Help me understand this pricing...

[northstar_78]

I found this lovely three stone diamond ring set in platinum. The company that makes these said that this design can be used for just about any size of diamond. I was thinking of a 0.50 carat center with side diamonds around 0.25 and the representative on the phone told me that for a 3-stone ring set in platinum the stones I could get within my budget of $5000 were all J-color and "russian cut" If I wanted "Ideal Cut" stones it would cost me more...

I called later in the day again and asked them about setting my own stones. The price of the ring was now $1800 in platinum plus the cost of my stones...but they would have to see all the specs first to see if my stones would make a good ring. Plus the ring would have to be custom-made.

What???? So the "cost" of three J-color stones not even ideal cut was $3000?? The ring was $1800??

After doing a little snooping on pricescope.com I talked to a vendor here and they found me 3 lovely stones all H color AGS A Cut Above Hearts and Arrows...the total weight of the stones was over a carat and the cost was under $3000. Great vendor and I''ve worked with them before...

So...I''m at a loss. I will call the company back on Monday to see if they can "explain" the discrepancies. Under no circumstances will I pay that much money for stones that I don''t feel merit their cost. But it seems like they are trying to charge me the "cost" of the ring anyway because I''m not using their stones.

I did attach a file of the ring design you can see it in my post in Rocky Talk...