Anyone had this experience with Whiteflash?

[harlowbella]

Hello,

I am new here, and through everyone's valued knowledge on this site, I tried to set up an appointment with Whiteflash. They told me they only show rounds and princess cut, and if I wanted to see a cushion or radiant, I would have to pay for one up front before they brought it in. Has this happened to anyone else? It just seemed weird to me. I am a novice, and I really don't know where else to go in the Houston area or how to order a great diamond online. Thanks in advance.

Cara

 

[Christina...]

I'm wondering if there was a misunderstanding. I think that they require a small deposit if they call in a virtual stone for you and I believe that the deposit is applied to any future purchase. They have to pay to have the stone shipped back and forth and that can get expensive so I understand the reasoning behind it, but to require that you pay for the entire stone up front?? There must be some misunderstanding??? Hopefully someone with some more knowledge than me will chime in soon.

 

[Niel]

My stone is from wf bad if I remember correct I had to pay some to have it pulled in incase I didn't like it I'd have to pay to have it shipped back. But I don't think I had ti pay it all up front. Sorry when I bought it I was very pregnant. My memory is foggy lol

 

[Christina...]

Brian Gavin is another PS vendor and he is in Texas, though I'm not sure where exactly. I know that PS have made appointments to visit his office (it isn't a showroom) and said that it was fantastic and that he took lots of time with them showing him different stones and making comparisons.

 

[harlowbella]

They told me I would have to pay for the diamond in full for me in order to see it. I understand this to a point, but I guess I should just purchase online. Can anyone point me in the direction of someone in the Houston area that they recommend?

TIA

Cara

 

[distracts]

Brian Gavin is another PS vendor and he is in Texas, though I'm not sure where exactly. I know that PS have made appointments to visit his office (it isn't a showroom) and said that it was fantastic and that he took lots of time with them showing him different stones and making comparisons.

BGD is also in Houston.

 

[chrono]

I am a little confused and need clarification. Are you asking that WF ship the stone to you for review at your home? If so, I can understand them requiring full payment but if it is only to be shipped to their location for ASET pictures, only a deposit is required and the deposit counts towards your purchase price.

 

[Christina...]

Hmmm, thats very interesting! I would contact BGD, he used to work with WF is a very highly recommended vendor. This is his website....http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/

 

[Bosie]

Sounds like a misunderstanding, WF is a top notch seller, everyone on the fourm know this. They bend over backwards to make you happy.
It is my understanding that WF and BGD are in the same building.
Good luck.

 

[BeachieBummie]

I recently had Whiteflash bring a diamond in from their virtual selection so I can have them look at it and do an aset and idealscope. They just required me to provide them with a credit card, but did not charge it. The card was required in case I decided I didn't want the diamond. That is when they would charge the card a certain fee to cover the shipping/insurance.

 

[swingirl]

Their policy may have changed but when I was looking for asschers, which are not commonly part of their in-house stock, I asked them to bring in 3 stones to be evaluated. I paid the fee which was waivered when I decided to purchase one of the stones. My understanding was that the fee was for their shipping costs but also for their evaluation. I found their policy acceptable.

 

[Texas Leaguer]

Hello Everyone,
Just thought I would jump in and shed some official light on our new policy. In fact, it is so new it is not updated on our website yet, but will be shortly.

Our Virtual Diamond Service is very popular and we are extremely proud of the thoroughness with which we perform it and the value and protections it provides to our customers. We not only source the diamond and arrange the logistics, but we perform a full gemological review of the diamond and put the diamond through a series of light performance imaging tests. When a customer purchases a diamond from Whiteflash, whether from our own inventory or from a virtual inventory that we source, they receive the same comprehensive package of information that enable them to fully understand their diamond.

As some posters have accurately stated, our old policy was to collect one-way shipping and insurance costs from the customer for any virtual diamond that we brought it that the customer elected not to buy. ( If the diamond was found to have an issue such as mismatched cert, chip or scratch or other such problem, then we would return the diamond to the vendor without any charges to the customer.) Upon receiving the results of our analysis and light performance imaging, the customer would be asked to send payment in full for the diamond within two business days so that the order could be completed.

