I was talking to my co- worker /friends(Joe & Jeremy about where to go to buy an engagement ring to propose to my girlfriend. Jeremy stated he had family in the jewelry business, and offered to take me there. The three of us went together to Katie O were I met with Bill Oehlsen, who was working the counter. I told him I was looking for a diamond around 2 carats. He brought out the only two loose diamonds that they had at the store, around that size. He stated one diamond was a VS1, and the other diamond an SI. I looked at the two diamonds for a half an hour. Eventually, Bill stated that you cannot tell the difference between the two, so why pay more for the other one. Since I know nothing about diamonds, I was referred to the diamond grading terminology chart. I read a VS1 was very small inclusions (flaws) which are difficult to see to the trained eye under 10x magnified. The other SI are small inclusions, which are obvious under the trained eye under 10 magnified. Both loose diamonds I was shown that day did not have any visible flaws by just looking with my natural eyes. Bill went on to explain and showed me to the naked eye, that you could not see any flaws while just looking at either one. It was very important to me to purchase a diamond that one could not see the flaws to the naked eye. That was my only qualification I knew I wanted going into diamond buying. Bill encouraged me to buy the less expensive diamond, the SI as he said both appeared not to have flaws to the naked eye. I agreed to buy the SI, and moved on to settings. I showed him a picture of a setting I knew my girlfriend would love. Bill said he did not have any like it ( a one diamond in the center with small diamonds on the band) Bill showed me another setting named the Simon G. He stated final price was $18,900 before tax. He mentioned that if I paid in cash I would not have to pay the sales tax. I put a deposit of $12,000 on 6/25/2015. I made a payment plan of the balance of $6900. I went back again and told him I wanted to change the style of the setting to be more like the one I originally showed him a photo of and he agreed to set the diamond in what I wanted.
On Oct 15, 2015 I picked up the diamond engagement ring and wedding band that had now been set. I noticed a marking on the diamond near one of the prongs that I had never seen before. Bill then took the ring to the back, cleaned it, and said, "All good." I got in my vehicle and noticed it was still very visible, went back inside and told Bill I still see it. He told me "No diamond is perfect", and scoffed at me. I went back the very next day and was told the same thing " No diamond is perfect". I told him the diamond I picked out with him did not have any visible flaws and he was the one who explained that neither diamond had any visible flaws to the surface. Again all he said was "No diamond was perfect." I was really upset but I was planning on proposing to my girlfriend that weekend and knew I would have to address it after. I proposed 10/18/15. I went to work where I spoke to Jeremey and Joe who both were surprised to hear about the flaw, as neither of them saw a flaw when they looked at it while I was picking out the loose diamond. I went back to the store to discuss this 10/22/15 along with my fiancé and her mother. At this point we expressed my concern with the ring as this was not the diamond that I initially picked out and paid for. We asked to have the ring replaced with the diamond I originally purchased that has no visible flaws on the surface. He laughed in our face! Then said he was going to have the ring looked at and would keep it. We did not trust him at this point and said we would have it checked ourselves. He told us to have it checked out, if there was anything wrong with the diamond he would fix it. He did try and get us to pay another $6,000 for the VS1 as we were leaving!
My fiancé then took the ring to be appraised at NGLA North American Gemological Laboratory on Nov 2, 2015. When she got there she was told by the front desk clerk and then owner, Kenneth A. Patterson, GIA GG that Katie O. had called to tell them to "be honest". My fiancé was perplexed and asked if they had any affiliation with Katie O. They said no and that it was highly unusual that they even called. After confirming that it was not legal for them to share our appraisal report or any information about us with Katie O my fiancé continued with the appraisal. The test concluded the clarity was an I1. An imperfect diamond from the naked eye! The color was J when I was told I was buying the color H. Plus the weight of the large round main diamond was less weight than the one I purchased. The appraisal value was $15,700 retail price. That is $3, 200 less than what we paid! Most appraisal go for much more that you even paid. The owner of the gemological lab concluded possible scenarios: That the diamond I picked out was not the correct diamond put into its setting!!!!!! read more