Diamonds International Onboard Shopper.

[starvenger]

I'd hope so. Otherwise you're just gonna go to Jared or some other mall jewelry store.

(I actually don't know what jewelry stores are in the US despite having worked there for 8 years)

 

[bumbershoot]

I also agree that the fact that they are mostly concentrated outside the USA seems to highlight a different set of moral standards.

They are concentrated where the cruise ships stop. I don’t love your implication that other countries have lower moral standards than the US. A bit of history would tell a different story, after all.

But. Having been on the internet for awhile, I want to urge a huge amount of caution on your part. This has the makings of a possible scam from this lady. I’ve been around long enough to witness multiple “woe is me” scams on message boards that start off by feeling sorry for a naive person and result in sending money to that naive person. Not saying it’s an absolute, but from what I’ve seen it could go that way.


A person buying jewelry ALWAYS needs to know what they are buying, no matter where you are.

My then fiancé was scammed and gordons jewelers here in the Seattle area. They show a named ring. The “sophia” ring or something like that. They let you look at it with the loupe, be amazed at the diamond. You ooh and aah and want that ring! They take it in back to “wrap it up” for you.

29 days later I was looking at my ring in the sunlight and saw a huge flaw in it. A flaw that was NOT there when he bought it (I was there). It had a 30 day return period. I took it up there.

And found out that with the named rings you’re not buying THAT ring that you saw in the case. When they take it back, they get another ring and substitute it. It’s still a “Sophia ring” or whatever, and that’s what you’re buying, so they are inside the law, but UGH.

They were total jerks about the return. They made me feel stupid. They made me cry. In the immortal words of Julia Roberts, “Mistake. Big mistake” because when a company is shady and makes me upset I put on my theater-background voice and get verbal about exactly what’s happening.

I returned it and the diamond earrings he bought that same day (both required routine visits to keep the warranty and I was not going to do that), got a full refund, and had a ring made for me by a proper jeweler.

He was good with the diamond industry but wasn’t aware of this. Now we all are.

So you have to know what you’re doing wherever you’re buying jewelry.


I will say that her situation isn’t one I’ve heard of in all my years on cruise boards. Seems pretty egregious and almost over the top. IMO.

So...watch out for more woe is me. Constant vigilance.

 

[FigmentSpark]

While I agree there are scams out there and that there's no reason to send money to someone who has a 'woe' story, I think it's important to relay these stories to people. I told mine, not because I want sympathy, but because I want to warn others. Had there been a thread that I'd seen with these types of warnings before my first cruise, I probably would have never even talked to the shopper. To be honest, she's given (or rents) a desk on the ship, she's given time to sell her services in a room on the ship and promoted on the Navigator. That, to me, implied she was a DCL employee. I didn't know until after I got home that she wasn't.

So hearing these stories is important, but yes, giving sympathy and heeding a warning is on a whole different level from sending money to someone.

 

[CarolynU]

They are concentrated where the cruise ships stop. I don’t love your implication that other countries have lower moral standards than the US. A bit of history would tell a different story, after all.

But. Having been on the internet for awhile, I want to urge a huge amount of caution on your part. This has the makings of a possible scam from this lady. I’ve been around long enough to witness multiple “woe is me” scams on message boards that start off by feeling sorry for a naive person and result in sending money to that naive person. Not saying it’s an absolute, but from what I’ve seen it could go that way.


A person buying jewelry ALWAYS needs to know what they are buying, no matter where you are.

My then fiancé was scammed and gordons jewelers here in the Seattle area. They show a named ring. The “sophia” ring or something like that. They let you look at it with the loupe, be amazed at the diamond. You ooh and aah and want that ring! They take it in back to “wrap it up” for you.

29 days later I was looking at my ring in the sunlight and saw a huge flaw in it. A flaw that was NOT there when he bought it (I was there). It had a 30 day return period. I took it up there.

And found out that with the named rings you’re not buying THAT ring that you saw in the case. When they take it back, they get another ring and substitute it. It’s still a “Sophia ring” or whatever, and that’s what you’re buying, so they are inside the law, but UGH.

They were total jerks about the return. They made me feel stupid. They made me cry. In the immortal words of Julia Roberts, “Mistake. Big mistake” because when a company is shady and makes me upset I put on my theater-background voice and get verbal about exactly what’s happening.

I returned it and the diamond earrings he bought that same day (both required routine visits to keep the warranty and I was not going to do that), got a full refund, and had a ring made for me by a proper jeweler.

He was good with the diamond industry but wasn’t aware of this. Now we all are.

So you have to know what you’re doing wherever you’re buying jewelry.


I will say that her situation isn’t one I’ve heard of in all my years on cruise boards. Seems pretty egregious and almost over the top. IMO.

So...watch out for more woe is me. Constant vigilance.

This lady is not just some random person that is now telling a tale of woe. I’m not that gullible! She hasn’t asked me for anything but advice as she is not what I would describe as business smart or as I explained an experienced traveller, so thank you for your concern but I don’t need it!
I’m also not as suspicious of peoples motives when I have met the person over a course of a long cruise and have communicated every day since. In fact we communicated long before the cruise and this is a NICU nurse who when a young drug addict lost her baby the nurses all got together to pay for the funeral as the mom was penniless! Hardly the act of a scam artist and the behaviour she exhibited onboard seemed to bear that out unless she was a jolly good actress!
However, did she make a wise choice ?
No absolutely not!
Would I have made the same choice? Absolutely not!
Did she misinterpret what was said to her in that shop?
No I don’t think she did, but can I be sure?
Absolutely not!
I might have been less sympathetic had I not read a great deal since coming home and found that her story mirrors that of many others and as I said earlier the Better Business Bureau has issued a red warning about DI and why would they do that? Are all the cases against DI exaggerated? Made up? Fabricated?
Then of course there are the numerous TripAdvisor complaints and those on Cruise Critic and more! Of course not all are negative by any means but enough to show a pattern!
So think whatever you want, but I’m prepared to give this lady the benefit of the doubt even though she hasn’t made a wise choice!

 

[CarolynU]

While I agree there are scams out there and that there's no reason to send money to someone who has a 'woe' story, I think it's important to relay these stories to people. I told mine, not because I want sympathy, but because I want to warn others. Had there been a thread that I'd seen with these types of warnings before my first cruise, I probably would have never even talked to the shopper. To be honest, she's given (or rents) a desk on the ship, she's given time to sell her services in a room on the ship and promoted on the Navigator. That, to me, implied she was a DCL employee. I didn't know until after I got home that she wasn't.

So hearing these stories is important, but yes, giving sympathy and heeding a warning is on a whole different level from sending money to someone.

That’s exactly my motive! I feel sorry for folks who don’t do their homework and end up in this situation simply because they are not street smart as they are not experienced travelers and just trust things because Disney appears to endorse them.
As I’ve said wise no, but a scam artist?! If that were the case then that makes me just as gullible as she was. And I’m definitely not!

 

[CarolynU]

https://www.bbb.org/us/ny/new-york/...tional-0121-7969/details#Pattern-of-Complaint

 

[FigmentSpark]

I'd say that was accurate.