Please Set My Diamond
Jerry called us from Alabama looking for a beautiful diamond and a simple Tiffany style mounting. He said he lived in a small town and there were not many options locally and the closest city was more than hour away.
We worked with him to find diamond a diamond meeting all his requirements and was much bigger than he ever thought he would be able to get with his $3,000 budget. He really wanted to examine the diamond loose but wanted us to send a loose mounting along so he could get the diamond set at the local jewelry store.
The diamond and mounting were delivered on schedule and he was excited how big and bright the diamond was. He called to say he was purchasing the diamond and asked what was the typical fee was for setting the diamond in a mounting. We said that he should expect to pay between $40 and $80 for having the diamond set. Jerry said his local jewelry store was charging him $350 to set the diamond because he did not buy it there.
We said we would be happy to set the diamond for him for $40 plus the round trip shipping which would have been about $50 and it would take about four days including the shipping time.
Jerry called back the next day saying he went ahead and paid the $350 to get it set locally because he wanted it sooner so he could propose on the weekend.
Lessons to be learned:
- Do not underestimate the anger local jewelry stores have for shoppers who purchase diamonds elsewhere, especially from companies like Diamond Source of Virginia who provide better diamonds at lower prices.
- Start your diamond shopping early to give you plenty of time before you proposal deadline. Getting boxed in because of time can cost money if you have limited options.
