Weird Things Jewelers Have Told You

[RunningwithScissors]

What are some of the weird, wild or just blatantly untrue things sales associates at jewelry stores, or jewelers themselves have told you? Share them here!

I'll go first.

Today I had a half hour to kill in between two appointments. So I donned my mask and popped inside a random jewelry store.

I could tell right away the quality wasn't great. The diamonds all looked dead. Really dead.

I didn't want to be rude and leave, so I browsed. The saleswoman (who I think was one of the owners) was friendly, but oh man she spewed so much misinformation! Here's one nugget:

Saleswoman: Would you like me to clean your engagement ring?

Me: No thank you. I cleaned it this morning.

Saleswoman: You should NEVER, EVER clean your own jewelry at home!!!

Me: But I don't use anything harsh, just a mild cleanser given to me by a jeweler I trust. And I keep meaning to buy an ultrasonic.

Saleswoman: Oh God no! That's no good at all. Those things ruin your jewelry. Plus jewelry shouldn't be cleaned very often. Once a year is all it needs.

Me: Don't you mean that it should be inspected once a year by a jeweler? Surely it needs to be cleaned more often than that?"

Saleswoman: No! Jewelry is like your hair, its not good to wash it everyday. It will get brittle and damaged and dull-looking. Once a year is all it needs.

Me:

 

[Matata]

"It's an oval", when it was clearly a marquise.

What's GIA?

Those dark spots are rare and raise the value of the stone.

Color doesn't matter as long as it sparkles.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Once a year?!

My crazy Italian jeweler told me that all his settings he made himself, hand forged and all. He gave me a setting to bring home and on the inside of the band was a mark for Stuller!

I brought the setting back and told him it really wasn’t my style but maybe I could look
at his Stuller catalog.

“How do you know about Stuller?! Well, I’ll let you look but this is just between us”

He really is a nut!

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

Lots of misinformation around certs from jewelers - either I’ve been told that a cert is not necessary because it unnecessarily jacks up the price, or that all the labs are the same (so this IGI H VS1 is totally a GIA H VS1 as well).

Something a bit different - few years ago I accompanied my cousin to buy her wedding jewelry and we went to this one jeweler. Those pieces were unbelievably expensive for what they were and the stones that they were using were cloudy, scratchy, dull... looked like glass. I got into an argument with the jeweler because I asked if he had any pieces with better quality stones - they looked dead and cloudy in the showroom lighting so you can just imagine how bad they would look in normal lighting conditions - and he said that all polki looks like this and I mustn’t have ever seen real polki if I thought that polki is clear and glowing (polkis are a type of diamond cut where the diamond is mostly uncut and flat. They look like clear shimmery pools of water).

 

[RunningwithScissors]

@Matata Oh good Lord! I'm not sure which one of those is worse!

@YadaYadaYada LOL! Busted!

@AllAboardTheBlingTrain Its funny but I've heard other PSers say something similar, that they've gotten comments from people who have never seen good diamonds think that their super ideals are fake because "real diamonds don't sparkle that much!"

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

@Matata Oh good Lord! I'm not sure which one of those is worse!

@YadaYadaYada LOL! Busted!

@AllAboardTheBlingTrain Its funny but I've heard other PSers say something similar, that they've gotten comments from people who have never seen good diamonds think that their super ideals are fake because "real diamonds don't sparkle that much!"

It’s one thing when a random person says it, but when a jeweler does it -

I dragged my cousin out of there when he started trying to sell her this awful enormous stone, cracked down the middle with large black specs, and cloudy to boot; for a price that exceeds all levels of rationality; and told her when we were outside that for that price she might as well as just buy glass and have that set in a necklace for 5% of the price, and put the remainder in an index fund because it would probably resell for the same price as glass if she ever tried to unload it.

The unscrupulousness of some jewelers never fails to surprise me. I feel super thankful that I have a good jeweler who will literally tell me what to look out for or what he thinks I will dislike in a piece that he himself is selling because he knows I’m reasonably discerning.

