Wow,.. some Jewelry stores will say anything........

[NYCMDS]

Hey everyone!

I have not posted much on here but ive been looking around for sure. Anyway,.. I found a very nice diamond from James Allen that i really like but i just wanted to see how big a .75 - .80 Princess shaped diamond looked like up close. So i stepped into a Zales store while i was walking to the Bus earlier..... and i asked to see princess diamonds... so the manager sits me down .. and it begins. I asked to see .75 Carat stones and she asks me why .75, why not 1 carat because its much more beautiful. Then i ask about Cut, Color and clarity.. According to her Cut does not exist when it comes to Princess shaped diamonds.......

and another "Fact" was that,.. and i quote "The Zales Diamond is the most unique and most Beautiful in the Universe. No other diamond comes close".... She did not want to tell me about other things like Polish, Symmetry, depth, table..etc.... I could see frustration when i asked why the diamond looked yellow if it was colorless. I mean, How can a jewelry store, especially a known one like Zales mislead people? and BTW, "one of the most rare" diamond''s they had for $4,500 was Color F, I2 Clarity, 1 Ct stone and well.. Cut doesnt count with Princess according to her. I think after this experience.. Buying online will be my only way of buying any kind of diamonds now. Anyone have these type of experiences? It bothers me that stores will sell anything to people who dont know anything about diamonds.

 

[DBM]

I''m a little curious how you found out it was an F I2. She said that? An I2 stone is usually better off not being given for certification at all so to even have a classification of I2 sounds strange to me. just curious.

 

[NYCMDS]

DBM, Yes she said that it was an I2 Clarity Diamond.

 

[ladykemma]

golly, the zales near me is very proud of their signature cuts, and yes, they meet pricescope standards. they are the ones in 18k. saleslady just didn't know her stuff? they are the ones with gia/ags/igi certificates with all the measurements on them.

 

[ladykemma]

me again. i find it interesting that started by showing you the "zales diamond" . i tell people not even to look at those. they are as bad as the helzberg "radiant star". junk.

zales signature and helzberg masterpiece meets pricescope standards, although pricey. and once you know what a good, well cut stone looks like, you can find them in the case, with no special label. they tend to be the ones in 18k in these types of stores.

 

[C Smith]

Date: 11/23/2006 6:57:22 AM
Author: ladykemma
me again. i find it interesting that started by showing you the ''zales diamond'' . i tell people not even to look at those. they are as bad as the helzberg ''radiant star''. junk.

zales signature and helzberg masterpiece meets pricescope standards, although pricey. and once you know what a good, well cut stone looks like, you can find them in the case, with no special label. they tend to be the ones in 18k in these types of stores.

I agree. The signature series diamonds I have seen were all cut pretty darn well and were set in 18k as you state. The price was about double what I''d pay, but they are nice enough diamonds as far as it goes...I have seen some of their SI2''s in the signature line with faintly eye-visible inclusions however. I call that an I1 but others will disagree and I''ll lose no sleep.

 

[diamondhunter10]

It is astounding that companies do not put more time and money into training their sales staff. I have seen some great diamonds online and in stores and it would be easy to get my business if they answered a couple of basic questions they would have my business?

 

[justjulia]

We live near a Zales outlet, and I have wandered in there to look. Their certs are IGI. Not worth the paper they are printed on. I have found princess cuts to tend to show their color more than others, but I had a 2.5 K princess that was very white compared to another 3 ct J princess. It was the precision of the cut that made the difference. A dead princess is a dead princess. A lively princess will have bars and sparks of rainbow color, as well as scintillation of white light. Watch out for the flat tables--a large table can be nothing more than a mirror of blah. Another princess I had, a G, 1.5 ct, was very lively. I''ve traded so many times, ...well, that''s another story. I think it is a lovely choice of stone and I wish you luck! Everyone needs to stay away from the malls. Period.

 

[ladykemma]

if you know what you are doing, they have some good stones. the key is "If you know what you are doing".

