What''s the best/funniest thing you''ve heard from a maul store clerk?

[T L]

I buy colored stones, so if you think that B&M stores are ignorant about diamonds, you should hear how they are about colored gems. I knew a guy who was a B&M jeweler for over 30 years and he still didn't know the difference between a topaz and a citrine.

Very very sad. It's also sad how these jewelers continue to use ultrasonic cleaners on colored gems that you should never ever in a million years use. There was a recent thread in the colored stone forum about how some poor lady had her tanzanite ring ruined by bringing it in the jeweler for a cleaning and the US ruined the stone. I hear about these cleaning nightmares all the time with colored gems and B&M stores.

I wish I had some funny remarks to relay, and this thread is very funny, but in a way it's also very sad and scary!

And while we're at it, what about all the so called GIA gradulate gemologists that don't have a clue on how to properly grade, especially colored gems. There are some great G.G.'s but apparently, I don't see them many of them working for B&M stores.

About 20 years ago, I applied to work at a jewelry store. I was told that I shouldn't talk too much about the diamonds, but instead, work heavily on "romanticizing" the stone. In other words, feed the potential buyer a bunch of bunk about how diamonds are representative of the true love the couple has for one another. Unfortunately, a great deal of B&M stores use this selling technique to exploit the consumer. Who would buy something for several thousand dollars without researching it, and instead listening to a bunch of bunk like that?

 

[SparkleSparkle]

Right there with ya, TL - I was wasting some time at the maul yesterday, and went into Helzberg to see what they had for gemstone rings (you can never have enough ideas!). So I go up to the counter and am immediately accosted by the SA who practically pushed me to their "clearance" section (and I can see why - I''ve seen better at Wal-Mart). Then she proceeds to tell me all about the quality of their diamonds and that I really should get one (I only had my diamond studs in, no other jewelry). So I told her I wanted to see oval gemstone rings. She takes me over to the blue topaz and brings out a ring (nice swiss blue topaz, horrible diamond setting). I give it back to her and she hands me an EC aqua (obviously not oval and barely blue - more silver/clear than anything) and starts telling me how their blue topaz are the best and I won''t find better anywhere. I asked her, "are you sure this isn''t an aquamarine?" She looked again at it and said "oh, they must have just put all the blue stones in one display - I get so confused sometimes." I thanked her for her time and could barely contain my snicker on the way out...

 

[dkodner]

These are some great stories. I must admit when I am at the mall and I see people being sold at some of these stores, it''s everything I can do to keep myself from walking in there and grabbing the customer by the back of their shirt and pulling them to safety....

When I first started in the business, my boss suggested I go around to all the jewelry stores in town and ask them to look at diamonds, and hear their presentations, so I could get a feel for how diamonds were being presented and what the consumer was being told out there. So off I went naively thinking I would learn a lot about diamonds in this exercise.

I heard all kinds of crazy stories, but the best by far came from a SA in the mall. He was showing me a diamond and telling me about the four C''s. When he got to color, he explained that the color grading scale started at D, because the public was not allowed to own A,B or C colored diamonds, as those were kept by the government for laser technology research! That was over 20 years ago and I still can hear those exact words. Of course, being the newbie that I was, I was wowed. Why didn''t my boss tell about this ? When I went into work the next day, and admonished my boss for not telling me about government diamonds, I made him laugh so hard I thought he was going to have a heart attack.

Several years later we hired a young woman who had a little experience in jewelry, as she had worked at this particular store in the mall. When I jokingly told her about the ABC colored government diamonds, she got a strange look on her face. Turns out this was something they taught all of their employees, so to her that story was fact, and she had passed that on to many consumers. It made me realize that it is not that most salespeople want to lie to you, they are just repeating what they are taught.

 

[UCLABelle]

Oh, you get the traditional "These are all ideal cut"; "EGL is the leading diamond grader"; "This ring is a SI2, which is nearly flawless". "Your ring has tinted yellow, this one here, as you can see, is colorless" (mine is a T&CO GIA "E", the ring he was showing me was...."J")...

 

[Todd Gray]

Date: 7/25/2009 9:03:19 AM
Author: Lorelei

Date: 7/25/2009 12:08:55 AM

Author: jet2ks

Date: 7/24/2009 11:41:00 PM
Author: swedish bean

Date: 7/24/2009 6:18:44 PM
Author: Gypsy

I wanna go shopping with Todd!!!

He's plotting the inclusions. ROFLMAO.

That's clerk speak for 'Oh crap.'

Me too! Perhaps a PS field trip...