Under the new policy, there will be no shipping charges for the customer. Once we locate a diamond that meets the customer’s criteria,and it is confirmed available and on hold for Whiteflash, we will require payment. We will perform all the services as before and deliver the results to the customer. If, for any reason, the customer decides not to proceed with the purchase we will refund 100% of their money (or hold the money as store credit toward another diamond- at customer's option). We are essentially shifting the point of sale by about a week from the customer’s point of view.

Enacting this change to the payment process will help streamline certain operational aspects for Whiteflash and enable us to continue offering this outstanding service without reducing any benefits.

If you have read this far, thank you for your attention and for your patience!

Happy New Year to you all.

 

[justginger]

Hello Everyone,
Just thought I would jump in and shed some official light on our new policy. In fact, it is so new it is not updated on our website yet, but will be shortly.

Our Virtual Diamond Service is very popular and we are extremely proud of the thoroughness with which we perform it and the value and protections it provides to our customers. We not only source the diamond and arrange the logistics, but we perform a full gemological review of the diamond and put the diamond through a series of light performance imaging tests. When a customer purchases a diamond from Whiteflash, whether from our own inventory or from a virtual inventory that we source, they receive the same comprehensive package of information that enable them to fully understand their diamond.

As some posters have accurately stated, our old policy was to collect one-way shipping and insurance costs from the customer for any virtual diamond that we brought it that the customer elected not to buy. ( If the diamond was found to have an issue such as mismatched cert, chip or scratch or other such problem, then we would return the diamond to the vendor without any charges to the customer.) Upon receiving the results of our analysis and light performance imaging, the customer would be asked to send payment in full for the diamond within two business days so that the order could be completed.

Under the new policy, there will be no shipping charges for the customer. Once we locate a diamond that meets the customer’s criteria,and it is confirmed available and on hold for Whiteflash, we will require payment. We will perform all the services as before and deliver the results to the customer. If, for any reason, the customer decides not to proceed with the purchase we will refund 100% of their money (or hold the money as store credit toward another diamond- at customer's option). We are essentially shifting the point of sale by about a week from the customer’s point of view.

Enacting this change to the payment process will help streamline certain operational aspects for Whiteflash and enable us to continue offering this outstanding service without reducing any benefits.

If you have read this far, thank you for your attention and for your patience!

Happy New Year to you all.

Thanks for posting directly to clear this up, Bryan. So, will WF then lose out on the cost of shipping every time someone calls in a virtual stone and chooses not to proceed with the purchase? Additionally, does it mean that if someone wants to compare 2-3 stones, they will be responsible for paying for ALL of them upfront? That seems impossible for most of us - if I were purchasing a $30,000 stone, I would be uncomfortable laying out close to $100k just to be able to compare my final three contenders side-to-side. What you're wanting, I assume, is for people to choose one stone, call it in, decide if it's good enough, if it is, buy, and if not, then move on to a second option?

 

[chrono]

I'm with JG on this. The new policy makes it almost impossible for the customer to review 3 stones at the same time for comparison. You can bet that BGD and JA will pick up customers who are unable to buy all 3 stones for testing in order to select the best one.

 

[BeachGirlG]

Wow, I think that is an awful policy that will send buyers to other vendors. I doubt very many people will pay in full for 2 or 3 stones to compare...although I don't even agree with paying in full for one stone unless it is being shipped to the customer's home.
I hope WF reconsiders this policy.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

This is an interesting event from white flash. IMO, it is to completely discourage calling in virtual stones at all. I don't think a consumer in their right mind would participate in such a policy. By all means choose another vendor if you want virtual stones.
If you want their in house goods, they do have beautiful diamonds.

Thanks for bringing it to the forums attention, op

Annette

 

[flamingoezz]

I recently began a custom ring project with WF, and i would def say virtual stones were discouraged.

No 2% PS discount with virtual diamonds
no buyback or upgrade program
shorter inspection period (10 days)

plus you pay to ship the diamond back to them after inspection to have it mounted from my understanding.

If you aren't buying a WF stone, it seems like a hassle to buy a virtual stone from them.

 

[chrono]

It also means no fancy shapes (oval, pear, step cut, old cut, etc).

