Most Helpful Customer Reviews
61 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Word of Warning, February 27, 2006
I just wanted to put in a word of warning with all the praise this book has mustered. Fred Cuellar knows his stuff and is usually correct in what he says about diamonds but he please keep in mind that he is sales person - first, last and always. After discussing all the 4Cs, he puts one last bit of advice into the chapters about un-warped stones. And that's were it all unravels; for all the importance he places on this topic, he writes only a paragraph or two about it. Incredible.
Fred puts a lot of emphasis on finding an un-warped stone and eventually points the reader to his own store for "advice." In several months of research about round cut stones, I have found that most people in the business or hobbyists do not necessarily respect his opinions.
Let me explain ...
After trying to locate a reasonably priced stone that matched Fred's guidelines for dimensions, I called his 800 number looking for guidance. I found several stones on bluenile.com that matched all of Fred's recommended dimensions (but were low in price and therefore too good to be true?) but every time I asked the guys at DCI (Diamond Cutter's International, Fred's company), they told me it was an okay stone but warped meaning that the measurements around the stone weren't symmetrical all the way around. Even though the dimensions all matched the ideals for what Fred said in his book, according to DCI, the stones all suffered from a so called tragic flaw that Fred only devotes half a page to.
Yes, this is an important point and they did assure me that bluenile's prices were fair but I was still getting a warped stone which I should avoid. I asked for advice on where I could find a non warped stone because, after lots of phone calls and several months spent visiting jewelry stores, none of the local jewelers in Boston including those in the Diamond District on Washington Street had those types of stones. Except Tiffany's (but they don't have unmounted stones) and I didn't want to pay the 50% price premium for a brand name. I got an email back from the DCI guys with two stones that they could sell to me. I was a bit taken aback. I thought it was a conflict of interest to try and write an informational book about buying diamonds all the while pushing their own agenda and eventually scaring customers to purchase from him.
I ended up with a beautiful round cut, .98, G, SI1 (very nice, eye clean), GIA ideal cut for just under $4400 in Feb. 2006. I had it measured again by GIA and the certification was almost identical to the one I got from the dealer But it was supposedly warped according to Fred's DCI guy. This stone should have gone for $7500 according to Fred (if it were un-warped).
Readers should realized that ultimately, this book will point you to DCI and Fred's own diamond store. See one poor sap's comments, (Derek M. Hardwick "A Very Happy Customer") who fell for the entire scheme. Fred not only made a buck off of the sale of the book but lead this reader right to his store! Google Fred's name for more information about lawsuits against him. And check out this thread and look for his threads on Pricescope.
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50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Informative & Highly Recommended, September 21, 1998
By A Customer
I found & read this book along with "Diamond Ring Buying Guide" by Renee Newman. Fred Cuellar really gives you insight on how diamonds are rated "The 4 C's" and gives you suggestions on what to look for based on what type of buyer you are. I found his inside information on what goes on in the diamond buying/selling business very helpful. He also provides you with questions to ask a Jeweler to interview them and see if they are a legitimate company to deal with. I like his no-nonsense approach and recommendations of pricing for different cuts, clarity and color. One thing the book lacked was actual pictures for examples. I found Renee Newman's book "Diamond Ring Buying Guide" was excellent in providing color/B&W picture examples but Fred's book was better laid out in educating the reader. After reading Fred's book and looking at Renee's pictures, I felt very confident in going into a jeweler to look at diamonds. In fact, once I went into a jeweler for the first time and explained in detail what I was looking for, I was treated completely different than the other customer's. The sales rep brought out the manager, and both of them treated me with respect. In fact, make sure you use Fred's example of asking the manager if they would GIA certify the diamonds. This tells you alot about the jeweler you are doing business with.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Remain skeptical as you read the book, January 23, 2006
Fred Cueller provides some quality information. His emphasis on cut is well-placed, as it is commonly accepted that cut is the most important contributor to a diamond's appearance.
Explaining that a VVS clarity diamond is not the best choice for worn jewelry, confirmed by other sources, was helpful and saved me some money.
Recommending to "buy shy" (0.49 ct instead of 0.50 ct) is a handy tip, and saved me some money while getting the look I want.
His relationship advice, stories of crooked sellers, and anecdotes are interesting, amusing, and can be helpful.
However, there are significant problems.
His explanation of the proper cut for the Round is essentially correct, but more research shows his understanding is becoming outdated and may mislead people. The "ideal" is based on a 2D ray-trace of a diamond which ignores some aspects of dispersion. Today, full 3D models of diamonds can be performed. With that, his disagreement with GIA's new recommendations for "ideal" may well be incorrect and misleading people from good purchases.
Worse, his recommendation for choosing proper proportions of a Princess cut seem to be plain wrong. I'm still looking into this, but right now my understanding is that if had bought my Princess-cut diamond according to his proportions, I'd have a poorly cut stone.
While buying shy is a money saver, I'm not convinced it is nearly so useful today as he suggests. Prices I've seen don't jump dramatically at the round carat weights.
His recommendation on fluorescence are not universally held. My jeweler recommends some degree of fluorescence for non-colorless stones to mask the yellow and improve the perceived whiteness of the stone. This is a matter of taste and I'm choosing to believe my jeweler over Cueller.
For anyone looking for diamond buying advice, be wary of Cueller's book. While he provides a lot of useful information to the ignorant (like me), that is also what makes it so risky. The ignorant can't readily identify the weaknesses and errors in his book without further research.
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