Introduction
First of all, a few introductory words. This is not an active blog, I am not a blogger. This blog dates back to 2011 and I have since written only several posts, some in English, some in Croatian. I'm from Zagreb, Croatia. You can check some of the old posts, they are highly uncorrelated :D.
The reason I created this blog is so I can have a ready place to put content online if I ever need such an outlet. I opened it on Google's service because I knew it will be crawled the fastest so the content will soon after publishing be reachable from the Google search engine.
Glamira
I decided to propose to my girlfriend. And thought that I could get a decent value for money if I bought the engagement ring online. I quickly learnt about the ways to rank the quality of the ring and the diamond (4C scale).
As I started searching, Glamira was one of the most aggressive advertiser. Going through their site, I saw that they also have the most diverse offer. There are literary hundreds of different rings to combine with dozens of different stones. They have a nice web app that lets you customize your ring very nicely. I also quickly went through:
77diamonds.com
bluenile.com
jamesallen.com
ritani.com
The listed ones only had very classic rings, about one fifth of the Glamira offer.
I made a shortlist and finally picked the winner.
Certificates
Going through the customization menus, I started having more and more questions.
With a diamond you get a certificate that proves that the diamond has all the characteristics that you payed for. The thing is, the institution that is issuing the certificate is the same one that is selling you the ring. Naturally, I was pretty suspicious about that.
However, if you pick a dimanond of 0.25 carats or bigger, Glamira offers you a GIA (Gemological Institute of America) certificate. GIA is, as I understood after some googling, the most trusted independent authority on diamonds. This option will make your ring cost up to 50% more.
Later I asked around with some friends who bought engagement rings in local retailer shops and asked them if they received the certificate along with the diamond they bought. They said "yes". When I asked about who issued the certificate, they looked at me as if they didn't understand what I was asking - "well, the shop, who else?!"
I went to couple of shops myself and asked about the certificates. Besides having only 5-10 rings to choose from. They assured me that the diamonds go through rigorous inspection by the state institutions. Since Croatia is a country with lots of corruption, I asked myself would I really trust some bribed paperpusher's approval more than a website apparently trusted by thousands of online shoppers.
Besides, I am thinking: "If I buy a ring with Glamira's certificate, what are the chances that they will deliver something 50% worse in quality than what they advertised?" (Because, that is the price difference)
Now, about the "apparently trusted by thousands of online shoppers" part...
I figured I will find dozens of different experiences of people buying from Glamira. But no.
Reviews on the glamira.com I didn't even read... Every site will pump its own reputation this way.
I found a collection of reviews on trustpilot. Most of the reviewers only had 1 review on their account. And the site warned me about how they deleted some of the nasty comments recently on account of being fake. I didn't know what to think of it. So, I guess this is the reason I am writing this post now.
Order
In the end I ordered a 0.1 carat diamond version of the metioned ring so the certificate option was not even on the offer.The order was placed today (June 21 2017). I wait to see whether they have it on the shelf, or they need to make it first.
Fingers crossed.
