Engagment ring

[futurecivic]

Im in the market soon to purchase an engagment ring for the gf and i was just curious on where people here got there rings from

any help at all would be great and warranty info for the place to in you have that info
Thanks

[takkyu]

Spence Diamonds is pretty decent. Didn't get engagement ring from there, but did get our wedding bands from there and are both quite happy with them and their price.

I got the engagement ring from Carat Jewelers, not sure if they are still in Chinook or not. Can't really comment on them beyond that, that was back in 2004.

[Mibz]

www.bluenile.ca
If you have questions about their policies, phone them. They've got some of the best customer service I've ever received.

[canadian_hustla]

imo get it custom made. Do you want your soon to be wife wearing the same cookie cutter ring as every other girl out there?

try this guy:

http://www.blackburnjewellers.ca/

he works out of his house. he did a GREAT job, and created a stunning ring for an awesome price

good luck!

[Jason Lange]

Alberta diamond exchange, build you anything you want with any diamond you could imagine. Best of luck.

[Destinova403]

OM'd

[eblend]

www.bluenile.ca

/thread

[stealth1313]

The spence diamonds have me convinced its a much better diamond at a much better price.

[atgilchrist]

I found Spence's settings to be fairly "inelegant", IMHO. I got my Fiance's set from Birks.

[austic]

I picked one up on a buisiness trip the the states. Way cheaper even more so with the exchange rate right now.

[stealth1313]

Austic it was probably a low quality diamond. Normal diamond companys only magnify to 10x which results in a shitty cut, where as spence diamonds goes the extra mile and cuts at 50.

[superflychief]

X2 on blunile if you want to go online. I bought a pendant on there and the service/prices are awesome. I actually bought my wife's engagement ring at Costco. They have some really nice rings at really good prices. The ring appraised at close to 3 times more then I paid and their description of the stones matched exactly what the appraiser saw. Great experience with them.

[stealth1313]

Yeah costco can be good for some stuff, lots of it seems like things no one else wants though

[2002civic]

People sya bluenile, but once it is shipped it is not refundable, tough to tell how a ring looks from internet descriptions IMO.

I was about to order form them before I heard about Alberta Diamond Exchange on here. I would HIGHLY reccommend them and their pricing is slightly higer than bluenile, but you get one on one help and a perfect match of rings, he even reordered one diamond in as he didnt feel it complimented the others as it should.

[Weapon_R]

Bluenile.com, whiteflash.com, or jamesallen.com.

You can buy locally if you want to spend double the price for an inferior diamond.

[wtf im nameless]

One more vote for bluenile.ca

They have better diamonds as well as better prices, Spence didn't even have a diamond that matched the quality of the one I got from bluenile. The closest thing they had more internal flaws and was not as clear, they still wanted to charge me over 40% more for JUST the diamond as what bluenile charged me for all 3 rings in platinum with a better rock of the same size.

[Kennyredline]

DON'T DO IT!!!! IT'S A TRAP!!!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!! lol

[Wrinkly]

Surprised no-one has mentioned our 'resident beyound Jeweller - Maxime's yet. I'm sure they'd do you a good deal and their service is excellent from my personal experience. :thumbsup:

I'll third the Costco plug, too. If you look on their web site, they have some good info about diamonds and the quality of theirs seems very high. I guess it just seems odd shopping for Jewelry alongside groceries and in a warehouse to boot! :dunno:

[cdnsir]

Another vote for bluenile.ca

I know it sounds sketchy to buy something this big online, but the quality and price that they offer is really hard to beat! All their rocks comes with a GIA that you can take to a local jeweler for verification if you want. Besides, they also have a 30-day refund policy, there's nothing to lose.

[rc2002]

Originally posted by 2002civic
People sya bluenile, but once it is shipped it is not refundable, tough to tell how a ring looks from internet descriptions IMO.


That's not true. It is still refundable after it is shipped - the return waybill is included with every purchase to make it easy to send back. You just have to pay shipping back to them.

I bought one and found that the rock was too big in person. So I exchanged it for a smaller one that was nicer (D colour, flawless, perfect proportions etc.). They would've given me a full refund if I wanted.

[tom_9109]

Find your local Tacori dealer. I believe there is one in market mall.

[austic]

Originally posted by stealth1313
Austic it was probably a low quality diamond. Normal diamond companys only magnify to 10x which results in a shitty cut, where as spence diamonds goes the extra mile and cuts at 50.

Lol I somehow dont think it was a low quality diamond...

[bjstare]

+1 for the US and +1 for Costco.

Got my wife's ring at costco, its pretty traditional but that's what she preferred. Hers also appraised with a much higher margin than comparable stones/settings at Spence.

Also, Tacori rings are hideous and pretentious. Ballin, but hideous and pretentious nonetheless.