Can you imagine the SA's expression when everyone in the group pulls out their own loupe?

HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wait - so Gypsy lives in Nor Cal? My old stomping grounds... I grew up in Mountain View / Los Altos and my parents still live there, maybe we'll have to go "diamond shopping" when I come down for Christmas - that would be a riot! I wonder what the average maul jeweler would do if we pulled out not only a 10x | 15x | 30x loupe, but our very own ASET, Ideal Scope and Gems Fantasy Scope?!?! No, No, it's just too mean

 

[jet2ks]

Date: 7/25/2009 2:25:56 PM
Author: Todd Gray

Date: 7/25/2009 9:03:19 AM
Author: Lorelei

Date: 7/25/2009 12:08:55 AM

Author: jet2ks

Date: 7/24/2009 11:41:00 PM
Author: swedish bean

Date: 7/24/2009 6:18:44 PM
Author: Gypsy

I wanna go shopping with Todd!!!

He''s plotting the inclusions. ROFLMAO.

That''s clerk speak for ''Oh crap.''

Me too! Perhaps a PS field trip...

Can you imagine the SA''s expression when everyone in the group pulls out their own loupe?

HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wait - so Gypsy lives in Nor Cal? My old stomping grounds... I grew up in Mountain View / Los Altos and my parents still live there, maybe we''ll have to go ''diamond shopping'' when I come down for Christmas - that would be a riot! I wonder what the average maul jeweler would do if we pulled out not only a 10x | 15x | 30x loupe, but our very own ASET, Ideal Scope and Gems Fantasy Scope?!?! No, No, it''s just too mean

If you do it, I want hidden camera video.

 

[Gypsy]

Date: 7/25/2009 2:25:56 PM
Author: Todd Gray

Date: 7/25/2009 9:03:19 AM

Author: Lorelei

Date: 7/25/2009 12:08:55 AM


Author: jet2ks

Date: 7/24/2009 11:41:00 PM

Author: swedish bean

Date: 7/24/2009 6:18:44 PM

Author: Gypsy


I wanna go shopping with Todd!!!


He's plotting the inclusions. ROFLMAO.


That's clerk speak for 'Oh crap.'

Me too! Perhaps a PS field trip...

Can you imagine the SA's expression when everyone in the group pulls out their own loupe?

HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wait - so Gypsy lives in Nor Cal? My old stomping grounds... I grew up in Mountain View / Los Altos and my parents still live there, maybe we'll have to go 'diamond shopping' when I come down for Christmas - that would be a riot! I wonder what the average maul jeweler would do if we pulled out not only a 10x | 15x | 30x loupe, but our very own ASET, Ideal Scope and Gems Fantasy Scope?!?! No, No, it's just too mean

Oh no. Not mean. Not mean at all. (Okay maybe a little but...) Christmas you say????

I do live in Nor Cal. So do many PSer and we have a lot of fun out here. Truly.

Hidden video camera, guys I can't even find my digital camera and have been using my cell, and after a few months have finally figured out how to take pics on it myself instead of handing it and the jewelery to my husband and saying, "Honey, do..." you far over estimate my skills.

If you need a reminder of them (as embarrassing as it is)https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-pendant-is-done.114080/ Compare Brian's pics to mine (hides face in shame) and THAT was with a REALLY good camera.

 

[Black Jade]

I was in one store looking at some very yellow, included diamonds, which I had decided not to buy. Suddenly the clerk (who seemed to be a nice girl, though dim) said, Wait a minute. Then she told me to look at the stones against a black background. She said she had forgotten that they had trained her to always show the customers the stones holding them against a piece of black velvet board. she then got out the velvet board and told me, See doesn''t that look much better? in a very triumphant tone of voice.

I didn''t mind that so much though as the time I was in a store, and the clerk asked to look at my engagement ring and then told me that a prong needed retipping and that I should leave the ring with them, as if I didn''t have it done right away for X$$$, the stone would fall out. I said, No thanks, and took it my neighborhood jeweler (who has terrible diamonds, but is honest) for him to do the job. And he looked at it and said that it didn''t need retipping at all, the stone was very secure.

Made me wonder what would have happened to my ring if I''d left it at the other store.

 

[T L]

Date: 7/25/2009 6:23:28 PM
Author: Black Jade
I was in one store looking at some very yellow, included diamonds, which I had decided not to buy. Suddenly the clerk (who seemed to be a nice girl, though dim) said, Wait a minute. Then she told me to look at the stones against a black background. She said she had forgotten that they had trained her to always show the customers the stones holding them against a piece of black velvet board. she then got out the velvet board and told me, See doesn't that look much better? in a very triumphant tone of voice.

