Purchased a damaged Diamond need advice

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Hi everyone, thank you for all of your input. All of your comments was used when I had to explain the situation to the retailer and they have now issued a full refund since returning the diamond ( although it took over a month and dozens of phone calls emails and photo evidence ). I would like to say that as of today the diamond is back up for sale on their website for the same price as before and without noting this “chip” or damage that justified their initial rejection of my return. Maybe they chose to ignore the damage or maybe they have deemed it a natural occurring chip and no need to fix or note it. I would say buyer beware from my personal experience and I would personally not shop with this retailer again due to this experience. I have attached photos that I just saw from their website and hope to share this experience with everyone as I hope no one from this community will ever have to go through what I did in this situation. All the photos are screenshot from today ( April 27th 2021) about a week after they have issued the refund to me

OMG ! That's a lot of money to include a chip
Im so glad you got your money back
it might have taken a month but your perseverance paid off thank goodness
Caveat emptor indeed !

 

[musicloveranthony]

I can’t believe they’re reselling that stone with no disclosure. I have a couple stones from Blue Nile bookmarked but I’m going to delete them. I will not buy anything from them knowing this fits their business ethics.

 

[Mreader]

Thanks for the update and thank goodness you got your refund!

 

[MillieLou]

Thank you for updating OP. This is shocking behaviour on their part. I am a repeat BN customer over many years, have previously been happy with them, and this WILL absolutely put me off buying from them in future.

In fact, I've just emailed them to tell them so with a link to the diamond. I suggest others do the same.

Trust is everything for an online purchase. They are either knowingly selling a damaged diamond without disclosure, or refusing to honour their own refund policy. Terrifying either way.

 

[yssie]

Folks. Back up here.

The stone most likely is not damaged.
No one chipped it. It’s not chipped.
There is no undisclosed damage.

The plot diagram shows feather inclusions at exactly the same spot as the “chip”, in the photograph from the website.

GIA will occasionally colour surface breaching inclusions red rather than green.

OP wasn’t happy with the stone. That should have been enough for BN to take the return. They created a ton of unnecessary headache for their customer by claiming she damaged the stone with zero evidence. That was totally unacceptable.

But I don’t (at all) believe the stone is actually damaged. I am confident that right now, it is in exactly the same condition that it was in when GIA graded it. I am confident that BN isn’t misrepresenting a damaged stone as undamaged. That is a serious accusation and there is no compelling reason to entertain it.

OP is completely in the right, BN’s customer service was bottom of the barrel.
Let’s be careful to be angry about the right thing.

 

[Johnbt]

"But I don’t (at all) believe the stone is actually damaged."

Looking at it as a layman, I have to say it didn't polish up very smoothly. I would have been totally shocked to receive a retail diamond that wasn't nicely finished all over.

People of a certain age will know what I mean when I say that I would not expect to receive something that looks like it came from the Sears Scratch & Dent store.

 

[yssie]

"But I don’t (at all) believe the stone is actually damaged."

Looking at it as a layman, I have to say it didn't polish up very smoothly. I would have been totally shocked to receive a retail diamond that wasn't nicely finished all over.

People of a certain age will know what I mean when I say that I would not expect to receive something that looks like it came from the Sears Scratch & Dent store.

I don’t disagree - I would personally not want this stone either.

But not wanting the stone because it’s got surface-reaching bogeys, and the stone no longer being in the condition described by its GIA report - these are two distinct concerns and we need to be careful to keep them separate unless there’s proof that they’re not.

Again, either way, the customer service Chloe received was unacceptable.

 

[adlgel]

What I find odd is that Blue Nile had the diamond in their possession after the return. Therefore they had the ability to physically examine it and still they deemed it damaged and tried to reject the return on that basis. So what's the deal with that? Did the person who made that assessment just not know what they were doing? Did they not compare the diamond to the GIA plot to evaluate whether it was a surface breaching inclusion vs. damage. Did it then finally get evaluated by someone else who made the determination that it was not damaged and therefore authorized the refund?

But assuming Blue Nile accepts it was not damaged, now that they know that there is a surface breaching inclusion on that diamond that isn't reflected on the GIA plot, isn't it incumbent upon them to note that? Should Blue Nile not be accountable for disclosing this known discrepancy?

 

[Johnbt]

" we need to be careful to keep them separate until there’s proof that they’re not."

That's true.

But did the ad say that there was a surface flaw, pit or rough spot or was it somehow left for the retail customer to read between the lines and parse the words in the ad?

I wonder how many stones they sell with similar problems hoping the majority of customers won't notice?

