This is kind of long so please bear with me, but any help would be so greatly appreciated...
So we were going to buy a round brilliant ring from Costco: 1 ct, guaranteed to be I, VS2 or better--4299.99. We''ve been looking for a little over a year... I started looking on eBay a while ago ( I know everyone warns against this) and I came across diamonds from a company out of New York with really good feedback--Shenoa & Co. I emailed about 25 people who have previously purchased diamonds of more than 1 ct and spent more than 3000.00 to find out about their experiences with the company and their satisfaction with the diamond. I''ve gotten numerous responses...probably 15, and rougly 5 of them were not satisfied with the original diamond that was sent to them, but the returned the diamond and the company sent them a "better" one. The consumer must pay 35.00 for an NGL appraisal to verify the specs of the diamond. They have a 100% money back guarantee, but the diamond must be returned within five days. I called the company to find out more about their business, they said if I have the diamond reset, and something happens to the diamond (if it chips or breaks), they don''t back the diamond. This is apparently the responsibility of the jeweler who has damaged the diamond. I called around and spoke with other jewelers in town, and this is the case for them as well. I am only concerned because I have heard negative information about scams and fraud that goes on in the diamond district. If I have the diamond reset, and something happens to it (where the jeweler that is setting it did nothing wrong but the diamond is not what they said it was) then the company won''t stand by their diamond.
We bought (using a credit card) a 1.44 brilliant round, VS1, H diamond and had it set in a 4-prong 14 kt yellow gold setting for 3885.00. It arrives tomorrow afternoon. We are both VERY nervous, but we know that we can send it back for a full refund if we are not totally satisfied. The problem is the time constraint. So we will have it appraised by a local woman who will verify the NGL certificate for free, and if I want her to legally write it on paper, she charges 45.00, which is fine. If we are dissatisfied with the specs of the diamond, we send it back. If we like the diamond, we''re going to send it to an independant certified gemologist to look at, but of course this will take longer than five days so we must make a decision based on what we find out from this local appraiser.
We don''t want to spend more than 4300.00 as we''re both PhD students on a tight budget. I''m still a little leary about making a decision based on one appraisers opinion as diamond grading is subjective and also not knowing whether or not she will be able to tell if this diamond is manmade or not???
Has anyone heard good or bad things about the diamond district in NY or this company? Also, any suggestions on what we should do in terms of having the ring appraised and what steps we should take to determine whether or not to keep the diamond? Any responses are greatly appreciated... Please hurry!!!
Thank you SO SO much for your help!!!!
Cortney
oh, here is a link to the diamond "picture" on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2665518762&category=15182&rd=1
I am not sure this is even a real picture of the diamond as it looks like this picture has been used for other diamonds for sale by this company...
So we were going to buy a round brilliant ring from Costco: 1 ct, guaranteed to be I, VS2 or better--4299.99. We''ve been looking for a little over a year... I started looking on eBay a while ago ( I know everyone warns against this) and I came across diamonds from a company out of New York with really good feedback--Shenoa & Co. I emailed about 25 people who have previously purchased diamonds of more than 1 ct and spent more than 3000.00 to find out about their experiences with the company and their satisfaction with the diamond. I''ve gotten numerous responses...probably 15, and rougly 5 of them were not satisfied with the original diamond that was sent to them, but the returned the diamond and the company sent them a "better" one. The consumer must pay 35.00 for an NGL appraisal to verify the specs of the diamond. They have a 100% money back guarantee, but the diamond must be returned within five days. I called the company to find out more about their business, they said if I have the diamond reset, and something happens to the diamond (if it chips or breaks), they don''t back the diamond. This is apparently the responsibility of the jeweler who has damaged the diamond. I called around and spoke with other jewelers in town, and this is the case for them as well. I am only concerned because I have heard negative information about scams and fraud that goes on in the diamond district. If I have the diamond reset, and something happens to it (where the jeweler that is setting it did nothing wrong but the diamond is not what they said it was) then the company won''t stand by their diamond.
We bought (using a credit card) a 1.44 brilliant round, VS1, H diamond and had it set in a 4-prong 14 kt yellow gold setting for 3885.00. It arrives tomorrow afternoon. We are both VERY nervous, but we know that we can send it back for a full refund if we are not totally satisfied. The problem is the time constraint. So we will have it appraised by a local woman who will verify the NGL certificate for free, and if I want her to legally write it on paper, she charges 45.00, which is fine. If we are dissatisfied with the specs of the diamond, we send it back. If we like the diamond, we''re going to send it to an independant certified gemologist to look at, but of course this will take longer than five days so we must make a decision based on what we find out from this local appraiser.
We don''t want to spend more than 4300.00 as we''re both PhD students on a tight budget. I''m still a little leary about making a decision based on one appraisers opinion as diamond grading is subjective and also not knowing whether or not she will be able to tell if this diamond is manmade or not???
Has anyone heard good or bad things about the diamond district in NY or this company? Also, any suggestions on what we should do in terms of having the ring appraised and what steps we should take to determine whether or not to keep the diamond? Any responses are greatly appreciated... Please hurry!!!
Thank you SO SO much for your help!!!!
Cortney
oh, here is a link to the diamond "picture" on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2665518762&category=15182&rd=1
I am not sure this is even a real picture of the diamond as it looks like this picture has been used for other diamonds for sale by this company...