[Jewelry making - Article 00868] - Re: [Orchid] Setting customer stones

[John Donivan]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========

    I seems so simple, doesn't it? One client told me that a setter
    wanted $250 to set a diamond, and the guy said that much of that was
    "setting insurance". The client told me, with an air of
    preposterous-ness (and, "I won't be going back there!"), "He's not
    going to buy me that stone if he chips it...!!" There's not really an
    answer, because it depends on your business philosophy - some do
    this, some do that, and they're all right. Everybody needs to think
    it through, though. For myself and most of my collegues, setting is
    at the customer's risk, period. If you don't trust me, take it to
    someone you DO trust - I have no problem with that. If I make a
    mistake, which happens, I will make good on that just because that's
    how I am. Often I'll replace a $5 stone no matter what just because
    it's easier, and "don't sweat the small stuff". But the world of a
    "real" diamond setter is a different place than just putting 2
    pointers into holes. I've set stones well into 6 figures, and most
    of us have. So, IF you are charging "setting insurance", and IF you
    damage a $300,000 stone, you are saying that you are going to buy a
    $300,000 stone to replace it? Or are you just a con artist and your
    "insurance" is merely a profit center? Are you or are you not? If
    it's a 3 carat D/IF, then you MUST replace it in kind, if you take
    that posture - an I/SI2 is not the same thing. Once you stand up
    there and say that you are insuring your setting, then either you are
    commited or you are a liar. Yes, you can polish out a chip on the
    girdle, but you said you were insuring the stone, meaning it would be
    returned intact, which I take to mean weight, too. Didn't you? It's a
    slippery slope, to be sure, and mostly the industry handles it by
    communication and good will, and also people knowing their
    limitations. I'm a real decent setter, but I will suggest that people
    take some work to a "real" setter for these very reasons, which they
    appreciate. It's so simple to think about insuring $100 stones, but
    when you're talking about mortgaging your house because you made
    promises, it's quite different, isn't it? Or did you put that
    "insurance" into a fund, as any good insurance company does? Many
    people who take the insurance stance are people of goodwill, and
    there's a statement of trust and integrity being made, and that's a
    good thing - except that they have to follow through, and every time,
    in order for it to mean anything. Many others are just greedy... I've
    seen it with my own eyes: "I cleaved a 1.5 ct. so I need the cheapest
    flash 1.5 I can find...." That's not insurance.... 

http://www.donivanandmaggiora.com
____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________