Illegal to grade bump more than 1 color grade???

[Jeff42]

Bought a diamond from an online jeweler who also happens to have a brick and mortar location in the diamond district in New York. Received the diamond and found it to have a yellow tint to it. I bought it online so I was trusting the company to do me right because of the many glowing reviews I read; they also sent me pictures but none of the pictures had any shade of yellow tint. When I purchased it, it was described/listed as an H SI2. I immediately got an AGS appraisal and it said the diamond was a K SI2!!! Extremely dissatisfied, I sent it back; luckily in my allotted time frame to do so, so I will receive a full refund.

However, I was wondering if this is illegal for them to grade bump 3 colors?!?! I've read the FTC only allows them to grade bump 1 shade of color or clarity.

The salesman I spoke too after I received my appraisal just told me color is subjective but that seems extremely dishonest to be 3 colors off.

What are some of your thoughts here???

Thanks in advance!

 

[chrono]

Firstly, did the diamond come with a GIA or AGS lab memo?
Secondly, what do you mean by AGS appraisal? Who did the appraisal?

 

[Jeff42]

Sorry to clarify, the diamond did not come with an AGS or GIA lab memo. I took it to a local place that is AGS certified/affiliated. It's a local jeweler I know that went to school at GIA and has been in the business a long time. He is a member of AGS...anyway on the bottom of the appraisal there is a stamp on it that says AGS and under his credentials on the appraisal it says member of AGS.

 

[denverappraiser]

In answer to your question, no, graders are under no legal requirement to grade things using the same scales and they are under no obligation to apply the scales in the same way. In fact, many don’t. Your complaint happens all of the time, and the problem happens even more with customers who are unaware of the issues and who don't do their own due diligence. The FTC issues guidelines, not laws. There are some interesting issues that come up for merchants that ignore their advice but ‘illegal’ doesn’t really apply. That said, the 1 grade rule isn’t even part of the FTC guidelines.

AGS is a society with members and they also operate a lab. Neither one does anything they call an appraisal although many of the member firms do. The difference is important because you haven’t received an AGS appraisal, you’ve received an appraisal from an AGS member. Similarly, you have not received a grading by GIA, you’ve got a grading by a GIA graduate. These are decidedly different things.

At this point I would agree with your decision to send it back but the defense of the seller is surely that the appraiser is wrong and the appraiser says the seller is wrong. There’s no way to tell from here who is right but you chose this appraiser and presumably you vetted them as your chosen expert. Go with your own expert, with one qualifier.... You mentioned they’re an AGS member store, which usually means they sell diamonds. DO NOT buy a diamond there and make it clear to them that you won't. There’s a tremendous conflict of interest present in this situation and since you’ve hired them as your appraiser, they automatically become ineligible to be a competing seller.

 

[Jeff42]

Ok, thanks for clearing some of that up! I'm somewhat of a novice when it comes to this stuff but have done a lot of research. I made it clear to my local jeweler that I wasn't buying from them, just interested in the appraisal and they were not pushy in the slightest in fact incredibly friendly about it.

 

[chrono]

I am sorry to have to agree that while there is a diamond master set used to grade cour, not everyone's eyes are attuned to grading it accurately. This is why I asked if the diamond has a GIA or AGS papers to save you this headache.