 

[Texas Leaguer]

Thanks for posting directly to clear this up, Bryan. So, will WF then lose out on the cost of shipping every time someone calls in a virtual stone and chooses not to proceed with the purchase? Additionally, does it mean that if someone wants to compare 2-3 stones, they will be responsible for paying for ALL of them upfront? That seems impossible for most of us - if I were purchasing a $30,000 stone, I would be uncomfortable laying out close to $100k just to be able to compare my final three contenders side-to-side. What you're wanting, I assume, is for people to choose one stone, call it in, decide if it's good enough, if it is, buy, and if not, then move on to a second option?

Just wanted to let you all know that the updates have been made to our Virtual Diamond Service page. You can read the details here.
http://www.whiteflash.com/about-diamonds/whiteflash-policies/other-diamonds.htm

JustGinger- in response to your specific questions above: Yes, Whiteflash will lose out on shipping and insurance when a customer decides not to complete a virtual transaction for any reason. But the real cost is in the extensive handling that requires attention by so many on our team involving gemological review, photography, vendor relations, admin and logistics. Believe it or not, that actual cost to Whiteflash to bring in and fully process a virtual diamond is a whopping $300!

And yes, we do understand that many people will be reluctant to access our service because of the prepayment requirement. Customers needing the multi-stone side by side analysis will find it especially difficult.

We feel really good about the service and the benefits that our customers derive from our efforts and expertise. We have a lot of history and we understand that our core customers are pretty confident that we have guided them properly by the time they have us bring in a diamond, and they generally proceed. In the case where they want to bring in a different stone, we happily accommodate them. We are invested as well as our customers and we share the same goal. And that makes for a healthy partnership.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

My personal opinion is that I send people to WhiteFlash for diamonds that WF has specially cut for their inventory, because these are among the best cut stones in the world. There are other places to go if one just wants to buy a diamond at the lowest possible price without caring about top cut quality. It has never made a lot of sense to me to go to a Houston jeweler that specializes in outstanding stones and then ask them to call in stones from NYC. In my own shopping with them, if they didn't have exactly what I wanted at that moment, I just watched until their next shipment came in!

 

[justginger]

My personal opinion is that I send people to WhiteFlash for diamonds that WF has specially cut for their inventory, because these are among the best cut stones in the world. There are other places to go if one just wants to buy a diamond at the lowest possible price without caring about top cut quality. It has never made a lot of sense to me to go to a Houston jeweler that specializes in outstanding stones and then ask them to call in stones from NYC. In my own shopping with them, if they didn't have exactly what I wanted at that moment, I just watched until their next shipment came in!

This is very true, DS. I'm not sure that I have ever even LOOKED at the virtual stones listed by WF. I visit the WF site to see WF stones, like you say. At first glance, this policy sounds like it would lose WF business. But upon further reflection, I don't think it will - I think with the $300/stone associated costs of sourcing regardless of an end purchase, it will end up saving them a lot of lost output. If people are wanting top cut, WF will remain at the top of the list. If they want a multi-stone comparison for rock bottom prices, perhaps JA is a better fit.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

That is exactly my thinking, justginger!

 

[Texas Leaguer]

My personal opinion is that I send people to WhiteFlash for diamonds that WF has specially cut for their inventory, because these are among the best cut stones in the world. There are other places to go if one just wants to buy a diamond at the lowest possible price without caring about top cut quality. It has never made a lot of sense to me to go to a Houston jeweler that specializes in outstanding stones and then ask them to call in stones from NYC. In my own shopping with them, if they didn't have exactly what I wanted at that moment, I just watched until their next shipment came in!

Diamondseeker: your comments make a lot of sense, and thank you for your kind words about our inventory. We do have to guard against trying to be everything to everybody. We know we have to maintain focus on our area of specialization. And depending on the goals of a particular customer, there may be better options out there on virtuals.

Having said that, I would stop short of concluding that it does not make sense to have a specialist do the sourcing. Look at it this way- the service we provide for virtuals is comprehensive. But we do not charge for it. We price the diamonds like a drop shipper but perform all the due diligence for the client as we do on our own inventory. The client does have to take a “leap of faith” and pay upfront- with the understanding that there is a 100% refund for any reason. The fact of the matter is that a customer will have to pay before taking delivery even to get a stone from a drop shipper, so a good deal of faith has to be there from the start. The main difference is in the thoroughness of the analysis that different companies perform in the process.