thinking about www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com !!!read this!!!

[phinest27]

I considered buying a diamond from dirtcheapdiamonds.com last week. If you are like i am, you searched the internet to get a feel for prices. After looking at a couple stores in the mall and elsewhere, dirtcheap was by far the cheapest. I found dirtcheapdiamonds to be extremly helpful because they have a nice search engine to compare multiple stones. I went through the process of calling their number and had two stones sent to their independent dealer/lab in dallas, tx.

Here comes the problems!!

One of the things that dirtcheap doesn''t tell you on the website, is that they will not let stones be shipped over weekends because the possible what if''s, thus it is virtually impossible to view stones on Mondays and Fridays. This lady in dallas (i won''t say her name) was limited in her scheduling also, she first didn''t have any times for viewing a stone for 3 weeks, so i waited. I set a tenative date and time for the one day she only shows dirtcheapdiamonds stones. In this lady''s situation, she had other business to attend to on wednesdays and thursdays making tuesdays the only possible day to see a dirtcheapdiamond stone.

How many people can take off work on a tuesday morning? I called dirtcheap about this..they gave me a number to call a contact in houston, tx.(a 5 hour drive from fort worth) I left a message on this guy''s number and to this day, 4 weeks later, i still haven''t recieved a returned phone call.

The day my diamonds arrived in dallas, i recieved a phone call from my boss, saying that he needed me to go out of town ASAP for an important contract we were working on. I promptly called dirtcheap to see if the stones would be available for when i return back into town in a couple of days. The response was..."These diamonds belongs to a vendor and we will have to have them resent out". Well, thats just great, i am back to where i started.(i.e. scheduling and searching if the two i pick aren''t available) Who is www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com ? exactly, a smart person would say its a search engine, with a poor business structure. I found them to be the hardest company to work with, and these practices lost my business. Dirtcheapdiamonds.com is nothing more the a internet company recieving a listing fee from vendors to move more diamonds. Why wait weeks when you can work with locals. I made it clear from that point on, with local vendors that i am comparing prices on the internet. I saw prices fall.

Before you buy from dirtcheapdiamonds.com know that scheduling is a factor and that you can only view diamonds on weekdays, (tues, wed, thurs). I am starting to find small jewerly stores who work with dealers in my area that have comparable prices for the same quality listed on this site. Plus, i would rather help out a small guy. Another advantage is..i have a jeweler for life, a real person to talk with face to face and if something goes bad in a deal, i can complain face to face, but hope this never happens....i wish the same for you and your search.

good luck
I now know why they are so many jewerly stores in my area.

 

[sumi]

Wow, you must have really strong feelings about your experience. I notice you posted this same posting to about five different threads (with most of the threads from 2 years ago.) Did you do a search for every single thread about dirtcheapdiamonds and then copy the same response to them all?

Sorry to hear about your bad experience.

 

[limey]

Enough of the cross posts. (Thank you leonid for reducing them!) We get your point but the signal to noise ratio is not good and we are tuning you out. DCD was not for you, with your situation in your area.

Good luck with the local B&M's. I am yet to see anything like the range available online from wf, dcd, gog etc. With volume comes better selection to pinpoint what you want compared to what B&M's think you might want. I drove many miles across Detroit to see bad stuff, jewelers would call me in to see stuff they got that was clearly not what I wanted.

You best bet might be to contact someone in the trade a little more upstream, i.e. Uncle Marty (he doesn't sell diamonds!), and ask him for recommendations of jewelers in your area.

Andrew

 

[angela]

It's understandable that you are very frustrated with your experience, but maybe it would have been better to just post this thread rather than posting on multiple DCD threads that are years old... just a thought.

That said, I had some of the same concerns when working with DCD and they lost my business due to a lack of timely (or any) responses to multiple email inquiries I had made. (Luckily, I found a great stone at Whiteflash, and my experience with them was wonderful!)

 

[Rank Amateur]

Cry me a river.

You search based only on cheap and you get upset that you get good but not great service?

Please.

 

[pricescope]

Phinest27, sorry, man, I might be wrong but I think you are from the trade. I've never seen a consumer who repeats exactly what "good old jewelers" use to say about the internet vendors.

---------------
Who is www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com ? exactly, a smart person would say its a search engine, with a poor business structure. I found them to be the hardest company to work with, and these practices lost my business. Dirtcheapdiamonds.com is nothing more the a internet company recieving a listing fee from vendors to move more diamonds. Why wait weeks when you can work with locals. I made it clear from that point on, with local vendors that i am comparing prices on the internet. I saw prices fall.
----------------

 

[aljdewey]

----------------
On 4/14/2004 11:37:20 PM leonid wrote:





Phinest27, sorry, man, I might be wrong but I think you are from the trade. I've never seen a consumer who repeats exactly what 'good old jewelers' use to say about the internet vendors.

