I was shopping for an engagement ring and did a lot of research at different places around Toronto and online. I went to Peoples, Birks, Spence, other independent diamond shops in Toronto, and online to Blue Nile, Brian Gavin, and James Allen. Randor was by far the best service I received and made me feel the most comfortable of any of these retailers, and thus was the reason why I purchased from them.
Randy Moss, the owner of Randor, is an extremely qualified Gemologist that has a graduate certification from GIA (the most reputable diamond certification body). His approach is very friendly and he never once pressured me into buying anything, unlike almost all the other retailers I visited.
I sent Randy an email telling him what I was looking for, and within one day he called me back on the phone (a personal touch I appreciated) and told me to come in to either the Mississauga or Toronto location to see some options. He said he usually closes at 5pm, but was willing to stay a bit later to accommodate my schedule.
When I arrived, Randy buzzed me in to his 6th floor office where he showed me an array of diamonds. At this point, I was still learning about the 4 Cs, so he let me see each diamond under a microscope to get a better impression of what each C meant. He even held some diamonds under a black light so I could see what fluorescence meant, which I didn't get at other retailers.
After meeting with him, Randy never once asked if I was buying; he merely treated the visit as an information gathering exercise, which it was for me at the time. I ended up visiting other diamond retailers after that, but nothing met the level of service I got from Randy. I even found myself correcting other diamond retailers on their knowledge of the 4 Cs since Randy was able to teach me so much in my first visit.
A couple weeks later, I emailed Randy with my request for 4 Cs and with a strict budget limit I wasn't willing to go over. He spent the next two weeks searching for the right diamond for me. He had a few options mailed in and then invited me to come see them. One of the three options was clearly superior, and was exactly in my price range, so we decided to go with it. Within a couple of hours, he had the diamond set in the ring I had pre-selected (a Tiffany-style ring called the Lucida) and had it packaged up in a beautiful wooden box, along with the official GIA certificate and an appraisal document for insurance purposes. He never once tried to upsell me or put me over my budget. He treated my budget as a hard line not to be crossed, which I very much appreciated.
All in all, I saved approximately $6,700 in total by going to Randor instead of buying at a big chain. I compared my diamond and ring to those being sold at Peoples, Birks, Spence, etc. and there is no comparison in price. I got an amazing diamond with the exact setting I wanted and great hands on service at a price that was extremely attractive. And with Randor's trade-up policy, I can use the value of my diamond at any time to trade up to a bigger diamond, I only pay the difference.
On top of this, Randor deals only in American dollars, therefore the price you pay changes in direct correlation with the exchange rate that day. If the rate is good, you get a deal, if not, you have to pay more. Same with paying by VISA; Randor will give you a 2% discount if you pay in cash since he saves the processing fee from VISA; the savings are past on directly to the consumer.
I can't say enough good things about my experience with Randor and would HIGHLY recommend him to any person buying an engagement ring. He is very knowledgeable, a great teacher, a patient, no-pressure sales person, and dedicated to providing the best deal possible to his clients. He made my experience spectacular and I would definitely return in the future. read more
