Hey Paul,
Rough crowd here. I went to the Diamond Cellar on Sawmill/161 next to Tansky's Toyota. I dealt with John Smith 5 times. He was excellent and I would highly recommend him. I never felt pressured at all and it was like dealing with a friend. He asked what I wanted to spend, what cut I was looking for and he never tried to up the price. Showed me all kinds of diamonds, how they were graded, why Diamond Cellars diamonds are of higher quality then other places. Then I left and I brought my girl in to look at rings. John and I pretended I had never been in there, he took notes on what she liked and I went back the week after to order the ring. Over the next month I would go back to meet up and see the progress of the ring.
We have gone back multiple times for cleanings and they have taken good care of the ring and inspect it every time. They also cleaned other jewelry for free that was not bought there.
you could order your diamond online, but something this special and out of my league I did not want to risk getting a poor stone. You could order a 1.5 carrot diamond for $500 and it will look like a crap stone because the cut, clarity is poor or it could be awesome and worth $4k. I did not want to risk it so I went with a place and a person I trusted. Did I spend a little more? Maybe, might have paid $500 more then if I did it all myself, but this was way out of my league.
In the end she loved the ring (she always will). Her sister got engaged 2 years before us and her ring was ugly and the diamond was yellowish. The place they went was a mall store. 2 years later people still complement my Fiance on how great her ring looks, it still sparks and shines like the day I brought it home.