A Nightmare on my wedding day - the diamond ring

mik

New Member
hi hi,

just to add my two cents worth about lazare and destinee.
the difference is in the number of facets.
lazare has 58 facets whereas destinee has 57 facets.
the extra 1 facet is the cutlet area where lazare has it but destinee comes to a pointy tip.

sparkle-wise, very hard to tell the diff despite staring at them for some time. heehee.
 


sonia

New Member
hi mikmik:

not just the facets. destinee is certified by an independent lab - american gem society. also it is graded as "triple zero"... as for lazare, it is graded in-house and i suspect that tho it claims to be an ideal cut, you won't know till an independent body says so...

also, apart from the diff in facets. all destinee diamonds have their girdle faceted. not necessary for the othe diamonds. faceted girdle allow better refraction of light making it more brilliant.

most importantly trust yr eyes
happy.gif
 

bbmaru

New Member
Hi Sonia,
I had not compared my ring's grade with a similiar Destinee, but I find that the brilliance of my rings surpass many of the Destinee rings on display. But like I'd said, maybe one of these days, I have to pop in to LH to check out their better grades of Destinee.

FYI, here's something I have found on the net. It tells us what's the right definition of "Triple Zero". In that sense, it may not always be right to say that ALL Destinee diamonds are graded as "Triple Zero" as not ALL are of a D grade and flawless carity. Here's an excerpt for those who are interested :

"AGS Ideal" represents a diamond graded by the AGS Laboratory as having "AGS Ideal" polish, symmetry, and proportions... This would result in an overall "Cut Grade" rating of "AGS Ideal 0" by the AGS Laboratory as seen on their Diamond Quality Document [DQD]. "AGS Ideal" is the highest rating available from the AGS Laboratory. Members of the diamond trade generally refer to such diamonds by the slang term "triple zero" however this term is actually misleading and incorrect. By AGS grading standards a "triple zero" ideal cut diamond would be one cut to AGS Ideal Zero proportions and which has D color (zero) and Flawless Clarity (zero). The reason that many diamond dealers incorrectly refer to an AGS Ideal 0 cut diamond as an "AGS-000" or "Triple Zero" stone is because in order to have an Overall Cut Rating of AGS Ideal 0 the three parameters that contribute to the Overall Cut Grade (polish, symmetry and proportions) must all receive a zero rating, so three zero cut ratings as it were... Zero Polish, Zero Symmetry and Zero Proportions... Now you can see where the confusion comes from and now you can better separate the dealers who "know" from the dealers who do not simply by the terminology that they choose to use.
 

sonia

New Member
Hi Carol:

The info you just posted is incorrect. Let me explain why...

The AGS is widely known in the industry as the foremost authority on cut grade. They are the first to grade a diamond based on cut compared to the others like GIA and HRD.

Triple Zero rating refers purely to the cut grade which consists of 3 categories, i.e. proportion, polish and symmetry. If all these 3 categories are rated "Ideal 0" then you may say that the diamond has attained "Triple Zero" rating.

There are AGS rated diamonds which may just attain "Ideal 0" for 2 categories but not for the 3rd category... so, these will not be labelled "Triple Zero"

In short - "Triple Zero" purely is about the CUT. That's why you hear the term - Triple Zero Cuts rating!!!

Hope this explanation clarifies.
 

bbmaru

New Member
Hi Sonia,
No offense but I think your explanation/info on the AGS "Triple 0" Grading System is wrong. According to another website (which I did my research to confirm my understanding), it says that "Triple 0" is not ALL about CUT, but AGS will assign a TRIPLE ZERO grade only for a D Color ( 0 Color Grade ), Flawless Clarity Grade ( 0 Clarity Grade) and a (0 Cut Grade).

If you trace all the way to the past, historically, Triple 0 in the AGS Grading System refers to an Ideal Cut - D Colour (0 Colour Grade), Flawless Clarity Grade (0 Clarity Grade) and a 0 Cut Grade. Astute observers noticed that an AGS Ideal 0 cut diamond (not to be confused with Ideal Cut) had 0 Polish, 0 Symmetry and 0 Proportions. Thus, AGS Ideal 0 cut diamonds are also referred to as "Triple Zero" in a (wrong) way. So in loose interepretation, a person "can" be correct to say that Triple 0 is all about cut if they want to put it that way....

