Wednesday, November 4, 2009
One year and change
So in the name of not giving away too much but talking about my life, I have said nothing. I have gone through lots of life changes and face yet completely life altering changes looming in the near future. Still looking for work in my "chosen" field as I bide my time working an hourly wage, remembering how awful retail/service really was. An honest days work, was never really honest, nor is it really work.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Diamond Shopping
So the Cubs blew another epic season, I personally think it's worse than the epic way the Met's have blown their divisional lead for two consecutive seasons. Sort of confirms my philosophy that I shouldn't really get worked up about a team's chances until they're right at the cusp of becoming champions. Why waste all that money on shirts, hats, and other gear when you know they just might go and disappoint you anyways. Phillies should lose, because I believe in a just God. Hahahahaha. The Dodgers should kill the Tampa Bay Rays. Because most people don't want to see Red Sox nation gloating anymore and it seems that TB has their number anyways. The Eagles losses have been epic in the fun factor, and should continue to be amusing to me for some unknown reason; well we know the loss to the Bears just had be rolling and giggling like a little girl much to the chargrin of several people. Now that the trivial vitriol has left my system, and hopefully won't haunt me in any of my relationships with friends, et. al in Philadelphia and afar, I shall continue to regurgitate what has been consuming my life for the last two months or so, diamond research.
...
I don't believe myself to be fully educated nor even anywhere close to becoming a diamond retailer, but I think I learned enough to not get taken for a ride by one. I finally broke down, and told my g/f E, that I think she should be included in the process for buying HER engagement ring, because after all she'll be the one wearing it and not me, and she should be happy with what I bought. Call me a wimp, call me what you will, I call it prudent. I have a meager budget, which if I could I'd rather blow some major cash on a ring studded with a 1.5 carat, VVSI, D, Ideal cut rock. But like I said, I have a meager budget so I've been looking for some extra bang for my empty wallet. We decided it would do us some good for her to scope out some settings so she could figure out what exactly she'd want to wear, and for me to actually look at some real diamonds so I can get a real feel for what an eye-clear diamond is and for the amount of inclusions I could stomach and for how much.
Fast forward to the King of Prussia mall (for you non-Philly folks, supposedly one of the larger malls east of the Mississippi River). We walked into BRAND A (I think regional) and were treated well by an amiable older lady who helped g/f decide, yeah, she wants a round-cut instead of any other cuts. Good, one factor nailed down. The settings, on the other hand, good lawdy, so many yet so little time... At least we scratched the Tacori brand settings out. As for my diamond education, nothing changed, much. We felt good, and said, hey why not Tiffany's, to just look, and not spend.
Lady in there is also very nice, shows us some rings, E tries on some rings, one ring in particular looked really good, though with a small center rock, but multiple side stones. E looks and loves it, I think "Oh f'in hell, she might ask me to buy it." And before E does anything, the sales lady decides to say what everyone is thinking, "It looks perfect on her, why don't you buy it?" to which I reply, "I would, if she wants it" (or something to that effect.) Thankfully she doesn't, but we do thank the lady and walk around some more, and walk out knowing that she wants a thinner ring that she thought, and no knife-edge on the ring.
Then walking around again, we happen on another jewelry shop that's going out of business, I say what the hell, you never know, so we look. I find a ring that might be suitable and is definitely in my price range. I see it's labeled at around 1 carat, and 50% off markdown to $3,500. I ask to see the ring, I get it handed to me, and without even asking for a cert. I see right away how noticeable the inclusion on that one is, and show it to E and then promptly we walked out of there knowing that I can spot rocks that aren't eye clean and she doesn't want one that can be so easily spotted.
We walked into Cartier but that was a quick walk through as we both saw nothing at all that appealed to us, then another shop that was more for fashion jewelry and no wedding and engagement rings, neither helped in our search. Both stores were way out of our range anyways, and too busy with customers who looked like they had much more money than us. Though I did learn that E is typical female and had wanted to get herself diamond earrings, but unlike some, she was sensible enough not to have blown her economic stimulus and tax return checks on them. I also though it of note that she noticeably didn't tell me "I don't want that, don't get me that", as opposed to saying that in Tiffany's when I asked about certain pieces to which she had given some extra attention. Then we walked into another shop that will remain unnamed, but forever ingrained in both our minds.
