Complaint Review: Diamonds International - Internet

Our family went on a cruise in mid-August 2014 and purchased nearly $40,000 of jewels from Diamonds International (a US-based jewelry retailer with chain stores at major cruise port) at three different ports with the help of a Carnival Cruise "shopping guide" who assured us he gets no commissions from DI. 

We paid for the merchandise using four different credit cards, including two DI cards that the DI store reps started for us. We were initially very happy as the clerks and shopping guide assured us that we got an awesome deal on high quality jewelry, which we discovered was not the case as soon as we visited a jewelry store when we returned home. 

What had happened was that after our last purchase, the DI store clerk informed us that the certification and appraisal for some of our diamonds were still located at DI's headquarters in New York and would have to be mailed to our home and that we would receive it within two weeks or less. That was the main reason why we visited a local jewelry store to see if we can get an appraisal for insurance purposes.  The jewelry store we visited told us our diamonds were worth about one third of what we paid and that the diamond studs we purchased did not look like they were 1 ct each as DI claimed.

After waiting for the certification and appraisal that DI promised us would arrive at a certain time but did not, we decided to visit another appraiser, this time, a renown indepentent appraiser (one of the most famous in our area). We had to pay hundreds in consulting fees and got an appraisal from that master GIA gemologist.  He indicated that our diamonds appeared small to our local jeweler because the surface area appeared less than 1 ct, but most of the weight was probably in the girdle and that it was cut very thick.

We filed a dispute with Diamonds International and eventually received an EGL certification but not their appraisal. After viewing the EGL certification and comparing it with the appraisal from our independent appraiser, we noticed discrepancies such as the grade of the gold mounting.  They were not of the same grade.  Also, the EGL papers indicated that our diamond was laser drilled. The independent appraiser could not find those lines in our diamond studs, which means they could have been "filled" after being laser drilled.  DI could not provide a clear answer as to the exact enhancements the diamonds may have gone through and refuses to acknowledge the discrepancies in the EGL certification and the independent appraiser's.   

This is just one of many other concerns we have about my purchase which includes the way receipts were written up, verbal promises made but not upheld, and the fact that we were not given adequate time to read printed terms and conditions, which contradicts with what was said to us at the store and what is listed online.

We've shown good faith to the merchant and have written numerous letters over the span of a month, hoping to resolve this issue without having to involve our credit card companies.   Besides providing very few short and vague correspondences, their final offer was to take back the diamond studs and to issue a store credit.  Because their stores are located only in New York and other cruise ship destinations, that would be nearly impossible for us to use the store credit as we don't plan on another cruise anytime soon and there are no DI stores in our state.

Because of this incident, we lost confident with all our other purchases with DI and requested to return everything to DI for a full refund.   We wanted to mail all the merchandise back ASAP, but DI will only accept returns if they issue an RMA number.  We've read horror stories from other customers stating they've returned the items only to lose out on their money and the merchandise.  We've already lost out on a lot of money getting the items re-appraised and will probably lose more on return shipping and insurance, but just want this problem resolved as soon as possible.

We filed disputes with the different credit card companies and so far Discover is siding with us, but not surprisingly the DI credit cards said we must contact the merchant.   Sadly there is indeed conflict of interest since we assume the credit card company is owned by DI and our case could not be fairly considered.  Here is our situation as we see it:  The merchant did not pull through on the promises they made, the gems did not fully match their certification papers, and the merchant has ceased responding to our inquiries.  We have not stopped trying to contact DI throughout this entire ordeal, but we have gotten NO response back from them over the last two months or more.

Also the GM of Diamonds International lied to our Discover Card Dispute Department by writing in his letter that we have not contacted DI about our concerns.  How can he say this when our records clearly shows that we've been emailing at least two DI customer service reps (Fernando and Belle), and even secured a claim number from them?

Needless to say, this entire ordeal has taken up a lot of our time and caused a lot of stress.  We won't even attempt to go into the medical issues that this has caused us.  We hope that by posting up our story, it'll help raise awareness about the unethical dealings of this company.  Everyone with DI seems very nice until after you pay.  Their customer service department seems incompetent and uncaring no matter how much you've spent.  This is a sad situation because we would have been very loyal customers had we've been taken care of properly and adequately.