What''s up with SuperbCert?

[jchi18]

What is up with SuperbCert? I hear good things about their diamonds but when I asked for help in picking out diamonds, all I got were curt answers. I needed to choose between two diamonds but didn''t get much help by way of customer service. I guess they were busy but you''d think they would take care of prospective buyers.

Can anyone recommend a good place to buy well-cut diamonds? I would like to buy asap. Thanks.

 

[justme]

jchi,

I sure you'll hear from Barry (he frequents this board)from superbcert.

Other sites are Whiteflash.com

Goodoldgold.com

actually check this link:

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/compilation-of-rings-settings-insurance.2389/

Justme

 

[DiamondOptics]

Hi Jchi18,

On friday, many diamond retailers close the shop
early. And are are in a bit of a rush to get home
to observe the sabbath.

You may want to try some of the other SuperbCert vendors whom still operate during these hours.

Kirk Konst

 

[jchi18]

Well,

I'm sure he was too busy or he didn't take me seriously or maybe both. I don't know. I just hoped for better customer service especially considering this is my first-time buying a diamond.

 

[jchi18]

I didn't think of that. I guess I'll "cut" him a break...for now.

 

[jchi18]

Who do superbcert dealers work? Who actually has the diamond? I'm guessing SuperbCert. Could you provide your opinions on diamonds based on personal experience or is it based entirely on the specs?

Are the prices the same? If so, wouldn't it be better going through a dealer to give the dealer some commission? Are the policies the same going through superbcert and the dealer? Thanks.

 

[jchi18]

Thanks Justme. I'll look into those dealers.

 

[DiamondOptics]

Hi Jchi18,

SuperbCert.com are the cutters and manufacturers of the diamond.

There are other dealers whom sell this product as well, and the pricing structure is set and uniformed with all of them.

Kirk Konst

 

[Lugus]

----------------
On 2/7/2003 3:14

2 PM jchi18 wrote:

What is up with SuperbCert? I hear good things about their diamonds but when I asked for help in picking out diamonds, all I got were curt answers. I needed to choose between two diamonds but didn't get much help by way of customer service. I guess they were busy but you'd think they would take care of prospective buyers.

Can anyone recommend a good place to buy well-cut diamonds? I would like to buy asap. Thanks.
----------------

I'm really sad to hear this. I've had such a wonderful experience with Barry at superbcert. He has gone way, way out of his way to make my diamond a reality before valentines day, and I'm so appreciative of his efforts.

I don't know how bad the service was, but maybe give him a second chance. It service was really bad, there are a lot of other really good superbcert dealers that frequent that board and would be really happy to help you out. One of them is Mr. DiamondOptics himself if I'm not mistaken

 

[optimized]

Hi Jchi,

I'm sort of surprised you had the experience you described. I purchased a SuperbCert direct from Barry a couple of months ago and found the service to be quite exceptional. My guess would be that there is an explanation for the service you received, and I further suspect the issue will be addressed by Barry when he reads this.

As concerns your inquiry about whether to buy direct through Barry or through a licensed dealer, I think there are really only a couple of tangible benefits to buying directly through Barry. The first is that you have access to immediate answers to a lot of questions you may have without having to go through a middleman.

In my case, I was interested in seeing hearts and arrows and Idealscope images for the stone I was interested in. I asked Barry about getting them and he immediately had one of his employees make up a collage for me and it was sitting in my email waiting for me less than an hour later. I'm sure others could get this done for me too, but knowing that Barry could get the stone to the right person in minutes and have the images done was a nice benefit for me. It also helped show me how attentive he was to me as a potential customer.

Secondly, according to Barry the only way to secure a "lifetime upgrade at purchase price" deal is to buy directly through him. I've since seen this policy listed on other sites and asked Barry about it, and his reply was that the other sites I've seen it listed on are not authorized to offer this policy. I've yet to see any changes on the other sites regarding that point so I don't know what the status is, but supposedly buying direct through Barry is the only assurance of an upgrade, if you decide to go that route later.

On the other hand, some online SuperbCert dealers offer some other pretty compelling incentives that Barry lacks, so you may want to look around a bit before deciding. Had I known of some of the other options I may have seriously considered going with a licensed dealer (hard to say which way I would have gone), but I certainly have no regrets about my choice, so it's no big deal for me in the end.

, which is one of my signature epic posts. It goes into detail about my experiences with Barry along the way, but rather than forcing you to read the whole thing just to learn about my experiences with Barry, I'll excerpt the relevant portions below for your reference:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Anyway, after much more research and shopping (with quite a bit of browsing here in these forums along the way), I started to focus on SuperbCert as my preferred choice. I liked the combination of online tools (GIA certs, BrillianceScope analyses, Megascope reports, Holloway Cut Advisor ratings), and the exceptionally reasonable prices for the types of diamonds being sold. The issue of customer service was still a question mark, so I set about selecting a stone to inquire about, with the hopes of getting a feel for their service along the way.

So, I settled on a specific stone from the SuperbCert site and called their 800 number to ask a few questions and order it if the answers were to my liking. I asked about the diamond and gave my number for them to check out some details and call me back. About fifteen minutes later I got a call back from Barry, the owner of the company, which gave me a pretty decent idea of how small and new this company currently is, and how responsive they are to customers. Well, I certainly hadn't expected that level of service, but I gladly accepted his information. Unfortunately, I was disappointed to learn that the stone I was interested in had been sold just that morning (I guess I shouldn't have waited a week before inquiring). Since I really had only committed in my mind to that one stone, I thanked him for his time and told him I'd be in touch. I did some more looking on the site and emailed him later with some more inquiries, and he followed up promptly and informatively. His company provided a level of service that even many of the local shops here didn't match, and he was a NY Diamond District jeweler. I was becoming more impressed with SuperbCert all the time!