 

[Modified Brilliant]

Date: 11/23/2006 7:36:34 PM
Author: justjulia
We live near a Zales outlet, and I have wandered in there to look. Their certs are IGI. Not worth the paper they are printed on. I have found princess cuts to tend to show their color more than others, but I had a 2.5 K princess that was very white compared to another 3 ct J princess. It was the precision of the cut that made the difference. A dead princess is a dead princess. A lively princess will have bars and sparks of rainbow color, as well as scintillation of white light. Watch out for the flat tables--a large table can be nothing more than a mirror of blah. Another princess I had, a G, 1.5 ct, was very lively. I''ve traded so many times, ...well, that''s another story. I think it is a lovely choice of stone and I wish you luck! Everyone needs to stay away from the malls. Period.

I''m not sure that I totally agree with your comment to "stay away from the malls" with all due respect to you. Even though the malls are mostly filled with the big chain stores,
you can sometimes find a guild higher end independent jeweler. I''ve seen quite a few in my travels up and down the coast. True, their overheads
may be higher but the competition within the same mall may be intense and you might be able to cut a good deal. Every case is different.

www.metrojewelryappraisers.com

 

[yellowsparkles]

Yes I agree. You can''t say "stay away from Mall Jewelers" in general. I have seen Tiffany''s in a mall ( in FLA). However, I have had the same experience with Zales in a mall. I was just looking at rings with a three year old in tow. I told the guy what I wanted.... yellow fancy. He showed me a halo ring and was pushing it on me. I said it was nice, but would look better with a yellow diamond in it. It was kinda sad. He was an older guy and was trying really hard to make a sale. He really wanted me to buy it "NOW". He said why wait and just get it. Here I am with a fussy three year old and I am going to plunk down $15,000 on a ring that I didn''t really like. Needless to say, i never returned to that store.

 

[justjulia]

Date: 11/24/2006 5:12:49 PM
Author: Modified Brilliant

Date: 11/23/2006 7:36:34 PM
Author: justjulia
We live near a Zales outlet, and I have wandered in there to look. Their certs are IGI. Not worth the paper they are printed on. I have found princess cuts to tend to show their color more than others, but I had a 2.5 K princess that was very white compared to another 3 ct J princess. It was the precision of the cut that made the difference. A dead princess is a dead princess. A lively princess will have bars and sparks of rainbow color, as well as scintillation of white light. Watch out for the flat tables--a large table can be nothing more than a mirror of blah. Another princess I had, a G, 1.5 ct, was very lively. I''ve traded so many times, ...well, that''s another story. I think it is a lovely choice of stone and I wish you luck! Everyone needs to stay away from the malls. Period.

I''m not sure that I totally agree with your comment to ''stay away from the malls'' with all due respect to you. Even though the malls are mostly filled with the big chain stores,
you can sometimes find a guild higher end independent jeweler. I''ve seen quite a few in my travels up and down the coast. True, their overheads
may be higher but the competition within the same mall may be intense and you might be able to cut a good deal. Every case is different.

www.metrojewelryappraisers.com

I didn''t even know I could barter between stores in the mall. Maybe I will have to try that some day.

 

[Modified Brilliant]

Salespeople have monthly quotas and they must be very aggressive to hit those numbers.
They know that they are only as good as yesterday''s sales figures. The big bosses only
want to know what are you going to do for me today. Sad but true. The pressure
trickles down from VP to District Manager to Store Manager to Sales Associate. Remember, "Nothing happens
until someone sells something." So be understanding and patient when the next salesperson tries to "hard sell" you.

They are just like you and me...trying to make a living.

www.metrojewelryappraisers.com

 

[Steel]

My husband and I both laugh and cringe when we remember our early jewellery shop experiences. The two most incredulous were:

In the most expensive and well respected shop in our local city with chains nationwide, the assistant ushered us into the tiny mirrored box ''private viewing'' area and showed us their best 1ct offering but couldn''t say the colour or clarity as they ''don''t have that information''. But more scary was that with our naked eyes we could see a significant chip on the girdle/table which was proven when I rubbed the diamond with my nail. Ps this was in 18k yellow gold and €11000 approx $14000. She was so pushy that we put a deposit down we felt sorry for her even though she was happy to sell us an uncertified lemon!

Later that day we visited a local small jeweller and saw a lovely vintage inspired diamond ring, but it looked quite coloured, face up and side on. I mentioned it to my husband, but the jeweller interrupted me saying no it was colourless and to use the loupe to check. - As if that would make a difference!

We almost gave up on a diamond ring after that as it seemed that all jewellers were out to turn a sneaky buck, thank goodness we shortly thereafter found pricescope.

Jewellers- love ''em or hate ''em we need ''em.