Refund on ring :(

[MissDimity]

Hi again!,

A few of you might have read a thread I posted discussing my options about a ring my bf purchased in early October.
At the time, we had paid for the ring in full but had requested that the centre diamond ( J 1 ct) be certified independently.
Three weeks past and we returned to the store, to discover the diamond was a Top Light Brown colour, not what we had bought. The jeweler agreed to replace the diamond with one similar to the specifics that we has thought we originally bought.

A month passed, with no contact from the jeweler. My bf went in today to see where things stood. The jeweler has been unable to replace the diamond and so suggested we could either have a refund or he could reduce the ring by $300 ( note: brown diamonds are 70-80% cheaper than "white diamonds"). My bf replied that he thought a refund was the best idea, but to be sure, would ask my opinion.

Of course, I think a refund is the best option in this case, however I feel gutted that the ring that I thought any day would be bring me closer to a proposal, is now a lost dream. I have now decided to let my bf surprise me with his choice in diamond and ring.

Depressed now that my wait has been now extended...

 

[gwendolyn]

That does suck that things have been postponed, but better in the long run that you''ll be getting the type/quality/colour of stone that you paid for! Can''t wait to see what your boyfriend chooses!

 

[Inanna]

I''m so sorry this has happened to you! However, as you know, getting a refund and replacing the ring is certainly the best idea. Hopefully your bf will have a sense of urgency and get the replacement quickly! (Have you suggested Whiteflash?).

Good luck!!!

 

[ckrickett]

I''m sorry that stinks that you have to wait and you don''t get that ring. But look on the bright side, now you can be TOTALLY suprised and your BF does have a good clue what you like so maybe he will suprise you with something even better!

anticipaation KILLS but suck it up I know you can!

 

[neatfreak]

Trust me, it''s better to find out now! Can you send your BF to a trusted PS vendor? They work quickly and it''ll ensure that he gets what he pays for.

 

[sunnyd]

I''d actually say he''d get MORE than what he paid for!

Please please send him to PS land. Hehe.

 

[MissDimity]

Thanks for your concerns everyone! Just need to just be patient, and who knows, maybe it happened for a reason.....maybe I''ll receive something even more lovely.

Inanna- I absolutely love Whiteflash, however they don''t ship internationally ( to Australia)
neatfreak, sunnyd- I have mentioned and even shown this website to my bf, and for some reason, he just doesn''t trust anything said about diamonds here. He is pretty poorly educated in diamonds, despite my efforts, and he told me today , he has a friend who has a friend who sells diamonds .. and this has got me a bit worried.

So.. as long as it looks alright and is certified, that''s all that matters. Although i have given him guidelines ( not below J colour, not below ''eye clean SI2'' ) so it''s up to him now, and I need to step back. Because when I found out about the dodgy diamond in the other ring, I was so worried that we had been ripped off and that the rest of the ring wasn''t genuine, that for the past 4 weeks ,while waiting for the jeweler, everyday I have asked my bf "have you heard from him today" , "are you going to see him", "should we just forget it and get a refund".

Maybe that''s why he doesn''t want to engage in any diamond thoughts.. because of the whole fiasco and my worry with the other one.

 

[sammyj]

Date: 11/17/2008 12:29:04 PM
Author: MissDimity
Thanks for your concerns everyone! Just need to just be patient, and who knows, maybe it happened for a reason.....maybe I''ll receive something even more lovely.

Inanna- I absolutely love Whiteflash, however they don''t ship internationally ( to Australia)
neatfreak, sunnyd- I have mentioned and even shown this website to my bf, and for some reason, he just doesn''t trust anything said about diamonds here. He is pretty poorly educated in diamonds, despite my efforts, and he told me today , he has a friend who has a friend who sells diamonds .. and this has got me a bit worried.

So.. as long as it looks alright and is certified, that''s all that matters. Although i have given him guidelines ( not below J colour, not below ''eye clean SI2'' ) so it''s up to him now, and I need to step back. Because when I found out about the dodgy diamond in the other ring, I was so worried that we had been ripped off and that the rest of the ring wasn''t genuine, that for the past 4 weeks ,while waiting for the jeweler, everyday I have asked my bf ''have you heard from him today'' , ''are you going to see him'', ''should we just forget it and get a refund''.

Maybe that''s why he doesn''t want to engage in any diamond thoughts.. because of the whole fiasco and my worry with the other one.

