Poor Upgrade Experience? Anyone have this?

[ccuheartnurse]

Hi All,
Just trying to get a feel for all of those on PS that have Upgraded (or even trade-ed in or consigned their original stone to their original vendor) that have had POOR post consumer customer service. Can you please post if this has been your experience, ** without ** mentioning (if already public mention it, but not looking for specific vendors to point fingers too) who those vendors are.... I know a lot of PS vendors toot the upgrade policy route but do they offer the service wholeheartedly when you try to take part of the original agreement re: upgrade etc. Have you found them LESS THAN willing to put as much effort in POST your initial purchase as they would with your upgrade etc... The upgrade/buy back issue has been a long standing (upstanding) offering on PS. But in truth, how many on the site have had great experiences re: uping anything at all with a lot of confidence, including increased price, service, clarity and overall experience.

Thank you all for courageously participating....
J..

** suffice it to know.....my vendor ** has never been disclosed ** for my upgrade, and so therefor, I am searching for strictly objective information from those that have tried to utilize the trade-in option their particular vendor advertised and ultimately followed protical. No slamming on this thread...just trying to find a reasonable solution.

 

[ccuheartnurse]

Forgot to mention my recent experience....was told by my original vendor that if I were to compare and look for a cheaper stone, as for example, be advertised on PS, that they could not offer "their particual extensive evaluation procedures as they would only be pennies above that cost. They would GLADLY drop ship, stone unseen, to the purchaser. I was offended by this. with a stone costing OVER $20K and high clarity, low colour, but ideal, that I would be given basic evaluation service. Even said ...how bout I take the 2006 "Old School" kind of evaluation...anyway..just curious about the experiences of those upgrading...and if you have had great POST consumer customer service, please mention your vendor. We should all be aware of who is ethical in honouring their word when push comes to shove. A lot of PS members choose vendors per their upgrade policies.

Thanks...
J

 

[Sparkle524]

Great topic. I would like to know as well.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I upgraded with whiteflash and BGD. I had very good experiences with both and felt that I was treated the same way when upgrading as I was when I was originally purchasing. I was looking to buy in house stones, though. With BGD, if I wanted to buy a virtual diamond I would lose my upgrade potential/rights. With WF I think if the virtual stone qualified as an expert selection or premium select and also qualified for their upgrade policy, I could have bought a virtual stone and kept my upgrade. But I never did buy a virtual stone so the point was moot.

 

[Gypsy]

I don't know who your vendor is. But if it is a PS vendor just get the owner, whoever that is, on the phone point them to this post. Tell them you expect better service in the future and let it work itself out.

And, no. You shouldn't HAVE to do that. I agree. But the reality is... you can do something about it.

Another option is, if it's an ideal cut, easily movable stone then, with the recent diamond price increases, you may want to see if another vendor will take it in trade from you. There are other vendors out there and if your stone is desirable enough, options will be available to you.

 

[Imdanny]

Hi, ccuheartnurse,


I see Gypsy's point. That sounds like a good idea to me. I might leave it in terms of what you need and feel you have the right to expect and save any kind of ultimatums for if that doesn't work but I hope you didn't/aren't going to leave it like this. Their behavior and attitude suck. They're saying they didn't make enough money off you/can't afford to look at the stone for you? I'd be offended too.

Danny

 

[Lula]

I bought a Crafted by Infinity diamond through Wink (High Performance Diamonds) in 2009. I upgraded three times in order to increase carat weight, go up in color, etc. Wink and Crafted by Infinity were both top-notch. I got the same high quality service, IS, ASET images, etc., with each upgrade. No hassle, no delays, no hidden fees. In the Fall of 2011, I decided to sell my diamond, and after looking at all possible options -- private sale through ebay or DB, sale to another vendor, buyback -- I chose to take advantage of Crafted by Infinity's 80% buyback policy through Wink, and, again, the process was seamless and safe. I didn't make any money on the buyback, and I maybe could have made a small profit selling it myself, but I was not willing to assume the risks involved with a private sale.

Good luck to you; I agree with the others that you should approach the vendor about this thread and express your disappointment with their service.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I think the problem might have been if you were expecting drop shipper pricing yet wanted the extra service of evaluations. Is that the case? Or were you willing to pay the premium for the testing of the called in stone? If you were willing to pay the extra costs to the vendor, then I am uncertain as to why there is even an issue.

If you bought your diamond before 2011, you really shouldn't be doing a trade-in at all because you will do better by selling the stone yourself or by consigning it. But if it was bought more recently, then a trade-in would make sense.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I think the problem might have been if you were expecting drop shipper pricing yet wanted the extra service of evaluations. Is that the case? Or were you willing to pay the premium for the testing of the called in stone? If you were willing to pay the extra costs to the vendor, then I am uncertain as to why there is even an issue.

I was wondering about this myself. I can't speak about the specifics of this situation, but profit margins can be as low as 2% on virtual stones. Some vendors do not offer the same services for those stones as they do for their in house stock that have a higher markup.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I think the problem might have been if you were expecting drop shipper pricing yet wanted the extra service of evaluations. Is that the case? Or were you willing to pay the premium for the testing of the called in stone? If you were willing to pay the extra costs to the vendor, then I am uncertain as to why there is even an issue.

I was wondering about this myself. I can't speak about the specifics of this situation, but profit margins can be as low as 2% on virtual stones. Some vendors do not offer the same services for those stones as they do for their in house stock that have a higher markup.

