Complaint Review: Lumera Diamonds

Hi, I have been looking for loose diamonds, and started seriously looking online because it seems that pricing in person is near impossible. The best value seems to be online. I decided to go for a GIA because you can't see the diamond, so figured it was best to have the most accurate report. And Lumera Diamond was the first online site I ran into with the prices similar to EGL (well, I always bumped the EGL down 1-2 grades depending on whether EGL USA or other). Except you would not be sure where they would be subjective, the cut, inclusions, or color-yikes. 

So anyways, I was looking around for the consumer reviews of lumera diamonds itself. And guess what? Every site I ran into has this one person called FutureFiance, making the same complaint, using very strong language. It is certainly very damaging, until I saw that SOME of the sites had proper rebuttals from Alan. 

So you know what, FutureFiance? You did not change my mind about Lumera. But what you are doing is very mean spirited. These forums are for real problems with businesses that are truly shady. It sounds like you are trying to extort money from this diamond dealer. And I'm glad he has spent the time chasing down your wolf cries instead of giving in. Not only is it illegal for him to give in to your extortions, but need I remind you it is illegal for you to do this? You cannot expect a disproportionate amount of recompense for an error. You did not even complete the purchase whereupon your money was taken, and you were delivered a measley diamond when you were expecting the 1.22 ct.

Recently, my boyfriend saw a 2007 Mercedes S5500 listed online for $20K, and he called in right away saying He will buy it cause he thought it was such a steal! Well guess what, they didn't even apologize, they just changed the ad to $40K. They would think it's a joke that anyone would even think that such a gross error for a high valued commodity would be taken seriously.

So yes, I will continue to keep looking for my GIA diamond on other sites, but I am definitely going to keep Lumera as my benchmark pricing (until I find someone cheaper of course), but FutureFiance, your extortion and Lumera's professional responses, has only served to bolster my consumer confidence in Lumera!

-Lana

This customer, Colin Bailie, recently visited Lumera Diamonds, and found a diamond with a typo (the price for a 1.22 ct. GIA Certified F color diamond of Excellent cut was listed as $1,780; a typical price for this size and quality is $8-9,000).  In an attempt to take advantage of the error, Mr. Bailie immediately ordered the diamond at 10:00pm on 2/14. 

The following morning I contacted Mr. Bailie to let him know that we would not be able to complete the order, and that his card would not be charged.  Mr. Bailie demanded that a diamond of similar quality be sold to him for the erroneous price or he would “put a negative review on every site I can find”.  We were of course unable to honor his request and I did explain our written policy; that while we attempt to have complete accuracy (to date this is the first such occurrence), we cannot be held responsible for typographical errors (this particular error was caused by the supplier who listed the diamond as 1.22 carats instead of the correct 0.22 carats). 

This particular error was caught within hours of displaying, and quickly corrected.  We apologized to Mr. Bailie for any inconvenience, and offered to help him find a diamond of similar quality for the standard price.  It seemed clear that he was only interested in capitalizing on the error and had no intention of purchasing a diamond, so I did not press further.

Mr. Balie did nothing wrong in placing the order, even though it was apparent he was attempting to take advantage of the situation.  He is also under no obligation to accept our apologies for any stress he was caused in not receiving what he felt he was owed.  However, I do take issue with his mischaracterization of the facts, and his attempt at extorting from Lumera something he was not owed.

I worked personally with Mr. Bailie, and am also disappointed that he considers the service and explanation I offered to be reprehensible. I do understand his disappointment, and hope he will eventually come to see that he was in no way mistreated simply because he was not able to take full advantage of an unfortunate error.  I wish him the best.