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Did my friend’s fiancé get ripped off?

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diamondsearcher1012

Rough_Rock
Joined
Apr 21, 2021
Messages
16
My friend recently got engaged with a beautiful 3 ct oval E VS1 diamond ring. I found out recently her stone is lab grown, but that her fiancé paid around $35K for it from a brick and mortar store. This seems really steep for a lab grown stone given the prices I’ve seen for same size and even bigger lab grown stones with the same specs online (I found 4 ct lab grown ovals, E VS1, for under $5K). Am I missing something or is there a reason certain lab grown stones may be priced so significantly higher? Thanks!
 
Are you absolutely certain of your facts; in other words, you've actually seen the invoice / receipt?

Or is this third-hand info -- the guy told the fiancee who then told you?
 
Actually, the fiancee didn't tell me herself. Her ring was posted on the jeweler's page where it was purchased from, and the details of the ring were noted there by the jeweler.
 
diamondsearcher1012 said:
Actually, the fiancee didn't tell me herself. Her ring was posted on the jeweler's page where it was purchased from, and the details of the ring were noted there by the jeweler.
Click to expand...

Can you link it?
 
Couldn't find the post itself, but I went on the jeweler's page and their diamond inventory has comparable diamonds being offered at similar prices. The same diamonds in mined version are around $80-90K on their page.Screenshot 2023-04-10 at 2.00.17 PM.png
 
Unless you are bosom buddies with this person, you know they are able to return, and you know they are very price conscious or something…I would just leave it alone

If the money is gone it’ll do nothing but spoil the engagement IMO
 
Yes, agree completely. I wasn't planning on telling her anything or spoiling her fun. More so I was asking for my own knowledge's sake, as to if there are characteristics of lab grown diamonds that may command a premium/justify the pricing. Otherwise, it's certainly not my place to bring it up.
 
Did you see the ring posted on the jeweler's Instagram page? Is there a reason you are not identifying the jeweler?
 
Yes, it was on his Instagram page. I was not able to find the post since it seems they are quite active on Instagram and the post is buried amongst others. I am not identifying the jeweler out of privacy for my location.
 
yeah, that price is fully insane. Not justifiable at all, IMHO. But as you said, there's no reason to spoil their engagement over it since the money is already spent.
 
diamondsearcher1012 said:
My friend recently got engaged with a beautiful 3 ct oval E VS1 diamond ring. I found out recently her stone is lab grown, but that her fiancé paid around $35K for it from a brick and mortar store. This seems really steep for a lab grown stone given the prices I’ve seen for same size and even bigger lab grown stones with the same specs online (I found 4 ct lab grown ovals, E VS1, for under $5K). Am I missing something or is there a reason certain lab grown stones may be priced so significantly higher? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity - does your friend know it's a lab diamond?
 
diamondsearcher1012 said:
Yes, it was on his Instagram page. I was not able to find the post since it seems they are quite active on Instagram and the post is buried amongst others. I am not identifying the jeweler out of privacy for my location.
Click to expand...

Okay.

It seems neither the boyfriend nor your friend told you her ring has a lab diamond.

Based on your posts in this thread, you are assuming the ring posted on the Jeweler's insta page was in fact your friend's exact ring -- it seems you cannot find the specific Insta post again -- so who knows what you were looking at.

Bottom line, none of us, including you, know what your GF's ring is comprised of so none of us can say whether boyfriend was ripped off.
 
diamondsearcher1012 said:
Couldn't find the post itself, but I went on the jeweler's page and their diamond inventory has comparable diamonds being offered at similar prices. The same diamonds in mined version are around $80-90K on their page.Screenshot 2023-04-10 at 2.00.17 PM.png
Click to expand...

I think they misplaced the decimal point on the price. Needs to move one to the left.
 
It‘s possible the ring linked on the page had lab diamonds in the setting or the center was swapped out for a natural stone. Could also be popular setting for that store… I wouldn’t assume that it was a lab. The one you linked above doesnt say it’s lab Grown. Lots of room for guessing And assumptions.
 
Trust me, say nothing.
Even if asked just say “mmmm” “lovely”.
After helpfully (not) helping a work colleague realise her diamond engagement ring was CZ and worth $100 rather than the $10,000 the fiancée paid I learnt to never pass on an opinion or thought.
As it turned out, Work Colleagues fiancé had a gambling problem and to cover the gamble loss he made out that the “minus $10,000” was the money he’d spent on her ring.
and yes, they broke up afterwards.
 
I mean I want to grab the popcorn and tell you to go for it- but that’s a bad idea.
Unless this is a frienemies situation and she told you how much it cost in some sort of jealous way.
But even then it would be absolutely a train wreck to tell your friend she got taken to the cleaners - if even true. one or more people could be fibbing in any detail of this. Price, origin, who knows
 
That oval could very well be earth grown...IGI grades both EGD and LGD. Would need to see the actual grading report.
 
Bron357 said:
Trust me, say nothing.
...
As it turned out, Work Colleagues fiancé had a gambling problem and to cover the gamble loss he made out that the “minus $10,000” was the money he’d spent on her ring.
and yes, they broke up afterwards.
Click to expand...

Complete win. You saved your friend. I think you learned the wrong lesson from this.

All of you, please feel free to save me or anyone I care about from a lying gambling addict.
 
a workmate was given a white saphire and amethyst silver ring as an ER
i found it on the mall jewlers web site purley by chance
the workmate worked in inwards goods and was not the cleanest
a white saphire was a terrible idea
but she loved it, perhaps she thought it was a diamond, it wasnt my place to say but knowing the BF had a very well paying job i was a bit disgusted
i just gave advice on cleaning the ring often
the enganment came to a messy end and the bas*ard asked for his $200 ring back
she really loved that ring - it was very pretty (when it was clean)
i did feel sorry for her

just be your friend's friend
 
The weird thing about the diamond posted is that it seems underpriced for those stats for an earth-mined, but waaay overpriced for a lab. So it leaves me bewildered as to what it is.

I may be in the minority, but if I were the bride, I'd really want someone to tell me. Even when it means experiencing heartache in the moment, I'd rather confront the truth head-on. That's just kinda my life philosophy.

But I also agree that none of us know what is actually going on in this particular situation. So because of that, I wouldn't tell the friend unless they told me they were concerned about it. Or unless they said they were going back to that store to spend more money on something similar.
 
DejaWiz said:
That oval could very well be earth grown...IGI grades both EGD and LGD. Would need to see the actual grading report.
Click to expand...

Yes! IGI does grade both, definitely. The diamond in that image, though, was specifically under the “lab-grown diamonds” inventory for the jeweler. As I mentioned, a comparable earth-mined version on the same jeweler’s site was listed for $85K-90K.

I was able to find the post, which I do know for a fact is her ring. I am not linking for privacy, but there is no additional information on the ring written on it beyond what I have shared - 3ct, E, VS1, lab grown, $35K. Again, I want to clarify that this post was in no way me saying that I am going to tell her something about her ring that is not mine to tell. The origin of this post was simply me being curious as to if there may be a reason for a lab grown diamond to be priced in this way.
 
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Crazy, I would not pay 100 $ for a lab grown
 
It’s also possible they’re going by the appraised value and your friend paid half that. A bit of social media puffery to make the client’s fiancé happy for receiving such an expensive ring for a “deal.”
 
I’ll just leave this here.
AF6F26C5-E1BF-4E37-B169-584F8C933F7A.jpeg
 
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