Here's anor website which I had found to support my understanding (about understanding AGS reports):
http://www.consumersgemlab.com/education/page3.shtml

Or there's also a website on AGS lab :
http://www.agslab.com/faq_consumer.html
 

sonia

New Member
Hi Carol:

As AGS themselves quote " Historically, Triple 0 in the AGS Grading System refers to an Ideal Cut - D Colour (0 Colour Grade), Flawless Clarity Grade (0 Clarity Grade) and a 0 Cut Grade..." means today "Triple Zero" doesn't refer anymore to these parameters. *** note the choice of word used by AGS - Historically....

Today, it refers to AGS Ideal 0 Cut diamonds!!! Ask all the big diamond brands and they will all say the same coz today that's what it is known as. It doesn't matter what it used to be known as anymore... Even AGS will agree!
happy.gif
 

bbmaru

New Member
Sonia,
Well, if you choose to interpret the actual meaning and purpose of Triple 0 is that easily obtainable, then to each its own. Cos ultimately it's the buyer that should be aware of what they are getting at the end of the day... if your standard of Triple 0 is that low, then it will be that low. You choose to see the word "historically" but not the words "astute observers". The astute observers here might mean the retailers/jewelers trying to make a easy sale of the it.

Anyway, I hope you there's no offense to you, but I'm just stating fair comments.
 

sonia

New Member
Hi Carol:

No offense on my part at all....

Clarity and Grade are two factors that can easily be stated... and if a buyer is willing to pay for D colour, internally flawless diamonds then good for her. But how many out there can afford a good cut with the best colour and clarity?

The cut is actually the MOST important "C" of the 4"C"s.... so I think it's perfectly fine in my opinion that we pay a premium for good cut diamonds.... while compromising on colour and clarity... colour and clarity cannot be changed by the diamond cutter... a good colour and clarity diamond can be ruined if the cut is bad!
 

bbmaru

New Member
Hey Sonia,
Agree with you that the cut is the MOST important when buying a diamond (no doubt not neglecting the other crucial properties of the diamond) cos if the cut is lousy, the brillance of the diamond will not show!

Based on my research, it is almost not very possible nowadays (yes, maybe in the past when diamond is not at all popular and affordable yet) to have a "perfect" Triple 0 diamond (meaning meeting the criteria of 0 colour, 0 clarity and 0 cut). So those very smart pple interchange the term Triple 0 for any diamond having 0 cut (since it's also has triple 0 for its symmetry, proportion and polish).

So in my conclusion, the real Triple 0 is hardly usable these days as it's almost impossible to find such a rare diamond. But if one day someone manages to own one like this, this will be such a precious find, but ex of course!
happy.gif
So for those out there, when the sales person tell you that its a Triple 0 diamond, remember to ask which Triple 0 they are referring to (but likely its only the cut)
lame.gif


Think after such a lengthy discussion between you and myself of what Triple 0 really is, the rest of the pple out there who are buying diamonds will be more aware of the diamond grading now
happy.gif
 

brinkleybum

New Member
Hi All,

My heart almost drop when i read all the comments on LH!

My FH bought me a LH 1C ring from the shop at the airport for surprise proposal. Now after hearing all the incidences of the diamond dropping, i might not dare to wear it out anymore!!!!

How to make sure that it would drop huh???
 

hoppinghippos

New Member
When I was shopping for e-ring previously, I noted that LH settings weren't very good, if you look very carefully at the prongs where the notch is (the edge of the diamond sits in the notch)you can see that somethings the diamond does NOT sit nicely in the notch! In the end I went to a wholesaler to set my diamond which was bought separately.
 

mik

New Member
hi sonia,

thanks for the info. :)

according to the sales lady who served us at larry, lazare diamonds are backed by GIA in terms of grading.

for me, i haven't done much reading up. just that comparing the lazare and destinee (same size, same coluor and same clarity) -- i dun really see much difference in the sparkle between them -- just that can see one extra facet in the lazare, that's all. :)
 

nurse

New Member
depending on the setting

the destinee setting u hv to be careful... my diamond was rolling round and round one week after i started wearing so i went back to LH to have it tighten

other setting will not have this prob according to LH staff
 

sassy_bride

New Member
Dear Sonia,

sorry, no offense, but i just bought a 0.5c Lazare from Larry and i got both in-house cert and GIA cert, what do you think?
 

cluelessj

New Member
Hi Darrel

How did you manage to locate the wholesaler? And how's the price like for say a D or F, 0.8, VVS1 or VVS2 ring with a reasonably good cut (or hearts and arrow type of cut)?