----------------

I wholeheartedly agree.....I got the same feeling, Leonid. The "party line" sounds a little too rote to be a real testimonial in my opinion.

 

[pqcollectibles]

Dirt Cheap Diamonds is a very reputable Vendor. Sounds like the problems you encountered were because you did not want to pay for the diamond(s) UP FRONT. You wanted the diamond(s) shipped to an independent appraiser, at not cost to you, to make your buying decision. Poor Baby!! NOT.

I was in the same boat when I purchased from White Flash last spring. There was no PS approved Appraiser in the Kansas City area at that time. I paid for 2 diamonds to preview and make my selection. White Flash promptly refunded the purchase price of the diamond I did not keep. Dirt Cheap Diamonds would do the same.

For all the time you invested in waiting on appraisers, you could have previewed and return shipped several diamonds, and you still wouldn't be approaching the cost of sales tax or the price to purchase a similar stone locally.

 

[Mara]

I would love to see Jim from DCD chime in on this...I'm sure he can pull records to let us know if this is even a legitimate post (which we suspect is not...). Trolls are such a waste of time!

 

[fire&ice]

----------------
On 4/15/2004 3:19:05 AM Mara wrote:


I would love to see Jim from DCD chime in on this...I'm sure he can pull records to let us know if this is even a legitimate post (which we suspect is not...). Trolls are such a waste of time!

----------------

Jim is probably focusing his attentions to his *own* business. Gosh, it scares me that these B&M jewelers have sooooooooooo much time on their hands to contribute in such a negative fashion. Must have nothing better to do.

 

[Jim-Schultz]

Phinest27 & Pricescope Forum,

This is Jim Schultz, President of Dirt Cheap Diamonds Inc.

I'm going to try and keep this post brief, since I think most constructive comments have already been made. Phinest27 is a real person who did try and do business with our company. When I read about customer experiences such as this one, I always ask myself "What could we have done differently to avoid this outcome?" In this case, I'm really not sure what the answer to that question might be. It puzzles me why this post is attacking our firm, when really the delays were with the appraiser. It's important to note a few items:

1 - Dirt Cheap Diamonds provided a great website with great prices, selection and service.

2 - Dirt Cheap Diamonds helped Phinest locate two (2) diamonds and held them until he could secure a local appointment with an appraiser.

3 - Dirt Cheap Diamonds SHIPPED two (2) diamonds FREE OF CHARGE directly to a local appraiser. We did so with no obligation to buy. We did this in lieu of a direct purchase.

4 - Phinest canceled the appointment with his appraiser at the last minute, then asked us to hold the diamonds at the appraisers office for two more weeks.

At this point, folks, we had to get the diamonds shipped back, which we did ENTIRELY AT OUR COST. Phinest was never asked to reimburse us for our shipping expenses. Even if the diamonds had been from our own Signature Series Collection, we wouldn't allow them to stay in an appraisers office that long.

That's about it. I also want to point out that my posting is in NO WAY an attack on Phinest. He's frustrated and has every right to vent. I wish him the best of luck in his local search and hope that he finds a diamond best suited to his needs.

 

[fire&ice]

----------------
On 4/14/2004 9:40:04 PM phinest27 wrote:

n work with locals. I made it clear from that point on, with local vendors that i am comparing prices on the internet. I saw prices fall.


----------------

Gosh, so, if you didn't mention you were shopping on the internet, prices would be considerably higher for the same product?

 

[bears rock]

On 4/15/2004 10:34:22 AM fire&ice wrote:

Gosh, so, if you didn't mention you were shopping on the internet, prices would be considerably higher for the same product?

----------------------------------

Why the cynicism? It happens all the time in business. Try going to a car dealer and see if what happens to the sticker price when you mention what you can pay less for it elsewhere.

In diamond terms when I said to a jeweller recently that I could do better on the internet he suddenly mentioned that the prices he was showing me on a list were discountable. Now would he have mentuioned that if I was happy to pay his "sticker" price?

 

[fire&ice]

----------------
On 4/15/2004 11:08:42 AM bears rock wrote:

On 4/15/2004 10:34:22 AM fire&ice wrote:

Gosh, so, if you didn't mention you were shopping on the internet, prices would be considerably higher for the same product?

