My family and I took our first cruise aboard the Disney Magic recently. My husband and I were celebrating our 20th anniversary, and decided after attending shopping guide Whitney's seminar to purchase a special ring. Whitney offered to meet us at the Diamonds International St. Maarten store to assist us. She assured us through the seminar and personal conversations that this merchant could be trusted. D.I. Is listed #1 on Disney's shopping guide that they hand out to you as you debark the ship. She told us our salesman David was "straight up", and was giving us the bottom price, and there was not room for negotiation. - Upon return home, I took the ring to have it appraised for insurance purposes by a GIA Certified Gemologist. The ring appraised for $14,000 less than our purchase price, and he told me I could have bought a similar diamond for $20,000 less and showed the sources. Diamond International would not accept this appraisal, so I took the ring to an independent lab for verification. The lab appraised the ring for insurance replacement purposes $12,000 below purchase price, and showed me again I could have bought the ring from a reputable company for $23,000 less. Diamonds International will not accept his report even though we did just as they asked. Now, they want us to send the ring to a national lab approved by them. The ring was also downgraded in color and clarity which was very important to us in choosing the diamond. — I contacted Disney Guest Communications, and they sent me to PPI who has not returned my phone call in 2 weeks after I requested to file a claim. Whitney will not repsond to my email for assistance now. Diamonds International customer service is fighting a return, and has been very difficult. This companies terms and conditions are written so that they can rip people off. No reputable company would operate this way. The terms and conditions were never mentioned to us, and put in front of us as we were checking out to sign. They never gave us a copy either. We trusted Disney, the shopping guide Whitney, the store's reputation as the biggest diamond dealer in the islands and were scammed a significant amount of money, and the diamond was misrepresented to us. I am asking Disney to help us with full refund because of the fraud that was committed, and to stop promoting these practices. Why would Disney risk its good brand name for a few commissions from port shopping? If anyone has been successful in obtaining a refund/justice from Diamonds Internationl, please email me.
0 comments