Mrs. 'S' decides to help her son purchase a diamond. Since she was going on a 'cruise' she thought this was the way to save money and thus the perfect way to help her son save money. On her cruise, she picks the source referred by the ship as the place to buy. They tell her if anything goes wrong they will stand behind it. The source she picked I'll refer to as company 'DIC'. So, she goes shopping.

When she returns, she and her son come to us for the 'verification' of her purchase. We tell her we do not agree with the diamond grade sold to her by Lab 'X'. They call the diamond an H color, VS2 clarity by EGL standards. We grade the diamond as a K color, SI1 clarity by GIA standards. Thus, by our grading, her actual value was much less than anticipated. What she thought was a bargain in her purchase turned out in reality to be overpaid of the norm. I then inform Mrs. 'S' that is improbable for her to get company 'DIC' to refund her money. The cruise ship will not honor their statement as they simply tell her to contact the company 'DIC'. So, she contacts the purchasing company and they tell her she would have to get three different reports to say the diamond they sold was more than one grade off what they sold her. I simply told her to return the diamond and demand another diamond that has the same grade but put out by Lab 'Y'. Company 'DIC' suggests she send her diamond to Lab 'Y' instead of getting another stone. She listens to company 'DIC' once again and agrees to send her diamond to Lab 'Y'. Once Lab 'Y' sees the girdle was inscribed by Lab 'X' then they grade it lower in color to be able to say, yes we agree the color is lower than that graded by Lab 'X' but to not too far to cause problems between the labs.

By this time Mrs. 'S' is furious, does not know what mess she is in, and blames us for 'misgrading' her diamond and upsetting her son. Yes, her son is upset with his mother for even taking away his right to purchase a diamond.
We do not accept any grading blame for Mrs. 'S' as we are very thorough in grading the color of a diamond, both subjective (comparison against master diamonds) and objective (scan from the SAS2000 spectrophotometer). Mrs. 'S' was only trying to cut corners in purchasing a diamond. It's been a nightmare for Mrs. 'S'. I feel for her. Company 'DIC' certainly loses no sleep in making that sale. It would have been so easy for them to just put her in with the proper diamond she thought she had bought. Lab 'X' loses no sleep as they are still cranking out those ficitious reports that become 'sales tools' to companies like company 'DIC' that keep using them. Lab 'Y' thinks they did the right thing to not ripple the tide with the other lab. Judgement day is coming.

It's a normal for an individual to get a diamond for the least amount of money. But, there are those that wish to tell you it's a sheep when it's in reality its a wolf. The word discount or bargain in diamonds usually means lower grading standards by cheating labs and unethical dealers. It rarely means lower prices for the same high grade. Taking a cruise does not mean a bargain in jewelry. Going where the ship recommends only means the ship gets a cut of the sale. Buying a diamond with a 'cert' does not mean proper grading regarless of the location, or that the lab even stands with a guarantee on their 'cert'. The use of most 'certs' does mean 'sales-tool'. Just don't be the gullible kind and think that every lab, every grader, and every gemologist and appraiser are on the same level. The pleasing of all customers is never a certain.