[bignerd]

Spence laid the high pressure sales tactics on my husband when he was looking... telling him that the exact stone may not be there when he came back unless he put a deposit on it now etc. etc. I told him he should of told them "it was here when I walked in wasn't it?"....

I found a ring at Costco and am very happy with it, and would definitley not describe it as "something nobody wants". Costco does only make most of their rings in one size though and you would have to size it elsewhere(this can be an issue if the ring has channel set diamonds on the band). They do not provide anything as far as warranty (other than guaranteeing it will appraise for a minimum of XXX dollars--my set appraised about 2.5X higher than the purchase price).

Costco really does have some great prices, but depends on what your fiancee wants.

[89coupe]

You might want to consider a synthetic diamond vs natural. A 1/3 of the cost with the same quality.

[Shredon1]

Ya ^

And buy her a dildo at the same time!

[syeve]

Originally posted by Kennyredline
DON'T DO IT!!!! IT'S A TRAP!!!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!! lol

Yep. *no lol*

[austic]

Originally posted by bignerd
Spence laid the high pressure sales tactics on my husband when he was looking... telling him that the exact stone may not be there when he came back unless he put a deposit on it now etc. etc. I told him he should of told them "it was here when I walked in wasn't it?"....

I found a ring at Costco and am very happy with it, and would definitley not describe it as "something nobody wants". Costco does only make most of their rings in one size though and you would have to size it elsewhere(this can be an issue if the ring has channel set diamonds on the band). They do not provide anything as far as warranty (other than guaranteeing it will appraise for a minimum of XXX dollars--my set appraised about 2.5X higher than the purchase price).

Costco really does have some great prices, but depends on what your fiancee wants.

The american stores have a better selection for cheaper as well.

[RY213]

Originally posted by 89coupe
You might want to consider a synthetic diamond vs natural. A 1/3 of the cost with the same quality.

So this is how you afford those lunches! You just gotta know where to cut back!

[ffmf]

Another vote for Whiteflash. If they don't have the setting you want they can custom make it for you.

[futurecivic]

im not fully convinced on buy an engagement ring online would like to see the ring in person and not really trusting the hole idea:dunno:

[Destinova403]

http://forums.beyond.ca/st/291689/beyond-ca-jewelry/

Sorry for the self plug... I was a paid sponsor at the time.

[89coupe]

Originally posted by RY213


So this is how you afford those lunches! You just gotta know where to cut back!


There is virtually no difference between a naturally grown diamond and a lab grown HPHT diamond other then the price.

[bignerd]

Originally posted by 89coupe



There is virtually no difference between a naturally grown diamond and a lab grown HPHT diamond other then the price.

Except the price and value...

[89coupe]

Originally posted by bignerd


Except the price and value...

Exactly, so why drop $10K on a ring that you will wear for life when you could drop $1500 on the same thing using a lab grown diamond.

Same clarity, same hardness, same guarantee.

Seems kind of stupid don't you think?

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by futurecivic
im not fully convinced on buy an engagement ring online would like to see the ring in person and not really trusting the hole idea:dunno:

You're mostly buying it off of paper anyways, unless you have it side by side with other diamonds and have a 10X magnifier on hand its unlikely you would tell any difference unless there was a very large quality difference.

Bluenile has a return policy if you don't like what you see when you order it, but when you're buying based off spec you pretty much know what you are getting beforehand anyways.

If you insist on seeing the exact diamond you buy before hand, even with the online company's return policies, you are just going to be throwing away 15-20% of added markup.

All that said, I would second the suggestion for a lab grown diamond. They are chemically identical to a "natural" diamond for much less. It's not like you're buying a fake or anything, it IS a real diamond. One thing I'm not sure about though is how big they can make them, I thought there were size restrictions with current technology but I haven't looked into it for a while.

[max_boost]

Originally posted by 89coupe
You might want to consider a synthetic diamond vs natural. A 1/3 of the cost with the same quality.

Where do you buy a synthetic diamond? Does it come with any papers? :dunno:

[dexlargo]

I looked into synthetic diamonds a year or so ago and again just recently.

Gemesis (apparently sold in Calgary by Wong Ken's - http://www.gemesis.com) and Takara Diamonds makes colored diamonds(apparently they're easier to make than colorless, but they're working on it - http://www.takaradiamonds.com/products/white/white.php)

And Apollo Diamonds (http://www.shopapollo.com/) makes colorless now. Their shopping website seems a little out of date.

Looking at the pricing that I can see, for a real synthetic diamond (i.e. not cubic zirconium or moissanite), the price difference isn't that big - unless there's a huge quality difference between the stones I looked at, I admit I didn't compare too closely - so might as well get a diamond from out of the ground unless you really want to be guaranteed that your diamond is conflict-free or really wanted a colored diamond or something.

89coupe, are you really getting synthetic diamonds at 15% the cost of real diamonds? If so, where are you getting them?