----------------------------------

Why the cynicism? It happens all the time in business. Try going to a car dealer and see if what happens to the sticker price when you mention what you can pay less for it elsewhere.

In diamond terms when I said to a jeweller recently that I could do better on the internet he suddenly mentioned that the prices he was showing me on a list were discountable. Now would he have mentuioned that if I was happy to pay his 'sticker' price?----------------

My comment was directed at the Jewelery Stores. Why two pricing structures? If you weren't savvy enough to research prices, you would have been overcharged. Jewelers prices should be jewelers prices. They are making themselves look like car salesman. Be competitive and fair from the beginning.

 

[pqcollectibles]

----------------
On 4/15/2004 11:17:49 AM fire&ice wrote:

----------------
On 4/15/2004 11:08:42 AM bears rock wrote:

On 4/15/2004 10:34:22 AM fire&ice wrote:

Gosh, so, if you didn't mention you were shopping on the internet, prices would be considerably higher for the same product?

----------------------------------

Why the cynicism? It happens all the time in business. Try going to a car dealer and see if what happens to the sticker price when you mention what you can pay less for it elsewhere.

In diamond terms when I said to a jeweller recently that I could do better on the internet he suddenly mentioned that the prices he was showing me on a list were discountable. Now would he have mentuioned that if I was happy to pay his 'sticker' price?----------------

My comment was directed at the Jewelery Stores. Why two pricing structures? If you weren't savvy enough to research prices, you would have been overcharged. Jewelers prices should be jewelers prices. They are making themselves look like car salesman. Be competitive and fair from the beginning.
----------------

Sooo true, F&I. Buying/selling a car is modern day horse trading. Buying a horse was always associated with haggling. The physical condition of the horse. Breeding. Availability. etc. All that affected the price of a horse. Similar market forces affect the price of a car.

Many B&M jewelers maintain both a physical, local presence and an Internet presence. Many of those same B&M jewelers charge the same price whether you buy in person or virtually. If some can do it, why can't others??? While I can see where rent, staff, and some other factors creates price differences from jeweler to jeweler, does it all really add up to 40% or more for the same item???

 

[Hest88]

Thanks Jim. I really appreciate you taking the time to explain the situation, and all without attacking the customer.

 

[Nicrez]

----------------
----------------------------------

Why the cynicism? It happens all the time in business. Try going to a car dealer and see if what happens to the sticker price when you mention what you can pay less for it elsewhere.

In diamond terms when I said to a jeweller recently that I could do better on the internet he suddenly mentioned that the prices he was showing me on a list were discountable. Now would he have mentuioned that if I was happy to pay his 'sticker' price?----------------

Honestly, why is this a surprise? Selling anything of ANY nature is subject to the price a consumer is WILLING to pay. Same with anything (at least in NY). It was raining yesterday, umbrella guy on the corner says "umbrella $5!" I said "$2." He looked at me, and said, "no, $5." I said, guy down a block is selling them for $2. He said "OK $2."

To me, everything is negotiable. When I apply for jobs, I negotiate on my salary. When I buy a car, I negotiate. Everything will always have a different price, until I deem the value of that car acceptable, and they deem the value acceptable. Think about it, everyone wants the most money they can get. If I sold a house for $10K more, I would be happy.

EVERYTHING is negotiable, even when planning weddings. My dad bargained the catering hall at my sister's wedding down and saved $4K. Mind you, this is one of the most popular and expensive halls on the north shore of LI! Still, everyone has a price to pay and every seller has a lower limit. You just have to do the dance of finding that median price everyone is happier with.

 

[fire&ice]

My comments had nothing to do with negotiation. It has more to do with *chosen* pricing structure & the disparity of the internet pricing.

Jim, thanks for clearing this up. Yes, it really boiled down to the appraisers schedule. I am curious if the shipping on Fridays is an issue with many vendors. Is this an insurance thing? Fedex delivers on Saturday.

 

[niceice]

As a Direct Competitor of DC's we would like to say that we consider them to be an excellent competitor and your experience with them Phinest27 does not coincide with the experiences of other customers who we have crossed paths with... The reality of this statement being that most people buying a diamond off of the internet wander amongst the various sites and often ask us about diamonds they are considering on other sites and later what their experiences with those sites turns out to be because we often advise clients to purchase a diamond that they have found elsewhere, a concept that many of our competitors find to be a bit strange we admit

Our concern with your experience is that it seems to focus on the fact that you were not able to connect with the appraiser of your choosing due to scheduling problems and not an actual problem with the quality of the product or the actual service provided by Dirt Cheap Diamonds. It seems to us based upon your own comments that DC shipped the promised diamonds as agreed upon and did so in a timely manner.