I didn't mind that so much though as the time I was in a store, and the clerk asked to look at my engagement ring and then told me that a prong needed retipping and that I should leave the ring with them, as if I didn't have it done right away for X$$$, the stone would fall out. I said, No thanks, and took it my neighborhood jeweler (who has terrible diamonds, but is honest) for him to do the job. And he looked at it and said that it didn't need retipping at all, the stone was very secure.

Made me wonder what would have happened to my ring if I'd left it at the other store.

When diamond shopping, you should actually always look at a diamond against a pure white background. Unless you're always going to wear your diamond on a piece of black velvet, that way of displaying them to the consumer is deceitful.

 

[arjunajane]

I know I''ve relayed this one before, but it''s such a corker I think this thread
deserves it:

When browsing in one of the most high end, snobby stores in my city, I realized through discussion that they were uniformly charging more for 18k white gold over 18k yellow gold (in exactly the same setting, etc). As we know, this is due to trends and white metals becoming more popular..

When I enquired why they had a premium for WG over YG, the very hoighty toighty sales woman, who had the "I know everything" air about her, replied in all earnesty:

"Because they have to mine deeper for the white gold than for the yellow gold, hence it is more expensive to produce".

It was all I could do not to ask how deep they had to go for their platinum

 

[vip0802]

Date: 7/25/2009 11:51:58 PM
Author: arjunajane
I know I''ve relayed this one before, but it''s such a corker I think this thread

deserves it:


When browsing in one of the most high end, snobby stores in my city, I realized through discussion that they were uniformly charging more for 18k white gold over 18k yellow gold (in exactly the same setting, etc). As we know, this is due to trends and white metals becoming more popular..


When I enquired why they had a premium for WG over YG, the very hoighty toighty sales woman, who had the ''I know everything'' air about her, replied in all earnesty:


''Because they have to mine deeper for the white gold than for the yellow gold, hence it is more expensive to produce''.

It was all I could do not to ask how deep they had to go for their platinum

wow, seriously? hahahaha!

it''s sad that the hiring process for maul jewelry stores is basically for anyone who applies. it''s like the blind leading the blind when it comes to job training!

 

[arjunajane]

vip, that was the worst bit about my experience - it wasn''t a maul store by any stretch!
It was one of the snobbiest, richest joints in town - been around since long before I was born, and (gawd knows how) enjoy a very good reputation. The woman in question was at least early 50''s, with that real air of superiority.
So, imho that means no excuses like the 17 year olds working at the local mall!

I''ve heard other garbage in there too, but that was a winner.

 

[Madam Bijoux]

One salesman showed me a radiant and told me it was an Asscher.

One saleslady in a very well-known jewelry store didn''t know what a Royal Asscher was.

One salesman told me that something was "an authentic copy of a reproduction".

 

[amyjokerette]

A friend of mine recently got engaged and was given an I2 diamond ring from Kays (ahhh!!!!)... this was after my husband as encouraged many friends to ask me for tips and pointers so I can help them find great diamonds for fair prices. So far, two of the guys have come to me... and I can thank PS-ers for helping to educate me!

Anyway... my friend proudly showed off her new "I2" ring stating how it only had "two" inclusions. How can these maul SA's sleep at night?! I can only assume she is not the first person to fall for that line.

 

[Moh 10]

I2 means it has 2 inclusions?

Hahaha!
ROTHFMAO!

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 7/26/2009 9:30:01 AM
Author: amyjokerette
A friend of mine recently got engaged and was given an I2 diamond ring from Kays (ahhh!!!!)... this was after my husband as encouraged many friends to ask me for tips and pointers so I can help them find great diamonds for fair prices. So far, two of the guys have come to me... and I can thank PS-ers for helping to educate me!

Anyway... my friend proudly showed off her new ''I2'' ring stating how it only had ''two'' inclusions. How can these maul SA''s sleep at night?! I can only assume she is not the first person to fall for that line.

Date: 7/26/2009 9:39:22 AM
Author: Moh 10
I2 means it has 2 inclusions?

Hahaha!
ROTHFMAO!

 

[InnaR]

A friend of mine owns two jewerly shops. The shops belong to his wife''s family. All of my friends by jewerly from him. He is very honest and nice to have business with. I stopped by to look at some stuff at his store and his whole family couldn''t take their eyes of my I 1.24 H&A stone. They have never heared of H&A diamonds. In fact, he recalled only one customer that asked him for an ideal cut diamond.
And then they tried to convince me that AGS is not a good lab.

