CC,wire transfer,debet card payments

[nicpon]

Hey,
I have read somewhere on this forum that it is much safer to pay for the ring with the credit card than it is with debet card. I know that credit cards companies have a lot of protections but what if one''s credit line is not big enough?? What do you guys think about wire transfer ? Is it safer than debet card or cc. For example, www.uniondiamonds.com gives a 3% discount on all wire trasnfers. Where is the catch ??
Thanks
MiKe

 

[Blue824]

I refuse to make a large purchase with anything but a credit card.

I don''t the specifics but with a credit card you have the ability to stop payment, cancel payment, etc. I made the mistake of paying for a camera on a debit card, had a horrible experience, and since the cash was taken from my bank account, albiet through the name of VIsa, it didnt matter...the cash had been transferred and the only thing that could be done was to file a claim, but I still had to pay. The way my bank explained it, if I had purchased with a credit, versus a debit, I woudl have been able to stop payment with out a problem and then had the claim researched. With a wire transfer you''re paying cash upfront...I don''t think you''re protected in any way what so ever with that...once they get that money, your only recourse would be a lawsuit if you have a major problem.

Not sure if that makes sense, but I''d recommend the credit card definitely over the wire transfer or debit.

 

[con17]

Hey! They''re probably offering a 3% discount with a wire because that is the fee that the store, company, etc needs to pay in order to have CC transactions processed. So if you paying by other means, such as cash, wire, etc. Then they have the luxury of giving you the 3% discount. As far as the safety of wiring the money...it is safe in the sense that it goes from your bank account directly to the vendor or bank or where ever you decide to route it. If you''re sending it from your bank, your bank should be able to give you some sort of receipt showing that the wire was sent and to where it was sent. I hope this helps!

 

[nicpon]

I would use CC too but my credit line is not high enough, so i`m kind of stuck with either debet card or wire transfer. But, if the company i`m going to buy from has a 30-day return policy then i think i should be ok.

 

[bstraszheim]

You may be able to contact the credit card company and see if you can "overpay" into your credit card account to have that much money available on your credit card. I am not sure if this would work, but you may be able to arrange that.

I wish you well,

Bridget

 

[hoorray]

I typicall pay with wire transfer because itis easy through my bank, and typically a little cheaper since most vendors offer a "cash" price. However, for safety, I would insist on having the stone sent to an independent, local appraiser who can verify that it is whatthey say it is, and let you view it (with some expert assistance as a bonus) BEFORE you send the money. I would not want to have to try to get my money back if something went wrong. I think it is safer to not pay until it all checks out.

I''ve done this several times -- once with a local appraiser, and other times with a non-local appraiser, when I didn''t think I needed to see them personally first -- just get that expert opinion. The appraisers would not release the stones to me until the vendor gave them the OK, so they act as the "honest broker" in a way, and everyone is protected, plus you get an appaisel, which is important.

 

[nicpon]

I thought about sending it first to local appraiser but the company that has the stone doesn’t do that. They say that they don’t do it because they had some bad experience in the past where the independent appraiser didn’t value their product good enough. I know they have 30-days return policy but for example what would happen in this hypothetical situation: Let’s say I buy the rock and they ship it to me. I take it then to the local appraiser and find out that its fake or different than the one I intended (or ordered) to buy. I ship it back to company and they say that I change the stone from the original to the fake one so I can’t the money back. Is something like this possible??

 

[belle]

style="WIDTH: 102.46%; HEIGHT: 71px">Date: 5/18/2005 6:26:55 AM
Author: nicpon
I thought about sending it first to local appraiser but the company that has the stone doesn’t do that. They say that they don’t do it because they had some bad experience in the past where the independent appraiser didn’t value their product good enough.

that sounds odd to me.

 

[Islandia]

Hi nipcon,

I was in your exact situation thinking that I wanted to put my diamond purchase on a credit card rather than pay by wire transfer. But I spoke to the people at Union and they do have a very generous 30 day return policy and were happy to ship the diamond directly to my appraiser (Rich Sherwood who posts a lot on this board actually). If there is something substantially wrong with the stone, I am sure Rich would let me know and I would ask him to ship it directly back to Union for a refund to avoid the possibility of me swapping the stones or whatever else. I felt this was the safest solution so I went ahead and put down the money to purchase the diamond. This seems to be the way to go if you are in need of an independent appraisal and want to reassure Union (or wherever else you buy) that you are serious.

Steve

 

[Islandia]

Oh I forgot to mention that I think part of the concern for the retailer is that the stone may well not be appraised to be exactly what is on the certificate and it is out of their hands for a week to two weeks (and hence out of circulation) without them having any guarantee that the buyer would want the stone after the appraisal. I mentioned before that I would return the stone if there were something substantially wrong with it, but don''t get me wrong - if it graded one color lower or the clarity was borderline between the grade on the cert and a lower grade by my appraiser, I would not return the stone as that can happen with laboratory certs. Only if they had swapped the stone out with another one or the stone had some structural flaw would I take that step. Basically I was told the stone was bright, white, eyeclean, and a nice diamond so if those held true I wouldn''t consider it a misrepresentation if the grade were not exactly what was on the cert.

Steve

 

[nicpon]

The only one thing about union diamonds that i don’t like is that they refused to ship the stone straight for the appraisal and this is a big minus for them in my opinion. Whereas, usa cert diamonds will ship it for appraisal without me putting the money down and on top of that USA cert diamonds has a bit lower prices than union. One can argue that union have 30 days return policy and USA has only 7. Anyway I still haven’t made my decision how I’m going to buy it and through whom but USA cert diamonds makes me more comfortable than union at this time even though usa cert’s website has to be redesign.

 

[boazb]

I was worried about using a wire transfer and was going to use a credit card. But I called my credit card company for more info. They said I would be protected for 90 days if I lost it, had it stolen or wanted to return it and the company wouldn''t let me. But there was a limit- $1000 for lost/stolen items and $300 for returns. So I figured I''d rather save the 2-3% for the wire transfer. I purchased my stone from USA Cert since they were the lowest price and were the ONLY site that was able to ship the stone for me to look at BEFORE buying it! I was very happy with my purchase and had no problems.