I posted here a while back, I did a lot of research about diamonds and quality and ended up finding the perfect stone. An ideal cut, SI1, E color stone of 1.31ct, excellent/excellent symetry and polish. I bought it from a very good local store. They have been in business for a long time and are locally owned and very well regarded.
Here is where the story goes south:
I bought it in July 10th. To avoid taxes I had it shipped out of state. The store threw in a plain white gold mounting. I have an appraisal from the store and all the certificates and documentation. I then had the ring shipped back to me. A month or so later, I had it mounted in a heavy platinum ring with .40 ct of side stones channel set. I had it done at one of those "mounting shows" at KAY Jewelers...I know, I know, you guys don't have to say it....The jeweler then sat in front of me and unmounted the diamond and put it on a tray on the top of his cart where he did the mounting work. I recall him saying "here is your diamond so you know where it is at all times". He then took 45 minutes of very detailed work putting the head and working on the mount (filling, shapping, setting it on fire...). Then he mounted the diamond in the new ring. It looked beautiful, everything is great at the time.
So I propose on August 31st, she says yes, we are getting married in 8 months. Just now (she lives another state), I had the ring taken into a local lab that does independent appraisals and estimates. I had the gemologist look at the ring so I could have it insured. Then the sky begins to fall. After several minutes, she says that she does not beleive the stone matches the certificate. The dimensions are off and she estimates the stone to be .2 to .25 smaller, the plotting is off and does not match but she thinks the color is about the same. We immediately call the store and take the stone in. She has been great and willing to help. The stores takes an hour to came back and say that the stone is not the one for that report and that it is not the one they shipped. The store owner gave me a letterhead statement saying that because of their checks and balances they are 100% sure they shipped the stone that is described in their appraisal and that matches the report. They will check their inventory to see if there are any stones that are mismatched and by some mistake they switched stones while we looked at their stock. We really looked at about 20 or so all within the same range. But they claim there is little chance of that because they are supposed to weight the stone before showing it and before storing it so if anyone would have shown the stone after they would have noticed it.
That leaves the mounting event people as possible thieves. I felt comfortable that I kept my eye on the stone, but it is a small thing that does not take much to switch.
The thing is that the gemologist says that from just the analysis she did (she stopped after determining she was not looking at the correct cerficate), she does not think the quality is that far off. She can not tell the color exactly because it is mounted but beleives it could be from E to G, SI1. The biggest difference being size. But she believes the quality is not that far off for someone to take that big a chance and get cought.
Well, now I don't know what to do, she is mortified because now we can insure the thing. I am angry that either there was a mistake or a crime. But more concerned that noone will ever know what happened.
Any ideas what I could do? Any stories like this out there? Any suggestions?
thanks guys, I guess I stayed away from shopping online to be secure I saw the goods before and that I was getting what I paid for...now I wish I had bought online and paid less than what I did to be SECURE...
Here is where the story goes south:
I bought it in July 10th. To avoid taxes I had it shipped out of state. The store threw in a plain white gold mounting. I have an appraisal from the store and all the certificates and documentation. I then had the ring shipped back to me. A month or so later, I had it mounted in a heavy platinum ring with .40 ct of side stones channel set. I had it done at one of those "mounting shows" at KAY Jewelers...I know, I know, you guys don't have to say it....The jeweler then sat in front of me and unmounted the diamond and put it on a tray on the top of his cart where he did the mounting work. I recall him saying "here is your diamond so you know where it is at all times". He then took 45 minutes of very detailed work putting the head and working on the mount (filling, shapping, setting it on fire...). Then he mounted the diamond in the new ring. It looked beautiful, everything is great at the time.
So I propose on August 31st, she says yes, we are getting married in 8 months. Just now (she lives another state), I had the ring taken into a local lab that does independent appraisals and estimates. I had the gemologist look at the ring so I could have it insured. Then the sky begins to fall. After several minutes, she says that she does not beleive the stone matches the certificate. The dimensions are off and she estimates the stone to be .2 to .25 smaller, the plotting is off and does not match but she thinks the color is about the same. We immediately call the store and take the stone in. She has been great and willing to help. The stores takes an hour to came back and say that the stone is not the one for that report and that it is not the one they shipped. The store owner gave me a letterhead statement saying that because of their checks and balances they are 100% sure they shipped the stone that is described in their appraisal and that matches the report. They will check their inventory to see if there are any stones that are mismatched and by some mistake they switched stones while we looked at their stock. We really looked at about 20 or so all within the same range. But they claim there is little chance of that because they are supposed to weight the stone before showing it and before storing it so if anyone would have shown the stone after they would have noticed it.
That leaves the mounting event people as possible thieves. I felt comfortable that I kept my eye on the stone, but it is a small thing that does not take much to switch.
The thing is that the gemologist says that from just the analysis she did (she stopped after determining she was not looking at the correct cerficate), she does not think the quality is that far off. She can not tell the color exactly because it is mounted but beleives it could be from E to G, SI1. The biggest difference being size. But she believes the quality is not that far off for someone to take that big a chance and get cought.
Well, now I don't know what to do, she is mortified because now we can insure the thing. I am angry that either there was a mistake or a crime. But more concerned that noone will ever know what happened.
Any ideas what I could do? Any stories like this out there? Any suggestions?
thanks guys, I guess I stayed away from shopping online to be secure I saw the goods before and that I was getting what I paid for...now I wish I had bought online and paid less than what I did to be SECURE...