 

[crow]

A lovely jeweler in Mexico tried to sell me a Sea Opal.

 

[Bron357]

A jeweller I used to use first tells me my loose “diamond” was very yellow.
Then he quotes me $300 to set the stone because he will have to take extra time and care because the diamond was valuable.
Um, it was a Moissanite.
Another jeweller lost my earring backs, they were 14kt gold. He tells me 9kt is the same, there’s no difference in the value with earring backs. So I suggested he give me 18kt ones as a replacement - smile!

 

[PreRaphaelite]

Oh, there are a bunch of things I’ve been told. Things like, “M’yeah, old diamonds should be recut because they’re basically junk. They aren’t any good.”

Riiiiight.

And when I asked one shop clerk to test the gold content of my ring so I could decide whether to have them reset the stone or not, “We can’t do that,” despite the fact that she was standing next to the machine which was being used at exactly that moment to test another customer’s necklace. Just, wow.

Riiiiiight.

Oh, and the pawn shop owner insisting Edwina was a Rose Cut. In that case, I’m glad I stifled my laugh and just paid and left. Lol. I’d be happy to deal with that scenario all day every day.

There was a time long ago when Dillards had a trade-in/trade-up program for fine jewellery. It was unlimited. So one day I took my bling in with my receipt and wanted to trade for something. The clerk said, “Oh we don’t do that anymore, it’s been discontinued,” while I pointed to the sign inside the estate jewellery case that advertised the program. She refused to honor the sign and refused to call a manager. So I left, and drove about 30 minutes to another Dillards, and traded up in their store, no hassle, full smiles, thankyouverymuchandhaveaniceday. I never went back to the first store again.

 

[kenny]

I was told diamonds color graded D, E, and F sparkle the most.

 

[LilAlex]

"All our stones are natural and untreated!"

 

[missy]

Today I had a half hour to kill in between two appointments. So I donned my mask and popped inside a random jewelry store.

I could tell right away the quality wasn't great. The diamonds all looked dead. Really dead.

I didn't want to be rude and leave, so I browsed. The saleswoman (who I think was one of the owners) was friendly, but oh man she spewed so much misinformation! Here's one nugget:

Saleswoman: Would you like me to clean your engagement ring?

Me: No thank you. I cleaned it this morning.

Saleswoman: You should NEVER, EVER clean your own jewelry at home!!!

Me: But I don't use anything harsh, just a mild cleanser given to me by a jeweler I trust. And I keep meaning to buy an ultrasonic.

Saleswoman: Oh God no! That's no good at all. Those things ruin your jewelry. Plus jewelry shouldn't be cleaned very often. Once a year is all it needs.

Me: Don't you mean that it should be inspected once a year by a jeweler? Surely it needs to be cleaned more often than that?"

Saleswoman: No! Jewelry is like your hair, its not good to wash it everyday. It will get brittle and damaged and dull-looking. Once a year is all it needs.

"It's an oval", when it was clearly a marquise.

What's GIA?

Those dark spots are rare and raise the value of the stone.

Color doesn't matter as long as it sparkles.

My crazy Italian jeweler told me that all his settings he made himself, hand forged and all. He gave me a setting to bring home and on the inside of the band was a mark for Stuller!

I brought the setting back and told him it really wasn’t my style but maybe I could look
at his Stuller catalog.

“How do you know about Stuller?! Well, I’ll let you look but this is just between us”

few years ago I accompanied my cousin to buy her wedding jewelry and we went to this one jeweler. Those pieces were unbelievably expensive for what they were and the stones that they were using were cloudy, scratchy, dull... looked like glass. I got into an argument with the jeweler because I asked if he had any pieces with better quality stones - they looked dead and cloudy in the showroom lighting so you can just imagine how bad they would look in normal lighting conditions - and he said that all polki looks like this and I mustn’t have ever seen real polki if I thought that polki is clear and glowing (polkis are a type of diamond cut where the diamond is mostly uncut and flat. They look like clear shimmery pools of water).

A lovely jeweler in Mexico tried to sell me a Sea Opal.

