Help with internet purchase!

[bling]

I havent posted in a while, but have still been searching and researching diamonds here. During the past week, I have been doing quite a bit of research on the internet and was really fascinated and engrossed in the goodoldgold website..the more i read, the more excited i became..thinking what a super place to buy my perfect diamond. The information on the site is amazing! The information he gives on his stones is even more amazing. So last nite, i went home and told my significant other about what I had found..and he was less than thrilled. He is a sceptic by nature, especially about internet purchases, and especially about a $7000 internet purchase on something he wont be able to physically see/hold before purchasing (i know goodoldgold has 100%satisfaction policy but is that as good as it sounds?). we live on the west coast, so going to see goodoldgold and jonathan in person may be diffucult. so, i was hoping that any of you folks out there that have had good, great, not so great, etc..experiences with them could help me out. i have read many posts here raving about jonathan and the super service he gives all his customers, plus the fantastic diamonds he carries...but again, my boyfriend thinks its too good to be true. I would love to hear other peoples testimonials, experiences...especially those that purchased on line..it would help me out my diamond quest alot. thanks all!!!

bling

 

[beaverhousen]

Oh my God!!! I went to the goodoldgold website, and like you was fascinated by it. Can you imagine my suprise when I found out the store was less than a mile from me!! So here's the juice: I set up an appointment to see Jonathan but when we got in he was working like a busy lil' bee. He did take the time out though, to introduce himself and handed me over to his gentle soul of a sister, Amy. I LOVE her!!! She noticed the nervousness in both my bf and I, but she easily put us at ease when she asked us some personal questions and offered us some coca cola since it was soooo hot in there. Anyway, she went through the ENTIRE process of grading a diamond. What you see on the internet is EXACTLY what she showed us. She taught us how to look into the loop, she put it under 60X magnification, and she made sure we saw the flaws in every diamond. She showed us the firescope and everything!! She even showed my a diamond I requested to see and told me in her opinion, it wasnt a good cut, and that I was better off with the smaller diamond!!! I cant rave enough about this place. They are wonderful!! I would even offer to go for you, as a neutral opinion and tell you what I think of any stone you pick. Let me know!!!

 

[Mara]

bling...I feel for you..I had somewhat of a similar problem with my better half as we were shopping around. I did alot of online research (a few months), but he was just not comfortable with spending that much money online. While I am very comfortable with the internet and purchases in general, he wasn't...and in the end we bought offline where we could see the stone and hold it in our hot little hands. Of course 20/20...I know now that we could have gotten most likely a better deal on a better stone online and I should have pushed a little harder to do so, but que sera sera! This won't be the last diamond purchase we make and the next one is definitely going to be online for comparison.

Good luck with the convincing....I didn't really try that hard but with a little more education on his end and maybe some reassurance with testimonials or a few phone calls as well as the reports...it may have been different!

 

[bling]

beaverhousin,
thanks sooo much for your input! I am jealous that you are so close and are able to go and see the stones in person. Would you really go check out the stones for me? That would be the nicest thing ever!!! And to get thier professional opinion on the ones I am looking at would be super...
here are the links to the ones i was thinking about..and if anyone else has opinions on them, i would love to hear what they think....beaverhousin, i dont expect you to go there personally or anything...but really a super nice gesture..but what do you think of these? what would you all out there pick if you had to?

http://www.goodoldgold.com/1_01ct_f_vs2_h&a1.htm

http://www.goodoldgold.com/1_01ct_f_vs2_h&a3.htm

http://www.goodoldgold.com/1_04ct_f_vs2_h&a.htm

http://www.goodoldgold.com/1_05ct_f_vs2_h&a.htm

http://www.goodoldgold.com/1_18ct_g_vs2_h&a.htm


they are the ones that caught my eye...