Maybe it''s the international part that he doesn''t trust?? There are lots of Aussie members...maybe if you can start an Aussie thread about where to purchase diamonds and jewelry locally he''ll be more willing to read what''s on PS? Just a suggestion...

I definitely think you made the right decision about your diamond and it is a sign that there''s something better out there for you! Good luck with your search.

 

[tabu]

Hello girl! Hey, I just want to say that I am sorry this happened but you just need to keep your head high! I believe everything happens for a reason and only something better will come out of this. I am a LIW who has been with her BF for over 7 years and still no ring but I think that the anticipation will only make "the moment" that much better! Good things come to those who wait (a very looong time)

Let us know how things play out... You have support here!

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 11/17/2008 12:29:04 PM
Author: MissDimity
Thanks for your concerns everyone! Just need to just be patient, and who knows, maybe it happened for a reason.....maybe I'll receive something even more lovely.


Inanna- I absolutely love Whiteflash, however they don't ship internationally ( to Australia)

neatfreak, sunnyd- I have mentioned and even shown this website to my bf, and for some reason, he just doesn't trust anything said about diamonds here. He is pretty poorly educated in diamonds, despite my efforts, and he told me today , he has a friend who has a friend who sells diamonds .. and this has got me a bit worried.

I know for a fact WF will ship internationally...at least to Canada and the UK and I am pretty sure there are other aussie members who have rings from there...but you might need to call them. But almost all the PS vendors will ship abroad if you call them...

 

[neatfreak]

Also, I don''t know where you are but Garry Holloway is a GREAT vendor in Australia:

http://www.hollowaydiamonds.com.au/

 

[Allison D.]

Date: 11/17/2008 5:17:06 PM
Author: neatfreak


I know for a fact WF will ship internationally...at least to Canada and the UK and I am pretty sure there are other aussie members who have rings from there...but you might need to call them. But almost all the PS vendors will ship abroad if you call them...

Neatfreak''s right - we do have many international clients, including several in Australia.

 

[sunnyd]

Okay, so you gave him color and clarity limits, what about cut? A J with a poor cut could look like an L, but there are several examples of knock out ideal cut Js on this site! Keep looking, and force your BF to start researching so you both get the best ring you can.

 

[honey22]

WF do ship to Australia!!!! My ering is from WF and I am in Melbourne. You can do a search on my threads to find out info shipping to Australia.

Or try Gary Holloway - Holloway Diamonds in Melb.

Or online Jogia Diamonds, based on WA but becoming popular with PSers due to the INSANE Aussie dollar at the moment.

If you want to start a new thread in Rocky Talky, give us your budget and requirements, we can point you in the right direction or at least get you started!

Why not have your bf sign up and do a little covert op - we could help him - note, you would be banned from Rocky Talky though, we couldn''t give away the suprise!

 

[MissDimity]

Hey honey22, well I don''t know where I went wrong with WF coz I tentatively created the "Legato (?)" ring through their ring builder and then went it came to the "shopping basket" it said "This ring can not be shipped internationally" ????

Also have looked a Jogia Diamonds, and tentatively created a ring there and told my bf who put his email/ phone as contact. They rang him today but he said that he doesn''t want to go through them because they were trying to convince him to upgrade to a G colour instead of an I colour.

I think he is at the point where he wants to see the diamond for himself in real life before he buys.

sammyj :I kinda started a thread in RockyTalk when I found out about the dodgy diamond in the ring we bought, because I was half anticipating that we would end up getting a refund, and so I started a thread on Australian based retailers, and I only got three referrals to , Jogia Diamonds, Garry Holloway''s shop in Melbourne and to the Diamond Specilist in Sydney CBD.

So, my bf has already eliminated Jogia and I think he wants to see diamond in real life, so Garry''s store is eliminated. So that only leaves the Diamond Specialist. However, he is very convinced that his friend''s friend who sells diamonds coincidentally in the same suburb as he works is the way to go . I don''t know, I personally wouldn''t buy through a friend of a friend.

 

[MissDimity]

sunnyd: I reckon it would be awesome for us to buy a diamond with the help of PS''s, however my bf seems reluctant to buy a diamond/ ring that he can''t see in real life for himself. I am so so worried tho at his lack of knowledge about diamonds, because we went to one jewelery store and he pointed out this round brilliant cut diamond 1.3 cts (SI3) and said how nice it was however even without knowing the clarity, I picked out two pretty obvious inclusions near the centre of the diamond. So if he can''t even pick those out, I think I will get a very INTERESTING looking diamond.

