shape
carat
color
clarity

The jeweler told me not to waste his time

soocool

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Jan 10, 2009
Messages
2,827
DD and I went shopping at Penns Purchase in Lahaska, PA and there is this jewelry store, Enzo's Fine Jewelry that has been there for around 15 years which means it must do business to still be there. Since I am on a quest for diamond huggies I thought I would stop in and like any true PS'er to look at some bling. He asked me if I was looking for anything specific and I told him 1.5 ct huggies. He then proceeded to tell me that he does not carry 1.5 (I started there and did not bring up the 2 carats I am seriously considering) 5 - 15 pointers per huggie, but that he could custom make them for me. I asked if he could give me a figure to see if it was within my budget. I asked for F-G stones (like the ones being offered by IDJ and WF for comparison) and for VS clarity and then it was when the rudeness started. He said that G-H and SI is good enough. When I told him that I would want to inspect the stones first he got nasty saying that if I needed to use a loupe to check out the stones that I was nuts. SI in 15 pointers is good enough. When I started to use "his jeweler's language" he was pissed and then proceeded to pull out his RAP Report. I told him that I did not need an education in that report, that all I wanted was a ballpark - low to high of what it would cost for 1.5 tctw diamond huggies -

He kept asking me what my budget was and I refused to tell him. He then asked me what I thought his profit margin was and I said that I did not care, when he pressed I said ok 20 - 30% to make him think that I was stupid. So he said ok I will break down my actual cost and tack on 20% profit. So I kept pressing and asked to give me a ballpark figure again he kept pressing me to find out what I was willing to spend. To make him happy I asked would the huggies cost around $6000.? He said probably less than that, and I pressed on,"How much less?" and he said "a little more than $5,000". I chuckled and he asked if I think I could do better and I smiled at him and said, much better. I could see at this point he was getting pissed at me, but I delighted in the fact that he was getting hot under the collar.He finally told me to stop wasting his time. I looked around and saw that DD and I were the only ones in his shop and then looked at each other and laughed as we exited the store.
 
What an a$$ hat!! As if that was his strategy to "win you over"!!! :rolleyes: Wow. Moron. Sounds like he might be a buddy of the guy I had my bad B&M 3 stone experience with!
 
Soocool, you're my hero.
 
This is the kind of person that gives the profession a bad name. I wish he would move over to used cars.
 
I'm impressed with you for keeping on till you showed the moron up. I would have given up & left in a huff myself -- you are much cooler than I am! At least you know where never to go back to, talk about wasting time! :bigsmile:

--- Laurie
 
I'm sure the jeweler in question was a jerk in many ways, but...

it would have taken him time to prepare the kind of estimate you were discussing, and I can see where he would have been reluctant to do that knowing that you probably already had some on-line sources in mind. Had you said "I've seen some with EF-si1 stones in the XXX dollar range," he could have told you whether or not he could come near that price. End of story. Or maybe he would have become defensive anyway... who knows?

More than once in the past few weeks I've responded to "what size stud earrings should I get" threads with the suggestion that they try on some sizes to see which suits them best, and knowing that the poster would then order their earrings from a PS vendor. Maybe we need a discussion on how best to handle this B&M store vs. on-line vendor interface.
 
VRBeauty|1342907595|3237845 said:
I'm sure the jeweler in question was a jerk in many ways, but...

it would have taken him time to prepare the kind of estimate you were discussing, and I can see where he would have been reluctant to do that knowing that you probably already had some on-line sources in mind. Had you said "I've seen some with EF-si1 stones in the XXX dollar range," he could have told you whether or not he could come near that price. End of story. Or maybe he would have become defensive anyway... who knows?

More than once in the past few weeks I've responded to "what size stud earrings should I get" threads with the suggestion that they try on some sizes to see which suits them best, and knowing that the poster would then order their earrings from a PS vendor. Maybe we need a discussion on how best to handle this B&M store vs. on-line vendor interface.

He was the one who asked what I was looking for. I told him that I stopped at Bernie Robbins and another jewelers the previous day. Other than that he had no idea that I had some on-line sources [/b]in mind. I asked him if he could give me a ballpark figure for stones in F-G and VS clarity. He was going to quote diamond prices off the RAP sheet and not spend any time to work up a real quote. At that point I knew it was useless. He wanted to me guess what his profit margin was, why didn't he just tell me. He was telling me that G-H and SI stones were good enough for what I wanted even though I spefically said that I wanted F-G and VS stones. He was arguing with me that no one would notice and I told him I would.

Shouldn't I get what I want? The gentlemen at the 2 stores I visited the other day were courteous and not nasty to the me. I should mention that while I have purchased on-line from PS vendors, I have purchased from Bernie Robbins and another local jeweler. In fact, I made a purchase at Bernie Robbins for my sister's birthday even though I looked online for the same thing. I liked the quality at the jeweler's better than the online vendor. I asked about the huggies first and after spending about 20 minutes discussing that he kindly asked if there was anything else he could do for me and that is when I asked about the pendant for my sister.

PS. Also wanted toa dd that the other jeweler I visited yesterday gave me a ballpark for 1.5ct huggies with no problem.

I often compare buying in a store versus buying online for a number of goods - clothing to electronics. Sometimes I will buy from a local store only because I know I will get service when I need it even though the local store may be a little more expensive. I think in this economy we need to be astute shoppers and get what we consider a good deal - whether that is the cheapest price or the highest quality.
 
HI:

Of course your choice, will not figure his "quote".

cheers--Sharon
 
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP
Top