 

[beaverhousen]

Wow!!!!
Those are some beauties!! I could only wish to look at diamonds like that. It's your pick on any of those beauties!! But I just want you to know, if you do decide to go with them, you will be getting your money's worth. Your not going to get jerked or anything like that. Im probably going to go next week to talk to Amy, so if there's anything you want me to take a look at, I'll be more than happy to oblige. I have no problems taking a look as long as Im there. Especially the rocks that your looking at, I wouldnt mind taking a look at those!!!

Anyway, if you have any questions or anything, Jonathan will email you more pics if you ask. Good luck, and if you have any other questions feel free to email me at [email protected]

 

[Mara]

Wow all of those stones are amazing, as are most of Jonathan's items.

The third one really blew me away over all of the other stones, Bscope readings almost all off the cart, very minimal inclusions. Didn't like the first two as the inclusions seem to be rather large in comparison to the other VS2s...and their Bscope's were not as good as the third one. (BTW this is all splitting very tiny hairs...but since they all are so great, have to list what stood out at me as tiny decision makers). The 1.18 G VS is very interesting as well, because I would probably go for the larger size over the 1.04c --even though the Bscope is not as impressive as the third one at all. The color light in the 1.18 is amazing and that IdealScope image was great! Though the LightScope image was not as good as the 3rd stone.

So for me it'd be between the 3rd stone (1.04c) if you wanted something that was colorless, VS clarity, and amazing with all of it's numbers and charts....or the last stone (1.18c) because of size, a fabulous G color (my G is very white), and a great fire plus the amazing IdealScope image.

Depends on your priorities. Do you need a colorless stone? Or does size matter? I'd go for the larger stone but that's just me. Plus to me it doesn't make sense to pay $7500 for a 1c stone. Not when you can get a much larger stone, and visibly larger at that. BUT out of all of the stones, the 3rd stone really drew my eye as the knockout of the group.

Again--all the stones look fabulous. Good eye!

 

[Kamuelamom]

I wouldn't rule out a very eye clean SI1.

 

[lucy]

do not hesitate for a minute to go with GOG!! i live in the west too, and my husband is the most internet leary guy on the planet. when i showed him the crap local jewelers were selling compared to the GOG site, he gave it a look. after one phone call he was convinced Jonathan was the guy. As my husband put it, "either this guy is for real or he is best best con-artist the world has ever seen and if he fools me he deserves the money!!" and like Jonathan says-if he wanted to pull a scam he'd have to make sure it was big enough for him and his family to live in luxury for the rest of their lives cause his reputation would be ruined and that would be the last sale he would make. so believe me-the guy is for real-he will work with you to help you feel confident and he will answer your questions and emails so quickly you'll wonder if the guy ever sleeps or eats! I saw a LOT of local stones and believe me, what Jonathan has blew them away-and this was a 35,000 sale so trust me, the local guys were bringing out their best. Wait till he gets back and give him a call-you'll thank yourself for it!

 

[Boulder]

Hopefully, I'll be able to provide you with another success story from GOG in the next few weeks! I was turned onto GOG based on their diamond info and the amount of information posted on each diamond. I've been trading emails and phone calls with Jonathan and his staff and I've been very happy so far.

 

[bling]

Thats great! ive been waiting to send jonathan an email, but since they are on vacation, been having to wait a few days. but ill email him tomorrow..bambard him with all my questions.
does anyone in the san francisco area know of a reputable independent appaiser? thanks
also, would still love to hear any and all experiences with goodoldgold or other online dealers... thanks to all for thier helpful and informative feedback..i really appreciate it!

 

[Mara]

I highly recommend Nancy Stacy in Walnut Creek, a small trek from SF but we did it from San Jose and were very pleased. She is a great woman, GIA trained appraiser, teaches appraisal classes all around the world for the GIA! You will find her frank and up front about diamonds, a refreshing note! I don't have her info handy, but click on the 'appraisers' link at the top of this page and you will find her in there. Tell her that Mara & Greg referred you. Best of luck!