Could you kindly share? my email is femme_****@hotmail.com

please replace **** with 1907
 

havavi

Member
Hmm.. my ring is from SK. Hope its ok. initially i like the sunburst series from GH, but too $$ even after discount, cos my friend worked there said GH had adjusted the price higher since last dec. sometimes you have to ask them to show you what is not in the showcase. cos they dont have space to really display everything out.
 

tge25

New Member
Hi,

my wedding band was from LH... its the JR range with small diamond all round... you gals noe something... after 2 months of wearing i realised that one small diamond drop out... when i went to hougang mall LH to ask them for help..

the salesgal said "you knock onto the ring causing the diamond to drop" i was furious... when i went there... what i ask OF them was to help me put back the diamond and if there is any cost to be top up, i am willing to do so lor..

but imagine the salesgal telling u that u knock it thats y drop... walau..

then worst part is, after 3 weeks of waiting, the ring was finally return back to me... and the sales pple there keep reassuring me that the ring will be as good as new..no need to check...then... i discover that the diamond was set back in a ugly way... when i showed the guy who tell me that... he told me another story...

saying that no matter how perfect...still have its flaw...coz its be "repaired"

i can tell clearly that the diamond was being glued back!!!! i was so furious that i sent an email to the LH management to complain...

after a day, no reply...i sent another one...asking them what are they going to do about the ring.... am i going to accept such a defect when their own staff told me that it will be as good as new...

then ah...finaly one of the manager called me and ask me go down to LH to exchange to a brand new ring...
 

tge25

New Member
Another angry story was, my FH JR ring... need some polishing for our ROM last year...

so we bring the ring down to PS LH branch to polish...

you gals will never imagine...the polishing, become a TOTAL POLISH...

the JR signature at the back of the ring...together with the engravement of my name was gone!

we were super shock....we ask the sales again...they told us the factory "Accidentally" polish the name+signature away...

in my heart... i felt something will go wrong...

then they assured us that by end of the week, the ring be return to us in good shape...

we waited... our ROM date was the followin week lor... we both felt "Gan cheong"

then ah... they called us to go get the ring at the end of the week...

this time, we went down...disappointed again...
the Jorn Rainer words were engraved in an ugly manner...

i was super furious liao...

i asked for someone who can make decision... i asked that lady manager and said...we sent the ring for polishing... they polish everyting away...

now help us engrave back./...engrave till like shit..

what is the solution...they told us that they will sent it back to polish away and engrave again...

this time...i was firm...i said no...i want a brand new one... i dun want to wait...next week my ROM leh... how to wait...

then they bo bian...give us a brand new ring
 

meowmel

New Member
Hi Gals,

I am also a dissatisfied customer of LH. Last yr,I had my ROM and my hubby and I bought a Pair of JR rings (suppose to be LH's premium brand of wedding bands). Everything went well until on that night after my solmnisation. I took off my ring to look at the engraving on the back of the rings and the ring accidentally slipped off my fingers and landed on my floor. When i picked up the ring, to my horror, one of the diamond was MISSING!!!!!! U can see how pale my face went, I tried by all means to look for that missing diamond until 2 am but i was unable to find it(What a way to spend my first night of marriage)
At the next morning, i was fortunate to find it back after the sun shines on that sparkling small diamond.

The next day , my hubby and I went to LH shop at emerald place and demanded for an explanation and compensation of the ring. A traineee mgmt lady came to serve us. She tried to calmn me down by willing to help me to fix back the ring at no cost. But my hubby and I inists for a refund of the rings as we did not want for the rest of our lives hunting for any losse diamonds from our wedding bands which are suppose to last forever. What pissed me off was the Shop manager refuse to serves us right form the start and the trainee had to shuttle to and fro to ask for permissions for our demands. I was so angry that i made a scene by raising my voice in the shop to attract attention from their custmers. Think manage to scare a few of their wedding bands customers from that shop with me keep complaining about the loose diamond from their rings.

