Sharon,
My strategy for this situation has been to educate the customer about
the quality and individualistic character of their diamond. With the
customer, look at the diamond under magnification, preferably under a
10 power to 30 power stereomicroscope. You can use a loupe but it is
harder for clients to use since they have to line up the diamond
themselves and locate the areas to be examined. Locate inclusions,
extra facets, naturals or other distinguishing marks (chips, etc.)
and show them to your customer (by the way I charge for this
service). Explain that every diamond has identifying marks. These
fingerprint-like identification marks cannot be rubbed off or
recreated in other stones. You should draw the inclusions on a
diamond grading print and give it to the customer so they will have a
ready source of reference after the ring is done. This ID procedure
has only not worked once. The diamond in question was a perfectly cut
ideal round brilliant, nearly internally flawless 2.5 ct diamond.
There was nothing for her to see, even at 30x except for some tiny,
scattered pinpoints that made no pattern. So, because my shop is so
small, and of course there are liability issues, I offered to pull an
old bench out of storage, put it on the floor and set it up for her
to watch what I did. When I told her that the set up time involved
was several hours and that it would cost an extra $300.00 she balked
and agreed to let me set it at my convenience. We reinspected the
diamond together after the job was done.
Never dismiss a clients concern about trust. Instead reassure her
with concrete steps, answer every fear and let her voice her
concerns. The Freudian approach of letting people talk out their
concerns has it’s merits! After all this she will likely let you
proceed. If this fails, or you don’t want to call her bluff in
offering to do the work on the floor, you must refuse the job. Even
though we don’t want to make an issue of it, the fact is, that taking
in a job is a matter of trust and if no level of creative reassurance
will satisfy her then it isn’t worth the hassle. Anyway, after
setting a precedent you’ll probably be asked to do it again. Anyway,
I myself don’t mind someone watching what I do. I take pride in my
skill and proficiency. My problem with having a client watch is one
of logistics and convenience (I am creatively cluttered and have a
very, very crowded shop. 10’X12’ with a full size, 5 foot tall
jewelers safe, large rolling mill, two double benches, my dust
collector, a 165lb anvil, etc.) As well, clients expect that if you
charge good money to set a diamond it better take a while. Of course,
if your well versed in setting it takes less time than a customer
might think. This likely to cause the client to question the value
of your services (it is also why I don’t do any while-you-wait
repairs. It doesn’t take long to do most rush jobs but I don’t want
my customers to question why I charge so much to do a ten minute job.
They often don’t understand that you have actual overhead as well as
a mortgage to pay.)
Also, always identify every stone you take in. Don’t identify as
diamond, ruby, sapphire, pearl…write down 5.3 mm round red of 6.5
mm round white bead. Also, don’t use words that connote value like
gem or stone. This is standard operating procedure for retailers and
for your own protection. If you erroneously mark a stone as ruby and
it turns out to be synthetic or diamond and it turns out to be
moissenite or CZ you risk being taken advantage of. As well, many
pieces of jewelry are gifts and the giver of the gift may not have
told the recipient that the stones are synthetic…no need for you to
be bearer of bad news. I’ve had clients question this procedure but
when they go to the other jewelers in town and see that they do the
same thing they always come back to me. Just make sure you spend a
little time to make accurate measurements in front of them. If they
want something more specific suggest an appraisal with an appropriate
fee.
Hope this helps
Larry Seiger
JA Certified Master Bench Jeweler