I love....

[bruceb916]

Playing dumb while shopping at B&M stores.

I had a sales person yesterday tell me "I" color was a colorless diamond.


Post your favorite "I Love''s" about buying & looking at diamonds for all to see.

 

[Kelli]

I love when they have the wrong "certification cards" next to the rings. They put the 1.0 ct H I1 card with the 3/4 ct. E I2 diamond and tell you the wrong prices.

I also love it when they show you I1 clarity studs that are "almost colorless" and tell you that "these are more expensive because the quality is really good". They of course don''t know anything about the cut quality either.


I also heard a sales woman at Macy''s tell someone asking about diamond quality that I1 clarity means only a highly trained expert can see the flaws under magnification.

 

[Efe]

I had a lady at a B&M tell me that vs was very small and si was small included. I kid you not.

 

[dreaming of the day]

Oh that is so funny, I had no idea other people did this too! I was in one yesterday and I asked the saleslady what the "cloud" was pretending I didn''t know, and she said an inclusion, so I asked what the "feather" was and she said another inclusion, I asked what type of inclusion and she told me there are only two types carbon and inclusions. These people should not be able to sell diamonds!!!

 

[arjunajane]

Date: 9/19/2008 8:04:38 PM
Author: BizouMom
I had a lady at a B&M tell me that vs was very small and si was small included. I kid you not.

OMG that is hilarious !
Wow, there are too many to list, but I love being in The Most expensive uppitty store in town, where they frowned upon my AGS0 certified stone, and declared they only stock EGL or IGI (or something else I''ve never heard of) certified diamonds, because they are the best labs

Fun thread bruce, may I suggest asking for it to be moved to hangout - I think others there will love to post

 

[MonkeyPie]

HAHA, I love doing this! My favorite little girl at Zales tried to tell me once that "upgraded clarity" was an SI1. She''s so cute though, because when I told her that SI1 isn''t much of an upgrade when THEIR SI1''s are full of obvious inclusions, she remembered the next time I came back and mentioned to me that she was studying. I bet she doesn''t stay working there for long

 

[missyminx]

Your stories are so funny to read.

I once asked an SA if the stone is of ideal cut, the SA said with a poker face that this is a "round brilliant" cut. I wasn't sure if he got my question, so I asked again, what are the cut measurements. He gave me a look like I'm a dolt and repeated that it was round brilliant. The third time I asked, he got exasperated, and took out the certificate (which was GIA) and pointed to me. "See? It's round brilliant!" I managed to get the proportions of the stone off the cert and it was a good stone, but this guy really shouldn't be selling diamonds!

 

[jetmal]

ohhh, I have too many stories....which one should I pick...
ok, at Kesslers.....I was just there doing some "try-on" shopping to see what halos looked like on me....The lady gave me an airline setting....I said " oh, this is a nice airline setting!" she said, "ummm, yeah, I guess you could call it that, I dont know the name of it or who makes it"
DUH!

 

[Linda W]

I don''t have any new ones. My favorite story though is when (young) sales people always ask me what my stone is. I tell them it is a Padparadscha sapphire.

They proceed to ask me what that is. I explain it to them and they tell me there is no such thing, sapphires only come in blue, then show me what they have in their jewelry case. Then they tell me, I must have a "treated" topaz and I should get my money back, for misrepresentation. I always get a kick out of it.

 

[UCLABelle]

I love browsing, listening to them tell me some BS (sometimes it is well-intentioned) and then saying politely how they are wrong

 

[Dandi]

Date: 9/20/2008 12:27:32 AM
Author: Linda W
I don't have any new ones. My favorite story though is when (young) sales people always ask me what my stone is. I tell them it is a Padparadscha sapphire.

They proceed to ask me what that is. I explain it to them and they tell me there is no such thing, sapphires only come in blue, then show me what they have in their jewelry case. Then they tell me, I must have a 'treated' topaz and I should get my money back, for misrepresentation. I always get a kick out of it.

Oh my gosh, that is way too funny!!!

I don't have many purchasing stories, but I often get the other end of the stick, as I work one day a week in a jewellery shop. One such occasion was when a lady (and I use that term loosely, she was a piece of work!!

) came in to look at some 3 stone diamond rings. I was 22 and newly engaged at the time, and proudly sporting my 3 stone diamond engagement ring (perhaps I seemed too youg to have such a purdy ring?!). She asked to see our stock of 3 stone rings - just like mine, but in REAL diamond.

My boss was standing behind me and had to leave the room because she couldn't contain her hysterics!!

Funny. When looking to purchase diamonds, however, I have had SAs try to convince me that size is EVERYTHING, therefore details like cut and colour are none of my concern. Crikey, Jim!

