lab.
Could that be why the prices of some of their stones seem more competitive? When I've looked in the past, I haven't seen anything on their site that stood out as exceptional value, considering the quality of the cut and the reputation of the lab that graded the stone.
I also consider that you need to go right to the very highest grade of QD's cut ratings to find many stones that are truly worth buying.

I have considered them, since their MK office is only about an hour's drive away, but they never seem to have quite the quality that I'm seeking. One day I will try them - if only for something small as a tester.

I never noticed the 20% deposit requirement, although it only seems to apply if they need to ship-in a stone from overseas. I suppose that's actually fair, since otherwise they'd get lots of "tyre kickers" asking to view stones that they never even had the cash to buy, yet QD would have to pay the shipping costs for those stones, despite no sale.
But unless I'd dealt with them before (which I haven't), I would not put 20% up front. Hopefully they will have some stones in the UK that you could view without a deposit. You might find that your credit card company gives you some compensation protection, if QD were not reliable.

 

[szdonnie]

BobR, I am looking at a 1.00 carat (or up to 1.30), round brilliant stone, with triiple Excelent, no fluorescence.
I am not very familiar with the ideal proportion of the stone though (such as the table and other ratios), but I guess this will not affect the price as much as the above (is this correct?)

Ideally I would love to have heart and arrows too, but I have been told that GIA does not check for H&A and will simply inscribe it on the girdle as long as requested.

 

[szdonnie]

And I will definitely go for a stone that comes with GIA cert.

 

[szdonnie]

BobR: The price quotes at BN seemed to be higher than those at QD, as they do not include the VAT while the QD''s do.

I know that people were saying that all diamonds are unique - but can I still assume that a 1+ carat stone with 3 Excs and no fluorescence can never go wrong?

FB: I think you are right, although it might be fair to them, it will still be quite risky to me by putting in several K as deposit..
That''s why I wondered if there is someone who had actually bought a stone from them with successful experience.

 

[Lord Summerisle]

Paul, the ''CEO of Quality Diamonds'' used to post occasionally on here as QD Rocks

From his posts, QD dont stock many diamonds (i believe a few are held at their offices, but nothing like the stocks of many of the PS vendors) they are mainly a drop shipper - ie the lists of diamonds found on their website can be found on many other websites as they are all based on the same virtual lists published by different whole-sellers.

It is within their policy that in the event that the diamond you selected can not be sent (because its already been sold by another vendor in the world, and the list hasnt been updated) then they will send another stone of equal or better quality.
It is also this reason that they require a deposit to bring in a stone - because they are charged to bring in the stone (the same applies if you ask Whiteflash (for example) to bring in a stone from the virtual list, they request that you pay the cost of shipping the stone to them, tho that is much less than the 20% deposit asked for by QD)

QU is mainly set up as a way of viewing lots of lists of stones - and is geared up for those that know a little of the 4Cs, but not alot - want something of a certain size, and pick a letter and clarity, without really knowing what they mean. they can narrow down the search a bit and go off the rather vague cut gradings (done by themselves based on the Table and Depth %) and go ''that one'' QD put the order in to the wholeseller who sends it direct to the purchaser.

not to say its a bad business - its just I personally prefer to shop with vendors who can give me alot more information about the stone, and have it in stock in their office, before i lay down the money or a deposit.

 

[szdonnie]

Thanks for the reply, that''s very helpful!

The reason I have started to look for online dealer was similar to BobR, I have been to a vendor at Hatten Garden many many times and the price he could have quoted were still way higher than the online ones.
For the particular stone I wanted, the price difference were about £2k.

Another issue was that the vendor claimed that he''s already offering a price at 10% discount off the rapaport (by checking on the latest rapaport a friend gave to me, he was actually correct).
Does that mean the vendor was actually not making much money? Does this also suggest that internet dealers such as QD etc are literally not making any money at all?
Or perhaps rapaport is simply something I should not trust/rely upon?


D

 

[FB.]

Date: 11/12/2009 5:43:37 PM
Author: szdonnie





BobR: The price quotes at BN seemed to be higher than those at QD, as they do not include the VAT while the QD's do.

I know that people were saying that all diamonds are unique - but can I still assume that a 1+ carat stone with 3 Excs and no fluorescence can never go wrong?

FB: I think you are right, although it might be fair to them, it will still be quite risky to me by putting in several K as deposit..
That's why I wondered if there is someone who had actually bought a stone from them with successful experience.

Sadly, although the cut grades were set up to account for a range of proportions to suit everyone's taste, some cutters exploit loopholes in the grading bands to add extra weight to a stone as well as obtain a high cut grade. In the process, the angles of reflection become misaligned and the stones can go "dead" (black) in the middle as a result of poor internal light reflections. They are known as "steep-deep" and you will find many comments on this forum.
Not all steep/deeps are bad, but most lack some brilliance.
I have a 35.5/41.2 that appears to have got downgraded for painting and digging techniques in the cutting (since it's proportions easily qualify for GIA Ex cut), yet it actually performs better as a result of the cutting trick that got it's cut downgraded from Ex to VG.

Not all Ex cut, Ex sym, Ex polish will be equal and the market seems to be gradually flooding with these "steep/deep" stones.

Take extra care when selecting any "Excellent cut" with pavilion angles more than 41.1 degrees, which is about the "steep deep" borderline.

If you find some stones that look promising, put up the specs on here and people will advise.