Local Jewelry Store Experience

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

Hi I am sharing this experience with everyone just to give you an experience i had with a co-wprker of mine who is in the market for a diamond for his soon to be fiance....

I do local deliveries here in town and was delivering a brand new glass display case for the local jewelry store in town...

While we were waiting for the owner to arrive to help coordinate the move I asked the salesperson to show my friend some stones in the display case....

With all the info I have learned on the forum I just sat back and wanted to see what would happen....

My friend asked to see some rings with stones of all assorted sizes.....

I asked her to show him the best stone available they had. She pulled out a stone and remarked this is a stone of top notch color......Ohh really I replied....I asked what the color of the stone was and she replied "I think it's either a G or an H" Hmmm...A g or an H..I replied which is it. She said the color being either a G or an H he wouldn't have to worry because it was one of the highest grades color wise a stone could receive......

Next question, my co-worker replied what he didn't know anything about diamonds and wanted to get a feel about what was imptortant in buying a stone. She replied the four C's. She exclaimed you have the cut, the color, the clarity and she left out the carat weight as she was looking a little confused in her attempt to think of the 4th C. She exclaimed the color is how white the stone is and the clarity was how many inclusions were in the stone...I was thinking to myself wow...No mention of the cut at all.

My co-worker then asked about white gold and platinum because his girlfriend did not like yellow gold. She replied white gold is not as expensive as platinum, but platinum was the softer metal and lighter metal thats why it scratches easier. Hmmm..I thought to myself...Lighter metal???.Then she replied that one of the drawbacks with white gold is after a while the plating wears out....My co worker asked what do you mean plating...She responded there is a plating on the ring they put over the white gold. I couldn't help myself so I replied are you speaking of the rhodium plating. She said yeah that's it....

The end of the conversation was brought on by the salesperson telling my friend that the stone he was looking at was of the finest quality the "G or the H" with the tag marked si-1 and that being it was a half carat he could get it for no less than $1500 dollars.

Just wanted to share the experience....

Just goes to show you never take the salesperson advice as golden...Many people in the industry this being a prime example do not know what their talking about and could care less to educate the consumer in their attempt to market their product and get them out the door with a half as* product.......

Try to educate yourself first and talk to many different vendors and professionals to get their input.....

-Josh Rioux
Sitka, Alaska

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Most the people you will encounter behind the showcases are not what I would categorize as professionals. Most are salesclerks and "rookies", with surface level gemological training mixed with standardized sales training.

The truth is, it takes a lot of effort to attain "professional" status. The only people who bother are usually owners, professional management people, and those with a passion for the industry.

These are the people you want to seek out when making a significant gemstone purchase. All the others are usually "clueless", with just enough knowledge to be dangerous.

 

[pqcollectibles]

And worse yet, are the jewelers who really do know all the info and push buyers away from AGS, GIA, etc., as being overkill, bunk, marketing tools to get more money for "the same quality" diamond!

They obviously want you to buy their mass produced jewelry and ungraded diamonds at rather inflated prices.

 

[niceice]

Let's hope that the salesperson was new... REALLY NEW! However, the unfortunate reality is that she probably wasn't... So many retail jewelry stores seem to assume that people will buy from them just because they are there and they don't even try to provide accurate information, let alone accurate grading... Okay by us, it is by their negligence that the internet diamond dealers thrive

 

[trichrome]

People on this forum always complain about the fact that most
jewelry retail stores carry only poor quality diamonds...... I agree completely
with this.

However, public in general is not educated at all when buying a diamond. Moreover,
people in general are not searching for the 10000$US diamond.... they are searching
for something in their price range. Remember that people who are visiting
this forum will end up buying a diamond the cost of it being significantly higher
than the average price a diamond is sold in the US for engagement ring purpose.
So people want something not too pricey, but looking "OK"..... that's why you end up
with a lot of KLM & SI-I stones in mall stores.... this is what people in general wants so
that's what they get.



Excuse me for my english....it's not at all my mothertongue.

Best regards,

Trichrome.

 

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

----------------
On 4/26/2003 9:49:19 AM trichrome wrote:

However, public in general is not educated at all when buying a diamond. Moreover,
people in general are not searching for the 10000$US diamond.... they are searching
for something in their price range. Remember that people who are visiting
this forum will end up buying a diamond the cost of it being significantly higher
than the average price a diamond is sold in the US for engagement ring purpose.
So people want something not too pricey, but looking "OK"..... that's why you end up
with a lot of KLM & SI-I stones in mall stores.... this is what people in general wants so
that's what they get.



Excuse me for my english....it's not at all my mothertongue.

Best regards,

Trichrome.

Hi Trichrome- I think you add some good points. I don't think it is a good idea for you to make generalizations for people not wanting something too pricey. My intent is to outline that stones can and will be misrepresented as of their quality and compared to the price "people in general" want to spend they can get the same size stone within ideal proportions for the same price of a stone which is misrepresented and marked up. I think what you post and your ideas of generalizing what the public wants and the public not being educated on buying a stone is one of the main reasons some jewelry stores thrive. They are banking on the consumer not being educated and it gives them more lead way in giving information which is not factual. I agree that most people in the market are not looking to spend $10,000. But the people who have a budget of let's say $2000.00 should get what they pay for.I think that is one of the main reasons ethically it is important for a vendor to be up front honest and educate...after that it's up to the consumer.....

-Josh RIoux
Sitka, ALaska

 

[trichrome]

I trully agree with you....

but the industry is not going pretty well and MANY MANY jewellers are not
honest with their clients. The best example I can give you is the story of the guy
going to "a friend of the family jeweller". After buying the diamond he taught
was a good deal, he discovers many years later that he was ripped off...
You don't need friends like that, believe me!

Of course I'm generalising....and yes there are some great and honest jewellers
out there..... Come to Montreal, I'll present you some.

Trichrome.

 

[ringbling17]

I have to say that I had a good experience at my local Christian Bernard store.
I was interested in a HOF diamond wedding band and went in wearing my A Cut Above H&A diamond from Whiteflash.
I told the saleswoman I wanted to try on a few bands and as soon as she saw my e-ring, she immediately said that just from looking at it, she could tell that it was a very good diamond. She asked me if it was a HOF diamond, and I said no, but it did have perfect H&A's.
Instead of looking at me in disbelief, she told me that she could actually see the arrows from where she was. She seemed genuinely interested that other companies sell H&A's that are just as beautiful as HOF.
Then the other saleperson came and she started telling him that my diamond was beautiful. HE immediately asked me if I would let him steam clean it and would I mind if he took a look at it.
I said, no problem. After he cleaned it, he louped it and then gave it back to me and said that it indeed was an awesome diamond.
I was very surprised that they would compliment me on my diamond. I was sure when I walked in there they would immediately tell me HOF was the best and nothing else compared.
I guess there are some honest people in this world!!!