 

[honey22]

I can see where your bf is coming from, but I don''t mean to be rude, but he didn''t do a very good job of purchasing a stone in real life. Surely a stone of that colour wouldn''t have looked white and yet he picked that one out? Does he still trust his eyes to make a better choice this time? Maybe you could nicely point this out and ask him to reconsider purchasing online?

If he still has his heart set on buying in person, tell him not to buy anything without running the specs here first. He will need the certificate number (don''t buy another uncertified stone!) and as many details as he can. We can tell him whether it''s likely to be a good choice or not.

I''m sorry you didn''t have a better experience with Jogia. They have lots of info on their stones, IS images, SARIN''s etc, and you can be guaranteed to get a nice stone when make your decision with information such as this at hand. G is a sweetspot for many, and some can detect colour in a I colour stone, maybe he was trying to avoid this problem, a G colour would be a safer bet IMO for someone that is buying for someone else, you never know if your intended is going to be colour sensitive. If you didn''t pick up the colour in the first stone you looked at, I would say you are totally safe with a properly graded I colour stone. Maybe you can call Jogia and ask to speak to a manager and try again. Don''t miss out on a great selection of well cut stones just because you had one bad experience with a sales assistant.

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 11/17/2008 10:53:21 PM
Author: honey22
I can see where your bf is coming from, but I don''t mean to be rude, but he didn''t do a very good job of purchasing a stone in real life. Surely a stone of that colour wouldn''t have looked white and yet he picked that one out? Does he still trust his eyes to make a better choice this time? Maybe you could nicely point this out and ask him to reconsider purchasing online?

Seriously...and a "friend of a friend" is hardly ever a good idea (and only is a good idea when that friend happens to be someone like Garry Holloway!). I promise!

 

[Deelight]

Date: 11/17/2008 10:53:21 PM
Author: honey22
I can see where your bf is coming from, but I don''t mean to be rude, but he didn''t do a very good job of purchasing a stone in real life. Surely a stone of that colour wouldn''t have looked white and yet he picked that one out? Does he still trust his eyes to make a better choice this time? Maybe you could nicely point this out and ask him to reconsider purchasing online?


If he still has his heart set on buying in person, tell him not to buy anything without running the specs here first. He will need the certificate number (don''t buy another uncertified stone!) and as many details as he can. We can tell him whether it''s likely to be a good choice or not.


I''m sorry you didn''t have a better experience with Jogia. They have lots of info on their stones, IS images, SARIN''s etc, and you can be guaranteed to get a nice stone when make your decision with information such as this at hand. G is a sweetspot for many, and some can detect colour in a I colour stone, maybe he was trying to avoid this problem, a G colour would be a safer bet IMO for someone that is buying for someone else, you never know if your intended is going to be colour sensitive. If you didn''t pick up the colour in the first stone you looked at, I would say you are totally safe with a properly graded I colour stone. Maybe you can call Jogia and ask to speak to a manager and try again. Don''t miss out on a great selection of well cut stones just because you had one bad experience with a sales assistant.

Ditto, we bought our diamond from the US as well from GOG but we had Sarah and John shoot us a vid of the diamond before we made our decision and bob''s your uncle maybe that might be something you can suggest?

 

[kat6]

We live in Sydney and my boyfriend purchased our stone from Diamond Exchange. We bought online but you can buy in person (for a bit more) if you prefer. He was happy with the transaction however if you want lots of information on stones you are considering, you would probably be better off going with Jogia as they can provide sarin reports, idealscope images etc (we got certificates from MDX but that was it).

We also visited a jeweller in Sydney CBD who I had seen others use (with good results) and we were really excited about; but unfortunately they were a big disappointment.

 

[MissDimity]

kat6- yeah.. I have checked out Diamond Exchange lots and lots of times, just to compare prices for different stone specs, however you are right in that (compared to Jogia) they don''t provide as much information about the stone ( certificate, crown/ pavillion angles). Would have liked to have gone thru Jogia, however they (according to bf) put the hard sell on him to get a better stone, which he didn''t like.

Oh well, my ring/diamond is in his hands, so I hope it turns out alright.