Would you upgrade a Shane Co ring or choose a dif vendor

[slycatty]

Hi,
Lucky me, I get to choose my own e-ring Thing is I have a promise ring purchased from Shane Co that could be traded to help pay for the e-ring or wedding band. But looking at prices there, I''m not really impressed. Plus, I didn''t like the quality of my Shane Co promise ring (the gap between the stones on my 3 stone ring were obviously not even), but they quickly fixed it for me. Anyone else have quality concerns about Shane Co? I''m wondering maybe I should just keep my promise ring and buy an e-ring and band from a different vendor. I''m looking for a 1 carat G VS1 on a plain or channel set platinum band around 5k. So far I''ve looked at online vendors, Tiffanys, and Shane Co. I do like lifetime warranties and free cleaning that these B&M stores offer. Too bad they probably would not set and guarantee a diamond I buy online in their setting, or will they? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[JulieN]

one vote for keeping your promise ring and getting a different vendor. you are a lucky girl!

 

[belle]

hey slycatty

welcome to ps.

i wouldn''t do it. i have not personally purchased from shane&co but others that have posted here have noted the same kinds of issues you are describing. i wouldn''t want to take the chance of the same thing occuring with such an expensive and sentimental piece. there are plenty of vendors here who have proven quality work and great return and trade up policies. don''t dig yourself deeper in with this commitment that you may regret. many vendors here also have lifetime warranties on their settings. take a look around. you can use the ''pricescope your diamond'' feature above to get listings of diamonds.
best of luck!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Agree with the others, you can do better. But I think you need to adjust your idea of the cost of a G VS1 or consider an H VS2 or so. It will be hard to get a well cut diamond alone for $5000. Tiffany will be much more than the prices above.

Here are a few to look at:

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/a-cut-above-h-a-cut-diamond-2458438.htm

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/2275/

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/a-cut-above-h-a-cut-diamond-2323718.htm

As you can see you are looking at $6000-8000 for an ideal cut G-H VS1 or VS2. When you do the price search, click on "in-house" because that way, you only pull up what the vendors have in their inventory. It is too overwhelming to look at virtual stones because there isn''t enough information on them. WhiteFlash does have a lot of G VS stones in stock at the moment in the A Cut Above section.

Also, a great way to learn about diamond quality is to read this site and the tutorial on the 4C''s on the Good Old Gold site. That one has a lot of great pictures of color and clarity.

http://www.goodoldgold.com/4Cs/

 

[cpster]

I agree with the others. I''m not even sure if Shane sells GIA/AGS graded diamonds. I also have a promise ring from many, many years ago from Shane (pre-PS of course). I once did an online chat asking about ideal cut stones with Shane and didn''t get a great response. I''ve been meaning to go in to see if I can trade the stone in for a better one to make into a pendant. Can you believe we paid $600+ for a 1/3 carat M color SI2 stone! I feel silly everytime I think about it.

For that amount of money I can get a J/VS2 AGS 0 stone.

If you go with one of the respected PS vendors here, most have a great trade up policy in case you ever get diamond shrinkage syndrome.

In the mean time, keep your promise ring...you can wear it as a right hand ring!

 

[perry]

slycatty

Welcome to Pricescope.

I would pass on the Shane Co for even the promise ring for the qualtiy of work issue you note.

Please note that the diamonds most offten recommended by this site - and the vendors most often recommended by people (including myself) are cut extreemly well for maximium "Life" in normal lighting (a combination of light return and fire).

Ini addition, there can be hidden flaws or high internal stresses that make a diamond less durable long term - and again the most often recommended jewelers on this site screen thier diamonds to eliminate these issues.

Such diamonds as described above represent the top few percent of total diamond cutting production.

Most ordinary jewelers don''t have this qualtiy of diamonds (or only get one of these once in a while). They have to other 90 + % of diamonds.

The difference can be amazing. I have literelly seen a person with a 1/2 carat "superideal cut" diamond walk into a room of gals and have her ring noticably outsparkle all the others - including the 1 carat ones - in the room.

Diamonds, are not cheap - and in your case are meant to last a lifetime. I would hope that you would focus on getting a good one and learning how to take care of it properely. You will be happy a long time that way..

Perry

 

[slycatty]

Thanks guys for the input. I''m going to try to see if I can maybe trade in the promise ring for a pendant to wear to the wedding. Only had the promise ring for 2 months

 

[Mara]

i agree with the others, keep the promise ring and do something else with it and use a new vendor for the e-ring. i shopped at shane when i was looking and their stuff was grossly overpriced, i think they do have GIA stones but the salesguy knew next to nothing about it other than what was written on the GIA cert. and i think if i recall correctly, a 1.20 H VS2 or SI1 was something like $10k and this was 3 years ago! it was definitely at least a few thousand more than buying online through a PS vendor. i didn't linger long at all in the store!

 

[bookworm21]

Yep, shop somewhere else. I hate Shane Co. Got my original bday ring there, and the stone was okay cut and overpriced, WAY overpriced for the quality of the stone. They also don''t have too many choices in terms of quality. As for free cleaning, all jewelers do that. The lifetime guarantee''s really not worth much. They only guarantee the loss of the stone due to poor workmanship or something along those lines. They really don''t offer much more than what other jewelers do; they just decided to put it in writing as an advertising gimmick, but that''s just my humble opinion.

Have fun looking and let us know what you decide!

 

[FireGoddess]

Since they''re only ''into'' you for a promise ring, I''d keep that as a memento and go elsewhere for the ering.