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My ring shopping experience with nice ice, Barmakian (NH) and others

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greengator

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jan 14, 2003
Messages
23
Hello again,
I would like to share my e-ring shopping experience with everybody, as I think I gained
a lot of trust and comfort about online diamond purchase from reading other''s experience and would be very happy knowing my experience could help someone too.

I started looking for a diamond nine months ago and didn''t know where to start or what to look for until I found this web site. Being a computer geek myself, I had shopped tons of stuff from the net but the thought of spending this kind of money with someone I haven''t met and on something that I couldn''t see before hand really made me nervous. So I started like anybody else, go to www.google.com and typed in "online diamond purchase" and stumpled upon this site and diamondtalk. I never looked back. I am pretty sure I am more knowledgeable now than your average diamond salesman. And believe me, knowledge is power. You should have seen the looks on those sales guy''s face when I asked about cuts, Sarin report, crown and pavilion angles.

For B&M jewelers, I avoided the big name overpriced ones like Long''s, Tiffany, etc. I heard a lot of good things about Barmakian in NH so I took an afternoon off and went there. Salesperson Joseph was very patient and courteous and they discounted their diamonds 15% off the Raparport''s price. The problem is that their inventory turnover is too fast and didn''t have what I wanted. Joseph showed me a 1.04 Carat D, VS1, HCA 0.9 cut and that made really difficult for me to decide between this one and the one I ordered from nice ice. Thanks to Mara''s advice, I decided to go with a bigger one instead of a D color. Overall I liked their service and won''t hesitate to go back to them if they have what I want.

I also talked to Jan at DBOF and she is always courteous and replied my countless email messages on time.

I also talked to Beth from http://www.affordablediamondsonline.com. I inquired about three diamonds, asking for GIA certs and Sarin reports. She promised to get them to me as soon as she recieved them but I never heard from her again. Needless to say, I am very disappointed at them.

The problem I found with online Jewelers who don''t own their own inventory is that you can''t get enough information to make a knowledgeable decision and there is no guarantee that they will ever get the crucial information like crown and pavilion back to you on time.

Which brings me to www.niceice.com. Can you say information overflow?
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You can find everything you want to know about diamonds on their web site and they only sell diamonds they have in their inventory and every diamond has reports down to the last detail. Everything you want to know about a particular diamond is right at your figure tips. With all that information, I made up my minde before even talking to them. But I was still nervous about wiring a boat load of money to someone I have never met or spoke to. So I picked up the phone and call them and ended up having a three-hour conversation with Todd, the funniest guy I have ever talked to. He is very patient, detail oriented and obviously cared about what I wanted, not what he can sell me. He completely calmed me down in the first few minutes and walked me through every single detail about the diamond, plus some corky jokes about Oregon natives in between. By the end of the conversation, he completely earned my trust and confidence. We worked the wiring and shipping details and called it a night.

I wired him the money the next day (yesterday) and he had the ring set and fedExed to me in the same day and it was waiting for me this morning at 9:30am! Todd has packaged the ring in three layers and even threw in a loup for my playing pleasure. The ring definitely has exceeded my expection and may have caused serious "damages" to a few female co-workers husband''s wallets.

Overall, I really enjoyed this shopping experience and would recommend Todd and nice ice to any one without reservation.

Plus like Todd said, if you don''t like it, you have thirty days to send it back to them. Not many online or B&M jewelers would do that.

Todd, there is no way I am sending this puppy back, engagement or no engagement.
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-- Larry
 

Lanee

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Jan 29, 2003
Messages
534
NICEICE is great, they have answered questions for me too and now that I'm leaning toward RB, I'm going to have to give them a call when I'm ready. I like Jonathon's people at Good Old Gold too. They are great and is Jan from DBOF. So far, the vendors I have asked questions too have been really great. I'm happy you had such a great experience.

So . . . . when do we get to see the ring?
 

pqcollectibles

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Feb 22, 2003
Messages
3,441
Glad you had a good experience with Nice Ice! They post here so much offering advice even when they aren't making the sale. Truly great folk who won't sell a diamond they wouldn't keep for themselves. Thanks for sharing all the details!
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Mara

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Oct 30, 2002
Messages
31,003
Congratulations...I am so glad I managed to help get your girl a larger stone in some small way...hee hee.
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Size definitely matters IMO when it comes to the sparkly toy rocks!
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NiceIce definitely has info overflow, but its a good thing and I hope more sites follow in the footsteps of GOG and NI and the others who are starting to get more info on their diamonds up on the web.

Post pictures as soon as you can!! Good luck with the proposal.

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Rhino

Ideal_Rock
Trade
Joined
Mar 28, 2001
Messages
6,340
Robin and Todd ROCK! I've met many wonderful people in this industry. Some that succeed by working on a principal of helping others, some that try to climb the ladder of success by stabbing others in the back. It is my great pleasure to say that Robin and Todd are those of the highest caliber both in business and personal ethics. Early in my Internet career Todd and Robin only had good and helpful advice and were always encouraging and friendly competitors. I never hesitate to put in a good word for them when given the chance. Good job R/T and congrats on your upcoming engagement gator.
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Kind regards,
Rhino
 
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