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Went to Shreve Crump and Low in Boston and they....

mrs-b

mrs-b

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Aug 18, 2013
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...tested my diamonds to see if they were real. They offered to clean my ring and I thought "what the heck? May as well." But then they took it behind the counter and they sort of turned away a trifle, but...yeah. Basically in front of me, they tested my diamonds to see if they were fake. Classy.

Altho...that's fair enough, I suppose. Because I don't think their prices can possibly be real.

ETA When they brought it back to me, they assured me that they "seem to be very well cut!" My 3 ACAs.

Good grief.
 
What?? Why would they test to see if the diamonds were real? Unless you were bringing your ring in for a return or repair, which you didn't. Klassy, indeed.

And "very well cut" is just the understatement of the year :lol:
 
Irksome.
But - is there any trade members or previous jewelry floor employee that might chime in with a reason other than plain snottiness for them to do so?
 
That’s peculiar and rather unfortunate experience. I have been to Shreve, Crump and Low many times and have never had a similar experience. While their prices are high (as many other B&M retailers), IMO they have some of the most beautiful jewels in Boston.
 
Dang, I would have edumacated them until I saw only the whites of their eyes =)2
 
that seems so weird and rude. is it possible they tested it to make sure it was a material that could go in whatever cleaning solution or device they use? this is why i usually turn down those free cleaning offers....:mrgreen2::lol-2:
 
Wonder what they'd have done if they hadn't been "real"? :roll2:

Your three ACAs are rather nicely cut, you know. ACAs do generally seem to be.
 
Rfisher said:
Irksome.
But - is there any trade members or previous jewelry floor employee that might chime in with a reason other than plain snottiness for them to do so?
Click to expand...

It's been awhile since I worked for a jeweler, but yes, we used to test diamonds before we left the sales floor with them to take them back to the bench for cleaning. Did we blatantly do it in front of the customer? Not really, unless they were interested in what it is we were doing with the little black gadget. It's simply a way for the jeweler to cover their ass, and YOURS. Would you, as a sales associate, want to leave the floor with a customer's ring/diamonds to have it cleaned, only to find out after it was out of the customer's sight that it wasn't a diamond? Think about what would ensue.

I remember working in retail when stores still accepted personal checks for purchases. (I'm sure they still do, I just haven't written a check in a store for so long I'm not sure). As an employee we were required to check the customer's photo ID against the check and a lot of people had a huge problem with this, as if we were trying to catch them passing bad checks. Um, NO. Would you want someone running all over town with your stolen checkbook on a shopping spree? Verifications like that and diamond testing are done equally for the customer's protection AND the retailer's.

No one remembers all the bait and switch horror stories about jewelers switching stones that have been circulating for years? How about the one from Kay Jewelers in 2016? I know it was posted here in Hangout. People are super suspicious of having their stones switched. Really that's the end of it. Any sales associate worth their salt isn't snooty; their livelihood depends on making a sale, and they're going to do everything possible to keep their potential client happy. Have I experienced what I perceived to be snotty attitudes when patronizing local jewelers? Yes, sometimes. I just find another sales associate or the owner at that point. No reason to deal with someone i don't vibe with at all.
 
yssie said:
Wonder what they'd have done if they hadn't been "real"? :roll2:

Your three ACAs are rather nicely cut, you know. ACAs do generally seem to be.
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Agreed. ACAs are, in general, considered a tad above the ordinary.

@SimoneDi - I agree - some of the most glorious jewels in Boston, no doubt! But their prices are insane. They were selling a pair of sapphire earring jackets - calibre cut - made to fit 6mm centers (not included). They were 18kt white gold. $5500. I mean, seriously....

As for the rest of it, I was on my way to a medical appt, so was well dressed and groomed. And I'm generally considered to be reasonably...articulate. So there was nothing in my presentation that would have made them think "Oh, here's a woman who's rocking the fake stuff!" And - as @yssie said - what on earth would they have done had they been fake?? Just extraordinary.
 
monarch64 said:
It's been awhile since I worked for a jeweler, but yes, we used to test diamonds before we left the sales floor with them to take them back to the bench for cleaning. Did we blatantly do it in front of the customer? Not really, unless they were interested in what it is we were doing with the little black gadget. It's simply a way for the jeweler to cover their ass, and YOURS. Would you, as a sales associate, want to leave the floor with a customer's ring/diamonds to have it cleaned, only to find out after it was out of the customer's sight that it wasn't a diamond? Think about what would ensue.

I remember working in retail when stores still accepted personal checks for purchases. (I'm sure they still do, I just haven't written a check in a store for so long I'm not sure). As an employee we were required to check the customer's photo ID against the check and a lot of people had a huge problem with this, as if we were trying to catch them passing bad checks. Um, NO. Would you want someone running all over town with your stolen checkbook on a shopping spree? Verifications like that and diamond testing are done equally for the customer's protection AND the retailer's.

