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Why do I bother walking in to a retail store??

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billyb

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 13, 2002
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26
During the past week or so I''ve noticed a nice looking Diamond store on the way from work to the hotel. Yesterday, I decided to stop in and see what they had to offer.

I told them what I was interested in and then asked if they had a Firescope or a device that would show the amount of light return. As soon as I mentioned this, the salesperson starting telling me that they have over 20 years experience in picking cuts and that what they offer is indeed the best. When I asked about a H&A scope they said its just a gimmick. I told them I was interested in something under the 1.5 range because of the price gap and they told me that its all priced the same (actually the owner said that the price/ct is the same for stones between 1.3 - 1.6 cts).

Argh.. Can the rest of you relate to this experience?

I felt like I was being misinformed. For example, I was told that ''a H&A diamond is not necessarily AGS "000" but an AGS "000" will ALWAYS show H&A''.

What gets me is that the owner WAS aware of the Firescope, H&A, Brilliance scope, etc but was trying to convince me that those things don''t matter. It was as if I was being too picky in requesting that information. And then 2 seconds later they were telling me that they will get me exactly what I want. I didn''t ask if that included verification of the cut using a firescope because by that point I knew I wasn''t going to be returning.

Anyways, I just wanted to vent my frustrations regarding my recent retail experience. Its amazing how successful some people can be (this store was very nice) without even educating their consumers properly. I''m sure this will all change in the near future and kudos to those of you that do make it a priority to give us consumers the whole truth! :D
 

Greg G

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jan 27, 2003
Messages
36
Yep - I can relate. The standard pitch that I've been given is that there is no way I can possibly be smart enough to have the slightest clue about judging cut and that the best I can do is find someone I can trust (them of course) to make that determination for me. One guy had the gall to say that every diamond in his store is a top cut so I could just eliminate cut as a deciding factor. This is the same guy that showed me a Princess cut 1.5c SL2 G for $5000. The cut was terrible - but at least he wasn't trying to overcharge me for it I guess. I figured that if all his stones met this "high" standard then I didn't need to see anymore. I've also been told that light ratings are just a gimick. When asked what he thought about it he told me about how his stones all came from Canada. Err... what does that have to do with light return? Perhaps he was trying to tell me that his gimick was Canada but I'm not sure.

Soooo, I do feel your pain!

-Greg

PS - I've also been working with the folks at GoodOldGold.com and they've been great!
 
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