Canadian From Ontario | James Allen Experience - Highly Recommended!

[matthewfletcher]

Hi Everyone -

I wanted to send a quick note to say that Pricescope is an AMAZING SITE. For those new, trust in the community here to help you with everything you wanted to know about Diamond research and the experience to buy with confidence. I visited this site per a friend''s recommendation about 3 months ago. I started my search thinking I wanted to buy from Blue Nile which friends and family had dealt with in the past, but after extensive discussions on this site, was open to opportunities from other vendors. One, which I highly recommend is James Allen. James Allen has all of the great features of Blue Nile, but has one significant difference. Blue Nile ships all diamonds from the warehouse to you directly, but James Allen actually has a boutique store in NYC which has a team of Gemologists who actually pull each diamond, review it, and can compare it with you so that you know what you are buying has been inspected and carefully considered before shipping.

JAMES ALLEN ORDERING EXPERIENCE:

The Team at James Allen (Josh - Sales Manager, Darin - Sales Associate, and Jim - Owner) are amazing. They walked me through each stage of the purchase and answered my thousands of questions.

On Wednesday January 27th I visited www.jamesallen.com which is an incredibly user friendly site. I narrowed my selections down to (3) and then had contacted customer service to have each of the (3) reviewed by the boutique store and their gemologist team. On Thursday January 28th in the morning I heard back from Jim (the owner of James Allen) who walked me through the results of the Gemologist team who recommended my one option. From here I had the Price Scope community provide feedback and comments. Everyone agreed with the option the Gemologist suggested, but I wasn''t convinced. On Friday January 29th, I spoke with both Jim and Josh who listened to my concerns and provided step-by-step instructions to use the online resource with them to see other options that might be a better fit for what I was looking for. Immediately I found another Diamond that both I felt great about, as well as the PS Community agreed.
Diamond: http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/G-VS1-Ideal-Cut-Princess-Diamond-1277344.asp
Setting: http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/solitaire/white-gold-solitaire-rings.html

Finally on Monday February 1, 2010, I ordered / purchased the ring / setting with Josh over the phone. The ring was then shipped from NYC to Ontario Canada Friday February 5, 2010 via Fed Ex and on Monday morning at 11am, it arrived and looked AMAZING!

SHIPPING FEES TO ONTARIO / CANADA:

One of the things I was concerned about from ordering from the US was Shipping / Duties, and other Fees. The only fees that were applied to my order were PST (8% for Ontario), and GST (5% for Canada). The overall taxes only were about 10% though which was a nice surprise as Customs decides how much they are going to tax.

THE RESULT:

I brought the ring / setting with me out of the country to make the special proposal and my partner was blown away. It looks absolutely amazing and we are both so very happy. As we plan for our wedding, we will most definately be using James Allen to purchase our Wedding Rings and do highly recommend to friends and family. Again, I have heard and know of great experiences with Blue Nile and have nothing bad to say, but after the Price Scope recommendations, the overall level of care, customer service, and concern from James Allen, I am very pleased with my choice.

If you have further questions shoot me a note, but all in all it was an amazing, experience.

matthewfletcher

 

[Dreamer_D]

Congrats on your engagement!

Now where''s the hand shots

 

[IceExplorer]

Brilliant review!

I''m glad everything worked out great.
It''s great to hear your partner was ''blown away''. I''m sure you feel great about the effort you put into the whole process. I''ve been following your story from the beginning and it''s great to hear of a happy ending!!!

Are you going to tell us about the proposal?

 

[stone-cold11]

Congrats.

 

[anitabee]

from one princess owner to another... AWESOME! i saw your diamond stats, and WOW, what a great size & color! i love the setting too. great job! your fiancee is one lucky gal. i''m glad she loves it!

i''m also orig from ontario (windsor) and would''ve cheated though. since i have relatives across the river in detroit i would''ve had it shipped there. you''re so honest (but maybe you don''t have connections on the other side).

enjoy your new status of "engaged"!

 

[matthewfletcher]

Hi Again Everyone - thanks for your comments, your support and your encouragement

I will most definately post some hand shots when we return Monday.

With respect to how the proposal was done: We had an unplanned opportunity to visit Sandals Royal Carribean in Montego Bay Jamaica. Upon arranging our vacation, I worked with the hotel to have a private candle light dinner on the ocean. After dinner and before desert they brought me a single rose to present to her. After presenting the rose, I had all intentions of going through the speech I had run through in my head for the past month, but went completely blank. Honestly, I don''t quite remember everything I said, but remember getting down on one knee and told her I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. She was shocked (as we have lived together for 5 years and she honestly didn''t think I was going to ask). After this she cried, then out of complete happiness I cried, and the evening was amazing. The evening itself wasn''t nervous or stressful, but all of the the logistics leading up to the night were. Picking the ring, ordering the ring, shipping / arrival, working with the hotel on the private dinner, getting through airport security, and the anticipation. I wanted to make sure she had no idea, and that it was kept as a complete surprise, which it was. Now that it''s done - AMAZING.

Thanks everyone again!

matthewfletcher

 

[Lorelei]

I am so glad you found us helpful Matthew and that you had such a good experience with James Allen! Many congrats on your engagement too!

 

[Dreamer_D]

What a great proposal story.

 

[matthewfletcher]

Handshot attached per Dreamer''s request.

Thanks again everyone,

matthewfletcher