The great service didn't end there either. Since I didn't immediately make a decision after the first stone, about a week went by and I received a personal email (meaning, not a form letter spam) from Barry informing me of two more stones I might be interested in which were going to be listed the following week, with a note to let him know if I was interested in them before they were posted to the site for the world to see (and conceivably buy). This was really nice since I think he did that as a sort of consolation for not having that first stone available when I had called (as if he could be blamed for selling it), and I appreciated his gesture of giving me "first dibs" on the new stock. Now I was really beginning to want to do business with him.

Although I passed on the stones he wrote me about, after some more research on his site I came across another stone that, while a bit larger than I had originally intended to purchase (my sweetie is a tiny thing on whose finger a big rock would look quite silly), met all of my other criteria well, and made an inquiry about it (a beautiful .78, D, VS1, EX/EX, inert stone showing a 0.9 on the HCA). This diamond indeed was available, and I got going on the order.

Which brings us to actually getting the stone. SuperbCert ships exclusively through FedEx, so the day after my order was processed I received a big ol' FedEx box which contained the diamond, the GIA cert, laminated BrillianceScope report, Megascope report, GemPrint registration certificate, and the nifty little "SuperbCert Kit" containing a Hearts and Arrows viewer, diamond tweezers, a 10X jeweler's loupe, and a diamond polishing cloth. It was awfully fun playing with all that stuff and reading all the documentation (even though I'd already seen it all on the website while shopping). An added bonus that I hadn't really thought about was the fun of showing all the people who had been following my diamond search with interest (and those I had bored with it) the hearts and arrows using the viewer. I was surprised at how many people had never heard of hearts and arrows and really thought the stone looked cool under the viewer, but even the folks who were familiar with the cut seemed to really like seeing the diamond's symmetry displayed for them. I had great fun showing the diamond to anybody who would sit still long enough for me to put the thing in front of them. I ended up carrying this $4000+ gem in the paper envelope it was shipped in around in my jacket pocket for close to a week just showing people.

I (eventually) took my new gem to my normal place, The Jewelry Loft, and had it set in a simple 18K yellow gold band with a six-prong platinum head (a fairly standard "classic Tiffany", and proposed the following week. My sweetie loved the ring, and with tears in her eyes accepted my proposal. For the record, I am now the luckiest man on the planet, and I know it, God help me.

In the end, I found my experience with Barry to probably be the best online shopping transaction I've ever had, and really one of the most pleasant experiences I've had buying anything in a long while (especially considering my aversion to parting with $4000+ for less than a fifth of a gram of carbon!). The diamond is absolutely stunning, and the service was simply wonderful. I found Barry to be extremely accommodating, and enjoyed feeling like I could call him at any time and get fast and courteous service. He always took the time to answer my questions (through email and on the phone), and despite being the owner of a growing online retailer, he never made me feel like I was keeping him from "more important" customers or business. We had some nice conversations about diamonds and Internet retailing, and I enjoyed talking with him. This level of service is often unavailable in the real world, let alone in cyberspace. Superb, indeed.

In fact, the service actually didn't end with the delivery of the diamond. When I originally bought the diamond I had intended to grab copies of all the electronic information about my diamond from the SuperbCert site and archive it in my computer. I knew I'd have all the hardcopies for reference, but liked the idea of having digital copies of all the certs and reports for my records. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to grab a couple of the pages before the stone was removed from the site, so I decided to write Barry and ask if he could do me the favor of sending copies through email, or even relisting the stone for a day or two so I could get copies myself. He surprised me by phoning me the following day to let me know personally that he had just asked his webmaster to relist the diamond, and that I should be able to get my copies shortly. True to his word, my stone showed up on the site shortly thereafter, and I got all the documents I'd been missing. Way to go, Barry!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Anyway, that's the SuperbCert portion of my adventure as posted. Hope some of this gives you some perspective. I certainly had a great experience with Barry, so I can't help but think there's a decent reason for your experience. I certainly hope you have better luck with SuperbCert going forward. After this thread, I can't help but think you will

-Tim

[/u]

 

[okaynow]

Maybe it was male PMS. Unlike female PMS, the male version has to do with dietary fiber. Ya know? an irregular man is a moody man. Wonder why old farts are always so grumpy?

So what I'm saying is that perhaps barry had to much meat this week.

excuses, excuses, excuses...

 

[barry]

jchi18;

We pride ourselves on superb customer service.
The testimonials on our website, this and other
forums clearly speak to this fact.

We answer all of our phone call inquiries and emails
instaneously (e-mails are sent out "high priority").
All requests for SuperbCert photo collages
on any given SuperbCert diamond are given
immediate top priority, as Tim has noted.
Orders are processed immediately.

Do you have the name of the person you spoke to?
Which diamonds did you inquire about?

Please call me on Monday and I will be happy to
work with you personally.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Barry
www.superbcert.com

 

[jchi18]

I wanted to give all of you an update on my diamond purchase. I received a message from Barry and finally had a chance to speak with him on the phone. Ultimately, I found that it was a misunderstanding. He was very generous with his time and tried to answer all my questions and placate all my concerns. I placed my order with him not because he was nice but because I felt assured that I was getting a wonderful diamond for the price. But it did help that they were nice. I should be receiving the diamond within a few days and I'll be sure to let you know how it looks. I appreciate everyone's input in this conversation. Thanks.