Would like your opinion on a situation...

[bling]

Hello fellow PSers!
I have a situation in which your opinion would be appreciated. I have a friend who is looking to upgrade her diamond to a larger one. After looking at several she had placed one on hold while waiting for the dealer to get her more information..pics and so forth. These are important because she doesnt have the opportunity to see the diamond in person prior to purchasing. So, with the diamond on hold, she awaited pics and information. During this time, the dealer informed her that the price listed on the website was incorrect and the actual price was a few thousand more than what she was originally quoted. They contacted the dealer and explained the situation, upon which the dealer told them that the new price was firm, based on the old price expiring when the 24 hour hold time exprired. The problem is that they were waiting for pics from the dealer and needed to hold the stone for longer than the normal 24 hours.
So, i guess my question is, should she be upset at this or is the dealer correct and hold true to what their hold policy says. Or should he honor the original price? Its an intersting situation and would like to hear what others think.. thank you!

 

[bigbadbuff]

mistakes can happen on website pricing, but if they told her over the phone a # and are now going back on that, I'd walk away without a second thought. But that's me. Plenty of excellent vendors online who you don't have to 2nd guess... good luck!!

 

[aljdewey]

I'm not a vendor, so maybe I'm missing a key point, but my feeling is this:

It's not your fault the dealer cannot produce the pictures/information requested within the 24-hour window. If that data is desired/required for you to purchase comfortably, then it's up to dealer to get it to you within that 24-hour window.

If he's unable to, that's understandable PROVIDING he honors the quoted price until he can produce that information.

The scenario you described would be unacceptable to me.

 

[Diamondsbybree]

I would advise her to shop elsewhere.

 

[bling]

i agree with what others have posted so far. i guess the dealer was having some technical difficulties, so could not get the pics that soon. But the thing is, they have been in contact with one another, talking about the stone, etc, and never once did the vendor say that the price was incorrect. Its a very frustrating situation. The hard part is, her original stone came from the same dealer and the total cost of the stone would go towards the new purchase. They have an upgrade policy, which originally seeded like a dream come true..but its getting a bit more complicated now. Also, to the dealers benefit..if he did do the upgrade, he would obviously make money off the the upgrade, plus, the cost of diamonds has increased. so should the dealer re-sell her old diamond, he would be making another profit on that one..seems like a no brainer.
anyway, thank you for your opinion. ill pass the info on to them and see what they think. would love to hear what others have to say. thanks!

 

[noobie]

I agree with the other posters here. The only case I could think of where this could happen if it were a dropped shipped stone and the owner of the stone raised prices while the images were being obtained. If it was an inventory stone, then I think it's bad business by the dealer.

 

[baltneu]

If I was your friend the only way I would still do business with this dealer is to get the original price quoted, but, we all know that is not going to happen because the dealer is now paying more money than originally quoted, so, I agree with the others ---- walk away and find another vendor and diamond.

 

[fancyrock]

A good dealer wouldn't pull soomething like this. It only sounds like this dealer is just trying to get more $$$ out of your friend. There are so many more/better stones out there. I wouldn't want to give them any of money. Walk away....

 

[bling]

thank you all again for the feedback..but as i mentioned earlier..its an upgrade so she can really only go through the dealer. would you still want to upgrade with this dealer? or perhaps, go through another dealer that might buy the stone and potentially lose money on the stone toward the upgrade. oh..so complicated! thanks all!

 

[aljdewey]

Not so fast, not so fast.....

As I mentioned above, I agree in principle that I would prefer to shop with another dealer if he doesn't honor his pricing.

HOWEVER....the "principle" of the thing is only one component of the matter. Is principle worth cutting off your nose to spite your face?

As I see it, there are other considerations, too. If the price went up a few thousand, then this isn't a 1 ct stone. It likely falls within that larger range where rough is in hot demand now and supply is extremely limited. Simply put, there may not be many other stones in this range out there to choose from. Has your friend checked around?

Also, if she does walk away from this deal to another stone, will it cost the same as this stone does after the increase? Will it cost *more*?

Finally, if she's counting on trade-up value, it might not be as easy to walk away to somewhere else.

IF rough in this size is in the short supply that I suspect it is, and IF my upgrade was contingent upon getting trade-in value on my existing stone, one way to possibly spend my energies would be negotiating with the dealer to split the difference in the increase.

It's fine to walk your business somewhere else providing they can deliver like/similar product at expected price/service. Just a thought.

 

[Todd07]

Did the dealer have the stone in his inventory?


if the stone was in inventory but he did not supply pictures, then I'd request him to honor the pricing due to his delay. This assumes it's a great pick and the dealer is a good vendor you trust.




If the stone was not in inventory, keep looking. I doubt you can force the broker (?) to honor the pricing.

 

[bling]

thanks al..you are correct. the upgrade is in the larger ct weights..over 2cts. so your thoughts on rough being in short supply is correct. but, her upgrade is contingent on turning in her original stone and using that towards the new one. and were not talking small change here..its considerable..in the thousands.
i dont know if she has checked other dealers as of yet, as she didnt think this problem would arise. she has talked to the dealer about "meeting half way" on the price, but they absolutely will not budge! i just cant imagine a dealer losing business this way..but who am i to say..im just a little ol PSer.. hehehe...

 

[Mara]

I would hold the vendor to the original price they gave if the fault was their own on the 24 hour hold expiring without enough information to make the decision. If they promised to get information over, and could not, and the price changed because of their difficulties, a good vendor would apologize and allow the old price to stand, even if they had to eat some $$ because of it. Plus as was noted, they take the upgrade diamond back, and they will resell that, probably for more because prices have jumped since she bought it originally.

For example, if you bought a 1c diamond at 6500 a year ago. That diamond conceivably could be sold fresh from the vendor for about 7500 now. Hypothetically for my example anyway. But the trade-in value is purchase price. So the diamond is traded in for 6500. The vendor can then, after examining the diamond and determining all is well (no huge chips, cracks etc), turn around and sell that diamond to the public again at 7500. So they are making money off the upgrade stone because of the purchase price scenario. So they not only make money on the upgrade, but they do off the resale again for the 1st stone. Of course their tests and time to re-grade the 1st stone to ensure all is still the same will take money and time, but in the end I would assume they'd come out ahead?

Because of this and knowing how prices are jumping, I would definitely hold them to the initial price. I wouldn't feel bad for demanding it either...esp knowing they can turnaround and make more off my old diamond, when I couldn't if I resold it myself!

My two cents anyway.

It's hard when you have to shop with one vendor because of the upgrade policy but it also does give you some leverage because of a larger upgrade. So try to stick with it!

 

[fire&ice]

Two important questions.

1. Did the dealer own the stone or was it brokered?

2. Did the dealer make it clear that the price could expire after a 24 hour hold?

well o.k. three:

If this is a brokered stone, how much pull does the dealer have with the broker?

It sucks the way you described it. BUt, I'm in agreement - I wouldn't cut off your nose to spite your face.

But, a few thousand - what are we talking about here? Could she be trading a stone that doesn't move well? What are those stats? What is the stats of the other.

Edited to add - if the dealer owned the stone & raised prices - I would not do business with them (unless they mentioned this as fact)& publish the story on PS.

 

[fire&ice]

----------------
On 9/27/2004 3:20:54 PM Mara wrote:

For example, if you bought a 1c diamond at 6500 a year ago. That diamond conceivably could be sold fresh from the vendor for about 7500 now. !----------------

Conceivably this is a win-win for all - but one has to assume that the trade in diamond is a good mover. This may not be the case and the vendor could be stuck w/ the diamond & possibly incur a loss.