Like every other shop, we told them we were just looking, and had no plans to buy that day, but were seriously looking. Salesgirl was nice and helped E out looking at settings. She said there were many more settings in the back and that we should have a seat. No big deal, several other stores had us sit down as we looked at the settings. WRONG. Saleswoman (notice woman and not girl) smells some sort of commission. She starts off with small chat and faked pleasantries and about how so-and-so went to my school, and how her brother went to law school as well. (Sidebar: I hate telling people I study law, it usually takes several follow-up questions for them to learn from me that I'm in lawschool.) She does a sales pitch, I politely listen, we tell her we want to see settings, she obliges but decides to show us some rocks, which I don't mind, but E does. She whispers to me in Korean that we are not to buy that day, I respond that I want to hear their asking prices just to be informed. E's fears assuaged, but still irked by the fakery of the saleswoman, tries to listen to our exchange while half-heartedly responding to the salesgirl's distracting small-talk. Saleswoman (hereafter "SW") lays it on real thick. Asks me for my budget, I respond rather sheepishly, and I can see in her eyes her disappointment as her calculations on her commission quickly drop like a rock. She goes into her routine, I nod politely, I respond appropriately and she patronizes me by saying "I see you've done some research". She gets some stones within budget, and ignores the fact that I don't care about the color as long as it's I and above. She brings out three stones, and right away I smell crap, the certs are all from EGL (which has a rep for being softer on their grading), I notice the appraisal price for the stones are between $5K and $8K. That puts my BS alert on even higher-alert. She brings out some shady looking loupes to show us the Hearts & Arrows (H&A) on the rocks. I couldn't tell if E was actually amazed by them, or just faking it and I don't even remember my own reaction, but I do know I could see all the little cloudy inclusions in the 0.84 carat stone. She goes on about how on ideal cut diamonds you get H&A effects. I think "stop your BS, every decent round cut diamond has H&A, it's just a matter of how defined they are." So while it was my first time seeing it in person, the magic Internet prepared me for that. I asked to see the diamond, she complies, the rock could be considered eye-clear if you didn't care about the wispy, milky, white inclusions in the rock; they were probably feathering (I told you I'm not that educated on the rock). She goes on and on with her sales pitch, and finally says "let me go talk to the owner of shop, by the way, have I mentioned that we have several stores worldwide, but we're no corporation, and he just happens to be here so I can get you a really good price because he also wholesales diamonds." My BS meter's needle instantly broke from crap overload and I steeled myself for the impending idiot asking price. I was not to be disappointed. She comes back and quotes me a number that was wholly outrageous, and felt like an affront to my intelligence. I ask, is that tax included, and she responds as if now I'm the person who's thrown an insult. Then just to make sure I'm not confusing the price, I ask how much for the mount, to indeed confirm that the price was for the diamond only. She responds non-chalantly, that she can give the ring (which was platinum) in white gold for $750. That topped the cake for me. I look at E, and she had to know I was blown away, then I look at SW and say thanks, but I've seen better prices on similar stones. To which she quickly gets the "owner" and he talks with me. He seems upset, and now I'm about to get real upset. He tries to berate me in an underhanded way, and says he's offended by my comment. From there, I don't really remember much because it was of no incident, except that it took way too long to get the hell out of that store. To be polite, I ask the salesgirl for her card, and like the poor lackey she was in that store, she had attached SW's card as well to the brochure when she stapled her card in there.
There were somethings in there that really pissed me off hardcore. But this pissed me off the most. SW was intoning to me that I should have E pay for half of the ring, and thereby increase the amount that would be spent on the ring and ergo SW's own commission. That did not help her one bit. It would've been one thing to try to persuade me to increase the budget, but to point that question at me, while her lackey was trying to distract E? Plain stupid and rude and.....
To make a very long story short, that brochure from that last store was thrown out and I'm sure I'm purchasing a decent rock online. I think any self-respecting person owes it to themselves to do a little extra research, even if they feel like they've been to every single webpage and brick and mortar jeweler out there.
