3 replies to this topic

[LRC253]

Hello,

I've been reading topic after topic and I feel that this site has been very helpful to me. I would like to ask a few questions about the decision I have coming up.

I received a older engagement ring from my soon to be mother-in-law which was purchased at Weisfield Jewelers in the 90's (so far I'm not a fan of this company by their sales tactics) but they original price was $3300 and they are giving me an additional 10% for 5 years for trade up; which would bring the trade up to a $4950.00 credit.

I was thinking about buying their 1ct "leo diamond with a 3/4ct wedding band accent. (shown below)
[url="http://www.kay.com/product1%7C10101%7C10001%7C-1%7C40823700%7C15051%7C15051.15056.15104"][url][url]http://www.kay.com/product1%7C10101%7C10001%7C-1%7C40823700%7C15051%7C15051.15056.15104[/url][/url][/url]
(the picture is shown with the 1ct center)
The price for the center ring is $6499 and $2399 for the wedding band (w/side stones)
CENTER TOTAL WEIGHT .98-1.01
COLOR HI
CLARITY SI1-SI2
CERT - INDEPENDENT IGI AND GEMEX

Does this sound ok to you? Does Weisfield have an ok reputation or not? and they are trying to also sell a gold lifetime warranty on top of their free diamond lifetime warranty for $460... I thought that was probably a scam but I could be wrong?

Edited by LRC253, 11 February 2012 - 11:24 AM.

[denverappraiser]

What are the details on the one you're trading in?

As I recall, Weisfields is part of the Sterling group, which is the same outfit that owns Kays and Jareds. You may be able to use your tradein there as well. You may find their salespeople more to your liking if there's one of those nearby.

I don't know anything about their 'gold' warranty. Can you tell us about it? In general, extended warranties are a bad deal but the devil is ALWAYS in the details.

[LRC253]

Thanks for the reply!

They are part of the same group however the more I read on this forum the more I'm losing confidence in their tactics and their IGI certification process.

Their gold warranty is supposed to cover any "gold repairs" made or any annual treatment that the ring needs. Now as you can tell I'm very new to this but luckily I talked my way out of their shop; and that was a challenge.

On first glance I really liked the "Leo" diamond but that doesn't really hold much water since I don't know what I'm looking at and especially under a microscope. Only if I could sell that ring somewhere else for the same price.. I don't know the specs of the old ring besides its a 5/8 ct, color H, SI1, and not sure on the cut. It has ALOT of 14k gold as its very wide and bulky with 8 very small diamonds in the band. (I was told it was custom made at a show?)

[denverappraiser]

The tradein program you’re talking about is one of their primary selling points. You haven’t said much in terms of details about the one you’re trading in but it’s typical that they’re offering $4950 as a trade in for something that would be difficult to sell anywhere else for half of that. That’s a significant head start. Whether or not this offsets their generally higher prices depends on what you end up buying. Shopping the competition for rings like that isn’t especially difficult and I’m sure you’ll find better prices but it may or may not be enough better to offset the above gain. You’re talking about laying out $4000 plus your existing ring. If your existing ring is worth, say, $1000 elsewhere, that means you’re paying $5k.

The Leo branding is another tricky question. In the rounds they have a different facet pattern from the standard round brilliant. Some people like it and some don’t but it makes them difficult to shop. They provide next to nothing in terms of real information to allow you to shop one stone against another, they own the manufacturer so you can’t price them against the competition and any way you cut it they are charging a substantial premium for it. There are other dealers that sell ‘extra facet’ sorts of designs that you can compare with but these generally have the same problems so it’s problematic. The FIRST question is whether or not you like it. Without that you’re done. A good price on the wrong thing is no bargain. You CAN shop Leo’s against more standard cuts within the same store. Jared’s carries a line they call ‘peerless’ that are generally well cut, AGS graded, standard round brilliants and you can look at one of those next to a Leo and see your preferences. They charge a premium for those as well but THOSE are easy to shop at the competition. Don't use the microscope for this and look at them in a variety of different lighting conditions throughout the store.

That’ll give you the info you need. What do you have? What can you get for it elsewhere? What do you want? What does Kays/Weisfield need for it? What will it cost you to get THAT elsewhere?