Super Ideal Cutters for e-ring

[deeman]

I've started to look online for an engagement ring as have decided I would like the best cut possible so trying to determine who are the online retailers I should be looking at for this type of diamond.

So far I have identified

Brian Gavin
White Flash
High Performance Diamonds
Victor Canera

Is there anyone else I should be aware of? I'm also UK based if that makes any difference.

Also can anyone comment on White Flash please. The fact the guys at diamond pro won't recommend them makes me a bit nervous about using them. Does any one know why diamond pro refuse to recommend.

Thanks in advance for your help and for providing a great resource for a newbie like me.

 

[OoohShiny]

I've started to look online for an engagement ring as have decided I would like the best cut possible so trying to determine who are the online retailers I should be looking at for this type of diamond.

So far I have identified

Brian Gavin
White Flash
High Performance Diamonds
Victor Canera

Is there anyone else I should be aware of? I'm also UK based if that makes any difference.

Also can anyone comment on White Flash please. The fact the guys at diamond pro won't recommend them makes me a bit nervous about using them. Does any one know why diamond pro refuse to recommend.

Thanks in advance for your help and for providing a great resource for a newbie like me.

Do Diamond Pro have affiliation with A.N.Other vendor? Therefore have some sort of financial incentive to discourage the use of other vendors...? lol

Are you looking only at MRBs? Or other shapes? Or vintage style rounds?

 

[xxxxxx]

I find Victor Canera doesn't get enough attention for his ideal cut diamonds! The plus with him is that you get a discount on his beautiful handforged settings.
On the plus side for HP and WF they have slightly better upgrade programs (HP even has a 80%buyback policy) (please anybody correct me if I'm wrong).

I wouldn't consider Brian Gavin as I read some not so happy reviews about them and there customer service seemed to be lacking.

 

[rockysalamander]

I don't know the DiamondPro's particular preferences, but a lot of 3rd parties won't recommend a branded diamond because than there is no point in you paying them for a service. From any of the super-ideal vendors you listed, there is almost no need for such a "helper".

If you are in the UK, Crafted by Infinity (the same cutter for High Performance Diamonds) has UK and EU stores. That might save you quite a bit in currency exchange.

 

[tyty333]

There are plenty (lots) of regular Pricescopers that own Whiteflash stones and can attest to their service as well as their beautiful stones
(and we can be quite picky...I'm sure Whiteflash can attest to that!).

 

[Wewechew]

I don't know the DiamondPro's particular preferences, but a lot of 3rd parties won't recommend a branded diamond because than there is no point in you paying them for a service. From any of the super-ideal vendors you listed, there is almost no need for such a "helper".

If you are in the UK, Crafted by Infinity (the same cutter for High Performance Diamonds) has UK and EU stores. That might save you quite a bit in currency exchange.

I've read good reviews on here about Durham Rose and they sell CBI's

http://http//www.durhamrose.com/

 

[deeman]

Thanks everyone for the replies and the link for Durham Rose, that's a really good start point for me.

Do Diamond Pro have affiliation with A.N.Other vendor? Therefore have some sort of financial incentive to discourage the use of other vendors...? lol

Are you looking only at MRBs? Or other shapes? Or vintage style rounds?

OohShiny I have no idea what the issue is with diamonds(.)pro, whenever they are asked about Whiteflash they always reply as follows

"I’m really sorry, but we will not comment on White Flash under any circumstances. We have had terrible personal experiences with them that a) make us feel no one should ever buy from them and b) precludes us from being objective about them. "

As you can imagine a message that strong makes me reluctant to consider them so glad to hear many people here have had positive experiences with them

 

[yssie]

@deeman many, many PSers have had exceptional (in the good way) experiences with WF. There are threads aplenty here on PS. WF makes mistakes - all vendors do - but I honestly can't think of a single instance of WF making a mistake and not going above and beyond to make their client whole.

Edit: https://www.diamonds.pro/reviews/tiffany-and-co/

AVOIDING STATE SALES TAX PURCHASING ONLINE
With online diamond sellers (at least until the law changes, if it ever does), you can avoid state sales tax by having the ring sent to a state where the store doesn’t have a presence. James Allen, for example, only has a physical business presence in New York and Maryland. So any other state is Tax Free.

Even if you live in New York or Maryland, you can easily have the package shipped to the nearest FedEx location just over the state border marked “Hold at Facility” where you can go pick it up tax free.

Consumer beware: This pair of dimwits apparently doesn't see any issue with publicly recommending tax fraud. Doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the rest of their recommendations. The machinations described in this section are also no longer possible - most states have closed this loophole.

 

[Izzy70]

I am from Guernsey, Channel Islands and I purchased my diamond from Whiteflash. I had no problems at all and was really pleased with the assistance I received and will be buying another diamond next year!
James Allen has a good calculator for VAT and import duty, I am lucky and don’t have to pay VAT being in Guernsey

Duties & Tax Calculator | JamesAllen.com

Ready to buy your dream engagement ring? Use our duty and taxes calculator to help you understand how much Duty and VAT you’ll incur with your purchase.

www.jamesallen.com

 

[distracts]

The number of typos or misspellings overall on the diamonds.pro website does not inspire confidence, either.

