Engegement Ring From Tiffany's

Q: I have started shopping for an engagement ring for my fiancee. She has her heart set on a rather unique style from Tifany's. This is my first experience shopping for expensive jewelry and I have no idea what the etiquette or game is like. Is shopping for an engagement ring analogous to shopping for a car where one must do diligent research and haggle for a good price? Does anybody have such experience with Tiffany's?

A:Yes, and it wasn't very nice. I went in Tiffany's Harrod's store and picked out a ring with my girlfriend. We got the reference number and I had a cheque made out for the value of the ring. We went there the next week and we were quoted the wrong number - the assistant showed us the ring matching the reference number and it was completely different. The one we looked at was 400 pounds more expensive. Go figure. Now I had a next to useless bank cheque and I was pretty pissed off, so I wrote them. The manager got on the phone to me within a couple of days and we came to a good agreement. They already had my girlfriends ring size, so they resized another ring in the same style which she wanted and couriered it to my house at their expense - along with another little gift which I thought was a nice gesture. I still had to get another cheque made for the new ring, but all in all I was happy with Tiffany after the initial (almost heartbreaking for my love) hiccup. I don't think Tiffany (certainly not in London) negotiate on prices - according to the manager, they have to 'stand by the quality of the diamonds they sell'. I certainly didn't feel any pressure to buy anything from Tiffany, apart from the usual 'that looks wonderful', etc. It didn't feel like they were trying to put their hands in my wallet. I guess the idea really is to be polite about the whole thing. Don't feel pressured into buying something that is not suitable or you cannot afford. Like I said though, they seem to be very reluctant to negotiate on price. But like you said, your lady is quite specific about what she wants. Diamond quality can vary wildly (there are something like 20 colour gradings and 5 or so levels of clarity) and as a result, two identical ring can have different prices based upon the quality of the stone. Tiffany has a certain quality of diamonds under which they will not set. Of course, that is in the case thatyou're getting a diamond ring. Oh, and have fun. Some of

their jewellery was a little over the top for my liking, but some was really nice, too. Yikes! Our experience with Tiffany was much better. My fiance picked out a ring, got the ring, gave me the ring, we went back to get it sized and the only snafu was that it took a few days longer than it should have for the ring to come back. We used the Philadelphia, PA Tiffany, and they have to send the rings to NYC to get sized. Someone in NYC dropped the ball and didn't put it in the "rush" pile like they were supposed to. So it got delayed, but the minute it showed up in Philadelphia, someone from the shop hand-delivered it to me at home!!! I thought that was excellent service.