Urgent help on choosing a bluenile necklace and bracelet

[Perfectdiamond]

I am a new member to the forum. I have known about pricescope for a long time but didn''t know there was a forum. It seems that a lot of helpful information is posted here.

I need help in choosing a gift. It is kind of urgent because I need to make a decision before Monday. I am thinking about buying a diamond necklace or bracelet as a gift from bluenile but I am not sure which one is a better choice and whether the price is good comparing to other online stores. I got a 10% coupon because of a promotion but it will expire next Monday. I need to decide whether I purchase from BLUENILE and which one to choose (the necklace or bracelet) before that time.

With the coupon and wire transfer, I think that both pieces on bluenile are about $5,000. I have done research on the local market jewelers and found the necklace to be a competitive price. I don''t know much about bracelet. It seems that a lot of websites are offering better prices but I am not sure whether they are as trustworthy as bluenile.

My questions are:
(1) do you think that I should choose the necklace or the bracelet;
(2) Is the price a good price?

Necklace link:
http://www.bluenile.com/product_details.asp?oid=6471&catid=17&filter_id=0&nav1=necklace_channel.asp&page=1&col=1&row=6&pos=11&set_shape=

Bracelet link:

I also found a nice bracelet on ADMIAMOR but I have never heard about Admiamor before.
http://www.adiamor.com/B-104-0-1.htm

I like the bezel set better. However, on bluenile, for the same bezel set style, it asks for $2,000 more.

I personally think a necklace is more useful but the stones in a bracelet with the same carat weight would look bigger. I am not sure how much the visional difference is here in terms of the stone in necklace and bracelet. I am worried that the stone in the necklace here looks too small.

Any help is highly appreciated. Thanks!

Perfectdiamond

 

[JulieN]

I personally prefer a bracelet; it can be worn with jeans or a cocktail dress.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I''ll tell you the truth, I''m just into getting higher quality diamond jewelery, so I''d go with WhiteFlash and get fine quality diamonds in either a bracelet or necklace. The bracelet style is fine, but I only like solitaire pendants. And you could get close to a 1 ct. diamond solitaire pendant.

http://www.whiteflash.com/golden-wardrobe/Gold_Details.aspx?ItemCode=WF-TBB-209&CategID=3

They also have a full or half bezel solitaire pendant setting:

http://www.whiteflash.com/Fine-jewelry/Pendants/Full-Bezel-Pendant_669.htm

Blue Nile''s prices are a little higher than some of the other vendors, so your coupon would bring the price into a reasonable range.

 

[Sundial]

I agree completely with Diamondseeker. I don''t think many women would wear a diamond necklace as much as they would a diamond solitaire pendant. I think a diamond tennis bracelet or diamond bangle bracelet would also be a good choice that would get a lot of wear. I have a bracelet from Whiteflash and the diamonds are amazing and the price was very competitive. Either way it is a fantastic gift!!!

 

[starryeyed]

Hello PerfectDiamond and WELCOME to Pricescope forums!!

You are extremely sweet - both the necklace and bracelet are nice ideas! I think it''s really a matter of preference - which one do you think your special lady will get more use out of?

About the ones you have chosen...the Blue Nile necklace says the AVERAGE quality is I SI2. That means that some stone will be I-1''s. Are you ok with this? The bracelet has a better average quality. However, I didn''t see anything about the Cut Quality on either one. I might ask the vendor.

 

[Perfectdiamond]

My "special lady" acutally is my mum. It is for her birthday. I like the whiteflash bracelets. They look so nice. I am thinking about getting the half bezel one for her instead now. I want it to be a 5ct. bracelet but $6,500 is a beyond my budget right now. I am also hesitating of getting her a bracelet because she doesn''t wear a bracelet that much. It is pretty much from her previous experience of loosing some stones on a bracelet when she was working with her hands. As for the solitar pendant, I think my dad is going to get her one early next year for their anniversary.

I asked bluenile about the cut of their diamond in these bracelet and necklace. They told me that it is at least good or very good for each stone. However, I am still not sure. I guess I am too much driven by the pressure of the 10% coupon and too eager to save $500 on it.

It seems that most people here are voting for not to buy it from bluenile. I hate shopping diamond stuff. Stress me out!

I will think about it. If anybody has more comments on it, I would appreciate it.

 

[starryeyed]

PerfectD, you may want to check out these guys. They have new pieces under the Facets name, and pre-owned designer stuff (Cartier, Tiffany, etc) under the Signed Pieces name.

Signed Pieces/Facets Collection

 

[kcoursolle]

Date: 12/2/2006 3:00:26 PM
Author: Perfectdiamond
My ''special lady'' acutally is my mum. It is for her birthday. I like the whiteflash bracelets. They look so nice. I am thinking about getting the half bezel one for her instead now. I want it to be a 5ct. bracelet but $6,500 is a beyond my budget right now. I am also hesitating of getting her a bracelet because she doesn''t wear a bracelet that much. It is pretty much from her previous experience of loosing some stones on a bracelet when she was working with her hands. As for the solitar pendant, I think my dad is going to get her one early next year for their anniversary.

I asked bluenile about the cut of their diamond in these bracelet and necklace. They told me that it is at least good or very good for each stone. However, I am still not sure. I guess I am too much driven by the pressure of the 10% coupon and too eager to save $500 on it.

