Robbins Bros Price Match

[Starks]

So based on their website and a phone call I guess Robbins Bros will do price matching for diamonds / rings. I went into their store and was looking at some diamonds and they seemed really overpriced from what I have seen online. One I was looking at was a .65 G VS1, which looked really nice, but was $3600. I found the same stone online for $1600 less. I guess if they do the pricematching, then you don''t get the Robbins Bros warrenty or free cleaning/etc... If I got one there, I would have it insured seperately anyways and I was wondering your thoughts about this. Anyone else here ever had them price match something? It would be nice to not buy online so I can see it without shipping it back and forth.

 

[hoorray]

I don't know anything about Robbins, but I have never been to a jeweler who wouldn't clean whatever jewelry I had on free of charge, no matter where I purchased it. They tend to do it as a service and as way to keep you there so they can sell, etc. I would consider that pretty much $0 value-add. I don't know about the warranty aspect of it. I guess if the prongs came loose and they fixed it for free, that is useful, but you can have a lot of minor service work done on a ring for $1600!

You'll find I, along with most people on this forum, aren't B&M fans. But, they do have the advantage that you can see and compare multiple stones in person more easily. It mostly depends on what you are comfortable with, but I think you get better deals and better quality from the online vendors.

 

[rbjd]

Do a search here to find my post "The Art of the Hard Sell" and see if you can figure out which company I'm referring to.

Warranty? Give me a break. $5,000 of valuable article insurance through Chubb will cost you about $100 per year. Cleaning? Clean it yourself for free.

Even if Robbins does price matching (not in my experience) there are still some problems: 1) the quality I saw was marginal compared to what I found online and 2) NO TAX if you order from out of state.

Who do you think pays for Robbins Bros' marketing campaign?

 

[Starks]

The only thing is that I know my girlfriend would prefer not to have it bought online, although I've been looking a lot at whiteflash and bluenile, both of those look pretty good, and I've read all the good reviews on this site.

 

[DoctorZ]

Don't believe the price matching thing for a second. I had a Robbins Bros salesman admit to me that he has NEVER had a customer be paid the 'difference' in price on a diamond that was comparable. Think about it....they tell you that if you find a comparable diamond for cheaper, they refund the difference. Well, guess who defines 'comparable'? The store does. Because no two diamonds are exactly alike, they will never admit to a less expensive stone from another jeweler being better or comparable in quality.

 

[DoctorZ]

Q: "Who do you think pays for Robbins Bros' marketing campaign?"

A: Guys who don't know better.


Here...I'll break down the $1600 for ya

Millions of annoying radio commercials ($500)
The free drink that they serve all their customers ($50)
The 15 salespeople standing around, looking pretty ($300)
The fancy bay windows on the side of the store ($250)
The glowing neon sign ($200)
The plasma TVs in the waiting area.($300)

 

[ccuheartnurse]

Starks,
I live in Toronto but I had phoned one of their locations in California somewhere to inquire about my ring. Well, I got such a run around it wasnt funny. I merely had requested that the Scott Kay ring be sent to the Fed. Ex. Depot in Buffalo for pick up there. They refused to send it stating they had to send the item to the credit card billing address. I was still shopping, but my ring was $2190 at their store. I eventually bought the ring locally & it was $1650 U.S. So I did much better here. The woman was pretty arrogant though & I think, how can you have that attitude? Well, I suppose its from the amount of people that buy from them without knowing anything.
As for buying online. My fiance was dead set against it. Then we started shopping for the stone & realized the deals online were too good to pass up. So, we bought from Diamond Brokers of Florida. My FH was scared to death about spending so much money for something he's never seen or give his money to people he's never met, but Jan & Brad are very trustworthy jewelers & they delivered the goods they were representing. There are other vendors on this board that I havent heard any bad things about them sending something that they didnt represent. Just make sure you buy a stone they can either get into their store or have already. I dont like this deal where some will have the cutter ship the stone out. I want the jeweler to inspect it & do whatever testing they need to do to it to assure me that its a good stone.

Judy


Oh, once your girlfriend sees that you can get a bigger stone for the same price as buying in a "real" store, she might change her mind. hahaha

 

[niceice]

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On 7/30/2003 4

4:29 PM Starks wrote:

...then you don't get the Robbins Bros warrenty or free cleaning/etc... If I got one there, I would have it insured seperately anyways and I was wondering your thoughts about this.

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We've never met an in-store warranty / insurance policy that was worth the paper it is written on... And they tend to provide people with a false sense of security regarding their jewelry item... It is better to obtain a specific insurance policy which insures the item against loss, damage, fire, etc. through your homeowner's insurance policy... Our preference is State Farm or Chubb. Lots of people have good and bad things to say about both companies, but in our experience they both offer a level of coverage and customer service which is heads above the rest.

Price match... A "comparable" price match in the diamond world is when you're looking at the "exact same" diamond offered by two different companies at two different prices and one company is willing to match the price of the other vendor for the "exact same" stone... In other words, the diamond IS the same... The lab report number is the same... The clarity and color and specificatons are the same... The only thing that is different is the price... It's a perfect system if you think about it, there is no way for the seller to actually have to ever pay out on their guarantee... Just our two cents...

