help! about Radiant Cut Stone (instead of clarity enhanced)

[tlrp44688]

Hi-
I had a thread a while ago about clarity enhanced diamonds.. and have currently and was looking at stones in nyc..
For some reason i couldnt reply to the thread i already had going.. I finally convinced my boyfriend that i was very upset with the idea of a clarity enhanced stone- and how much money we were going to be spending on something that was practically worthless.. I m happy that we were able to talk about it before any final decisions were made- and although he didnt want me involved in the process hes happy i m getting great information from this site. So, a couple of questions both of us have...
If any experts can help- would be greatly appreciated
The stone i want is a radiant cut - will be on a pretty simple band or a pave... The budget is anywhere between 8000and 10000. Where does this put us as far as size? I do want something over 1.5 and did want to keep the color g or better- as I ve noticed i easily see "yellow " in radiant stones... What clarity (and i know each stone is different) should i be looking at for radiant? A friend told me - that the crushed ice effect of radiant allows you to go a little lower on clarity because it may hide inclusions- is this the case. Also- how important is the cut - and what should we be looking for here?
in addition- i know because of the size and specs I want i may not be able to have a GIA cert. stone- what are some other good certifications.
My Boyfriend has already invested in a particular jewelry store with money towards the old stone, so unless we want to lose most of the investment-we still need to use this jeweler(although i would love to walk - because he was "pushing me " into a clarity enhanced knowing it wasnt what i wanted ) but he is willing to work with us and we want to make sure we have ALOT of information so that he cant try to push us into something else we aren''t sure of...As far as going somewhere else, although i don''t know exactly, i am pretty sure my bf would lose over 75% of his budget that he already put towards the first ring- and even though i am not thrilled with the sales techniques of this particular place, he was honest and we are kind of stuck with him- as he didnt lie to us.
ok.. sorry to be so wordy but would appreciate any and all help..

 

[Lula]

Hi, tirp,
I am so happy that you decided not to go with a clarity-enhanced stone! I'm not knowledgeable about radiants, but I'm giving your thread a bump so the people who are see it.

 

[Lorelei]

Hi tlrp

Yes you can go lower on clarity for a radiant, in the case of SI clarities make sure the diamond is eyeclean to your standards by checking it out carefully if you can away from any store lights.

So glad you decided against a CE diamond. Radiants are tricky shapes, they can also vary a lot in shape and appearance so initially I would stick to GIA graded stones, and compare as many as you can so you know exactly what you prefer.

You can also use this chart to help you, don't worry too much if you like a radiant and it doesn't quite match up numberwise as your own eyes and preferences trump any numbers - but it is useful for weeding out the ones with not so great proportions.

http://diamonds.pricescope.com/fnc2.asp

 

[DiamondFlame]

Date: 7/26/2009 7:13:22 PM
Author:tlrp44688
Hi-
I had a thread a while ago about clarity enhanced diamonds.. and have currently and was looking at stones in nyc..
For some reason i couldnt reply to the thread i already had going.. I finally convinced my boyfriend that i was very upset with the idea of a clarity enhanced stone- and how much money we were going to be spending on something that was practically worthless.. I m happy that we were able to talk about it before any final decisions were made- and although he didnt want me involved in the process hes happy i m getting great information from this site. So, a couple of questions both of us have...
If any experts can help- would be greatly appreciated
The stone i want is a radiant cut - will be on a pretty simple band or a pave... The budget is anywhere between 8000and 10000. Where does this put us as far as size? I do want something over 1.5 and did want to keep the color g or better- as I ve noticed i easily see 'yellow ' in radiant stones... What clarity (and i know each stone is different) should i be looking at for radiant? A friend told me - that the crushed ice effect of radiant allows you to go a little lower on clarity because it may hide inclusions- is this the case. Also- how important is the cut - and what should we be looking for here?
in addition- i know because of the size and specs I want i may not be able to have a GIA cert. stone- what are some other good certifications.
My Boyfriend has already invested in a particular jewelry store with money towards the old stone, so unless we want to lose most of the investment-we still need to use this jeweler(although i would love to walk - because he was 'pushing me ' into a clarity enhanced knowing it wasnt what i wanted ) but he is willing to work with us and we want to make sure we have ALOT of information so that he cant try to push us into something else we aren't sure of...As far as going somewhere else, although i don't know exactly, i am pretty sure my bf would lose over 75% of his budget that he already put towards the first ring- and even though i am not thrilled with the sales techniques of this particular place, he was honest and we are kind of stuck with him- as he didnt lie to us.
ok.. sorry to be so wordy but would appreciate any and all help..

I'm not sure if I understood what you were saying here. Why wdn't you be able to get a GIA certified radiant of above 1.5 carat? Is it because you feel you are stuck with this jeweler and they don't carry GIA-cert stones? Did the store insist on a non refundable deposit for that earlier CE and now you feel your BF might lose that $ if you were to go to another jeweler?

I don't think I have all the facts but I'm not getting a good impression from this store at all... I'd take my business elsewhere if I were you AFTER making sure your BF gets back every cent he put down on that earlier dodgy stone...