A jeweller I used to use first tells me my loose “diamond” was very yellow.
Then he quotes me $300 to set the stone because he will have to take extra time and care because the diamond was valuable.
Um, it was a Moissanite.
Another jeweller lost my earring backs, they were 14kt gold. He tells me 9kt is the same, there’s no difference in the value with earring backs. So I suggested he give me 18kt ones as a replacement - smile!

Oh, there are a bunch of things I’ve been told. Things like, “M’yeah, old diamonds should be recut because they’re basically junk. They aren’t any good.”

Riiiiight.

And when I asked one shop clerk to test the gold content of my ring so I could decide whether to have them reset the stone or not, “We can’t do that,” despite the fact that she was standing next to the machine which was being used at exactly that moment to test another customer’s necklace. Just, wow.

Riiiiiight.

Oh, and the pawn shop owner insisting Edwina was a Rose Cut. In that case, I’m glad I stifled my laugh and just paid and left. Lol. I’d be happy to deal with that scenario all day every day.

There was a time long ago when Dillards had a trade-in/trade-up program for fine jewellery. It was unlimited. So one day I took my bling in with my receipt and wanted to trade for something. The clerk said, “Oh we don’t do that anymore, it’s been discontinued,” while I pointed to the sign inside the estate jewellery case that advertised the program. She refused to honor the sign and refused to call a manager. So I left, and drove about 30 minutes to another Dillards, and traded up in their store, no hassle, full smiles, thankyouverymuchandhaveaniceday. I never went back to the first store again.

I was told diamonds color graded D, E, and F sparkle the most.

"All our stones are natural and untreated!"

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

 

[missy]

 

[MrsBlue]

A maul jeweler showed me a tray (coffin?) of dead earrings and told me higher clarity was way too expensive. To be fair, my WF earrings cost less than half of what Maul Jeweler Inc was charging for dead studs in a similar size so I suppose they were right?

On a similar note, a friend of mine decided to buy an e-ring from the same maul jeweler without asking anyone for help. It was not a quality piece and it broke my heart to know how much he paid for it.

 

[stracci2000]

A jeweler once tried to sell me a 1.5 ct. diamond with a horrible fish-eye effect. He kept insisting that it was a special cut.

Another jeweler tied to tell me that big black inclusions were perfectly OK, and not a problem.

This came from a friend, not a jeweler.
He insisted that rose gold came from a rose gold mine somewhere in Colorado.

Same friend had a Tibetan sterling and turquoise ring that he kept insisting was jade because his dad brought it back from China after WWII. If it came from China, it must be jade, right??

 

[123ducklings]

This came from a friend, not a jeweler.
He insisted that rose gold came from a rose gold mine somewhere in Colorado.

This sounds to me like he’s confusing/misremembering a story he heard about Black Hills gold.

 

[eapj]

Like @PreRaphaelite, that old cut diamonds should always be recut. The family stone we had was okay, not great, but no way I was recurring it. And we paid WAY too much for a setting from her and a kind of ugly one for something that should be elegant and classic instead of clunky. I never set foot in there again.

 

[stracci2000]

This sounds to me like he’s confusing/misremembering a story he heard about Black Hills gold.

Maybe. I started to argue with him, but I gave up and walked away.
He was a real know-it-all...................nothing like me (cough, cough )

 

[RunningwithScissors]

These are all awesome.

There were so many other "nuggets of wisdom" from the saleswoman/co-owner of the store yesterday.

She insisted that platinum was a terrible metal to use in fine jewelry. She said that platinum is soooooo brittle that any bump at all to an engagement ring would result in it shattering, often with the head sheering right off.

When I said that the friend I was shopping for had an allergy to the nickel content in white gold, she dismissed me, saying that gold allergies are a complete myth, that all white gold is rhodium plated and that prevents any allergic reaction.

The weird thing is, I actually think she believed the stuff she was telling me. I could understand it more if she was just trying to conn me into buying something. But I actually think she believed it.

 

[Dancing Fire]

This was at Kay's Jewelers

SA...my diamond is fake b/c real diamonds don't sparkle like that.