 

[T L]

Date: 7/25/2009 11:51:58 PM
Author: arjunajane
I know I''ve relayed this one before, but it''s such a corker I think this thread
deserves it:

When browsing in one of the most high end, snobby stores in my city, I realized through discussion that they were uniformly charging more for 18k white gold over 18k yellow gold (in exactly the same setting, etc). As we know, this is due to trends and white metals becoming more popular..

When I enquired why they had a premium for WG over YG, the very hoighty toighty sales woman, who had the ''I know everything'' air about her, replied in all earnesty:

''Because they have to mine deeper for the white gold than for the yellow gold, hence it is more expensive to produce''.

It was all I could do not to ask how deep they had to go for their platinum

 

[Todd Gray]

I''m really enjoying reading the stories being shared in this thread and love how lighthearted this thread is... Laughter is good!

So how about the dumbest thing a maul store clerk has ever told a client... Because on Friday I received a phone call from a guy who told me he was referred to me by the sales associate of a jewelry store in the Mall of America! Huh? Naturally I couldn''t leave it alone so I asked him what he asked her and he said that he talked to her for like half an hour and after asking her a few specific questions about diamonds and performance she said "I think you should call these guys, it''s where I would go if I were buying a diamond"

Now that''s a professional sales associate!

I mean, I know that the dealers here on PS tend to be pretty friendly with each other, but in my experience most retail jewelry stores are more apt to throw a rope up over a light pole as opposed to recommend an online vendor. Heck when I walked into one retail store in Roseburg, Oregon to introduce myself a few years ago - the owner of the store lost all the color in his face and started stammering "you''re them... you''re them... you''re really them" (true story - both).

 

[Indylady]

At Kay, the Mikimoto Blue Lagoon SA told me that that Mikimoto doesn't carry akoya pearls. Or freshwater. When I asked what Mikimoto does carry, she said she didn't know but it was DEFINITELY NOT AKOYA in one of the most condescending voices you could imagine. I could just imagine Mikimoto rolling over in his grave!

 

[Indylady]

Hahaha!!

 

[iota]

Date: 7/24/2009 7:24:57 PM
Author: iota

Date: 7/24/2009 6:31:30 PM
Author: Todd Gray

Date: 7/24/2009 6:26:11 PM
Author: iota
Over the phone, I was talking to a local diamond dealer and he had some stones in front of him already... I guess when I asked too many questions, like you know, what the depth was and where the inclusions were generally located, he got frustrated and started repeating: ''Do YOU want to be a jeweler? NO! you don''t want to be a jeweler! NO! Only jewelers need to know this stuff. And YOU''RE NOT A JEWELER!!!'' lol.

Can I send you a diamond grading loupe? That would make the guy''s day

haha. seriously? That would make my day.

THANK YOU, TODD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My very first loupe! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[treefrog]

Date: 7/26/2009 2:48:04 PM
Author: Todd Gray
I''m really enjoying reading the stories being shared in this thread and love how lighthearted this thread is... Laughter is good!

So how about the dumbest thing a maul store clerk has ever told a client... Because on Friday I received a phone call from a guy who told me he was referred to me by the sales associate of a jewelry store in the Mall of America! Huh? Naturally I couldn''t leave it alone so I asked him what he asked her and he said that he talked to her for like half an hour and after asking her a few specific questions about diamonds and performance she said ''I think you should call these guys, it''s where I would go if I were buying a diamond''

Now that''s a professional sales associate!

I mean, I know that the dealers here on PS tend to be pretty friendly with each other, but in my experience most retail jewelry stores are more apt to throw a rope up over a light pole as opposed to recommend an online vendor. Heck when I walked into one retail store in Roseburg, Oregon to introduce myself a few years ago - the owner of the store lost all the color in his face and started stammering ''you''re them... you''re them... you''re really them'' (true story - both).

That''s beautiful Todd! You should send them some business cards!

 

[Black Jade]

Date: 7/25/2009 8:31:08 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover

Date: 7/25/2009 6:23:28 PM
Author: Black Jade
I was in one store looking at some very yellow, included diamonds, which I had decided not to buy. Suddenly the clerk (who seemed to be a nice girl, though dim) said, Wait a minute. Then she told me to look at the stones against a black background. She said she had forgotten that they had trained her to always show the customers the stones holding them against a piece of black velvet board. she then got out the velvet board and told me, See doesn''t that look much better? in a very triumphant tone of voice.