 

[MrsBlue]

I would argue that the seller tacitly misrepresented the stone at the moment that they accused the buyer of damaging it and withheld the refund. If you accuse the buyer of damage, that implies the stone was undamaged before the sale. There may not be a corporate level scheme to misrepresent merchandise but to my way of thinking, this incident does count as misrepresentation.

I would be livid. What would have happened if OP hadn't kept the photos or had the PS knowledge to back up her claim?

 

[yssie]

Blue Nile sells stones based on the GIA report. They never sell stones with any descriptors of their own. So I get why there’s no additional information on the listing.

I am wondering why they didn’t send this thing back to GIA. I’m sure the first thing they did when they got it back was call their GIA reps - GIA keeps a lot more info on the stones they grade than what’s printed on the report, there are likely some additional details that we aren’t aware of. What those details might be - no idea...

This isn’t unique to BN. Any vendor that sells off an inventory that they don’t own can fall prey to problems like this. Some vendors will do thorough inspections on stones they bring in for clients - you’ll pay more to purchase through those vendors of course.

Ultimately - catching these sorts of issues is what appraisals and return periods are supposed to be for, and BN violated that agreement by accusing the customer of damaging a stone without proof

 

[Tourmaline]

Wow. Terrible business practice here.

 

[Mike-Seattle]

Hi Everyone- My name is Mike and I am an executive at Blue Nile.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-hopkins-0a084b29/

I want to assure everyone on this thread the diamond will not be relisted for sale, the reason it is listed on the site is because we returned and refunded Chloe for her purchase, and the system automatically relists diamonds that are returned. We will be removing it from the website this morning.

Most likely, we will send the diamond to be recut, getting rid of the chip, and resulting in a lower carat diamond.

I want to assure you we 100% stand by the diamonds we list, and I sincerely apologize to Chloe and her fiance that it was a hassle to receive your money back. Obviously situations like this are very rare, it is why we have trained gemologists that inspect every diamond.

 

[yssie]

Hi Everyone- My name is Mike and I am an executive at Blue Nile.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-hopkins-0a084b29/

I want to assure everyone on this thread the diamond will not be relisted for sale, the reason it is listed on the site is because we returned and refunded Chloe for her purchase, and the system automatically relists diamonds that are returned. We will be removing it from the website this morning.

Most likely, we will send the diamond to be recut, getting rid of the chip, and resulting in a lower carat diamond.

I want to assure you we 100% stand by the diamonds we list, and I sincerely apologize to Chloe and her fiance that it was a hassle to receive your money back. Obviously situations like this are very rare, it is why we have trained gemologists that inspect every diamond.

Welcome Mike! It’s always great to have more tradepeople here!

Could you clarify that the stone is damaged - that current condition is not as represented on the GIA report? And that the photo in the original listing depicted this damage?

 

[Mike-Seattle]

Correct, the chip was indeed barely visible in the image, but if you looked closely you could see it. And it is not listed on the GIA report. We inspect every diamond with trained gemologists, but clearly this small chip was missed.

Chloe, I know you've been in contact with our team and again, I sincerely apologize for the time and effort it took to receive your money back. I'll ask our team member to reach back out to you this morning to see if there are any other stones that catch your eye.

I also want to point out if you do see the stone on our site and it indicates the stone is "sold" that is certainly not the case. It is just how we prevent another customer from buying it until it can be cut and regraded by GIA

 

[yssie]

Thanks for clarifying Mike. And thanks also for explaining how BN will deal with this particular stone moving forward - I think many of us are glad to hear the plan for fix and regrade.

 

[chloe112233]

Folks. Back up here.

The stone most likely is not damaged.
No one chipped it. It’s not chipped.
There is no undisclosed damage.

The plot diagram shows feather inclusions at exactly the same spot as the “chip”, in the photograph from the website.

GIA will occasionally colour surface breaching inclusions red rather than green.

OP wasn’t happy with the stone. That should have been enough for BN to take the return. They created a ton of unnecessary headache for their customer by claiming she damaged the stone with zero evidence. That was totally unacceptable.

But I don’t (at all) believe the stone is actually damaged. I am confident that right now, it is in exactly the same condition that it was in when GIA graded it. I am confident that BN isn’t misrepresenting a damaged stone as undamaged. That is a serious accusation and there is no compelling reason to entertain it.

OP is completely in the right, BN’s customer service was bottom of the barrel.
Let’s be careful to be angry about the right thing.