I know a couple of you have asked me questions about rings now that you're in a similar situation as me, and I'd highly recommend going to www.pricescope.com. Get a feel for what they're saying on their forums, and understanding what they hell they're talking about takes some time and patience, but shoot, it helped me out. That being said, I'm probably going to get her ring from BlueNile cause I found a way to get a decent discount and E found a ring design that she liked. Some more about pricescope. I had thought that I found a diamond at one of their "favored" retailers. I emailed them simply if the diamond was eye-clean and the retailer responded the next day, and in a series of emails I was able to have them respond that it was not eye-clean and why, then asked if they could help me find a diamond in my budget. I told them my budget and parameters, and they quickly responded not only with the availability, but the certs, IdealScope images, and what would probably be the best bang-for-the-buck. Great service, but in the end, the settings and discount won out over them.
If you feel like you could give me some extra advice, or discount, anything to ease the painful but worthwhile process, please feel free.
...
I don't believe myself to be fully educated nor even anywhere close to becoming a diamond retailer, but I think I learned enough to not get taken for a ride by one. I finally broke down, and told my g/f E, that I think she should be included in the process for buying HER engagement ring, because after all she'll be the one wearing it and not me, and she should be happy with what I bought. Call me a wimp, call me what you will, I call it prudent. I have a meager budget, which if I could I'd rather blow some major cash on a ring studded with a 1.5 carat, VVSI, D, Ideal cut rock. But like I said, I have a meager budget so I've been looking for some extra bang for my empty wallet. We decided it would do us some good for her to scope out some settings so she could figure out what exactly she'd want to wear, and for me to actually look at some real diamonds so I can get a real feel for what an eye-clear diamond is and for the amount of inclusions I could stomach and for how much.
Fast forward to the King of Prussia mall (for you non-Philly folks, supposedly one of the larger malls east of the Mississippi River). We walked into BRAND A (I think regional) and were treated well by an amiable older lady who helped g/f decide, yeah, she wants a round-cut instead of any other cuts. Good, one factor nailed down. The settings, on the other hand, good lawdy, so many yet so little time... At least we scratched the Tacori brand settings out. As for my diamond education, nothing changed, much. We felt good, and said, hey why not Tiffany's, to just look, and not spend.
Lady in there is also very nice, shows us some rings, E tries on some rings, one ring in particular looked really good, though with a small center rock, but multiple side stones. E looks and loves it, I think "Oh f'in hell, she might ask me to buy it." And before E does anything, the sales lady decides to say what everyone is thinking, "It looks perfect on her, why don't you buy it?" to which I reply, "I would, if she wants it" (or something to that effect.) Thankfully she doesn't, but we do thank the lady and walk around some more, and walk out knowing that she wants a thinner ring that she thought, and no knife-edge on the ring.
Then walking around again, we happen on another jewelry shop that's going out of business, I say what the hell, you never know, so we look. I find a ring that might be suitable and is definitely in my price range. I see it's labeled at around 1 carat, and 50% off markdown to $3,500. I ask to see the ring, I get it handed to me, and without even asking for a cert. I see right away how noticeable the inclusion on that one is, and show it to E and then promptly we walked out of there knowing that I can spot rocks that aren't eye clean and she doesn't want one that can be so easily spotted.
We walked into Cartier but that was a quick walk through as we both saw nothing at all that appealed to us, then another shop that was more for fashion jewelry and no wedding and engagement rings, neither helped in our search. Both stores were way out of our range anyways, and too busy with customers who looked like they had much more money than us. Though I did learn that E is typical female and had wanted to get herself diamond earrings, but unlike some, she was sensible enough not to have blown her economic stimulus and tax return checks on them. I also though it of note that she noticeably didn't tell me "I don't want that, don't get me that", as opposed to saying that in Tiffany's when I asked about certain pieces to which she had given some extra attention. Then we walked into another shop that will remain unnamed, but forever ingrained in both our minds.