 

[Maisie]

I was once in a B&M store where I live and I was looking at engagement rings. They had a lot of J colour stones. I asked if they had anything higher, such as a D or E and she said ''A D is just the same colour as a J''....

 

[Rhea]

About two months ago I went to a department store which carries some older jewelery. I asked to see a ring with an antique diamond. I asked about the type of stone. The woman replied that it was a "round" diamond. I know but is it an OEC, OMC, what. "Round" still. She knew absolutely nothing about the ring at all.

I ended up just trying it on, babbling to DH about the open culet and everything else that DH had never seen in person. When I went to hand the ring back to the sales person she had this look on her face of shock.

I love it when sales people think cut is the shape of the stone and when they try to sell things that you more about than they do.

Another story. One of my local, independant but located on the high street, jewelers won't sell anything below D-E-F. I asked why. Apparently only D-F stones face up white and are worth buying.

 

[honey22]

I get a kick out of going to B&M stores too sometimes. It''s nice to have a quiet giggle.

DF and I were in the city today checking out wbands, and we were in one particular jewellers who was trying to sell me two wbands instead of one - after telling me that No! You don''t want a 2mm channel set band as it wouldn''t look good with your plain solitaire - WTH!!! Yep, nothing like pi**ing the customer off to win a sale - I had just finished telling him that this was what I wanted.

Anyhoo, he was glancing at my ering (like the whole time) and mentioned that I would have trouble getting a wband because of the bump under the head - the little donut on the band under the head ( I have a Tiff style band). He said he could take a look at it and see if it could be fixed - I was rather amused when he grabbed my ring, bought out his loop and proceeded to inspect my stone. After a while he declared that he couldn''t take the donut off. Yeah I know buddy, and you totally didn''t need a loupe to see if the donut could be shaved down, and it was very obvious that you were checking out my STONE not the band. I just had a quite giggle to myself. Silly thing he was.

I told him anyway that I wouldn''t want him to alter my ering as it my void my warranty with Whiteflash. "Nightflash - what is nightflash *screwed up face*. Where are they? - I told him Houston. He says - Houston? Where? - I just say, Houston, you know, like Houston Texas. Still a blank look in his face - I say, like Houston Texas America, like overseas. Hmff he says.

I am thinking, if you say one bloody thing about buying from overseas I am getting up to leave. DF reckons he was checking out the fabulous cut of my stone, to determine how much I forked out for the thing, in order to decide how much to overquote me for the wbands

After we left I looked at the quote - the tag on the diamonds bands we were looking at were $1350 each, but he has quoted me an extra $350 to have them ''fitted''. Um, I can slip them on my finger for free?! Unless you mean you are going to charge me full price to make the bands in the wrong size, and then a further $350 to have them sized down to my size? How about you just charge me $1350 and make them in my size?!?!?!?! Save me the $350! Do I look like I came down in yesterday''s shower?!

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 9/19/2008 8:04:38 PM
Author: BizouMom
I had a lady at a B&M tell me that vs was very small and si was small included. I kid you not.

Oh gosh! ROFL!

 

[Modified Brilliant]

Date: 9/19/2008 7:48:29 PM
Author:bruceb916
Playing dumb while shopping at B&M stores.

I had a sales person yesterday tell me ''I'' color was a colorless diamond.


Post your favorite ''I Love''s'' about buying & looking at diamonds for all to see.

I LOVE LUCY.

and diamonds

www.metrojewelryappraisers.com

 

[star sparkle]

At a B&M store, the SA was showing me some rings that had stones that were like I1 or I2 in clarity. She said you couldn''t just buy the setting and get a different stone put in, so I said fine, but I was looking for stones that were VS or SI clarity. She scrunched up her face, looked like she was thinking really hard, and said "Oh, so you''re looking for the very very best? I''m not sure if we have the highest clarities here."

LOL!

 

[sunnyd]

A lady once told me that square cushions have the best cut, rectangular ones are dull and lifeless. I should bring my 1.20 ratio in there to show her...

 

[just_looking!]

I often think that knowing the difference between shape and cut is difficult for many inexperienced / untrained staff. When I start asking about table sizes their eyes glaze over and whether their stones have medium or strong blue fluorescense is beyond most of them.

However, I was chatting to one of the Graff sales assistants who also dealt with the Daniel K range over in Dubai and he seemed to be fairly knowledgeable about step cut stones and what a difference the cut corners make to the look.