No one remembers all the bait and switch horror stories about jewelers switching stones that have been circulating for years? How about the one from Kay Jewelers in 2016? I know it was posted here in Hangout. People are super suspicious of having their stones switched. Really that's the end of it. Any sales associate worth their salt isn't snooty; their livelihood depends on making a sale, and they're going to do everything possible to keep their potential client happy. Have I experienced what I perceived to be snotty attitudes when patronizing local jewelers? Yes, sometimes. I just find another sales associate or the owner at that point. No reason to deal with someone i don't vibe with at all.
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hi @monarch64 :))

I hear you on this - absolutely. But it would be a MIRACLE if someone was able to unseat my diamonds from their tiny claw prongs, switch out stones for ones of exactly the same size that they just happened to have to hand, and reset the fake ones...in the entire 2 minutes she was out of the room. I hear what you're saying - but there's no way that could have been an issue in that amount of time. I think they were taken aback by the cut. There was much muttering before the testing, and then the very enthusiastic comment about how well cut they were.

Other than that, they were perfectly friendly! o_O

ETA And just to add - my husband, who was with me, was annoyed. He found it encroaching and presumptuous. If they want to perform tests on my ring, they need to ask - insurance, fraud, and general suspicion be damned.
 
@mrs-b I'm sure it was frustrating and awkward. I wish every diamond and gem enthusiast had a chance at some point to work behind the counter. Like every place of business, you have associates/management/owners who are fantastic with people, and then those who are...not. Some salespeople at local places I cannot stand to deal with but they are top sellers. Go figure.

I've had a mixed bag of experiences as a consumer. The jeweler we used during my first marriage (Chicago area) only saw people by appointment, and you had to announce yourself and be buzzed in upon arrival, i.e. no one off the street could just walk in. You went there by referral, so basically there was no awkwardness--there was already an established relationship between you and them. I really liked that system. The polar opposite was probably last year in Key West when we just walked in off Duval St into this fab jeweler, and the guy poured us champagne and let me try on all kinds of things just for fun--doors wide open--and they had some spectacular pieces! We only spent a few hundred bucks but they treated us like gold. I was wearing a giant sunhat and sunglasses with a romper and sandals but I assume they were used to that sort of attire. It was a great disguise though! I could've made off with whatever I wanted and not been caught for a good hour or so! :lol:

I have not known a lot of sales floor employees who made a general career out of jewelry sales. My point being that for many folks retail is a second job, and they aren't getting paid a lot, and their knowledge and experience level isn't super high. That is not the customer's problem, of course. If I were in your shoes, I would either email or call the store manager/owner and have a chat with them about diamond testing etiquette. One has excellent leverage today--all you have to say is, "I thought it best to give you the benefit of the doubt and bring this to your attention personally rather than leaving a negative review on your social media, Yelp, and Google Business page." Everybody wins.
 
mrs-b said:
...tested my diamonds to see if they were real. They offered to clean my ring and I thought "what the heck? May as well." But then they took it behind the counter and they sort of turned away a trifle, but...yeah. Basically in front of me, they tested my diamonds to see if they were fake. Classy.
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A local jeweler did the same when they offered to clean my wife's ring. I think they do it to cover their ass. let's assume that my wife's stone was a fake and they took it to back room to clean the ring, then after cleaning the ring I can accuse the jeweler of switching the stone, so no, I didn't mind they tested her diamond before cleaning.
 
As others have said, maybe it was a verification thing to protect themselves from liability.

That said, I once brought a watch in to mall jewelry store to be sized and the guy flat out told me it was a fake. “I hope you can return it to the internet.” It definitely wasn’t fake, the guy was just being a jerk because I didn’t buy it from him. Sometimes people aren’t meant for customer facing roles.
 
^^ Yes, I think that's exactly why they did that. I've brought my rings into a local jeweler for re-sizing and before they even took down my information, they tested it to make sure the gems were genuine. I'm guessing to protect themselves from accusations of stone-swapping in the unusual situation that something turns out to be fake.

Because, well, it happened to me. I once brought in a pair of my mom's diamond stud earrings for a cleaning, and the first thing they did was test it, then they said, "Um, these are CZs...did you know that?" I was like :-o. What probably happened was that my mom's ex-caregiver (who we found out too late was a shady character) had taken the earrings to a jeweler and had the diamonds removed and replaced with CZs. That caregiver is in the wind so there was no recourse other than thanking our lucky stars that she was out of my mom's life, and things could have been a lot worse (elder abuse).
 
Was this in the Chestnut Hill Location? They get a lot of "lookers" there and I am sure they were doing it to protect themselves. It should be noted that the Shreve of today is not the same coproration that it was. The name was sold. My brother purchased his wife's engagement ring at the original Shreve in Boston and it is a beautiful stone (but overpriced). The name was important to both of them.
 
I've been to that location before. Its verification to ensure that you don't say that they exchanged your diamonds for fake. They had that practice even in the early aughts so, I think its more or less standard protocol.
 