The reality is that you asked DC to ship two diamonds for your consideration, that is TWO diamonds that you asked them to hold out of the market so that you could contemplate the purchase of one. In the mean time, other people might also have been considering the purchase of those diamonds and thus any delay on your part or the part of the appraiser effectively costs DC money in terms of sales and/or their supplier if DC did not happen to own the diamonds being represented.

In the mean time, the market price of the diamonds likely changed as diamond prices did increase in many categories for the past few weeks as it has the potential to do so every Thursday night at midnight... And thus more money is being lost by DC and their supplier while you are trying to connect with your chosen appraiser.

We're not assessing blame, the reality is that there are always two sides to every experience and we're not personally partial to either. We are merely trying to "fill in the gaps" of understanding for both sides of the industry to consider. As vendors, we need to realize that the public doesn't have a true understanding of the inner workings of our industry and those of you who are members of the general public, you need to understand that you are essentially working with a viable, fast moving, commodity which has a price structure which changes frequently like the stock price for Microsoft. If you ask a vendor to send a diamond out to an appraiser for evaluation on your behalf, you need to make a concious effort to do what you have to do to consider the diamond in a respectful period of time regardless of the other factors which may be influencing your time - or "you" need to wait to request the diamond until "your" schedule allows "you" to look at the diamond. It's really that simple.

Good luck with your local retail jewelers, we'd love to hear about how accomodating they happen to be when you ask them to hold a diamond out of the market for two weeks ++ while you try to connect with that appraiser... Seriously! We're not trying to be funny and we're making that clear because things don't always come across "right" in written form.

 

[limey]

If you ask a B&M to get stones for you to review they absolutely want you to come in and see them, and the broker they got them from will have the same concerns as DCD. If you told a B&M, great glad you have them, now hold them for 2 weeks for me they would tell you "NO" as well. I do not get the problem here.

 

[mdx]

Hey Jim
a very proffessional responce Good stuff

Johan

 

[aljdewey]

----------------
On 4/15/2004 1:02:36 PM fire&ice wrote:




I am curious if the shipping on Fridays is an issue with many vendors. Is this an insurance thing? Fedex delivers on Saturday.----------------

F&I.....if it's an issue, I'd suspect it's because of the freight carriers' policies, not the vendors.

I used to work in the trucking industry (related, just larger goods). There were certain commodities that we wouldn't take on Fridays because we didn't want the responsibility of having to keep them safe/theft-free over the weekend. At other times, we refused some freight that had to be kept from freezing if it was going to sit in a New England warehouse over the weekend.

Yes, Fedex does make deliveries on Saturday, but they charge a Saturday delivery fee. If you don't pay the Saturday delivery fee, your delivery MAY still happen on Saturday--if they Saturday peddle run isn't full enough for a day's work. But otherwise, it won't deliver on Saturday.

I suspect that FedEx doesn't want the liability of having to house high-value merchandise over weekends.

 

[hoorray]

phinest27, I'm sorry you didn't have a good experience with DCD. I tend to agree with the others, that it really doesn't seem that the problems were on their end, but more scheduling issues on your end. It sounds as if a local vendor may be better suited to your needs, so I am glad you have found one you are happy with.

For what it is worth, I recently purchased diamond stud earrings from Jim at DCD, and had no problems. Everything shipped when promised with no glitches, and the earrings are beautiful. I would recommend DCD anytime, and will do business with them again, given the chance. (I have to wait for the diamond fairy to visit again.....

)

And, I think it is a shipping insurance issue that they will not hold high valued goods over the weekend. I've had several vendors tell me they can't ship over a weekend. It's not unique to DCD.

 

[icelovr]

phinest27,
Your experience w/ DCD is unfortunate. You should also know it is certainly uncommon with DCD - just search the forum - many, many very satisfied customers. My experience has been fantastic. I have purchased from them two separate times. I will be contacting them again to purchase more diamonds in the near future. I am not rich - I work hard for my money and expect someone will work just as hard to pry it from my hands. I am not cheap - just aware of how hard I work to save up - and make decisions accordingly. Jim (Josh and Jen) at DCD have not only been helpful in suggesting stones that I would like, but patient w/ me when I needed room to think and also honest and flexible w/ me every step of the way. I was aware of the shipping issue - it didn't phase me. I, like you, can't "take of a Tues. am" at the drop of a hat, if at all, but they know their business - and if they give me a "what if scenario", I trust them. I wouldn't want to get stuck w/ paying for a disaster nor would I expect them to. Regarding service, professionalism, policies and immediate responses, everyone at DCD has left me more than satisfied. I have purchased a total of over 3.5 cts from them and would do so again in a heartbeat. DCD isn't responsible for the person in TX you left the message with, nor are they responsible for the limited availability of the "lady in Tx".

