Since people asked me to write about my experience with ERD, here it is.
So I went to ERD today to meet with Gary Friedman about a few diamonds he had picked out for me. They are located right on 5th avenue and 47th street in a high rise building that is filled with diamonds (Gary''s words, not mine.) You enter the door on one side if you''re a visitor, and on the other side if you have a special ID and work in the building. Then you have to go through a turnstile one person at a time, and show your ID at the guard desk as well as have your fingerprint scanned.
Pretty neat.
Way up on the 30th floor, at the end of a long narrow hallway, is Mark Turnowski Inc. Press the door buzzer, and speak to their assistant who buzzes you in through two sets of doors. I noticed the outer door would not unlock to go back out until the inner door was closed and locked. I guess you need this much security in a building full of diamonds!
ERD is a tiny little office, with three people in one tiny room. No other customers were in there, so the experience was very personal. I worked pretty much only with Gary, but Mark was sitting just on the other side of the small room. Gary asked me if I had much knowledge of diamonds, and I said I had done my reading and my research and I knew what I was looking for, but my knowledge was still pretty cursory. He didn''t want to waste my time with an explanation of color and clarity and cut, if he didn''t need to. I let him explain things to me regardless, because I was still there to learn as much as I could.
He brought out three diamonds for me to see that were all .8 to .81 in size, just what I wanted. He had a little spreadsheet printed up that had the weight, color, clarity, cut, dimensions, and even the price for me to read. He demonstrated how to look at the color properly, and also showed me how the diamond performs differently under different lighting. He let me compare the sparkliness of all three of them side by side, and I got to pick them up, look at them through the loupe, and through the idealscope. He also explained to me how to basically read the idealscope image. I got to look at each diamond over and over, as long as I wanted and Gary helped me stay organized as it was hard to lose track considering the three stones were so similiar.
The great thing about going to a place like this, is the proximity to basically what is a huge assortment of jewlers and cutters. (The diamond district, duh.) In fact, while I was there Gary got a call from someone who had found another stone and they brought it down the street and upstairs while I was sitting there.
When we got onto the topic of insurance, Gary gave me the name of an old customer of his that can take care of insurance. However, Mark who was still on the other side of the room suggested that I just call my renter''s insurance company, because anything under $10,000 may be covered under my general insurance. I thanked Mark for that tidbit of advice, and I will be finding out tomorrow wether they will cover me.
All in all, the experience was very laid back and easy. Gary didn''t have a sales pitch, and didn''t assert any pressure at all. He showed me what he had, explained some things, and let me touch and look and make decisions on my own. The sale is so laid back, he even said he would hold the diamond for me while I went to other vendors, for no charge at all! Very nice people indeed.
I haven''t bought anything yet, so if and/or when I do buy from ERD, I will let people know how that goes too.
So I went to ERD today to meet with Gary Friedman about a few diamonds he had picked out for me. They are located right on 5th avenue and 47th street in a high rise building that is filled with diamonds (Gary''s words, not mine.) You enter the door on one side if you''re a visitor, and on the other side if you have a special ID and work in the building. Then you have to go through a turnstile one person at a time, and show your ID at the guard desk as well as have your fingerprint scanned.
Way up on the 30th floor, at the end of a long narrow hallway, is Mark Turnowski Inc. Press the door buzzer, and speak to their assistant who buzzes you in through two sets of doors. I noticed the outer door would not unlock to go back out until the inner door was closed and locked. I guess you need this much security in a building full of diamonds!
ERD is a tiny little office, with three people in one tiny room. No other customers were in there, so the experience was very personal. I worked pretty much only with Gary, but Mark was sitting just on the other side of the small room. Gary asked me if I had much knowledge of diamonds, and I said I had done my reading and my research and I knew what I was looking for, but my knowledge was still pretty cursory. He didn''t want to waste my time with an explanation of color and clarity and cut, if he didn''t need to. I let him explain things to me regardless, because I was still there to learn as much as I could.
He brought out three diamonds for me to see that were all .8 to .81 in size, just what I wanted. He had a little spreadsheet printed up that had the weight, color, clarity, cut, dimensions, and even the price for me to read. He demonstrated how to look at the color properly, and also showed me how the diamond performs differently under different lighting. He let me compare the sparkliness of all three of them side by side, and I got to pick them up, look at them through the loupe, and through the idealscope. He also explained to me how to basically read the idealscope image. I got to look at each diamond over and over, as long as I wanted and Gary helped me stay organized as it was hard to lose track considering the three stones were so similiar.
The great thing about going to a place like this, is the proximity to basically what is a huge assortment of jewlers and cutters. (The diamond district, duh.) In fact, while I was there Gary got a call from someone who had found another stone and they brought it down the street and upstairs while I was sitting there.
When we got onto the topic of insurance, Gary gave me the name of an old customer of his that can take care of insurance. However, Mark who was still on the other side of the room suggested that I just call my renter''s insurance company, because anything under $10,000 may be covered under my general insurance. I thanked Mark for that tidbit of advice, and I will be finding out tomorrow wether they will cover me.
All in all, the experience was very laid back and easy. Gary didn''t have a sales pitch, and didn''t assert any pressure at all. He showed me what he had, explained some things, and let me touch and look and make decisions on my own. The sale is so laid back, he even said he would hold the diamond for me while I went to other vendors, for no charge at all! Very nice people indeed.
I haven''t bought anything yet, so if and/or when I do buy from ERD, I will let people know how that goes too.
300x240.png)