just going to share a little of my current buying experience, and wondering if anyone has run into the same issues. . .
I've done my internet research, tried to resolve any conflicting information I've seen, and I've headed to some of the B&Ms in the San Francisco Bay Area.
I've gotten quite the range of reactions to the types of questions I've asked. I figure that if people are here, they are trying to do the same research that I am, so I'm wondering if other people have gone through this.
Examples:
1. (mentioned in a previous thread) A store owner was showing a GIA Ex-Ex 1.33 F VS2 RB and was pushing it as an Ideal Cut. When I asked for crown and pavilion angles, she said that they didn't have them, couldn't measure it in house and asked why I needed it -- Ex-Ex was all I needed to know.
2. Different store owner, after not wanting to make a copy of the AGS cert for an AGS0 1.26 F VS1 RB, asked why I was writing all the measurements down. I explained that I would be putting them into the HCA (although I didn't mention it by name, I tried explaining what it was to her),and her reaction was, "Why bother? These people don't know as much as AGS does about stones."
3. At yet another store, the owner was explaining the problems that occur with too shallow depth/small crown angle (and conversely, too large depth or large crown angle). When I asked whether adjusting them in complementary fashion would offset each other (larger depth and smaller crown angle or vice versa, which I think the HCA does take into account) she said that was incorrect.
It seems that people at these B&Ms are not familiar with the HCA or the type of research that Mr. Holloway and others have done into angle and depth/table variance and how it affects brilliance.
I guess that in my feeling, there have been a number of vendors that I've spoken to that, when confronted with a more informed customer, act in a somewhat arrogant fashion (not necessarily the above examples, just a general attitude). Throw in the amount of inaccurate or just weird statements that people have made (and made sound like absolute facts). I don't know if this is because they feel that their 10-20 years of experience trumps anything I can read up on in a month's time. Or maybe, they're used to having their word simply accepted, not questioned.
Anyone else deal with this?
I've done my internet research, tried to resolve any conflicting information I've seen, and I've headed to some of the B&Ms in the San Francisco Bay Area.
I've gotten quite the range of reactions to the types of questions I've asked. I figure that if people are here, they are trying to do the same research that I am, so I'm wondering if other people have gone through this.
Examples:
1. (mentioned in a previous thread) A store owner was showing a GIA Ex-Ex 1.33 F VS2 RB and was pushing it as an Ideal Cut. When I asked for crown and pavilion angles, she said that they didn't have them, couldn't measure it in house and asked why I needed it -- Ex-Ex was all I needed to know.
2. Different store owner, after not wanting to make a copy of the AGS cert for an AGS0 1.26 F VS1 RB, asked why I was writing all the measurements down. I explained that I would be putting them into the HCA (although I didn't mention it by name, I tried explaining what it was to her),and her reaction was, "Why bother? These people don't know as much as AGS does about stones."
3. At yet another store, the owner was explaining the problems that occur with too shallow depth/small crown angle (and conversely, too large depth or large crown angle). When I asked whether adjusting them in complementary fashion would offset each other (larger depth and smaller crown angle or vice versa, which I think the HCA does take into account) she said that was incorrect.
It seems that people at these B&Ms are not familiar with the HCA or the type of research that Mr. Holloway and others have done into angle and depth/table variance and how it affects brilliance.
I guess that in my feeling, there have been a number of vendors that I've spoken to that, when confronted with a more informed customer, act in a somewhat arrogant fashion (not necessarily the above examples, just a general attitude). Throw in the amount of inaccurate or just weird statements that people have made (and made sound like absolute facts). I don't know if this is because they feel that their 10-20 years of experience trumps anything I can read up on in a month's time. Or maybe, they're used to having their word simply accepted, not questioned.
Anyone else deal with this?