What did you guys think of the James Allen interview?

[devientdrow]

I personally really liked it. Considering some of the topics that we''ve been talking about lately it was really relevant. It was nice to hear a vendors outlook on things like the romance of a stone vs. the numbers. I did agree with him in the fact that most people would find it more important to get a better stone for less cash than to have the "romance" of an in store diamond selling B & M expierience.

I also liked how he pointed out that on PS certain diamonds that really are beautiful may get shot down by other PS members because the numbers aren''t EXACTLY perfect. I know i''m probably a little biased since i''ve done buisness with JA before and was happy with it, but I like how candid he was and honest.

Who was the guy who was interviewing? He had some tough questions! hehehe

 

[belle]

i thought it was fun and interesting. i am really hoping that we will see more of those kinds of interviews in the future. of course, it''s always fun to put names with faces.

leonid, the administrator of this site, was the interviewer.

 

[devientdrow]

Date: 8/24/2006 6:53:34 PM
Author: belle
i thought it was fun and interesting. i am really hoping that we will see more of those kinds of interviews in the future. of course, it''s always fun to put names with faces.

leonid, the administrator of this site, was the interviewer.

Really? He did a VERY good interview Lots of good questions! He had a good mix of informative and fun, kept it interesting!

Yea, i''d love to see more interviews in the future with ALL the different vendors on here.

 

[kcoursolle]

I really enjoyed the interview as well. Since I purchased from James allen, it was really fun to see what he looks like in real life and to hear his opinions. I thought the bit about asking people on the street to tell the difference was fantastic, makes me all wonder if we are just really anal since real people can''t seem to tell the difference! But I''m sure we all swear that we could tell the difference. I also really respect his response to the old B & M way of doing things. I appreciate his upfront honesty about diamonds and low prices. I don''t need romance!!! LOL

Acutally, as far as romance goes, I think I want more of that with the setting than with the diamond. With the setting I enjoy trying it on in person and putting it on my hand, etc. But with my diamond I wanted the best looking diamond for the money, and I knew that would be online. It''s been interesting hearing the opinions of local jewelers when you bring up purchasing diamonds online. So many of them are bitter about it and say things like, "The quality is really low online, you never know what you are getting..." Remarks like that really bother me because I know exactly what I am getting online and that it is more beautiful and less $ than whatever they are selling.

 

[devientdrow]

Date: 8/25/2006 3:01:21 AM
Author: kcoursolle
I really enjoyed the interview as well. Since I purchased from James allen, it was really fun to see what he looks like in real life and to hear his opinions. I thought the bit about asking people on the street to tell the difference was fantastic, makes me all wonder if we are just really anal since real people can''t seem to tell the difference! But I''m sure we all swear that we could tell the difference. I also really respect his response to the old B & M way of doing things. I appreciate his upfront honesty about diamonds and low prices. I don''t need romance!!! LOL

Acutally, as far as romance goes, I think I want more of that with the setting than with the diamond. With the setting I enjoy trying it on in person and putting it on my hand, etc. But with my diamond I wanted the best looking diamond for the money, and I knew that would be online. It''s been interesting hearing the opinions of local jewelers when you bring up purchasing diamonds online. So many of them are bitter about it and say things like, ''The quality is really low online, you never know what you are getting...'' Remarks like that really bother me because I know exactly what I am getting online and that it is more beautiful and less $ than whatever they are selling.

I agree with you COMPLETLY. I have gotten that before too..."Oh your purchased ONLINE? How could you do that? You could of been sold ANYTHING!" Then i''ll launch into explaining it and i''ll see them staring off into space politely ignoring my diamond tutorial hehehe.

I liked trying on settings in person too. I think settings are 50/50. There is a really nice B&M around me that carries almost nothing but GIA and AGS....they are really nice but also really $$$. However sometimes they have sales and you can get their settings for about the same cost if not less than some of the internet vendors. They also sell all the brand names people mention on here. And without shipping!

But as for the the diamond....i''m all for buying online!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I think buying online is like anywhere else...there are very dangerous places to buy like ebay and very reliable places to buy like these vendors. And I agree with him 100% about people on here sometimes casting doubt on a perfectly great stone because it doesn''t have a very narrow range of numbers. I feel that stones within the AGS0 specs are certainly excellent and most of us wouldn''t be able to look at a stone and tell whether it had a 61.5 or 62% depth anyway!!! There are many combinations of numbers that can make a beautiful stone!

 

[devientdrow]

Date: 8/25/2006 9:43:24 AM
Author: diamondseeker2006
I think buying online is like anywhere else...there are very dangerous places to buy like ebay and very reliable places to buy like these vendors. And I agree with him 100% about people on here sometimes casting doubt on a perfectly great stone because it doesn''t have a very narrow range of numbers. I feel that stones within the AGS0 specs are certainly excellent and most of us wouldn''t be able to look at a stone and tell whether it had a 61.5 or 62% depth anyway!!! There are many combinations of numbers that can make a beautiful stone!

Yea I thought that was a good point. I think there are probably a lot of vendors on here that feel exasperated by us PS''rs sometimes, and our number crunching but they UNDERSTAND it. I mean how else are we supposed to narrow down a stone without seeing it? I think maybe they might get exasperated sometimes because if they are looking at a stone and thinking wow...this is impressive. It''s gorgeous! Someone might not want to get it because they numbers aren''t perfect. But I think that changes after you buy from a vendor and get a good relationship with them. Me for instance, like i''ve said before, if I ever upgraded in the future I trust that Jim would not steer me wrong. I''m sure other people feel the same way about their vendors.

I know Mara always buys from WF, i''m guessing if they told her they had something and they thought she would really be interested she wouldn''t rule it out completly if one of the numebrs was a little wonky. You just have to get a good trusting relationship going.