 

[rbjd]

Well Starks, as I told somebody else recently, if you feel like paying a lot of extra money (and tax) to some local jeweler who sells you overpriced crap, by all means, go right ahead. I know my girlfriend not only appreciates all the money I saved by buying a stone online, her diamond looks nicer than anybody else's SHE'S EVER SEEN.

 

[Starks]

After looking over some more posts, I really don't feel like buying from Robbins Bros and trying to haggle the price down. Their store is pretty intimidating to begin with. So now I'm looking at Blue Nile and Whiteflash more seriously. I went to Tiffany's today and saw that I could only get about a half carat at most for my budget, although their rings look pretty amazing there (I know the lights help).

 

[DoctorZ]

Sounds like you're close to eliminating Robbins Bros as a possibility.

Now, about Tiffany...that would be a whole new debate, wouldn't it?

 

[hoorray]

Buying something like an e-ring on the internet seems odd to the unaware. Believe me -- we just spent big $$ on a 2.5c beautiful upgrade stone off the internet, and when people see it, they are surprised at first when we tell them we got it from the Internet.

But that's the beauty of it! Diamonds are one of the items leading the change that the Internet is bringing, so take advantage of it and get your fiance a larger, better quality ring than you could afford at your local stores. The more you educate yourself about the tradeoffs in cut etc, the more you can broaden your choices to the various vendors. There are lots of vendors who get good reviews on this forum, so use it as a referece board. Run a couple of searches on the various names, and you'll get a good feel pretty quickly.

I would also recommend that you call a few of the vendors you narrow in on, and start a dialog with them about what you are looking for. You'll find them just as helpful or more than your local stores, and it won't feel like you are buying blind from some web site. They'll give you great customer service.

enuf of my soapbox.....can you tell I believe in this stuff?

 

[MichaelF]

I wonder... would she be willing to trade the extra quality and carat weight for the knowledge it was from this store or that... When her girl friends stop her will they say:

"WOW... What a ROCK!, how big is that thing?"

Or, do you think they'd say...


"WOW... What a ROCK!, hope he bought it at Tiffany's!"

In short, the money you save goes into extra surface area, carat weight, cut quality (flash and sparkle) and as a result, a bigger "WOW..."

Michael

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On 7/30/2003 8:50:52 PM Starks wrote:

The only thing is that I know my girlfriend would prefer not to have it bought online, although I've been looking a lot at whiteflash and bluenile, both of those look pretty good, and I've read all the good reviews on this site.

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[bzz1]

It seems that there are not alot of diamond experts here.... If you see any diamond pro in the world, ask them this question. Would you buy a diamond without seeing it?? The answer will always be no, of course not. I would have to see any diamond before I bought it. The reason some companies cannot price match to the internet is you are comparing two completely different diamonds of substantially different makes. If you do a Blue Nile search for 1.00-1.05 round VS-1 F your price range will be from 6-10K. Even the exact specs of Ideal will range from 7-10k. If anyone here believes the 7k diamond looks the same as the 7k diamond I have a bridge to sell you.

 

[belle]

Date: 6/28/2005 12:23:21 AM
Author: bzz1
It seems that there are not alot of diamond experts here.... If you see any diamond pro in the world, ask them this question. Would you buy a diamond without seeing it?? The answer will always be no, of course not. I would have to see any diamond before I bought it. The reason some companies cannot price match to the internet is you are comparing two completely different diamonds of substantially different makes. If you do a Blue Nile search for 1.00-1.05 round VS-1 F your price range will be from 6-10K. Even the exact specs of Ideal will range from 7-10k. If anyone here believes the 7k diamond looks the same as the 7k diamond I have a bridge to sell you.

i believe it!

where is this bridge and how much is it?

......really don''t need a bridge, but why not!

 

[JohnQuixote]

Robert,

If only you''d waited 33 more days.
Then we could have celebrated the 2 year anniverary of this thread.

 

[MissAva]

Date: 6/28/2005 12:23:21 AM
Author: bzz1
It seems that there are not alot of diamond experts here.... If you see any diamond pro in the world, ask them this question. Would you buy a diamond without seeing it?? The answer will always be no, of course not. I would have to see any diamond before I bought it. The reason some companies cannot price match to the internet is you are comparing two completely different diamonds of substantially different makes. If you do a Blue Nile search for 1.00-1.05 round VS-1 F your price range will be from 6-10K. Even the exact specs of Ideal will range from 7-10k. If anyone here believes the 7k diamond looks the same as the 7k diamond I have a bridge to sell you.

Robert...there are several experts on this site but they only post to the thread where they feel they would like to contribute and Todd is an expert, I trust his opinions 100%. And to be blunt I just spent 2000 dollars on a g.vs 2.85 round eternity band, and the stones are a very high cut quality. I was able to have it shipped to me and have it appraised by a local to ensure it was what I had paid for. The platnium setting a lovely and I am enjoying it quite a bit. To be honest it is a better wuality then I was able to find in the majority of the local B&Ms and the single one that had stones like this near me...well I could not afford to have the same size ring. So I think if you are going to knock buyign diamonds on the internet you ought to see what you can find here on PS first. ( and then we will politely ignore your original post).

 

[MissAva]

Date: 6/28/2005 12:55:25 AM
Author: JohnQuixote
Robert,

If only you''d waited 33 more days.
Then we could have celebrated the 2 year anniverary of this thread.

Opps, sorry I didnt notice.