Mondera, Good as Gold

[njdiamondlooker]

Can some of you give me opinions on these two company''s. Does one have better hearts and arrows diamonds then the other?

 

[Maxine]

Did you mean GoodOldGold???? If so, they have LOTS of information about their diamonds on their website!!!!!!! And most of there diamonds are VERY well cut.....Don''t know how much info. Mondera supplies.......I''m sure some of their diamonds are very well cut, but you probably have to ask for the cut info. on a case by case basis.....I don''t know enough about them to know.....

 

[Kaleigh]

Maxine''s right many people here have been very pleased with Good Old Gold. They have an excellent reputation and are great to work with. I don''t know anything about Mondera, so I can''t help you there. Good luck!!!

 

[cinnabar]

I can''t comment on their hearts and arrows, as we bought a fancy shape stone. But we did buy from Mondera.

We didn''t want any human interaction, and thought that ordering online without any sales people talking rubbish or pushing particular stones was exactly what we needed. As seasoned internet buyers and amazon fans, we much prefer to just fill in a form rather than haggle. We knew that we didn''t want to buy from a B&M store.

Unfortunately, like most internet diamond sellers, Mondera don''t keep the stones in house and therefore when you place your order there is a high chance that your chosen stone isn''t actually available. This happened to us three times running, at which point a sales rep telephoned us (at 7am in the morning, she wasn''t aware we had a big time difference) to try and help. The rep was helpful, not at all pushy, and we ended up getting a very beautiful diamond for what we consider to be a good price.

I would probably have preferred to buy from Blue Nile, but we''re in Washington state and would have had to pay sales tax. Blue Nile also didn''t have the exact setting I wanted, and I wanted to get ring and stone all from one place rather than have the extra hassle of having someone other than the vendor of the stone actually set it.

Mondera''s system is straightforward if it works, but from reading other boards (like epinions) it seems not to work for a lot of people. The "sorry, your stone isn''t available any more" story seems to be very common. Also, the sales reps never see the diamonds so they can''t tell you if one is eye-clean, faces up white, or has a bow-tie, etc.

It also took a long time for them to actually get and set the stone in a ring, longer than the info on their site led us to believe. We were not in a hurry though, so this wasn''t a problem for us.

I liked Mondera because they have a huge amount of choice, even if it''s not kept in-house. I liked being able to choose between several similar diamonds rather than some of the internet vendors who specialise in round stones only and list very little choice in fancies. If you want a hearts and arrows particularly, you would probably be better going to a dealer who specialises in that cut - especially if you want to go for an SI1 or lower clarity and want information about the inclusions.

Mondera suited us perfectly, for the kind of diamond we wanted and the way we wanted to buy it, but it''s not ideal for everyone.

 

[LadyluvsLuxury]

Cinnabar - Do you happen to know if Blue Nile stocks their diamonds or not?? I''m not really familiar with them.

 

[cinnabar]

Date: 5/23/2005 6:53:21 PM
Author: LadyluvsLuxury
Cinnabar - Do you happen to know if Blue Nile stocks their diamonds or not?? I''m not really familiar with them.

My understanding is that the "ordinary" inventory isn''t kept in stock, but I think their Signature Collection probably is. They say:

"Every diamond in the Signature Collection is hand-selected and cut to the most exacting standards — guaranteeing a more brilliant diamond than any other Ideal cut. Custom made exclusively for Blue Nile, the Signature Collection includes the world''s most brilliant round diamond, as well as the world''s first and only princess, emerald, and Asscher diamonds cut to our finest ideal standards."

If these stones really are custom made for BN, and are exclusive, they must be stock items.

No use at all to us, as we wanted a pear

 

[LadyluvsLuxury]

I think it has got to be soooooooo frustrating to find and decide on your "perfect stone" only to not have it in stock

 

[cinnabar]

Date: 5/23/2005 7:28:23 PM
Author: LadyluvsLuxury
I think it has got to be soooooooo frustrating to find and decide on your ''perfect stone'' only to not have it in stock

Well, yes and no. What happened for me was that I ended up with a stone that was slightly larger than my original "perfect" one, for the same price. And I totally fell in love with my new perfect stone when it arrived, so it was a very happy ending.

And someone else got a perfect stone too (ie whoever got to my first choice first) so two people were happy.