Pushy salespeople...I should know better

[ChloeTheGreat]

My SO and I have been looking for wedding bands.
I want a plain thin platinum band to wear with my beautiful BGD halo e-ring.
He isn't very picky other than he wants a row of diamonds in his band. The trouble is, he wears a size 15 so it is hard to find anything in his size or that can be ordered in his size.

This afternoon we went to a couple of our local B&M chain stores to see what the options were.

The first one didn't have any platinum bands for me to look at, but were able to find it in a catalog to be ordered. (For twice the price of the ones I've found online!) Oh well.
They couldn't tell us a price on special ordering a men's ring in the large size, so they'll call us in a few days.

The second one was a Zales "diamond outlet store" and I hadn't been in there yet, so I thought I'd give it a try.
I explained that I wanted a platinum band and the saleswoman proceeded to tell me that they don't really carry it in stores and most people don't want it because it's expensive and it scratches. Then she says "well why do you want platinum?" like she's trying to talk me out of it. I responded that my e-ring is platinum and I didn't want to mix metals.
She showed my SO some bands he liked, but will also have to call later to give us a price for making the large size.

All in all...those stores are a waste of time.
And I'm still stuck trying to figure out what to do for my SO's wedding band.

I mostly just wanted to share my experience about being talked out of platinum, because I thought it was kind of funny.
But if anyone has suggestions about finding a size 15 wedding band, I'm all ears!

 

[ame]

DH wears that size and we actually bought him one from Boonerings.com but it was titanium with a trigold mokume inlay. He didn't want diamonds in his. And to be honest I have no idea where it is....i moved it on the one time in 7 years that I cleaned our living room and I have NO IDEA where I moved it to.

 

[swingirl]

Why not get the bands from BGD?

 

[E B]

Any of these appeal? They're available up to 16.75.

http://titaniumera.com/catalog/list?cid=801&jcar=801-0

 

[ChloeTheGreat]

Why not get the bands from BGD?

Over budget! SO has seen plenty of rings in stores he's liked before, so we also didn't know it would be such an issue to get one when the time came.

I placed the order for my own wedding band, so at least we've got one ring covered so far!

 

[ChloeTheGreat]

Any of these appeal? They're available up to 16.75.

http://titaniumera.com/catalog/list?cid=801&jcar=801-0

Thanks! I haven't heard of that site before. I'm not sure those are his style but I'll have him take a look.

 

[ame]

https://store.weddingringhotline.com/product.php?xProd=13&xSec=6

this one goes up to a 15.

 

[MissStepcut]

Have you checked Etsy at all? This was neat:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62483718/platinum-finger-print-wedding-ring?ref=sr_gallery_32&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=platinum+band&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_ship_to=US&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

 

[chemgirl]

I had the oposite problem at Cartier. DH wanted a yellow gold wedding band and they kept on pushing platinum. The first location we tried went so far as to say that yellow gold was dated and they doubted we would be able to find a yellow gold men's band anywhere. We ended up calling the Sloan Square location and they brought one in by courier. The first location lost a sale (well a few sales since we're not dealing with them anymore) because the second actually listened to us!

I find that most sales people will try to talk you in to whatever they have in stock so they can make a quick sale.

 

[slg47]

chloe have you tried eweddingbands.com? they make custom bands and could probably go to a size 15.

I ordered my FI's wedding band from Larson Jewelers...they were also able to make a custom size. I'm not sure if they make size 15 but you could check?
http://www.larsonjewelers.com/p-316-newport-beveled-tungsten-diamond-carbide-ring-with-platinum-inlay.aspx

 

[ChloeTheGreat]

chloe have you tried eweddingbands.com? they make custom bands and could probably go to a size 15.

I ordered my FI's wedding band from Larson Jewelers...they were also able to make a custom size. I'm not sure if they make size 15 but you could check?
http://www.larsonjewelers.com/p-316-newport-beveled-tungsten-diamond-carbide-ring-with-platinum-inlay.aspx

I ordered my wedding band from eweddingbands.com...I have been in touch with the sales rep, but the bands we liked for SO were not able to be made in size 15. Bummer.

 

[Gypsy]

What's your budget for his band?

http://www.justmensrings.com this site specializes in larger rings. No diamonds though.

 

[Imdanny]

I had the oposite problem at Cartier. DH wanted a yellow gold wedding band and they kept on pushing platinum. The first location we tried went so far as to say that yellow gold was dated and they doubted we would be able to find a yellow gold men's band anywhere.

I'm getting a gold band from them.

It's coming hopefully soon and trust me, it will be like: me: give me this: x,y,z. End of story.

I wonder whether this behavior was in or was outside of the parameters given to sales staff. I kind of have a feeling one could make the case to management that that wasn't the level of service expected. But I guess everyone is trying to make a buck and if the sales people have to act unprofessionally to do it then they will.

Gold going out of style. Gold being scarce at Cartier. Yes, and pigs flying.

It's disappointing that these salespeople would represent Cartier this way.

 

[chemgirl]

I had the oposite problem at Cartier. DH wanted a yellow gold wedding band and they kept on pushing platinum. The first location we tried went so far as to say that yellow gold was dated and they doubted we would be able to find a yellow gold men's band anywhere.

I'm getting a gold band from them.

It's coming hopefully soon and trust me, it will be like: me: give me this: x,y,z. End of story.

I wonder whether this behavior was in or was outside of the parameters given to sales staff. I kind of have a feeling one could make the case to management that that wasn't the level of service expected. But I guess everyone is trying to make a buck and if the sales people have to act unprofessionally to do it then they will.

Gold going out of style. Gold being scarce at Cartier. Yes, and pigs flying.

It's disappointing that these salespeople would represent Cartier this way.

The first location was in a touristy area so I think the sales people might be used to trying to make a quick sale. We weren't tourists, but we sound American so she may have been skeptical. Basically we told her what we wanted, she didn't have it, and she made it sound like we wouldn't be able to find it anywhere. We asked if she could order it, but she said they had what they had and we'd have to check back next week.

We called a second location and they were fantastic. I've never had better service anywhere. We told them what we needed and they brought in the two rings for us with no real commitment from us. We just called them, told them what we needed, and left our name. They apologized profusely because took 2 hours to get the rings to their location (they had to come from Ireland I believe). It took us longer than 2 hours to get across town to pick them up.

We called the first store to tell them about the difference in service. They seemed very surprised that a store would bring in rings for us without a deposit.

It sounds like policies might depend on the store. I've had another weird experience with Cartier's Toronto location.

 

[ChloeTheGreat]

I've found a good contender at mensweddingbands.com
White gold with diamonds...comes in at about $900 after a discount code. That was more than I expected to spend, but after searching high and low, it seems pretty reasonable and he likes the style (I never knew this man was so picky about jewelry!)
If I don't find a better option very soon, I'll order this one. We have about 8 weeks until our trip to the courthouse.

 

[April20]

Any of these appeal? They're available up to 16.75.

http://titaniumera.com/catalog/list?cid=801&jcar=801-0

Thanks! I haven't heard of that site before. I'm not sure those are his style but I'll have him take a look.

We bought my DHs w-band from this site. Great customer service if it's up his alley.