Yes, my new stone was a virtual one and I paid more than any of the drop shipper prices on the PS price search because I wanted the stone evaluated. I was not exactly doing a trade-in but it was tied in to the consignment sale of my first stone. My vendor is Good Old Gold and they have treated me 100% fairly, and I am willing to pay a little more for what they provide.

 

[Karl_K]

There are 2 separate issues here:
Rude or unresponsive service is never acceptable.

Matching services or offering reduced services on a price match or virtual stone is legit and many vendors do so.
That they offer full service at a greater price is a good thing for consumers who need the added service.

There are many increased costs when dealing with one of and virtual stones.
For example shipping and insurance on a 20k stone is often the same or just a few % less as 5 $20K stones.
Plus the vendor and dealer has less room for negotiation on the price.
They will get a better price on 5 $20k diamonds(or a mix with similar total value) than a single $20k stone.
Many drop shippers have a deal with wholesalers where if they do X amount a year in sales they get a discount over what other dealers who just buy one or 2 stones get.
The price matching vendor that may be the only stone they ever buy from that wholesaler and the price they have to pay reflects that.
Bottom line is most times they can not afford to offer full service and price match and or on a called in virtual stone.

 

[Karl_K]

ot:
Welcome back ccuheartnurse!!!
It is good to see you here again!

 

[aljdewey]

I think the problem might have been if you were expecting drop shipper pricing yet wanted the extra service of evaluations. Is that the case? Or were you willing to pay the premium for the testing of the called in stone? If you were willing to pay the extra costs to the vendor, then I am uncertain as to why there is even an issue.

I was wondering about this myself. I can't speak about the specifics of this situation, but profit margins can be as low as 2% on virtual stones. Some vendors do not offer the same services for those stones as they do for their in house stock that have a higher markup.

This is completely true. When vendors source from the brokered list, the margin isn't nearly as good as it is with stones sourced from their traditional suppliers. The margin is nearly non-existent, so they cannot afford to provide all the bells/whistles they provide for their inhouse goods unless they mark up the price of the brokered stone. That won't work, though, because customers have already seen the 'list' price for the brokered stone, which is what caused them to call it in to begin with.

If you buy from their inhouse stones, those stones all come with service level A. If you buy from brokered list, they often come with lesser service level. It has nothing to do with them already knowing you're a customer, so they care less; it has everything to do with which goods you're buying.

 

[Rhino]

I may not be able to speak to your particular situation ccu but as a vendor who offers tradeups, buybacks etc. I have insight that may help you better understand where this vendor may be coming from.

Today's online playing field is a different ball game and particularly with the diamonds that are listed on PS. As already mentioned by Karl, diamonds ... not just 20k but also higher and lower in value are being offered for literally pennies on the dollar. In fact the cost to ship diamonds in to evalute cost more than than the markups that are being applied on PS.

Take a diamond in the 20k range for example. I just did a random search on our wholesale database for 2ct H VS2 where our cost is $26,309. The same diamond is being offered on PS for $26,821. Less than a 2% margin. I can't speak for other business' but when we are helping clients find a particular product our cost to acquire the diamond for evaluation (not to mention time spent, employees hired to do the job, lab equipment etc.) costs us notably more. I can't speak to the level of services offered by the person you are dealing with but even if they are the most basic of services, just the cost to acquire will instantly put them outside of the price range of what perhaps you were expecting.

Just recently I served a PS'r who was wanting the peace of mind we bring to the table at the lowest price published on PS. I just flat out told him it's physically impossible (and it was a purchase over 40k). If he wanted that price I can easily broker the stone to him without my expertise but if he wanted me to even just acquire the diamond, my time & expertise is worth more to me than 2% and I wanted a deposit to cover our transportation if we were going to spend the man hours acquiring diamonds and evaluating each one for him.

What I see happening online is the gap between the 2 business models (price vs service) widening. Not so much in the sense that business' that offer service are going more expensive but just the opposite. Some online brokers are pricing so low they are looking to steal as much of the market share as possible but since they have nothing to offer in way of service, are pricing so close to cost to make it impossible for those business' that offer service to compete with those that do virtually nothing.

When we are helping people with diamonds, whether it be in the 5k, 10k, 20k, 40k etc. we'll spend more on transporting in mutiple diamonds to inspect than if we were able to broker them a single diamond sight unseen. This is the harsh reality of today's market.

Having said that however there is no excuse if you were being spoken to rudely or disrespectfully by the vendor who was serving you.

Hope that helps.

Kind regards,
Rhino

 

[Amys Bling]

Very interesting...

 

[decodelighted]

Forgot to mention my recent experience....was told by my original vendor that if I were to compare and look for a cheaper stone, as for example, be advertised on PS, that they could not offer "their particual extensive evaluation procedures as they would only be pennies above that cost. They would GLADLY drop ship, stone unseen, to the purchaser. I was offended by this. with a stone costing OVER $20K and high clarity, low colour, but ideal, that I would be given basic evaluation service. Even said ...how bout I take the 2006 "Old School" kind of evaluation...anyway..just curious about the experiences of those upgrading...and if you have had great POST consumer customer service, please mention your vendor. We should all be aware of who is ethical in honouring their word when push comes to shove. A lot of PS members choose vendors per their upgrade policies.

Thanks...
J

I'm afraid I am not following your story AT ALL. I read it three times ...

I can't offer a story of my own as I have not ever upgraded & don't have any such policy with the original vendor we used.