My boyfriend and I were getting engaged so we decided to go to Diamonds International in St. Thomas after Carnival Cruise Lines highly recommended them. We spoke with Andrew Tachauer, the Supper Shopper on the Carnival Valor. He informed us that we had nothing to worry about when shopping at Diamonds International. He stated that Diamonds International is Carnival's "#1 recommendation for diamonds." Mr. Tachauer told us that we were guaranteed to get the best price there and that if anything went wrong we would be helped by Carnival or by just contacting Diamonds International directly. After being on Carnival several times, we trusted Carnival's and Mr. Tachauer's recommendation and purchased an engagement ring with the matching band that came with it at the Diamonds International in St. Thomas. The ring was damaged during the sizing. I spotted that the diamond was chipped when we got back on board and took it to the port shopping desk. Mr. Tachauer recommended that I go to the Diamonds International in St. Maarten, the next port, where we would be arriving the next day. We worked directly with the store's manager, Anil. They "upgraded" the ring to the same style but said it was a better color, which it ended up being a worse one, and charged us an additional $495 which I agreed to thinking I was getting better rings. Upon arriving home in New York I had an appraisal performed by a certified gemologist whose sole purpose is to give gem appraisals in a laboratory. It turns out that Diamonds International totally misrepresented the rings' values and attributes. The independent appraiser said that the set was worth at most $1,900. Diamonds International's appraisal was for $3,495 and they said that the diamonds were all SI2. The independent appraiser deemed the diamonds to all be I2 to I3 and they contained numerous holes in them. The independent appraiser informed me that the only valid piece of information by Diamonds International was that the ring was 14 karat gold and that I was scammed. Diamonds International will only offer a store credit or to replace only the side stones in my ring. The main diamond on top of the engagement ring is an I3... The worst you can get. We even went to their headquarters in New York City and all we saw was a tiny window at the end of a hallway. That's their headquarters. They wanted nothing to do with us. Carnival refered us to the company that handles all of their shopping recommendations, PPI. As a frequent customer of Carnival, I trusted their recommendation and trusted that if anything went wrong I would be helped. Carnival and PPI wanted nothing to do with us and could care less. Please avoid Diamonds International!
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