It seems that most people here are voting for not to buy it from bluenile. I hate shopping diamond stuff. Stress me out!

I will think about it. If anybody has more comments on it, I would appreciate it.

WF also does excellent custom work and might be able to work within your budget by lowering the color of the stones or the sizes. You might want to give them a call and see what they can do for you. If you like the necklace referenced in the blue nile page they could easily create something like that. You are so sweet to think of your mum like this. She will cherish whatever you get her.

 

[diamondhunter10]

Nice choices, I would have to say that it would be a matter of preference?
I would chose the necklace, let us know how it goes?

 

[Perfectdiamond]

Hi everyone,

I got the whiteflash diamond bracelet (white gold,14K) in the end.
https://www.whiteflash.com/Fine-jewelry/Bracelets/Half-Bezel-Tennis-bracelet_815.htm#

I almost decided to buy the necklace from bluenile for the sake of saving the $500 by using my coupon. However, I noticed that the necklaces are out of stock and are on backorder. They won''t be able to come in until January 2nd. Timing doesn''t matter for me because it is a birthday gift, not for Christmas. Then, I told the bluenile person that I was speaking to that I want to order it but I won''t be able to go to the bank to make the wire transfer until Friday (12/08/06). If I make a wire transfer by phone, it is going to cost me almost the same money as I saved by using this method. The person told me that he was not sure whether they could acomodate me on this. He has to check and call me back on Monday. I called them three times before about this wire transfer delay. Other people that I spoke to all told me that it was probalby fine as long as I tell the person when I place the order. Apparently not! I am very sensitive to inconsistent statements. I think that it is a sign of creditibility. Also, for god''s sake, they don''t even have the necklace ready in their store and won''t be able to get it until early next year. I was so pissed off

and decided to get the bracelet from WF. Although it is a bit beyond my budget and I personally prefer a necklace but it has a much higher quality for the money difference.

It is kind of funny how little things can turn the result around. Maybe it is just me who is being oversensitive to customer servie. haha

Thanks for everybody''s help!

PD

 

[kcoursolle]

You won''t be disappointed with the quality of WF''s bracelet and stones, she will love it. Be sure to come back and post a few pics when you get it.

 

[Sundial]

Good for you! I have nothing against Blue Nile, but KC is right you won't be disappointed with a Whiteflash bracelet. The diamonds are just incredible!!!

 

[starryeyed]

PerfectD, I think you definitely made the right choice. Guaranteed VS, ACA diamonds BEAT who-knows-what-cut-grade, SI-2 average diamonds HANDS-DOWN! I''m sure it will be spectacular!

 

[4themrs]

they seem like some great choices, did you make a decision? How is the shopping process going with Blue Nile? They are one of the groups that I am looking at for a gift for my wife.

 

[Perfectdiamond]

4themrs,

Despite that this one sales person pissed me off this time by "not sure whether they can accommodate me," I have to say that bluenile generally is a trustworthy online store. I bought a pair of earrings from them before. I chose the stones myself last time and had them build. They were like 0.45 each stone, SI2 and one of them is D color and the other is F (I chose two different colors because they were cheaper than a matching pair. Two-grades color disparity doesn''t matter that much while there is a head between the two ears

). The earrings looked very nice. Bluenile has more diamonds with size below 1ct than other stores. Also, I felt that Bluenile has loose diamonds that are not listed in pricescope. I usually would do a separate search if I look for a loose diamond. I am not 100% sure.

However, I am not sure whether you are looking for something that has already been made or you are choosing stones to build up things yourself. Bluenile generally has jewelry with SI2 clarity and H/I color. That''s basically the level of quality that I can accept. It doesn’t tell you the cut of the stones though. After I did the research this time, I feel that bluenile''s necklace might be a good choice but their diamond bracelet is pricy comparing to the ones in other online store. Diamond.com has some stuff but they are usually I clarity which I found too low. However, if you can accept that, you have more choices there. Whiteflash has higher quality of jewelry but it is more expensive sometimes.

If you want to purchase something from bluenile and not in an urgent way, you can sign up on their website for promotion emails and wait for the next promotion. They usually would give 10% discount several times a year. For the last year, it was for Valentine’s Day, mother''s day, Christmas and another time. I am not sure about their next promotion, Valentine’s Day sounds more likely. Hope it is helpful.

 

[Carlotta]

Wow, that was a pretty quick decision for such a big purchase......did you speak with someone at WF or just place the order online????
I was kind of surprised to hear you decided so quickly, when you suggested the timeline was generated by using the coupon before Monday, rather than by the date you needed the item.
Did you go with the 5 carat bracelet?? I''m sure it''s VERY sparkly!!

 

[Perfectdiamond]

Yes, I went with the 5ct. I don''t like take a long time to make decisions. It stresses me out. I bought it from WF now, rather than waiting because i just want to get one more thing off my mind. Otherwise, I kept thinking about the bluenile necklace on which I can save $500. Moreover, if I hold off on this, I might want to do research all over again when I need to buy it.

I was very distracted from my work last week because of the purchase decision.

It probably takes me one week to get the WF bracelet. I will see how it looks like. Since so many people are recommending it, it shoud be good. Thanks for all your help.