I understand your frustration w/ this process, it's a lot of money and lots of decisions, but lets recap:
1 - Jim found 2 stones and held them until you/your appraiser was available
2 - Jim sent out 2 stones free of charge
3 - Jim paid for the charges to have them returned
4 - Jim accepted responsibility for the stones (probably on memo, but still not something he was obligated to do)
5 - You had an unfortunate change in schedule and couldn't meet w/ the appraiser
6 - You wanted him to hold them even longer

I don't know what size stone/quality you were looking at but I can assure you these stones are looked at by lots of people and time is money (no I'm not in the business). While Jim held TWO stones for you, each minute that ticked by those stones could've been sold to someone else by Jim or some other vendor. Jim has a good reputation, people w/ good reputations can ask for favors - like holding one or two stones for a day or two, but c'mon. In light of my experience and business relationship w/ Jim, I may seem to have a personal bias, but in my opinion, you are asking a bit much and I feel are being somewhat unreasonable.

Icelovr

PS - notice the picture above my PS Id - it's a stone that Jim found for me - and worth every call, email and dollar... and then some.

 

[niceice]

----------------
On 4/15/2004 1:02:36 PM fire&ice wrote:

I am curious if the shipping on Fridays is an issue with many vendors. Is this an insurance thing? Fedex delivers on Saturday. ----------------

Fed Ex delivers on Saturday, but some of the insurance companies won't insure packages for Saturday delivery... Those would be the companies that we don't use

 

[pricescope]

Phinest27, sorry for accusing you to be a jeweler

It was bad thing for me to say. Bloody paranoia.

After Jim confirmed that you are a real customer, I received demands from B&M jewelers demanding me to apologize for suspecting you to be a jeweler. It’s like I used a bad word or something...

Glad I was wrong.

 

[Mara]

Hehee Leonid...




Everyone makes mistakes.

 

[phinest27]

Still not sold on dirtcheap, reasoning: DCD will only send diamonds to an approved vendor/apprasier. When i was a child my mother told me that when i was in public or at a friend's home that i not only represented myself, but her and my family.

1) In perspective, DCD is represented by all its vendors, salespeople, and LOCALS who do viewings. My complaints isn't with DCD directly and that is apparent in my first posting. As a consumer, that might want to know what DCD offers...real experiences can show weakness in structures. As a business man i am glad jim responded to my compliant. As a salesperson he avoided and dodged the aspects that a non-flexible apprasiser was the source of loss business. It was 2 days, not 2 weeks...not a big loss of revenue. Blame the dallas lady for the fedex money jim, i suggest you pose as a customer and try her out.

2) Why doesn't DCD post on website that "free" viewings are only on TUE, WED, THURs. due to not shipped over weekends/insurance.

3)Why is pricescope censoring my other postings ....they are deleted...something is fishy??? regardless, this seems to be the only venue that DCD has for discussion. Makes you wonder what else is deleted. Should i go to the BBB online?

Bought my stones locally, actually i bought 37 in total with center and side stones.

 

[pricescope]

Phinest27:

----------------
3)Why is pricescope censoring my other postings ....they are deleted...something is fishy???
----------------

Because you hijacked many old threads posting the same text you posted in this topic despite other members already started to reply you. By the way, I emailed and sent you private message asking not to paste the same text all over the board:

----------
Stephen, thank you for sharing your experience on the forum. I'm affraid, however, that hijacking many old threads with the same post is not very corteaus to other forum members.

I will leave one of your posts and remove the others since they are all the same.
-----------

One of your duplicate posts is still here: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/dirtcheap-or-not-that-is-the-question.7190/

----------------
...Should i go to the BBB online?
----------------

What is the matter of the dispute you would like to report to BBB? You didn't pay for the diamond, DCD complied with all your requirements.

 

[StevL]

This thread is kind of funny

phinest27 comes in and post something that happened to him, most jump at the conclusion he is a shill for some B&M company. Jim straightens it out, now most here are throwing darts at the local store he found (which they know nothing about) and only Leonid made mention he was wrong.

Kind of makes me wonder who the real shills are

I think everyone needs to stop and read this thread carefully; what happened to the unbiased forum this once was?

Have a good day!