Like every other shop, we told them we were just looking, and had no plans to buy that day, but were seriously looking. Salesgirl was nice and helped E out looking at settings. She said there were many more settings in the back and that we should have a seat. No big deal, several other stores had us sit down as we looked at the settings. WRONG. Saleswoman (notice woman and not girl) smells some sort of commission. She starts off with small chat and faked pleasantries and about how so-and-so went to my school, and how her brother went to law school as well. (Sidebar: I hate telling people I study law, it usually takes several follow-up questions for them to learn from me that I'm in lawschool.) She does a sales pitch, I politely listen, we tell her we want to see settings, she obliges but decides to show us some rocks, which I don't mind, but E does. She whispers to me in Korean that we are not to buy that day, I respond that I want to hear their asking prices just to be informed. E's fears assuaged, but still irked by the fakery of the saleswoman, tries to listen to our exchange while half-heartedly responding to the salesgirl's distracting small-talk. Saleswoman (hereafter "SW") lays it on real thick. Asks me for my budget, I respond rather sheepishly, and I can see in her eyes her disappointment as her calculations on her commission quickly drop like a rock. She goes into her routine, I nod politely, I respond appropriately and she patronizes me by saying "I see you've done some research". She gets some stones within budget, and ignores the fact that I don't care about the color as long as it's I and above. She brings out three stones, and right away I smell crap, the certs are all from EGL (which has a rep for being softer on their grading), I notice the appraisal price for the stones are between $5K and $8K. That puts my BS alert on even higher-alert. She brings out some shady looking loupes to show us the Hearts & Arrows (H&A) on the rocks. I couldn't tell if E was actually amazed by them, or just faking it and I don't even remember my own reaction, but I do know I could see all the little cloudy inclusions in the 0.84 carat stone. She goes on about how on ideal cut diamonds you get H&A effects. I think "stop your BS, every decent round cut diamond has H&A, it's just a matter of how defined they are." So while it was my first time seeing it in person, the magic Internet prepared me for that. I asked to see the diamond, she complies, the rock could be considered eye-clear if you didn't care about the wispy, milky, white inclusions in the rock; they were probably feathering (I told you I'm not that educated on the rock). She goes on and on with her sales pitch, and finally says "let me go talk to the owner of shop, by the way, have I mentioned that we have several stores worldwide, but we're no corporation, and he just happens to be here so I can get you a really good price because he also wholesales diamonds." My BS meter's needle instantly broke from crap overload and I steeled myself for the impending idiot asking price. I was not to be disappointed. She comes back and quotes me a number that was wholly outrageous, and felt like an affront to my intelligence. I ask, is that tax included, and she responds as if now I'm the person who's thrown an insult. Then just to make sure I'm not confusing the price, I ask how much for the mount, to indeed confirm that the price was for the diamond only. She responds non-chalantly, that she can give the ring (which was platinum) in white gold for $750. That topped the cake for me. I look at E, and she had to know I was blown away, then I look at SW and say thanks, but I've seen better prices on similar stones. To which she quickly gets the "owner" and he talks with me. He seems upset, and now I'm about to get real upset. He tries to berate me in an underhanded way, and says he's offended by my comment. From there, I don't really remember much because it was of no incident, except that it took way too long to get the hell out of that store. To be polite, I ask the salesgirl for her card, and like the poor lackey she was in that store, she had attached SW's card as well to the brochure when she stapled her card in there.
There were somethings in there that really pissed me off hardcore. But this pissed me off the most. SW was intoning to me that I should have E pay for half of the ring, and thereby increase the amount that would be spent on the ring and ergo SW's own commission. That did not help her one bit. It would've been one thing to try to persuade me to increase the budget, but to point that question at me, while her lackey was trying to distract E? Plain stupid and rude and.....
To make a very long story short, that brochure from that last store was thrown out and I'm sure I'm purchasing a decent rock online. I think any self-respecting person owes it to themselves to do a little extra research, even if they feel like they've been to every single webpage and brick and mortar jeweler out there.
I know a couple of you have asked me questions about rings now that you're in a similar situation as me, and I'd highly recommend going to www.pricescope.com. Get a feel for what they're saying on their forums, and understanding what they hell they're talking about takes some time and patience, but shoot, it helped me out. That being said, I'm probably going to get her ring from BlueNile cause I found a way to get a decent discount and E found a ring design that she liked. Some more about pricescope. I had thought that I found a diamond at one of their "favored" retailers. I emailed them simply if the diamond was eye-clean and the retailer responded the next day, and in a series of emails I was able to have them respond that it was not eye-clean and why, then asked if they could help me find a diamond in my budget. I told them my budget and parameters, and they quickly responded not only with the availability, but the certs, IdealScope images, and what would probably be the best bang-for-the-buck. Great service, but in the end, the settings and discount won out over them.
If you feel like you could give me some extra advice, or discount, anything to ease the painful but worthwhile process, please feel free.
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