Here is my lab diamond buying experience so far:
The first vendor, who I'll call site #1, was maybe a month ago. I've bought a couple of mined diamond rings from them before, so I thought it would be fine. At that time, I wanted the setting too. The whole thing would have cost about $2,500 or so, for a 2.5-3.0 lab diamond in a solitaire setting. Since one of the mined diamond rings I'd bought from them had what I consider inadequate prongs for the points on a marquise etc. I asked if they would send me a photo to approve before sending the ring. That way, if there was any issue, we could get it corrected without the back and forth shipping, which I find very nerve-wracking with the more expensive items. Of course, I didn't expect any possible adjustments to be automatically free of charge. He said no. Then I asked him to ship it USPS instead of their usual FedEx because I've had problems with FedEx where I live, and I offered to pay more for it. Of course not! Then there were a couple more annoyances, so I cancelled the order. Then he sent me an email bemoaning how he'd lost a customer. No offer to improve on any of the issues I listed was included, though.
Last night, I tried again. Since none of the stock settings I've seen are quite right, I decided to just get the stone and send it to DK for the setting later. So now it's very simple, just pick out a stone and click the button, right? Apparently not.
I picked out a lab diamond on site #2 and clicked the button. Then I got a strange email, at about two in the morning, marked "URGENT!" I was told they couldn't accept PayPal and that I'd have to use a credit card backed up by Stripes instead, or a wire transfer (where the buyer has zero protection), or crypto, among other options. They said my purchase (a tad over $1,000) exceeded what they could accept from PayPal. A lab diamond vendor who is not allowed to accept that amount amount from PayPal?! I replied "no." They shot back another email. Now the reason they could not accept PayPal was because the PayPal site was supposedly down. They repeated their list of ways I could pay and again, urged me to pick one. Of course, PayPal was a button on their site, which they were in charge of in the first place. It all started to look kind of weird so I cancelled the order.
Then I found the same lab diamond on a third site. The $1,000 lab diamond was $4,500 there. LOL
Site #4 listed the same diamond at about a hundred dollars more than the one I had the strange PayPal issue with, but they were also the site I had the original problems with (site #1) so I passed. They, like all the others, did state that they'd match their competitors' prices. But the lab diamond was not back up on the site I'd had the PayPal issue with (site #2) so I wouldn't have been able to provide a link to it, which would be needed to get the price matching.
So, now I'm on to site #5. My diamond's price there is $1,200, more than two of the sites and far less than one of the sites. They, too, offered the competitor price matching but it still wasn't re-listed on the site that was $200 less on(#2) and I was exhausted by then anyway and just wanted to secure the lab diamond I'd spent so much time picking out, so I wouldn't have to start all over again on that. So I ordered it. I paid by credit card since they didn't offer a PayPal option. I didn't even try to request USPS shipping because, as mentioned, I was just worn out with it all by then. So I paid $200 more than the best deal and now I wait to see if I'll be lucky enough to actually get it, or if they'll just have my money and won't be able to get it.
I woke up to an email from the vendor who had the nerve to ask $4,500 for the stone I paid $1,200 for, requesting that I be "brutally honest" and tell him if there's anything he could have done better, along with a $100 discount offer. These vendors are really giving me the ick. They remind me of a husband who gets drunk and does something slimy, then disingenuously grovels and whines to try to get out of it, the next morning.
This has been a really annoying experience and to be honest, now I kinda hate all of them. Now I wait to see if I'll even get it.
It is just me?
The first vendor, who I'll call site #1, was maybe a month ago. I've bought a couple of mined diamond rings from them before, so I thought it would be fine. At that time, I wanted the setting too. The whole thing would have cost about $2,500 or so, for a 2.5-3.0 lab diamond in a solitaire setting. Since one of the mined diamond rings I'd bought from them had what I consider inadequate prongs for the points on a marquise etc. I asked if they would send me a photo to approve before sending the ring. That way, if there was any issue, we could get it corrected without the back and forth shipping, which I find very nerve-wracking with the more expensive items. Of course, I didn't expect any possible adjustments to be automatically free of charge. He said no. Then I asked him to ship it USPS instead of their usual FedEx because I've had problems with FedEx where I live, and I offered to pay more for it. Of course not! Then there were a couple more annoyances, so I cancelled the order. Then he sent me an email bemoaning how he'd lost a customer. No offer to improve on any of the issues I listed was included, though.
Last night, I tried again. Since none of the stock settings I've seen are quite right, I decided to just get the stone and send it to DK for the setting later. So now it's very simple, just pick out a stone and click the button, right? Apparently not.
I picked out a lab diamond on site #2 and clicked the button. Then I got a strange email, at about two in the morning, marked "URGENT!" I was told they couldn't accept PayPal and that I'd have to use a credit card backed up by Stripes instead, or a wire transfer (where the buyer has zero protection), or crypto, among other options. They said my purchase (a tad over $1,000) exceeded what they could accept from PayPal. A lab diamond vendor who is not allowed to accept that amount amount from PayPal?! I replied "no." They shot back another email. Now the reason they could not accept PayPal was because the PayPal site was supposedly down. They repeated their list of ways I could pay and again, urged me to pick one. Of course, PayPal was a button on their site, which they were in charge of in the first place. It all started to look kind of weird so I cancelled the order.
Then I found the same lab diamond on a third site. The $1,000 lab diamond was $4,500 there. LOL
Site #4 listed the same diamond at about a hundred dollars more than the one I had the strange PayPal issue with, but they were also the site I had the original problems with (site #1) so I passed. They, like all the others, did state that they'd match their competitors' prices. But the lab diamond was not back up on the site I'd had the PayPal issue with (site #2) so I wouldn't have been able to provide a link to it, which would be needed to get the price matching.
So, now I'm on to site #5. My diamond's price there is $1,200, more than two of the sites and far less than one of the sites. They, too, offered the competitor price matching but it still wasn't re-listed on the site that was $200 less on(#2) and I was exhausted by then anyway and just wanted to secure the lab diamond I'd spent so much time picking out, so I wouldn't have to start all over again on that. So I ordered it. I paid by credit card since they didn't offer a PayPal option. I didn't even try to request USPS shipping because, as mentioned, I was just worn out with it all by then. So I paid $200 more than the best deal and now I wait to see if I'll be lucky enough to actually get it, or if they'll just have my money and won't be able to get it.
I woke up to an email from the vendor who had the nerve to ask $4,500 for the stone I paid $1,200 for, requesting that I be "brutally honest" and tell him if there's anything he could have done better, along with a $100 discount offer. These vendors are really giving me the ick. They remind me of a husband who gets drunk and does something slimy, then disingenuously grovels and whines to try to get out of it, the next morning.
This has been a really annoying experience and to be honest, now I kinda hate all of them. Now I wait to see if I'll even get it.
It is just me?
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