 

[tlrp44688]

Dmitri- the jeweler has gia cert stones, however he was trying to convince us the quality of the gia cert stone wasn''t going to be what i wanted for my price range.basically he was showing the ce stone to us next to gia j-l color and si1-2 around 1.7 saying this was what our budget would get in a GIA cert stone and yes there was an obvious difference, which made me feel like he was pushing us into the CE... also yes, more than a non refundable refund- my boyfriend hasnt told me exactly but i believe he already put upwards of 50% to 75% of his budget down on the ce we no longer want...and the jeweler told him he cant get his money back...i dont feel good about this jeweler either- and really would like to go there myself but he told me he would handle it and i know its impt to him that he handles it himself so i am going to respect his wishes- bc in the end he will do the right thing and get what we both think is the best..My question was do you think i can get a GIA cert Very good to excellent color and eye-clean stone at that budget in a stone of above 1.5 carat?

As far as not getting a good feeling about this jeweler.. when we first looked i feel in love with the ring and didnt know it was a CE till after my boyfriend went back and he didnt know what that was and felt like he was investing in exactly what i wanted.. and to be honest if I never knew it was a CE i would of loved it- but i do and now i can''t so that is what started this all over again... the jeweler should of made us happy and sold us the best stone- and when we went back and i was upset about the CE he tried to push me into it - bringing out the owner of the company who told me she often wears CE''s so she can get a larger stone for less.. they have bad customer service, were honest but i would never recommend them but we feel stuck at this point- i mean what can we really do short of losing all the money...

 

[ChunkyCushionLover]

Date: 7/27/2009 8:57:02 PM
Author: tlrp44688
Dmitri- the jeweler has gia cert stones, however he was trying to convince us the quality of the gia cert stone wasn''t going to be what i wanted for my price range.basically he was showing the ce stone to us next to gia j-l color and si1-2 around 1.7 saying this was what our budget would get in a GIA cert stone and yes there was an obvious difference, which made me feel like he was pushing us into the CE... also yes, more than a non refundable refund- my boyfriend hasnt told me exactly but i believe he already put upwards of 50% to 75% of his budget down on the ce we no longer want...and the jeweler told him he cant get his money back...i dont feel good about this jeweler either- and really would like to go there myself but he told me he would handle it and i know its impt to him that he handles it himself so i am going to respect his wishes- bc in the end he will do the right thing and get what we both think is the best..My question was do you think i can get a GIA cert Very good to excellent color and eye-clean stone at that budget in a stone of above 1.5 carat?

As far as not getting a good feeling about this jeweler.. when we first looked i feel in love with the ring and didnt know it was a CE till after my boyfriend went back and he didnt know what that was and felt like he was investing in exactly what i wanted.. and to be honest if I never knew it was a CE i would of loved it- but i do and now i can''t so that is what started this all over again... the jeweler should of made us happy and sold us the best stone- and when we went back and i was upset about the CE he tried to push me into it - bringing out the owner of the company who told me she often wears CE''s so she can get a larger stone for less.. they have bad customer service, were honest but i would never recommend them but we feel stuck at this point- i mean what can we really do short of losing all the money...

1) Please tell us which store you are dealing with so we all will avoid them.
2) Something doesn''t make sense and it is probably miscommunication between you and your boyfriend. Why can''t you just get a full refund on the CE diamond? If you can''t get a refund what are the terms of the switch to another stone?
3) Did they already make a ring for you? What were the terms on the sales receipt? How long has it been since yhour boyfriend bought it?

Good-luck
CCL

 

[tlrp44688]

store is miligree jewelers in nyc dd...
We can definetly switch and put money towards a new stone but he said we cannot get a full refund and no- he did not make a ring for us yet.. Should we be able to get a refund? He made 2 payments towards it starting in february/march- he has not paid completely for it. We would LOVE to get our money back. But can we do this and if so how?
The handwritten receipt says no refunds on deposits i believe. It does say something to the effect of "if they do not tell you all the information about the stone on the receipt you can get a full refund" but they really didnt lie- they told us it was a CE on the po.

 

[tlrp44688]

an update..... jeweler is more than willing to work with us to get something else.thought we should increase our budget to get a better stone...said no- and gave him strict guidlines for what we wanted.. would love for anyone that knows about radiants to offer up some advice. thanks!

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 8/2/2009 7:04:12 PM
Author: tlrp44688
an update..... jeweler is more than willing to work with us to get something else.thought we should increase our budget to get a better stone...said no- and gave him strict guidlines for what we wanted.. would love for anyone that knows about radiants to offer up some advice. thanks!

The advice I posted below could be useful to you when shopping for radiants.

Date: 7/27/2009 5:30:52 AM
Author: Lorelei
Hi tlrp

Yes you can go lower on clarity for a radiant, in the case of SI clarities make sure the diamond is eyeclean to your standards by checking it out carefully if you can away from any store lights.

So glad you decided against a CE diamond. Radiants are tricky shapes, they can also vary a lot in shape and appearance so initially I would stick to GIA graded stones, and compare as many as you can so you know exactly what you prefer.

You can also use this chart to help you, don''t worry too much if you like a radiant and it doesn''t quite match up numberwise as your own eyes and preferences trump any numbers - but it is useful for weeding out the ones with not so great proportions.

http://diamonds.pricescope.com/fnc2.asp