Actually with the original comments I got from them when they rejected my return was that they stated they had a gemologist examine the stone and determined there was damage in the stone that is not “naturally occurring” which is why they accused me of chipping it. They stated that they had reviewed the GIA reports etc. and this damage was not noted anywhere and therefore was rejecting my return as the stone was not in the condition that they sold it in as they have a lot of quality control prior to sending products out. It wasn’t until I showed them the photos on their website that they went to “investigate further”

 

[Mike-Seattle]

Hi Chloe- Again, we sincerely apologize for the experience you had; we aim to delight our customers every time they interact with our customer care team, and we clearly fell short.

 

[MillieLou]

Thank you for posting here Mike and explaining the plan to recut / regrade before advertising for sake. This is reassuring.

However I hope there is learning for BN from this that it IS possible for damage to slip past quality control, and when a customer reports it soon after they receive the item, they should be believed - or at least given the benefit of the doubt. That is where things seemed to go wrong here.

Mistakes happen, things slip through. The thing that disturbs me here is that the customer was blamed and if she had not had photographs as evidence, would have been refused a refund. That loses trust. BN have always had a reputation as a trustworthy vendor, to date. This needs to be taken really seriously.

 

[Mike-Seattle]

Millie - I completely agree, and we have discussed with our internal QA and customer care teams on how we could have handled this better, and what we will do different going forward. We aim to be transparent and always put the customer first, and we clearly fell short here.

 

[chloe112233]

Hi Chloe- Again, we sincerely apologize for the experience you had; we aim to delight our customers every time they interact with our customer care team, and we clearly fell short.

Hi Mike, thank you for your apology, it is appreciated. This is the first time that someone from your company has reached out to me to apologize for what has happened. I understand that I was assigned a customer care advocate after the return was rejected. Through all communications (emails and phone calls ) she was polite and empathetic although it was made clear that she had to work hard to get the return accepted and concluded when she had emailed us to state that- and to quote " after a long process and multiple steps on my end".

I would just like to mention that through this process that although it may be a simple transaction for your company for a lot of consumers like myself and my fiancee this was one of our biggest purchases, not just in terms of monetary value but also sentimental. To receive a chipped diamond was upsetting, but I can understand these things happen. Once I started the return I was still on your website browsing for alternatives because I would have never imagined that there would be so many issues with the return and no ownership in responsibility to what had happened.

Where I hope you can do better is really the QA and the customer service that your company promotes. After a month of the return and me chasing this return several times I was informed of this issue and that we had to see if we can have alternatives to a refund as we were assured that QA for your company is strict and this would not have happened. I shopped with your company because of the fact that your company advocates quality control, an excellent return policy and to simplify the purchasing process. Although it was simple to purchase a diamond through your company for my transaction the quality control in this was not there and neither was the customer service. It was very upsetting and I hope that at least quality control is stepped up.

 

[Mike-Seattle]

Chloe - This is great feedback; we can and will do better.

Obviously this is a rare occurrence but we want the return and overall service experience to be as easy and seamless for our customers as purchasing a new diamond.

I'm going to connect with Serah from our team as I'd like to do something special for you to convey our sincerest apologies. We strive to delight our customers at every interaction and that clearly didn't happen here.

 

[Fabtwinsmom]

@chloe112233, glad to hear that your issue is finally resolved. Sorry that it took a long time and not without stress. Hope you’ll find a new ring to celebrate your engagement soon and come back to show us and let us celebrate along with you.

 

[Fabtwinsmom]

@Mike-Seattle, glad to see you here addressing the issue. This should have been a joyous time for Chloe and her fiancé. so I hope you’re able to do something special for her. Customer experience is so paramount especially for online purchases, and it is even more so for high value, high sentiment items. Your company not only sell jewelry but also the emotion and memories that go along with each piece. I’m a past customer of BN and I’d like to think that this incident will only help to improve your internal processes and customer service so that I can shop at BN in the future with confidence.

 

[MrsBlue]

@chloe112233 your honesty and restraint in discussing this topic are admirable. Best wishes to you and your fiance for a long and happy life together.

PS--We will need dozens of pictures of whatever ring you wind up getting. I'm confident that it will be spectacular.

 

[Ceilimom]

@Mike-Seattle, glad to see you here addressing the issue. This should have been a joyous time for Chloe and her fiancé. so I hope you’re able to do something special for her. Customer experience is so paramount especially for online purchases, and it is even more so for high value, high sentiment items. Your company not only sell jewelry but also the emotion and memories that go along with each piece. I’m a past customer of BN and I’d like to think that this incident will only help to improve your internal processes and customer service so that I can shop at BN in the future with confidence.

Well said, stressing the point that quality control and customer service/ support has to be a priority.

 

[Ceilimom]

Chloe I am so glad that this "issue" will be resolved, hoping whatever diamond you have in your engagement ring will delight you from this point on. Congratulations to you and your fiancee.