Hi all- This is my first post here, but I''ve done some research on here as well as just using Google. First, full disclosure. I''m simply a consumer, no ties to the industry at all, and I''m shopping for a ring right now. It appears that there are *a lot* of posts regarding the NYC Diamond District and Tiffanys, so I thought I would just share my experience, in the hopes that others may benefit from it a little.
Diamond District Experience
Since me and my g-friend are in the beginning stages of looking, we were sorta window browsing and just looking at what was available. We both understand the 4-C''s (cut, color, clarity, carat), and I have a budget that I''m working with. She sorta knows that she''s looking for, so that''s a plus too. But like I said, we''re very new to this, and really in the beginning stages of looking.
The first thing that struck me in the DD was that stores had "barkers" - people enticing you to come into the store. I''ve seen these guys work other stores (adult, XXX, etc), so I have to admit I was a little put off by that. We went into ~10 stores, some with barkers, some without. As we were looking, the salespeople were all extremely pushy. At one store, I was told that "Today is a good day for business" and asked a couple of times that if a good price comes up "You buy today?" Also, in almost every single store, I was asked what my budget was, not what type of stone, cut, weight, I was looking for - just the dollar amount.
When we were shown something nice, it was invariably outside my price range (in the 2+ carat size). However, almost every single seller made it a point to almost, I don''t know quite how to say it, question my manhood for not being able to afford 25K for a ring. It was like "Well, your girlfriend really likes it, you should buy it for her, don''t you love her?" Nothing specific, just a vibe that I got. Also, as we were window shopping, we saw quite a few, I don''t want to use the word "ugly" but there were some rather unattractive stones in many of the windows. Not all, and we were shown some very nice pieces, but the percentage was skewed towards stones that didn''t SPARKLE and made you say "WOW". This even though we saw what should have been very nice stones (D color, SI1, no fluorescence, etc)
Overall, the feeling left a sour taste in my mouth, like the salespeople would not think twice about selling me a total piece of coal and smile while taking my money. I also did not care for the pushy antics nor the questioning my manhood or wallet. Like I said, it was just an overall feeling.
Tiffany’s Experience
We had to make an appointment for a consultation with a salesperson at Tiffanys. When we got there, my immediate initial reaction to the sale guy was that he was a bit snobbish – turned out I was wrong and he was very nice. We were shown quite a few rings, all within our price range, and never once was I made to feel like a less of a man because I couldn’t afford the 25K rings. At one point, we were looking at a 34K ring, and when I made a joking comment that we might have to take it down a bit, the sale guy responded with “Ooooh, yeah, that it is a bit steep.” Not anything major, just made me feel a little better. Secondly, the stones there simply SPARKLED. I honestly first thought they were fake they sparkled so much. When in the DD, whenever we looked at a stone, they would first blow it completely free of all dust/dirt/etc with a high pressure air hose. At Tiffanys he simply pulled it out of the display, sometimes he wiped it on a piece of felt, sometimes he didn’t. Either way, they were all very nice. Also, the color of the stones definitely were not D color (some H, etc), but they still looked really nice. This compared to some H VVS1 stones we saw at the DD which just lacked that incredible sparkle.
I’m just trying to share my experience with some other people, since there are a lot of posts on the DD and T&Co. Right now, I’m going to head back to the DD and see if I can find something nice and just give it a shot again. We’ll see how it goes the next time. Just another post in the great diamond buying experience.
Diamond District Experience
Since me and my g-friend are in the beginning stages of looking, we were sorta window browsing and just looking at what was available. We both understand the 4-C''s (cut, color, clarity, carat), and I have a budget that I''m working with. She sorta knows that she''s looking for, so that''s a plus too. But like I said, we''re very new to this, and really in the beginning stages of looking.
The first thing that struck me in the DD was that stores had "barkers" - people enticing you to come into the store. I''ve seen these guys work other stores (adult, XXX, etc), so I have to admit I was a little put off by that. We went into ~10 stores, some with barkers, some without. As we were looking, the salespeople were all extremely pushy. At one store, I was told that "Today is a good day for business" and asked a couple of times that if a good price comes up "You buy today?" Also, in almost every single store, I was asked what my budget was, not what type of stone, cut, weight, I was looking for - just the dollar amount.
When we were shown something nice, it was invariably outside my price range (in the 2+ carat size). However, almost every single seller made it a point to almost, I don''t know quite how to say it, question my manhood for not being able to afford 25K for a ring. It was like "Well, your girlfriend really likes it, you should buy it for her, don''t you love her?" Nothing specific, just a vibe that I got. Also, as we were window shopping, we saw quite a few, I don''t want to use the word "ugly" but there were some rather unattractive stones in many of the windows. Not all, and we were shown some very nice pieces, but the percentage was skewed towards stones that didn''t SPARKLE and made you say "WOW". This even though we saw what should have been very nice stones (D color, SI1, no fluorescence, etc)
Overall, the feeling left a sour taste in my mouth, like the salespeople would not think twice about selling me a total piece of coal and smile while taking my money. I also did not care for the pushy antics nor the questioning my manhood or wallet. Like I said, it was just an overall feeling.
Tiffany’s Experience
We had to make an appointment for a consultation with a salesperson at Tiffanys. When we got there, my immediate initial reaction to the sale guy was that he was a bit snobbish – turned out I was wrong and he was very nice. We were shown quite a few rings, all within our price range, and never once was I made to feel like a less of a man because I couldn’t afford the 25K rings. At one point, we were looking at a 34K ring, and when I made a joking comment that we might have to take it down a bit, the sale guy responded with “Ooooh, yeah, that it is a bit steep.” Not anything major, just made me feel a little better. Secondly, the stones there simply SPARKLED. I honestly first thought they were fake they sparkled so much. When in the DD, whenever we looked at a stone, they would first blow it completely free of all dust/dirt/etc with a high pressure air hose. At Tiffanys he simply pulled it out of the display, sometimes he wiped it on a piece of felt, sometimes he didn’t. Either way, they were all very nice. Also, the color of the stones definitely were not D color (some H, etc), but they still looked really nice. This compared to some H VVS1 stones we saw at the DD which just lacked that incredible sparkle.
I’m just trying to share my experience with some other people, since there are a lot of posts on the DD and T&Co. Right now, I’m going to head back to the DD and see if I can find something nice and just give it a shot again. We’ll see how it goes the next time. Just another post in the great diamond buying experience.
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