Finally after 1 hr, the manager managed to serve us and allow us to refundthe mney of the rings by using it to buy other jewellry from LH. So bo bian, hubby and I choose a par of earings and a destinee pendent and a chain and insist that they give us a discount for causing us so much inconvenience and mental stress on our first day of marriage. In the end they manage to give us about 15 percent discount.

I also managed to take the email contact for the retail operation manager and email her the bad services of the shop manager and sing praises of the trainee who has been patient thru out my whole ordeal at the LH shop.

The opertaion manager called me back after a few days with an apology and offer me a $100 voucher to patronise LH again. Its pretty hard for me to shop at LH after this incident. Till now, the $100 voucher remain intact in my drawer.

As for my wedding bands, Hubby and I returned to Larry's and make a customised pair of rings for our wedding bands. We have faith in larry's as we are very satified with their service n the workmanship for my Lazare solitaire. Also the comfort fit of their wedding bands are definitely more comfortable than the JR rings from LH. Guess this incident is a blessing in disguise. I got a better fitting and prettier ring.
happy.gif


Good luck to all those gals who are still sourcing around for their wedding bands and diamond ring. Hope my incident will serve as a reminder that 一分钱,一分货. Lower-pricing comes with a high cost of bad service and poor workmanship, and alot of inconvenience and regrets!
 

chrislee

New Member
Ops, Just happened to be reading this thread.
I got a 0.7+ Carat from LH and only 4 prongs!
Damn , I am not too feminine, can be quite rough sometimes, think better keep my ring in the box..
sad.gif
 

jacqueline97

New Member
I also have bad experience with GH.My diamond ring that hardly wear, diamond came out and its the workmanship and yet they said due to me banging it....never have problem with TP with the rest of it.
 

tge25

New Member
meowmel,

Your rings sounds like mine leh...issit the one with alot of small small diamond one ard the whole ring?

Haiz.... u are firm enough to change the whole thing ah... but i like the design too much...

so got to exchange nia lor.
 

chocolatier

New Member
Hiya!

My bf bought me a Zen diamond ring from GH.
We were initially very happy with it.
But on the day of collection, something seemed amiss...the ring suddenly became smaller in size...it was approx 2 sizes smaller..How could they make such a silly mistake? The salesgirl offered no apology except blamed it on the craftsmen who mistook the size...Kinda unbelieveable rite?!?! I was sooo sad coz I was looking forward to collecting the ring...Ended up gotta wait another week+ for the right size...
After we left the shop, it suddenly dawned upon me that the ring appeared to be 4 prongs instead of the usual 6 prongs (for Zen series)...

After reading your experiences, I realised that we had not bothered to confirm the serial no on the diamond ring when we first viewed it...only saw the serial no when we collected the ring 2nd time...

To think of it, I still thought something's wrong...the salesgirl seemed to be hiding something...hmm...
 

tge25

New Member
Hi!!

I tink we got to be extra careful when buying such rings lor...esp when it got the serial no and those certificates...

that time when they help me alter the size of the ring (for my present to MIL ah) ... i couldnt see the serial no clearly and i spend quite alot of time at SK to confirm it was mine...

then the sales person keep rushing me... saying he can see... then i told him if i cannot see, i wun accept lor...

kekek...then i tink after some time i managed to confirm the diamond was the correct one...

so gals, must be extra careful lor... alot of $$$ spent on such stuff, we got to ensure its the correct one... ^_^
 

meowmel

New Member
Hi Choc,

The designer that I have choose was 2 diamonds in a column with 1 engrave line around the whole ring. We like it as the diamonds form a "8" character.

Anyway their designs are quite common and I can tell u that the wedding bands which i get it custom made at Larry's are not anywhere more expensive than the JR range at LH.

So ALL BTB's PLease dont ever think of saving that couple of hundreds and have such Frustrations of Looking for LOOSE diamonds because of POOR WORKMANSHIP and NOT BECAUSE OF RUGGED WEARING!!!!

