My diamond buying experience - Abazias, B&Ms, et. al.

[sfoz]

I proposed to my gf last weekend, as probably a million other people did. I''d been looking for a ring for the past few months and found a great deal of information and help on this site. So, I just wanted to let everyone know my experience.

I looked at a couple B&M places (Bailey,Banks&Biddle and Shreve & Co.), but mostly searched internet sites. I don''t understand why salespeople at B&Ms are so rude and use high-pressure sales techniques. If I''m going to pay several thousand dollars for an item, I don''t want to be bullied into buying it. Anyway, the company''s on the net just seemed more pleasant and informed. I ended up buying the diamond from Abazias. They were very nice and sent me specs and pics of several diamonds.

Buying the diamond was easy compared to getting the setting. Several online retailers (Whiteflash, Blue Nile) wouldn''t sell me a setting since I didn''t buy the diamond from them. I just wanted to get a cheap setting that my gf could change later. Fortunately, I found something on Simayof''s online store.

So, I proposed last Friday, just after midnight. My gf loved the diamond but wants to get a new setting. So, we went shopping on Saturday, which was our first mistake since it was Valentine''s Day and everybody in the world is buying jewelry for their sweetie. At the stores we went to, I asked if they could melt down the old setting, which is platinum, and make a new one. The responses I got varied from, "the metal would be worthless if it was melted down," to "that''s illegal and we won''t do it."

I think I need to find a good jeweler, instead of going to retail stores. So, if anybody knows of a good jeweler in the San Francisco area, please let me know.

BTW, congratulations to everybody else who got engaged over the weekend.

 

[pqcollectibles]

Many Congrats on your engagement!

Glad you had a good buying experience with Abazia's.

Just a Q about purchasing the setting from other Internet Vendors. More than a few of them have had problems selling a set to a buyer, and then the local jeweler botched the mounting ruining the set. Did you offer to ship your diamond to the Vendors for them to mount your stone for you?? I've read where others have purchase the stone from one Net Vendor and the setting from another Net Vendor. They shipped the diamond to the Net Vendor they purchased the setting from, who then mounts the stone.

 

[bling]

Congrats on your engagement! If your in the city, you can go the san fran giftcenter/jewelry mart. they are primarily a wholesalers place but if you call and make an appointment, you can get it without a wholesalers liscence. there will be more settings there than you could possibly look at in one day. they are only open on weekdays, with the exception of a few weekends during the year. the prices there are pretty good, but use caution..some vendors there are honest, some maybe not. some of the larger stores there like derco, giraux and steve padis are good ones to start with.
and just a comment that some online vendors would not sell you just the setting..i was surprised that you mentioned whiteflash. i got my setting from them even though i did not purchase my stone from them. they were very helpful with my sale, even though it was not a huge one. maybe my situation was different though.
anyway, hope that helps...oh..i mentioned derco in the gift center but if you want to drive to san jose, they just opened another store in santana row..same prices as their giftcenter store. you may also want to try joe escobar in campbell. good luck and congrats again!

 

[Mara]

Joe Escobar in Campbell has TONS of settings, I found they were the only store I visited in the whole BayArea that had things I actually liked. Also they do custom setting work.




Also I also thought that WF will sell just the setting, could have sworn they did it before. Also I believe BN will also if you walk through their checkout? SuperbCert will sell just the setting, alot of online companies do.




Congrats on the engagement and good luck with the setting!! We had our setting custom made in Aptos with our jeweler's designer...if you want the information, drop me a PM.

 

[sfoz]

When I went through the checkout process at BN, it wouldn't let me just purchase the setting without selecting a diamond. I emailed BN and they told me they don't sell the settings separately b/c, as pqcollectibles mentioned, they're afraid a local jeweler might screw up the mounting.

When I tried to buy a setting from WF, they told me they don't sell the setting separately b/c they would lose money on it. The setting I was looking at was somewhat inexpensive, but maybe they would sell the pricier settings separately.

Thanks for the jeweler recommendations. Do you happen to know if the jeweler could use the platinum from the old ring?

 

[NewShiny]

Does anyone have any actual buying experience with Joe Escobar? I'm working with them for my setting, but the four days to return my phone calls just isn't leaving me with a good impression. Is it me? This isn't to say I don't love what they have in their store - I do, or I wouldn't be so patient with 'em!

 

[pqcollectibles]

You might have trouble going with remanufactured plat, Sfoz. I wanted to have a ring reworked to make a new set. Every jeweler said they would be happy to scrap the plat, but would not rework it. They may need more plat than you have and get into alloys mixing. You may have an unmarked ring so the alloy mix of yours is unknown. Some remanufactured plat is unstable. I got a whole list of reasons. Basically, IMHO, it boils down to an issue of liability and they don't want anything to come back and bite them in the butt.