Helzberg Restyle and Diamond Event?

[babycush]

Has anyone been to one of these events? I am going to one on Monday with the hope of resetting my recently acquired rock

I''m not quite sure what to expect, except the sales lady told us that there would be over 300 settings available, and that all workmanship done that day would be free. Any insight?

 

[jewelerman]

Worked my share of restyling events over the years as a manager and a salesman(dozens)These are shows are common and have been around since the mid-1980s. A chain jeweler or independant hires a company to bring in a large amount of ring settings and the staff is given a few months to talk their customers into changing their ring styles.The settings for sale are usually very high and OVER priced and are designed to accept several different sizes and shapes of stones.The work is usually done by a bench jeweler traveling with the show and their job is to get as many rings set during the day as possible(when quantity is involved then quality of workmanship suffers and the jeweler may have dozens of job to get done that day alone)they usually have the customer sign a waver releasing them from responsibility in case they chip or break your diamonds in the setting process.The settings are not unique and many look mass manufactured and a persons finished ring can look "slamed" together if time and care are not taken in the design and selection process. several styles offered will have been offered to customer for years.These shows are high pressure because once the work is done then the rings are not returnable because they are sold as custom orders.I can always pick out a resyle event ring on a person...these settings have a cookie cutter type look.They offer the work free but believe me that the cost of the work is built into the price of the ring(one reason it cost soooo much to begin with!)As you can gather by now im not a big fan of these shows and wouldnt spend my money at the show...but i would go to see what setting are offered and to say you have been to one!

 

[diamondringlover]

Date: 11/29/2009 1:54:23 AM
Author: jewelerman
Worked my share of restyling events over the years as a manager and a salesman(dozens)These are shows are common and have been around since the mid-1980s. A chain jeweler or independant hires a company to bring in a large amount of ring settings and the staff is given a few months to talk their customers into changing their ring styles.The settings for sale are usually very high and OVER priced and are designed to accept several different sizes and shapes of stones.The work is usually done by a bench jeweler traveling with the show and their job is to get as many rings set during the day as possible(when quantity is involved then quality of workmanship suffers and the jeweler may have dozens of job to get done that day alone)they usually have the customer sign a waver releasing them from responsibility in case they chip or break your diamonds in the setting process.The settings are not unique and many look mass manufactured and a persons finished ring can look ''slamed'' together if time and care are not taken in the design and selection process. several styles offered will have been offered to customer for years.These shows are high pressure because once the work is done then the rings are not returnable because they are sold as custom orders.I can always pick out a resyle event ring on a person...these settings have a cookie cutter type look.They offer the work free but believe me that the cost of the work is built into the price of the ring(one reason it cost soooo much to begin with!)As you can gather by now im not a big fan of these shows and wouldnt spend my money at the show...but i would go to see what setting are offered and to say you have been to one!

This is good information to know, I too have often thought about going to one of these events in the past...now I dont think I will, if I ever get a chance to do a reset then I think it would probably be with one of our online vendors...I am thinking Brian Gavin

 

[jewelerman]

That is what i would do.Take time to find the right mounting and have it set by someone who is given time to make sure the setting job is quality work and that the crowns fit the stone well and match the ring.These shows fed off of emotion and people get caught up in the moment.The sales people that are brought in to run the event are masters at emotional selling(especially to women)because their jobs depend on the amount of pieces they sell at each show.Afew bad shows a they are looking for another job.They will use the holidays ,an engagement,the recent loss of a loved one,worn down prongs on an inherited ring as reasons to get a new mounting that in many cases arnt as nice as the exsisting one.Many years ago I saw a women scrap a Vintage Cartier engagement ring so the diamonds could be put into a trendy yellow gold mounting.I was told not to talk to the woman because the manager knew i disapproved of the situation and would have talked the women out of it!

 

[babycush]

Thanks for all the replies!! I think that I am pretty well versed in appropriate pricing, and we are in no rush to do the re-set, so I doubt that we will get suckered into buying something that is overpriced or thrown together. Also, my man loathes overzealous salespeople and is not afraid to call out their manipulation attempts

 

[babycush]

Just got back from the event, sure enough what you all had said was pretty true. I did find one setting that I liked, but it was out of my man''s price range (which I had clearly stated at the beginning of my appointment). They tried their hardest to get him to sign up for a Helzberg card to pay for it, which was really a big turn off. The good news is, we visited another store right after and found a setting that we are getting instead

 

[ArtistJess]

df and i went to one a few months back. all the rings and settings were extremely over-priced and the sales guys were pushy. REALLY pushy. they tried to keep us from walking away a moment to think. the whole thing was really sketchy.

 

[LGK]

Date: 11/29/2009 11:59:11 AM
Author: jewelerman
That is what i would do.Take time to find the right mounting and have it set by someone who is given time to make sure the setting job is quality work and that the crowns fit the stone well and match the ring.These shows fed off of emotion and people get caught up in the moment.The sales people that are brought in to run the event are masters at emotional selling(especially to women)because their jobs depend on the amount of pieces they sell at each show.Afew bad shows a they are looking for another job.They will use the holidays ,an engagement,the recent loss of a loved one,worn down prongs on an inherited ring as reasons to get a new mounting that in many cases arnt as nice as the exsisting one.Many years ago I saw a women scrap a Vintage Cartier engagement ring so the diamonds could be put into a trendy yellow gold mounting.I was told not to talk to the woman because the manager knew i disapproved of the situation and would have talked the women out of it!

Oh god, that's tragic! Most of the nice OECs I see at the antique mall I work at are set in awful yellow gold settings from the last 20-30 years, and have clearly been reset. It is totally sad and I bet the original (and probably gorgeous) settings were scrapped the same way. Scrapping a vintage Cartier is so incredibly wrong! The whole idea of it just makes my skin crawl, the same way as when my FIL told me about the time he put his foot through a (real) Tiffany lamp 20 years ago.

Yeah... a rushed benchworker doing a bazillion resets in one day? Not a good thing, at all.

Babycush, that's great you were a smart shopper and found what you wanted for a good price