 

[diamondringlover]

I dont often go to many jewerly stores, but I have been looking for a new wedding band for my 25th anniversay so I was in a mall store and I was looking at rings and I told the SA that I wasnt totally sure what I wanted but I know I that I want at least I color and no lower then SI2 on clarity and she told me with a straight face, you will have to go custom, not many mall stores carry that quality stones in wedding bands, whatever, i just found it kinda of amusing since this what I was asking for isnt the best of quality

 

[orbaya]

I was looking at a cushion in a store and the SA INSISTED that I was looking at a princess cut diamond. I played dumb and pointed to a real princess cut and said that I thought that was a princess. Oh noooo.....what I was trying on was. I didn''t even bother to ask what he thought a princess was called.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

Looking at sapphires at a B&M

Me: "are these sapphires heat treated?"

Sales Lady "All sapphires are heat treated"

Me: "that''s not true"

Sales Lady "yes it is, all sapphres are heat treated"

Me "what about diffusion?"

Sales Lady "what is that?"

Me "thanks for your time."

 

[Linda W]

Date: 9/20/2008 6:57:19 PM
Author: LtlFirecracker
Looking at sapphires at a B&M


Me: ''are these sapphires heat treated?''


Sales Lady ''All sapphires are heat treated''


Me: ''that''s not true''


Sales Lady ''yes it is, all sapphres are heat treated''


Me ''what about diffusion?''


Sales Lady ''what is that?''


Me ''thanks for your time.''

ha ha ha ha. Don''t you feel like sitting them down and giving them a lesson is sapphires???

 

[lauralu]

I asked a sales person the other day if he knew what the cut was graded. He replied...Round.

 

[arjunajane]

Date: 9/20/2008 9:27:28 AM
Author: honey22
I am thinking, if you say one bloody thing about buying from overseas I am getting up to leave. DF reckons he was checking out the fabulous cut of my stone, to determine how much I forked out for the thing, in order to decide how much to overquote me for the wbands

After we left I looked at the quote - the tag on the diamonds bands we were looking at were $1350 each, but he has quoted me an extra $350 to have them ''fitted''. Um, I can slip them on my finger for free?! Unless you mean you are going to charge me full price to make the bands in the wrong size, and then a further $350 to have them sized down to my size? How about you just charge me $1350 and make them in my size?!?!?!?! Save me the $350! Do I look like I came down in yesterday''s shower?!

Honey, that is a bleeding disgrace !

I''m starting to think you should also get your w-band from Nightflash..lol

 

[honey22]

Date: 9/20/2008 11:23:51 PM
Author: arjunajane

Date: 9/20/2008 9:27:28 AM
Author: honey22
I am thinking, if you say one bloody thing about buying from overseas I am getting up to leave. DF reckons he was checking out the fabulous cut of my stone, to determine how much I forked out for the thing, in order to decide how much to overquote me for the wbands

After we left I looked at the quote - the tag on the diamonds bands we were looking at were $1350 each, but he has quoted me an extra $350 to have them ''fitted''. Um, I can slip them on my finger for free?! Unless you mean you are going to charge me full price to make the bands in the wrong size, and then a further $350 to have them sized down to my size? How about you just charge me $1350 and make them in my size?!?!?!?! Save me the $350! Do I look like I came down in yesterday''s shower?!

Honey, that is a bleeding disgrace !

I''m starting to think you should also get your w-band from Nightflash..lol

I know! I wanted to go and try a few bands on in person and then have WF give me a quote when I had decided exactly what I wanted. The Tiffany 2mm channel set band in ygold (1/2 eternity) is the winner so far

. I just am not sure about the $2300 price tag (either is DF)

 

[jewelerman]

IM CRINGING AS I READ THESE STORIES!It certainly not an easy task training people to be quality sales associates...I worked in many stores over the years where ive tried to train the full time and part time associates ,but few had the work ethic to care about what they told people.The last place i worked at tried to train their new hires with no gem back ground but some people dont care much...i over heard one young man tell a customer that it was Oxygen that gave a diamond a yellow tint...i could spend all day interviening for him...so i literally stopped listening to his sales presentations so i could take care of my own clients...the last presentation i listened to he promised a customer that we could size a size 6 channel set ruby and diamond band to a size 10....

 

[emilina22]

i loved when my FI and I were on the search for my Asscher and we would walk in to a B&M and ask to see an asscher (any one...we just wanted to see if they knew what it was) of course they would all say sure we have EXACTLY what your looking for...and a minute later they would return with...a princess... a radiant...and an emerald cut stone...and they would swear up an down that it is their asscher...we would walk out laughing because the sales people were sooooo wrong....

i dont know if this counts...but a friend of mine got engaged with a "custom" ring made by a B&M she worked at, but apparently now they are (or already have been) mass producing her "custom" engagement rings...um how is that custom anymore if theyre mass producing it?