My Larry wedding band and solitaire that i have been wearing since Last yr Oct are still very good (NO LOOSE DIAMONDS even i have dropped my ring a couple of times or rugged wearing)

Hope to make some difference in having less people suffering from AGONY over LOOSE diamonds on their Rings.
 

grapeful

New Member
I agree that Larry has good quality setting. worn my ring for more than a year on a daily basis and the setting is still in a perfect condition. I still go back there to give the diamond a good wash once in a while and the after sales service is very good.
 

tge25

New Member
hmmm...

too bad i got my diamond and wedding ring liao lor.. no chances of returning to LH anyway..

so make do with it lor...

in future if i need to get a new ring... will go to Larry... i never know its onli a few hundreds diff...

tot is very very exp... ;D
 

annpaul

New Member
oh man...my HTB bought the proposal ring from LH too!!! 0.5 destinee. he likes LH loh. always buy me jewellery from LH wan. arghhh now i'm freaking out after reading all the bad reviews. i've heard of fren's fren whose dia dropped out from her LH ring too. thats why me so paranoid over mine. arghhh

larry's pricing is way higher than LH right? how to compare? just wondering if they do setting only? meaning i bring my LH's dia to larry and ask them to set to 6 prong ring. got such stuff? how much wld it be to do it on a white gold ring?
 

tge25

New Member
yalor...sian leh...now my diamond ring sitting in the box... laugh...i scared to drop the diamond before my AD
 

meowmel

New Member
Hi Annpaul,

Well u are probably put off by the grand decor of larry's shop and preceive it to be much exp than LH. I can tell u its not as expensive as u think it is.

As for the setting, i am sure u can go down to their shop and ask. Their salesperson are very friendly and helpful.
 

jasleo

New Member
Hello all,

Any comments from Larry's?Just bought sometink fr them recently....fr my experience with them,I think their services r pretty good....what's the price range like for their wedding band?
 

donaldaisy

New Member
My HTB bought an engagement ring at their Paragon outlet. According to my HTB, Lawrence, the sales person serving him had been very helpful and knowledgable. Lazarre dia are really beautiful and fiery while AGS is the next best to go for.
happy.gif
 

princess_angel

New Member
Lazarre diamond is hearts and arrow. all L diamond falls under a certain range of specs. so they command a higher premium. moreover, it is so called branded. similar concept as LV wallet and renoma wallet. LV more ex cos of the branding. same thing for Lazarre. Destinee and Hearts on fire are also H&A but they are cheaper. but i suppose, lazarre is of beta workmanship loh.
 

jen02

New Member
Hi Ladies,
May i know where is Larry's loctard?
Lucky i saw this forum. Me and my hubby went down LH, i saw one of their JR wedding band. Nearly wanted to buy it. *faint*

Any comment on SK wedding band?
That day we went there and fall in luv one of their range too.
 

binchotan

New Member
Too bad i just bought my rings from LH, sigh... Is designer rings and custom made and will only collect in 2 month's times......
 

picanto_

New Member
Hi,

I bought one 0.55C ring from SK, worn for 3 years and then sell it off before 'upgrading' to a 1.05C. It's the Eternity range. I worn it day and night without takin it off and even while doing household chores. The ring looks almost the same as I first bought it. Worth the money spent as it's not too expensive compared to LH or GH in my point of view.
 

donroxx

New Member
Hi Everyone,

After reading this thread i really scared to buy wedding ring from 'those' shops le o.o

has any one bought rings from charlotte atelier, tiffany & co? how is it? good? can last long long with daily wear? how about after sales service? other than larry is there another other place that got good diamond rings?
 

alleb

New Member
My gf have a pair of GH ROM rings.
One day, she realise that one of the diamond is missing. She is the type who remove the ring when doing housework. She took the ring back and GH replace the diamond FOC. A few mths later at office, she realise one of the diamond missing again, GH say 2nd time liao, so cannot replace FOC, must pay...
Imagine how lousy the workmanship is.... Luckily is only small diamond, if big one will they replace FOC?
 

shyantiffy

New Member
geezzz.... I'm glad that I've decided to pop in this thread! will be shopping for wedding band soon..Heng ar..will try to avoid those shops liao.. actually was thinking of custom-making coz I have a fren who is a jewellery maker..hmmm...
 


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