I have brought family pieces that I have inherited in to be cleaned or repaired thinking they were real, only to be told that they were faux (and no, I wasn’t offended, just a little surprised - and then grateful because I wouldn’t want to spend money fixing things that weren’t worth the repair fee). It happens, and the cleaning solution/heat steaming can damage some faux stuff so it’s wise of them to know what they have prior to messing with it. I wouldn’t have found that offensive at all. It’s certainly not a reflection on your character, it’s just a quick check to avoid issues of liability. (Having worked retail, I can also say that you often don’t get treated terribly well - and I agree with Monarch that it would be good for everyone to work a service job to get a perspective on what it involves).
 
I can understand them verifying that your diamonds were real to cover themselves, but the snotty comment was totally unwarranted.

I walked in to an Old Cut specialised in Hatton Garden and they let me walk outside unaccompanied, with 3 rings to see what they looked like in daylight :shock:

I did get a snotty comment from an assistant in a jewellery shop where I’d made an appointment for my Tanzanite to be appraised. She asked me where I’d bought it, and I told her. She said “I thought so” to which I replied “yes, you don’t sell anything of this quality” :lol:
 
Sheesh....
 
KristyDarling said:
^^ Yes, I think that's exactly why they did that. I've brought my rings into a local jeweler for re-sizing and before they even took down my information, they tested it to make sure the gems were genuine. I'm guessing to protect themselves from accusations of stone-swapping in the unusual situation that something turns out to be fake.

Because, well, it happened to me. I once brought in a pair of my mom's diamond stud earrings for a cleaning, and the first thing they did was test it, then they said, "Um, these are CZs...did you know that?" I was like :-o. What probably happened was that my mom's ex-caregiver (who we found out too late was a shady character) had taken the earrings to a jeweler and had the diamonds removed and replaced with CZs. That caregiver is in the wind so there was no recourse other than thanking our lucky stars that she was out of my mom's life, and things could have been a lot worse (elder abuse).
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GAWD HOW AWFUL!!! :angryfire:
 
I agree with the others it's not about being rude it's about covering their butts for all the weirdos that walk in with CZs and try and claim they switched out their diamonds. My guess is it is probably not that uncommon for a person to walked in with what she thought was a real diamonds only to find out it wasn't......
 
Austina said:
I can understand them verifying that your diamonds were real to cover themselves, but the snotty comment was totally unwarranted.

I walked in to an Old Cut specialised in Hatton Garden and they let me walk outside unaccompanied, with 3 rings to see what they looked like in daylight :shock:

I did get a snotty comment from an assistant in a jewellery shop where I’d made an appointment for my Tanzanite to be appraised. She asked me where I’d bought it, and I told her. She said “I thought so” to which I replied “yes, you don’t sell anything of this quality” :lol:
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haha I like your style :D


Have you added the old cut specialist to the list of UK vendors that's in a thread somewhere on here?? They sound interesting!
 
I think it’s been mentioned @OoohShiny, but I wouldn’t really recommend them as I felt they were very overpriced.
 
I hear what a number of people are saying. But you don't start assessing someone's diamond without ASKING first. You just don't. It's poor form. And - with my husband standing there, what if it wasn't genuine? What if it had been the best he could afford at the time?

It's the easiest thing in the world to say "We'd love to clean your ring for you! But first, we'll need to test it to make sure it can stand up to the cleaning process. We have a natty little doov-a-wackie thing-a-majib that will confirm its obvious heritage as a mined diamond lickety split! Is this fine with you?"

There are all sorts of situations where it's obvious that add-ons should be optional. This, with a high ticket item, should be one of them. NOBODY does ANYTHING with my diamonds without my say-so. I wonder how they'd feel if I was looking at one of their pieces and said - "I'd just like to go outside into the sunshine to get a better look at this piece to make sure it's real..." Since I'm the buyer, the risk of buying a fake is mine. So why should I not check also? Would love to see how that would be received!
 
I do not get offended easily. If I was getting a free cleaning at a reputable place where I was not a regular customer then I think the store has a right to verify the authenticity of the stone. Too many fraudsters, fakes, synthetics etc out there. Many ways to do it. The sales rep could politely say" What a pretty ring. I want to loupe it to make sure the prongs are strong enough to withstand cleaning and to see if there are any chips or flaws in the stone that may result in a different type of cleaning"-and do this in front of the customer. Afterall free cleaning is a way to get potential customers in the store and you do not want to offend them so they won't browse and buy.
 
It takes a lot to offend me. I would have found it amusing, I think. I also think that in an establishment of this caliber the staff should be trained accordingly. Ah, but in a perfect world...
 
A truly professional staff person would've made it clear beforehand *why* they needed to test it, like, "It's part of our standard intake to examine and check the stone before we do anything with it. This protects everyone involved. Is this OK with you?"
 
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