This is how diamonds.pro gets paid:

“In our case, we check with the diamond companies we’ve made these arrangements with to verify which of our readers bought the diamonds we recommended and our commission is based on that list of purchases. So while we would never sell your info for marketing/spam, we do send our affiliates the names and email addresses of the readers we’ve helped personally. This way they can verify that we helped you out and we receive compensation for our time and effort.“

To my knowledge, Whiteflash’s affiliate program is not as extensive as some others, which means this guy wouldn’t make money helping you if you bought from there. That he will not share WHAT his problem isn't exactly transparent.

Pricescope is a forum of other consumers - if we are helping you buy a diamond, we are not being compensated in any way. There ARE people in the jewelry business on the forum but they are not allowed to comment on prospective purchases.

And at the end of the day, who do you trust? The people who are ACTUALLY helping you just because we are passionate and like to help, or the guy getting paid to funnel you to only a specific few vendors who will pay him for doing so?

 

[distracts]

Like I’m not saying to buy from Whiteflash - I’ve never bought from them and have no stake. But know who is helping you and why. I personally trust consumer forums more than people who are essentially the paid influencers of the engagement ring world.

 

[deeman]

Thank you everyone, that has certainly helped put my mind to rest.

I am from Guernsey, Channel Islands and I purchased my diamond from Whiteflash. I had no problems at all and was really pleased with the assistance I received and will be buying another diamond next year!
James Allen has a good calculator for VAT and import duty, I am lucky and don’t have to pay VAT being in Guernsey

Duties & Tax Calculator | JamesAllen.com

Ready to buy your dream engagement ring? Use our duty and taxes calculator to help you understand how much Duty and VAT you’ll incur with your purchase.

www.jamesallen.com

@Izzy70 I so wish I didn't have to pay VAT too, the 20% add on is a killer when looking at e-rings in the US!

 

[Johnbt]

They had a falling out. And nobody is talking. I ran across this a couple of years ago when I began shopping.

www.pricescope.com/community/threads/diamondpro-blog-cant-recommend-whiteflash-diamonds.218510/

From post #28...

"My name is Ira Weissman. I am the founder of Truth About Diamonds that is now known as The Diamond Pro. I no longer play an active role in the day to day operation of the site. My former colleague from Leo Schachter diamonds (where we were trained professionally and worked together), Michael Fried, now runs the site. "

"I fully admit that WF would have a different perspective on what happened and feels they have legitimate reasons for how they treated us. That's fine. Our goal was never to drag them through the mud. We don't write anything obviously negative about them on our site. We only respond this way privately if someone asks us about them.

Honestly, I would prefer if this whole thread would be taken down. I don't like writing even this much publicly. I regret that the OP wrote what he did and the ensuing conversation forced me to respond to defend our business.

Ira Weissman
Sightholder Veteran
Truth About Diamonds"

 

[CSpan]

If you have a really specific cut, or want to ogle Octavias or some peruzzis head on over to Yoram's page at gemconcepts.

Someone just posted their knockout new ring from him in this forum. It is to die for twice over.

 

[distracts]

They had a falling out. And nobody is talking. I ran across this a couple of years ago when I began shopping.

www.pricescope.com/community/threads/diamondpro-blog-cant-recommend-whiteflash-diamonds.218510/

From post #28...

"My name is Ira Weissman. I am the founder of Truth About Diamonds that is now known as The Diamond Pro. I no longer play an active role in the day to day operation of the site. My former colleague from Leo Schachter diamonds (where we were trained professionally and worked together), Michael Fried, now runs the site. "

"I fully admit that WF would have a different perspective on what happened and feels they have legitimate reasons for how they treated us. That's fine. Our goal was never to drag them through the mud. We don't write anything obviously negative about them on our site. We only respond this way privately if someone asks us about them.

Honestly, I would prefer if this whole thread would be taken down. I don't like writing even this much publicly. I regret that the OP wrote what he did and the ensuing conversation forced me to respond to defend our business.

Ira Weissman
Sightholder Veteran
Truth About Diamonds"

See, this is exactly the kind of super vague post that makes me just ignore that they say they have a problem at all. I like the PS method of somebody posting that they are having a problem and how it was resolved (or not resolved). Suuuuuper vague posts like this make me think that the people actually had petty reasons that they only won't disclose because they know how it would make them look.

In the linked thread, Ira says they keep their reasons private because they're worried about a libel lawsuit. I call BS. If they actually had negative issues, that were ACTUAL, with proof, they could just post them.

Heck, on PS, we've had several people dissatisfied with Whiteflash who have posted. From reading those threads it seems like Whiteflash acted well in trying to correct the problem, and the issue was able to come to a satisfactory outcome even if it was that Whiteflash refunded the customer and the customer went elsewhere. No company gets it right every time, but I do expect that they work with the customer to find a solution when something goes wrong, which WF appears to do. Every single vendor we recommend has ****ed up at some point or another, and every one we keep recommending has tried to make it right. And there are vendors (not WF, but others) where some people are avid, avid fans and others wouldn't buy from them at gunpoint.

The benefit to a consumer forum over something like diamonds.pro is that you have a greater diversity of voices and experiences here - but of course the downside is that if you just want one person to make the final decision and say "yes, buy this," something like diamonds.pro might be better. Because with as many people as on PS, you will always have people disagreeing!