Me...test it! ,and she did, then afterward she still try to sell us their $1999 1ct weekend special.

 

[FL_runner]

These are all awesome.

There were so many other "nuggets of wisdom" from the saleswoman/co-owner of the store yesterday.

She insisted that platinum was a terrible metal to use in fine jewelry. She said that platinum is soooooo brittle that any bump at all to an engagement ring would result in it shattering, often with the head sheering right off.

When I said that the friend I was shopping for had an allergy to the nickel content in white gold, she dismissed me, saying that gold allergies are a complete myth, that all white gold is rhodium plated and that prevents any allergic reaction.

The weird thing is, I actually think she believed the stuff she was telling me. I could understand it more if she was just trying to conn me into buying something. But I actually think she believed it.

That's the thing- sometimes they are really, 100% convinced and certain of these things! It's amazing, isn't it?

 

[Rubymal]

"HCA? Never heard of it. But tools like that are useless and don't mean anything."

Yeeeep.

 

[lovedogs]

"all diamonds are cut the same, so buying a cut to order diamond is a scam. There is no such thing as differences between XXX diamonds--that's as good as cut can get"

EDIT. another good one was, "EGL is the most respected lab for diamonds"

 

[doberman]

My friend fell in love with a setting she saw in a b&m store, so we went to take a look. The jeweler, looking at my hands, said "You have beautiful rings, you must know a lot about diamonds". I suggested to my friend that she could consider near colorless diamonds, up to an I or J, since she was working within a strict budget. "Oh no" said the jeweler. "I don't sell any J or I diamonds because they're yellow and they look terrible. I wouldn't want to sell anything that looks that yellow, my reputation would be ruined ". This was followed by "A GIA very good cut is just fine, as good as an excellent. After all, it's very good. AGS? No good, we only have GIA diamonds".

Needless to say, I was wearing my yellow diamond and J color RB. After we were done at the store, I asked my friend if she thought my J color stone was yellow, and of course she said it's not. I told her therefore to take everything this jeweler said with a grain of salt (or maybe a pound). I've lost count of the many dubious pieces of advice I've heard over the years."Fancy color diamonds are much more expensive than rounds" is another one.

 

[GeliL]

One once insisted that my rose gold ring was yellow gold.

Another said conch pearls don't exist and are a scam.

 

[AprilBaby]

I was looking for an upgrade and the jeweler brought out a D colored diamond, no price. I asked about the papers, no papers, don’t need them. How do you know it’s D? I just know, I’ve been in the business a long time. What about the cut? Cut doesn’t matter, it’s D color. Clarity? Doesn’t matter it’s D color.

 

[kenny]

I was looking for an upgrade and the jeweler brought out a D colored diamond, no price. I asked about the papers, no papers, don’t need them. How do you know it’s D? I just know, I’ve been in the business a long time. What about the cut? Cut doesn’t matter, it’s D color. Clarity? Doesn’t matter it’s D color.

It's horrifying that this BS works on many timid and poorly-informed buyers.

 

[missy]

It's horrifying that this BS works on many timid and poorly-informed buyers.

Yeah and there is an ethical standard jewelers are expected to adhere to which obviously is lacking with some. Lots of vulnerable individuals fall victim to this preying behavior and it is or should be a crime. If you are in the jewelry business ignorance is not an excuse and if they know better and still mislead their customers, well, they belong, IMO, in jail. Or at least they deserve to lose their livelihood of being in the jewelry business. My opinion.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

Went into Kay's jewelers to get a temporary setting for my OEC. If a customer returns a setting purchased online they don't sell them as new even though they have never been used so you can purchase them at 1/2 price.

I picked out the setting, handed over my OEC with the GIA cert. The saleswoman told me how beautiful the diamond was. Asked where I bought it from (Alex Park) and the cost. When I told her she frowned. "I hate to say this, but it is probably not a real diamond. We would sell a real diamond this size at 3x the cost. Let me take it back and have it looked at under a microscope and tested."

She came back and said "You did good."