I didn''t mind that so much though as the time I was in a store, and the clerk asked to look at my engagement ring and then told me that a prong needed retipping and that I should leave the ring with them, as if I didn''t have it done right away for X$$$, the stone would fall out. I said, No thanks, and took it my neighborhood jeweler (who has terrible diamonds, but is honest) for him to do the job. And he looked at it and said that it didn''t need retipping at all, the stone was very secure.

Made me wonder what would have happened to my ring if I''d left it at the other store.

When diamond shopping, you should actually always look at a diamond against a pure white background. Unless you''re always going to wear your diamond on a piece of black velvet, that way of displaying them to the consumer is deceitful.

Yes, that''s what was so funny (though dishonest). They had obviously trained her to do this so that the customers wouldn''t notice the poor quality of the diamonds as much, and she had forgotten and then TOLD me what she was doing.

 

[pluck15]

Todd, you are from Nor Cal?? Me too! I live there now. Folsom area, used to shop (for clothes not jewelry) at sunrise mall all the time! My b/f is going to propose somewhat soon...I wish you could take him shopping!!

 

[DiamondFlame]

This thread is hilarious!

Btw I wonder if there is any maul store SA among PS''ers. I''m sure not all of them are that ignorant; mostly I blame the store for providing inadequate training. Even if you can''t possibly train them all, you shd at least have a resident technical/cut geek on the staff.

A few months ago I was at a retail chain store and commented to an SA that one of their inhouse cuts closely resembles the Ashoka cut.
His response was: "What''s that? Is that Japanese?"

 

[luv2sparkle]

I had a SA at Harry Winston in Costa Mesa tell me that cushion cut diamonds do not come with chunky facets, and there is no such thing as an OEC cut. They are only cut one way. Also, they only sold D E F colored diamonds because people dont want to buy any in colors less than that.

I have also had people in reputable stores tell me they would never buy a stone with an AGS cert, GIA is the only way to go.

I am with the person who said that they want to grab people away from the counter and give them a lesson! There have been a couple times when I have seen
people seriously shopping at Costco and I so wanted to tell them where else they should look. I like costco diamonds and have a few pieces from them, but I think
you should fully explore all your options and compare.

Sometimes I admit, it is fun to go in and look and mess with their heads just a bit. They dont expect people to know anything and the shocked look on their
faces is a nice pay off!

 

[kas baby]

hahahaha!!! ohmygosh this thread!

I''m really really really really really inexperienced with gemstones and diamonds, I mean I barely know anything! but... my sister, mom, and I were going to one of the mall stores to get my sister a ring for her 16th birthday (btw, I practically begged them to go to a place I know does custom work, with an in house bench, really nice people, but oh well) they wanted a ring that had two intertwining hearts and a teeny diamond in each, so we found one.

we asked if we could get the diamonds exchanged for a syth alex and a natural amethyst (their birthstones) and all the while my mom was just gushing to me "oh Kara, you should really think about turning your hobby into a career while you are going through school" the lady turned to me with big eyes and said "oh we''re always looking for new sales people. you know I sold shoes for a really long time and wanted something new, so i tried this. now i''m assistant manager"

I politely declined, saying I was going back to school in august and it would be pointless for me to apply due to the time constraints. part of me wanted to be able to apply just so I could spread a teeny bit more knowledge around to the avg consumer... but at the same time I couldn''t imagine trying to sell stuff like that when I know there are places you can get so much better quality for a reasonable price

I''m glad we have a really good mall store where I live. unfortunately they don''t get much business b/c they are a family owned competing with several other mass produced... now i would apply to them in a heart beat. The SA there talked grading with me, showed me loose diamonds and colored gems, pulled out a loupy thingy (i don''t know what kind) for me to see some of the diamonds...

 

[T L]

Date: 7/26/2009 4:20:02 PM
Author: szh07
At Kay, the Mikimoto Blue Lagoon SA told me that that Mikimoto doesn''t carry akoya pearls. Or freshwater. When I asked what Mikimoto does carry, she said she didn''t know but it was DEFINITELY NOT AKOYA in one of the most condescending voices you could imagine. I could just imagine Mikimoto rolling over in his grave!

Poor Mr. Mikimoto. That''s akin to saying that DeBeers doesn''t carry diamonds.

 

[ChicRaccoon]

I saw this thread a bit ago, and I had to revive it to tell just two of the many lines that I was fed today while in not a maul store, but one of the most respected stores in my city.

"Most diamonds are graded by examining only 17 facets. They don''t look at anything other than the table. Hearts on fire diamonds are graded using all 53 facets." "It''s hard to believe, but there isn''t a premium price for a hearts and fire. If you were able to find a diamond of similar quality, it would cost the same."