I definitely had the intention to buy an engagement ring online, but I ended up buying from Calvin @ LMJ. Here's my story..
I typically do the majority of my shopping online....Why not? It's 2017...No tax, free shipping, free returns... don't have to deal with sales people...So naturally, that's where I started my search.
I knew that I wanted an emerald cut diamond and I learned what I could about the 4 C's... I then went to the reputable online retailers where I looked through a TON of inventory, asked a bunch of questions with live reps, compared, compared, compared, when FINALLY I narrowed down my selection to about half a dozen options... However, they didn't have a setting that I particularly liked, and to get a custom setting, I was quoted a price I thought was way too expensive.
I ended up calling a few local jewelers I found on Yelp, LMJ included, to get some quotes and all came back with pricing much lower than the online retailer for a custom platinum setting. So to get the best bang for my buck, my plan was to buy the loose stone online, and get the exact setting I wanted locally. I figured, since it's no work on my end, why not take a look at a few diamonds in person as well... this is where things turned for me....
I gave the specs that I was looking for to Calvin, who within a few days got back to me and said..."I have a few options, but I found the perfect stone for you." I thought... yeah yeah sure, typical sales pitch, headstrong that I spent all this time researching and narrowing down stones that nothing really was going to change my mind...
So I go in and take a look at the his options...and yes, the stone he picked was a stunner.... So what about my online options? Here's how I flipped... Calvin picked apart my choices one by one, demonstrating his extensive knowledge of what makes a good diamond and explained to me things I would have never factored into my search that go well beyond the 4 C's...
For example, he thoroughly explained the nuances of how higher carat diamond could look smaller than lower carat diamond given the dimensions of the table and depth. He provided an optimal range for an ideal stone and when I added those additional parameters to my search, almost ALL of my online choices fell out. He said that while my online choices were good, that they would never shine as bright. He even went in detail about fluorescence, which one of my choices had, despite it being internally flawless and he explained how fluorescence immediately drops the value 15%-20%. He even showed my under black light with a few diamonds how it it impacts the look.
At the end of the day, Calvin was nothing but straight forward with me, patient as I compared through all my online options, extremely knowledgable, but most importantly, helped me find the perfect ring for which my fiancee now loves and can't stop staring at! read more